Calling for an immediate end to investments in new fossil fuel production and infrastructure

DECLARATION

We the undersigned, call for an immediate end to investments in new fossil fuel production and infrastructure, and encourage a dramatic increase in investments in renewable energy.

We are issuing this call to action in the lead up to the climate summit hosted by President Macron in Paris this December. President Macron and other world leaders, have already spoken out about the need for an increase in finance for climate solutions, but they have remained largely silent about the other, dirtier side of the equation: the ongoing finance of new coal, oil and gas production and infrastructure.

Ongoing global climate change and environmental destructions are happening at an unprecedented scale, and it will take unprecedented actions to limit the worst consequences of our dependence on oil, coal, and gas.

Equally as critical as drastically curbing the carbon intensity of our economic systems is the need for immediate and ambitious actions to stop exploration and expansion of fossil fuel projects and manage the decline of existing production in line with what is necessary to achieve the Paris climate goals.

Research shows that the carbon embedded in existing fossil fuel production will take us far beyond safe climate limits. Thus, not only are new exploration and new production incompatible with limiting global warming to well below 2ºC (and as close to 1.5ºC as possible), but many existing projects will need to be phased-out faster than their natural decline. Simply put: there is no more room for new fossil fuel infrastructure and therefore no case for ongoing investment.

It is time for the community of global economic actors to fully embrace, safe, and renewable energies and phase out fossil fuels. This letter affirms that it is the urgent responsibility and moral obligation of public and private investors and development institutions to lead in putting an end to fossil fuel development.

A global transition to a low carbon future is already well underway and we recognize that a full transition away from fossil fuels is an opportunity for a new economic paradigm of prosperity and equity. Continued expansion of oil, coal, and gas is only serving to hinder the inevitable transition while at the same time exacerbating conflicts, fuelling corruption, threatening biodiversity, clean water and air, and infringing on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable countries and communities.

Energy access and demand can and must now be met fully through the renewable energies of the 21st century. Assertions that new fossil fuels, such the current push for gas, are needed for this transformation are not only inaccurate; they also undermine the speed and penetration of renewable energy.

The global investment community has the power to create the conditions under which this shift is possible. Current and future investments in fossil fuel production are at odds with a safe and equitable transition away from ever stronger climate disasters.

Global investor and international development actors and institutions must recognize that continued investments in fossil fuel production supply-side is irreconcilable with meaningful climate action. Instead, let us all prioritize the tremendous investment opportunities for a 100% renewable future that support healthy economies while protecting workers, communities, and the ecological limits of a finite planet.

Signers of the Declaration on Climate Finance:

