Climate & Energy Justice
Friends of the Earth’s Climate & Energy Justice Team is building toward energy systems that center ecological integrity, environmental justice, and human rights.
Climate & Energy Justice
Our strategies and tactics are rooted in addressing the historic and ongoing systems of capitalist, racial, class, and colonial inequities that harm people and the planet.
We seek to end the extraction, development, and utilization of fossil fuels and other forms of dirty energy driving the climate crisis. We similarly work to stop the proliferating number of false solutions diverting political will and resources away from the urgent need to equitably phase out fossil fuels in line with science, justice, and the United States’ fair share of the global mitigation and financial burden.
Frequently Asked Questions
Climate and energy justice means creating a cleaner energy system that protects people, communities, and the planet. It focuses on phasing out fossil fuels and other forms of dirty energy that drive climate change. It means phasing out fossil fuels equitably and quickly, and making sure everyone has access to safe, affordable clean energy.
Renewable energy is energy that comes from natural sources that can be used again and again, like sunlight and wind. Unlike fossil fuels, which are finite and take millions of years to form, renewable energy sources like solar and wind power do not run out.
Fossil fuels are energy sources such as coal, oil, and fossil gas (which the fossil fuel industry calls natural gas) that come from ancient organic matter and release large amounts of greenhouse gases when extracted and burned. Fossil fuels are carbon-polluting fuels that drive climate change and environmental injustice.
Friends of the Earth supports policies that:
- Expand clean renewable energy
- Phase out fossil fuel use
- Protect public lands and water
- Support environmental justice
- Hold polluters accountable
- Improve energy efficiency
Friends of the Earth opposes policies that:
- Expand oil, gas, and coal projects
- Increase fossil fuel subsidies
- Weaken environmental protections
- Promote harmful false climate solutions like nuclear energy, carbon offsets, biofuels, and geoengineering
- Allow unchecked pollution and corporate greenwashing
A false climate solution is a misleading policy, practice, or technology that claims to address the climate crisis while allowing fossil fuel and other dirty energy pollution to continue. Rather than cutting greenhouse gas emissions at their source, these approaches create the appearance of climate action while still harming our environment and people.
False solutions divert attention and resources away from proven strategies like renewable energy that can rapidly reduce emissions.
Examples of false climate solutions that Friends of the Earth opposes:
- Nuclear: Nuclear energy is energy produced from the splitting of atoms — usually uranium — in a nuclear reactor, where the heat released is used to generate electricity. From uranium mining to radioactive waste disposal, the nuclear industry is dangerous to communities and future generations.
- Geoengineering: Geoengineering is the deliberate, large-scale manipulation of the Earth’s climate system to try and counteract global warming. From injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to dumping agricultural waste into the ocean, geoengineering practices are untested, risky, and can create major side effects on the Earth’s weather systems, ecology, agriculture, and public health.
- Net-Zero: Net-zero is the practice where an entity balances the greenhouse gases it has released into the atmosphere with actions that offset them. In practice, this simply lets corporations pay a fee to let them continue polluting instead of directly cutting emissions.
- Carbon Offsets: This is the idea that greenhouse gas emissions generated through one activity can be cancelled out by removal of the same amount of carbon through another activity elsewhere. Carbon offsetting allows big polluters and their financial backers — from oil and gas companies to agribusiness and Wall Street banks — to continue emitting greenhouse gases while paying farmers, foresters, and others to “offset” their emissions. More than a decade of carbon trading has shown that carbon markets are ineffective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Biomass: Biomass is energy made from organic materials like wood. The extraction, processing, and use of biomass pollutes air, land, and water and harms communities. At the smokestack, woody biomass is one of the dirtiest sources of energy, producing more carbon and toxic pollutants than even coal.
- Biofuels: Biofuels are fuels made from organic materials (like corn, sugarcane, or vegetable oils) and converted into liquid fuels like ethanol or biodiesel. Biofuels like ethanol are supposed to offer a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline — but science and data show they fail to reduce emissions, pollute the air and water, and harm soil health and biodiversity.
- Hydrogen: Hydrogen is an energy carrier produced from other energy sources like methane gas or electricity. Without strong and enforceable guardrails, hydrogen projects can actually increase emissions above those of natural gas (fossil energy) and can become another baseless offset for polluters.
Friends of the Earth recommends:
- A just transition away from fossil fuels and other forms of dirty energy like biofuels
- Expanding renewable energy
- Improving energy efficiency
- Protecting frontline communities
- Strengthening environmental laws
- Investing in climate justice solutions
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