Archived press release

Call it off now fuel protestors told

2 November 2000

Friends of the Earth has called on fuel tax protestors to call off their planned “slow drive”from Jarrow to London. FOE Director Charles Secrett commented today that to continue with the action would be “an insult to people all over the country who have lost their homes and livelihoods in the floods and storms”.

Road transport is one of the fastest growing UK sources of carbon dioxide, the main gas causing climate change. High fuel taxes encourage the use of more efficient vehicles and discourage unnecessary journeys. The fuel tax protestors have demanded tax cuts of more than 26p a litre, which would cost the Treasury up to £12 billion, and lead to further increases in road traffic.

The 60-day deadline set by the protestors expires on the very day that world leaders meet in The Hague for a make-or-break summit on climate change. The enemies of climate change action are led by the US oil giants like Exxon (Esso), who persuaded the US Congress to refuse to ratify the 1997 Kyoto treaty requiring cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

No single extreme weather event can be said with certainty to have been caused by climate change. But the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which advises world governments on the issue has concluded:

• “small changes in mean temperature or climate variability can produce relatively large changes in the frequency of extreme weather events” (IPCC report: 1996)
• “Higher temperatures have already started to cause strong hurricanes, severe floods and droughts” (Draft IPCC report 2000, as quoted in the New York Times).

Last night, fourteen severe flood warnings were in force across eleven rivers in England and Wales. Claims related to bad weather cost British insurers £861 million in 1999. This year's bill is likely to be even higher.

Commenting, FOE Executive Director Charles Secrett said:
“It is time for the fuel tax protestors to call off their plans for direct action. The sight of these selfish men trying to bring the nation to halt again will anger all those who lost their homes in the current floods. We have to grow up as a society and realise that the days of cheap fuel are over. A quick fix at the pumps is not worth the human and material cost of climate change. The fuel protestors must learn that their actions will hurt others around the country and across the world.”

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust