What We Do
Climate change represents the gravest threat to species and ecosystems in human history. We must act urgently and boldly to mitigate continued warming and other climate effects associated with fossil fuel extraction, processing, and burning. Environment Now works toward the rapid phase out of new fossil fuel development by supporting strategic advocacy and science, and advancing the shared right to a healthy climate.
Challenges
The world is on pace to hit 3.1°C warming this century, double the 1.5°C target. Even if nations meet all current promises, warming could be limited at best to a devastating 2.6°C. Nations must cut 42% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 to cling to 1.5°C — a target now likely out of reach, given the accelerating pace of GHG emissions.
Though the International Court of Justice calls climate change an “existential problem of planetary proportions,” and scientists warn that the “future of humanity hangs in the balance,” governments plan to produce double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than 1.5°C allows. The U.S. produces more crude oil than any other country, ever and leads the world in natural gas exports. Ongoing extraction and processing of fossil fuels further worsens future impacts, with each tenth of a degree of warming placing 100 million more people into unprecedented heat.
Our Partners
Environment Now’s partners work to decelerate the race to an irreversibly overheated planet through:
- Project and Accountability Action – Partners are working to prevent new fossil fuel extraction and processing projects, with a focus on California, and hold industry accountable for its fair share of the climate impacts of fossil fuels.
- Outreach and Movement Building – Partners are daylighting the harms related to fossil fuel extraction and helping build public support for the right to a healthy climate.
Successes
Passionate, talented partners have made significant progress in California, including: securing a ban on new fracking; setback requirements on oil and gas extraction to protect neighborhoods, schools, and other sensitive sites; and local community authority to prevent new drilling operations.
Elsewhere, partners are successfully advancing other initiatives to reduce the climate impacts of fossil fuels, by applying scientific and legal tools toward scaling back on the production of oil and gas, and conducting outreach around the right to a healthy climate.