Elizabeth Bast

Executive Director, Oil Change International

Oil Change International is a research, communications, and advocacy organization and Ford grantee that is working towards a just and equitable departure from fossil fuels. In 2023, we went to the UN Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates to push countries to acknowledge the need to eliminate fossil fuels to achieve our collective climate goals. It’s pretty commonly understood at this point that oil, gas, and coal play a driving role in climate change, yet the need to phase out fossil fuels hasn’t been stated explicitly in climate negotiations.

To keep global temperature rise under 1.5 degrees, we must allow zero new oil, gas, and coal development to move forward. We also should burn zero oil, gas, and coal by 2050 and give zero subsidies to fossil fuels if we’re going to achieve a just energy transition. And there is zero room for distractions from the fossil fuel industry to delay these changes happening.

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