• Alain Grandjean
  Economist, Scientific advisor to the Foundation for Nature and Mankind
• Alain Karsenty
  Research Director at CIRAD, Montpellier
• Ann Pettifor
  Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics, Prime
• Anu Muhammad
  Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Aurore Lalucq
  Economist and Director of the Veblen Institute
• Camilla Toulmin
  Professor, Dr
• Carolina Burle Schmidt Dubeux
  Environemental Economist, PhD and teacher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro · COPPE/Centro Clima
• Cédric Durand
  Maître de conférences en Économie, université Paris 13
• Claudia Kemfert
  Head of the department of energy, transportation and environment at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin
• Co-Pierre Georg
  Associate Professor, University of Cape Town. Research Economist – Deutsche Bundesbank , Policy Associate – Economic Research Southern Africa
• Denis Dupré
  Professor of finance and ethics
• Dominique Plihon
  Professor Emeritus of Economics, Paris-Nord University Director, Center of Economics of the University of Paris Nord
• Dr Ben Groom
  Associate Professor of Environment & Development Economics, LSE
• Dr Michael Mason
  Associate Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, LSE
• Dr. Alaa Al Khourdajie
  Teaching Fellow in Environmental Economics, School of Economics, University of Edinburgh
• Dr. Ashok Khosla
  Chairman, Development Alternatives
• Dr. Charles Palmer
  Associate Professor of Environment and Development, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),
• Dr. Ron Milcarek
  UMASS Economics Department
• Dr. Simplice Asongu
  Lead Research Economist, African Governance and Development Institute
• Emilio Padilla Rosa
  Associate Professor, Department of Applied Economics, Autonomous University of Barcelona
• Frank Ackerman
  Principal Economist, Synapse Energy Economics
• Gail Whiteman
  Professor
• Gautam Sethi
  Associate Professor of Economics and Econometrics, Bard Center for Environmental Policy
• Helene Ollivier
  Research fellow of the CNRS and Associate Professor at Paris School of Economics
• Herman Daly 
  Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland
• Ian Kinniburgh
  Former Director of Department of Policy and Analysis Division, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
• Ilan Noy
  Chair in the Economics of Disasters, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• Ivar Ekeland
  Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Former President, the University of Paris-Dauphine
• Jaime De Melo
  Scientific Director at Ferdi (Emeritus Professor, University of Geneva)
• James Kenneth Galbraith
  Economist
• Jean Gadrey
  Jean Gadrey, former Professor of economics, University of Lille
• Jean-Pierre Ponssard,
  Senior Research Fellow CNRS France
• Jeffrey Sachs
  Economist, Senior UN Advisor
• John C. Quiggin
  Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and professor at the School of Economics, University of Queensland
• John Hewson
  Former Leader of the Federal Opposition, Australia
• Jon D. Erickson
  David Blittersdorf Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy
• José Almeida de Souza Jr.
  Economist
• Jusen Asuka
  Professor Tohoku University
• Kate Pickett
  Professor, University of York Research Champion for Justice & Equality
• Kate Raworth
  Senior Visiting Research Associate, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University
• Katheline Schubert
  Associate Professor at the Paris School of Economics and researcher at the Sorbonne Center for Economics.
• Katrin Millock
  Associate Professor, Paris School of Economics & Research Fellow at CNRS
• Lionel Fontagné
  Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics – University Paris 1
• Maria rosa ravelli abreu
  Prof. Universidade Brasilia
• Mariana Mazzucato
  Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, Director, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
• Mark Campanale
  Founder & Executive Director, Carbon Tracker Initiative
• Marzio Galeotti, Ph.D.
  Professor of Environmental and Energy Economics, University of Milan – Milan, Italy
• Maxime Combes
  Maxime Combes, economist for ATTAC
• Michael Jacobs
  Visiting Professor, School of Public Policy, University College London
• Michael Pirson
  Professor, Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University
• Mohammad A Jabbar
  Agricultural Economist, International Livestock Research Institute
• Mouez FODHA
  Professor of Economics, Paris School of Economics & University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne.
• Mutsuyoshi Nishimura
  Former Ambassador of Japan to the UNFCCC negotiations Research Fellow, The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIAA)
• Neva Rockefeller Goodwin
  Co-Director, Global Development And Environment Institute, Tufts University
• Nicolas Bouleau
  Mathematician, Economist
• Oliver Sartor, PhD
  Senior Research Fellow Climate and Energy, IDDRI
• Patrick Criqui
  Research Director, CNRS
• Peter A. Victor Ph.D.,FRSC
  Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
• Pierre-Richard Agenor
  Professor of International Macroeconomics and Development Economics, University of Manchester
• pirax didier
  Econnomist
• Prof Ross Garnaut
  Professorial Research Fellow in Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne
• Prof. James Renwick (Victoria University of Wellington
  Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences
• Prof. Michael Finus
  Chair in Environmental Economics
• Prof. Phoebe Koundouri
  Athens University of Economics and Business, Director of International Center for Research on the Environment and the Economy, Chair Sustainable Development SOlutions Network Greece
• Prof. Simone Borghesi
  President Elect IAERE – Italian Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
• Ramón López
  Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
• RENOUARD Cécile
  Professor, Centre Sèvres-Jesuit University of Paris and researcher, ESSEC Business School
• Reyer Gerlagh
  Professor of Economics, Tilburg University, Netherlands
• Richard Denniss
  Chief Economist, The Australia Institute
• Richard Wilkinson
  Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology University of Nottingham.
• Rick Van der Ploeg
  Professor of Economics and Research Director of the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies at Oxford University, former Chief Financial Spokesperson in the Dutch Parliament
• Robert Costanza
  VC’s Chair in Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University
• Robert M. Freund
  Theresa Seley Professor in Management Science, Sloan School of Management, MIT
• Serge Reliant
  Economiste
• Seyhun Orcan Sakalli
  Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Economics, University of Lausanne
• Shahriar Shahida
  Co-Chief Investment Officer Constellation Capital Management LLC
• Shuzo Nishioka
  Counsellor, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
• Slim Ben Youssef
  Professor, ESC de Tunis
• Suzi Kerr
  Senior Fellow, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
• Takeshi Mizuguchi
  Professor Takasaki City University Of Economics
• Terra Lawson-Remer
  Fellow at the Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences
• Thomas Porcher
  Associate Professor, Paris School of Business, member of “Les économistes attérrés
• Thomas Sterner
  Chair LOC World Conference of Environmental Economics
• Tim Jackson
  Professor, University of Surrey, UK
• Tom Sanzillo
  Director of Finance for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis
• Tom Steyer
  Founder and former co-senior managing partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank
• Valentina Bosetti
  Associate professor at the Department of Economics, Bocconi University, President of the Italian Association of Environmental Economists
• Véronique Seltz
  PhD in Economics
• Yanis Varoufakis
  Co-founder DiEM25, economist, former Greek finance minister
• Yifat Reuveni
  Head of social-finance innovation JDC College of Management business school, Faculty of Management – Tel Aviv University

For the petition site click here.