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Block the european gas conference: Let's break the grip of the fossil gas lobby! Power to the People!

The fossil-fuelled energy system is not only the biggest cause of the climate crisis – it is an integral part of the exploitative capitalist system. Decisions that maintain this system are dominated by a network of corporate and political elites that operate without the inclusion of affected people in events like the European Gas Conference.

In the past, the European Gas Conference has not made public its discussions. What we do know however is that the future of our energy security was being decided in more than 100 private meetings, contributing to spikes in demand for LNG, the date to exit Russian gas in Europe and the financial agreements for huge fossil infrastructure projects. All behind closed doors. All without public consultation.

All the big fossil corporations will be present in Vienna: BP, Total, RWE, Equinor, OMV and many more. In the last year, they all have made record profits from skyrocketing prices that forced people into energy poverty. At this conference, new fossil gas projects are being negotiated that will bind us to fossil energy for decades. Among them are RePowerEU projects such as the TransAdriatic Pipeline and LNG Terminals like the ones in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven. These are all projects that social movements have been and continue to fight against on the ground! Now the same companies come together to Vienna to avoid criticism on the ground. We won’t let that happen!

The current push for gas is harmful to everyone except fossil fuel corporations. This leads to corporations profiting off our basic needs, all the while destroying our chances of remaining below the vital 1.5 degree limit of global heating. New fossil gas infrastructure is designed to be used for several decades, being a further catalyst for war and economic precarity across the world. Now, the Gas Industrial Complex is using the Russian invasion in Ukraine to inflate the importance of fossil gas projects and encourage mass investments.

In Europe, our dependence on fossil fuels has led to sky-rocketing inflation, energy and cost of living crises, as well as dependence on autocratic states. At the same time, the extraction of gas is causing massive destruction and the recent hoarding on the LNG market by Europe is creating much bigger energy and economic crisis in countries of the Global South. Current plans by the European gas industry in the Global South would tremendously extend colonial injustices by exploiting local resources, dispossessing their communities and irreversibly damaging ecosystems.
We must now put an end to this climate destruction, energy injustice, and neo-colonialism! That’s why people from all over Europe and beyond are coming together in Vienna at the end of March during the European Gas Conference to say: power to the people, down with corporations! Let’s overcome capitalism, degrowth now!

We call all people fighting for a just, sustainable and public energy system to join our struggle – in Vienna and in solidarity with other struggles around the world. We fight for our right to clean, affordable, local and community-owned energy systems – together with all those who have been struggling to heat their homes this winter and all those who are denied basic access to energy. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the communities on the front lines suffering from the destructive energy regime that is made and imposed by European corporations and politicians – at events like the European Gas Conference!

We will be disobedient and take action to show that there is no ‘business as usual’ in the face of the multiple crises. We will not accept false solutions that place profit before people’s needs. We will be MANY, because many are suffering under this system. We will be INTERSECTIONAL because this struggle affects everyone. We will be LOUD because we have no voice where the decisions are made. We will not be stopped by unjust laws that protect corruption and corporate destruction of people and the planet.

Let’s come together in Vienna and initiate the beginning of the end of this fossil gas madness! Let’s show that we can reclaim the power! Let’s make this European Gas Conference the last one!

All informations about the action: https://blockgas.org/