Largest global civil disobedience in the history of the Climate Movement

Twelve days of unprecedented world-wide action against fossil fuels have just concluded, showing that the climate movement will not rest until all coal, oil and gas is kept in the ground.

The combined global efforts of activists on six continents now pose a serious threat to the future of the fossil fuel industry, already weakened by financial and political uncertainty.

Tens of thousands of activists took to the streets, occupied mines, blocked rail lines, linked arms, paddled in kayaks and held community meetings in 13 countries, pushing the boundaries of conventional protest to find new ways to demand coal, oil and gas stay in the ground.

Participants risked arrest -- many for the first time -- to say that it’s time to Break Free from the current energy paradigm that is locking the planet into a future of catastrophic climate change.

In Nigeria, a coalition of climate justice organisations gathered with representatives of oil communities at Oloibiri, the site of the first oil well in Nigeria, as well as at Ogoni and Ibeno to emphasize fossil fuel’s role in climate change, call an end to the Nigerian economic dependence on oil and to reduce adverse effects of climate change.

The activists also demanded an end to the extreme pollution caused by endless oil spills and toxic dumps in the Niger Delta. At the concluding action at Ibeno, fisherfolks called for an halt to oil extraction, insisting that fish is far more valuable than crude oil.

"Breaking free from fossil fuels is a vote for life and for the planet. The Paris Agreement signed by world leaders ignored the fact that burning fossil fuels is the major culprit in global warming. In these actions the peoples of the world will insist that we must come clean of the fossil fuels addiction," stated Nnimmo Bassey, Nigerian activist from the Health of Mother Earth Foundation.

Driving this unprecedented wave of demonstrations is the sudden and dramatic acceleration in the warming of the planet, with every single month of 2016 shattering heat records – combined with the growing gap between world governments' stated climate ambitions, and their demonstrated actions in approving new fossil fuel projects.

On the last day of mobilisation, a key monitoring site on Tasmania recorded atmospheric carbon-dioxide exceeding 400 parts per million for the first time ever.

These actions took place under the banner of Break Free, which refers to the need to shift away from our current dependency on fossil fuels to a global energy system powered by 100% renewable energy.

In 2015, 90% of new energy capacity came from renewables, signaling that a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy is more feasible than ever.

As the impacts of a warming planet become more visible in the form of rising sea levels, drought and stronger storms, the citizens who joined Break Free will continue to be a part of the next phase of the movement as it becomes more vocal, disruptive and powerful.

“People power in our cities, in our villages and on the frontlines of climate change have brought us to a point where we have a global climate deal - but we do not stop now, we need more action and faster. Civil society is set to rise up again, to fight for our societies to break free from fossil fuels, to propel them even faster towards a just future powered by 100% renewable energy,” said Wael Hmaidan, Director of Climate Action Network.