Tens of thousands of protestors marched Sunday in New York City, advocating for an end to fossil fuels while calling on President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency.
Hundreds of organizations, climate advocates, actors, and political leaders attended the March to End Fossil Fuels to mark the beginning of New York’s Climate Week, which coincides with a special United Nations summit focused on the climate crisis scheduled for Wednesday.
The March to End Fossil Fuels is the largest climate mobilization in the United States since the start of the pandemic.
“Despite his climate rhetoric, Biden has approved a number of fossil fuel projects that could create more than a billion tons of new climate damaging greenhouse gases,” said New Jersey environmentalist Lisa McCormick. “A slew of White House actions are undermining efforts to address climate change and the United States is pumping more pollution from fossil fuels under President Joe Biden, than it did under former President Donald Trump..
McCormick said the U.S. broke its record for most fossil fuels produced in a year in 2022, and it’s on track to break that record for 2023.
Marchers are demanding that Biden stop all federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects, phase out the production of oil and gas on public lands and waters, and declare a climate emergency.
Over 700 organizations, led by march organizers at the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Popular Democracy, Climate Organizing Hub, Food & Water Watch, Fridays For Future USA & NYC, Earthworks, Greenfaith, Indigenous Environmental Network, New York Communities for Change, Oil Change International and Oil & Gas Action Network, supported today’s mass action.
In addition, more than 100 federal elected leaders, actors, and renowned climate activists lent their support to the march.
About 400 scientists and nearly 100 local elected officials in New York, Hawaii, and across the country sent letters to Biden asking him to end fossil fuel expansion and declare a climate emergency.
The New York March is part of over 600 actions taking place across the world in the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels.
Already, over 500,000 people have joined demonstrations urging world leaders to phase out fossil fuels, including actions in Germany, Kenya, Bangladesh, Peru, the North Pole, and Antarctica.
On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will host the Climate Ambition Summit in New York City.
In an unprecedented move, Guterres is setting a standard for attending countries to present fossil fuel phaseout plans and commit to no new oil, gas, and coal.
The White House said Biden does not plan to attend the Climate Ambition Summit.
March organizers and global activists met with U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Selwin Hart on Friday to express support for the summit’s Ambition Agenda. Momentum to end fossil fuels continues to build across the United States.
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against major oil companies over decades of disinformation and harm that have cost the state billions of dollars.
California is by far the largest U.S. entity to file such a case.
The March to End Fossil Fuels and the UN Climate Ambition Summit comes on the heels of new reports that show the urgent need to end the use of fossil fuels.
The “Planet Wreckers” report from Oil Change International found the United States accounts for more than one-third of planned global oil and gas expansion through 2050.
A study released on Friday by Jeremy Symons finds increased exports of oil and gas have undermined the emissions reductions in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.