On Thursday (the 3rd), it was announced that energy bills are rising to just under £2000 and that the energy price cap is set to rise by an astonishing £700.
Many people in the UK can barely afford to pay the bills as it is so this increase will push many into poverty. Meanwhile, on the same day this increase was announced, Shell announced that their annual earnings have quadrupled to £14 billion - their biggest profit in eight years! How come ordinary people have to struggle to pay for the necessities in life while fossil fuel companies are using our money to profit off the climate crisis, putting our lives and futures at risk?! It makes no sense and is beyond wrong! We are living in a climate emergency. It’s about time people were put before profit.
Below are some petitions by some fellow climate based campaigns to make a stand and add your voice to the conversation:
Greenpeace are calling on ‘Rishi Sunak and the government to introduce a windfall tax that oil and gas companies pay with the huge profits they have made from price rises. This could raise 4 billion pounds that can be used to protect people from falling into fuel poverty and future proof homes to cut bills and emissions in the future.’ [1] Join them in telling Rishi Sunak to back a windfall tax on the mega profits made by oil and gas companies and stand up for the people and our climate by signing the petition here.
Green New Deal Rising are a collective of young people calling on MPs to back the Green New Deal Bill. ‘A Green New Deal would mean a mass insulation programme to make our homes warmer. It also means a huge investment in renewables to secure cheap, clean energy for the future. And we can start paying for this by taxing dirty energy companies fairly right now. ‘ [2] Join them by calling for a Green New Deal to ‘Cut Energy Bills and Make Polluters Pay’ here.
We shouldn’t have to choose between paying the bills and putting food on the table whilst oil and gas companies continue to fund the fossil fuel industry, contributing to climate breakdown and carelessly stealing our future from under us.
[1] https://action.greenpeace.org.uk/OilandGasPayUp?source=EM&subsource=ECCLEMPEEM01KP&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Energy+Price+Crisis+(Windfall+Tax+Petition)++PE+20220204&utm_term=Full+List
[2] https://www.gndrising.org/campaigns/cut-energy-bills-and-make-polluters-pay/
