– With this peaceful action, the platform exposes the company’s responsibility in the climate crisis under the slogan ‘Repsol, leading ways to fry the planet’ and calls for the cessation of its fossil activities as soon as possible.

– This action of civil disobedience is part of the wave of climate rebellion that began on 5 June, which will continue throughout the month of July in different parts of the state.

On Monday, more than 100 activists from Rebelión por el Clima, a platform supported by XXX, blocked access to the Repsol Technology Lab, Repsol’s technological research centre in Móstoles (Madrid) to denounce the company’s responsibility in the climate crisis and to call for the cessation of its fossil fuel activities as soon as possible, and no later than 2040. The activists have chosen this location for the action because it is in this type of centres and from the company’s innovation departments that controversial new technologies linked to fossil fuels are developed.

During this action, which began at 11:00 a.m. and took place peacefully under the slogan “Repsol, leading ways to fry the planet”, the activists gained access to the roof of the sentry box at the entrance to the headquarters and blocked themselves with metal tubes to three five-metre tripods placed in front of the entrance. In addition, a human cordon of dozens of people was deployed throughout the area.

With this action of civil disobedience and through different banners, the organisations appeal to the role played by Repsol as the leading company in greenhouse gas emissions in Spain, in the development of false solutions to alleviate the climate crisis, in the extractivism of resources in countries of the Global South and in the hoarding of public funds and fossil fuel lobbying.

Repsol, leader in emissions. In 2020, after the closure of some of the coal-fired power plants operating in Spain, Repsol will become the Spanish company that emits the most greenhouse gases and, therefore, the one that contributes most to global warming. According to data from the Sustainability Observatory, in 2020 it emitted 11,290,294 tonnes of CO2eq, 12.4% of total emissions in the emissions market. Far from reality, Repsol should reduce its emissions rapidly to align itself with a climate scenario of 1.5ºC, as agreed in Paris.

Repsol, leader in false solutions. Rebelión por el Clima denounces that Repsol is trying to hide this data and mislead the public by promoting false solutions to the climate emergency. The platform points not only to its greenwashing advertising campaigns, but also to the development of controversial new technologies such as fossil hydrogen, carbon capture, synthetic fuels, biofuels or unsustainable green hydrogen projects, whose economic, energy and environmental viability is highly questionable. “These measures are not aimed at alleviating the rise in global temperatures, but at continuing to perpetuate a predatory and toxic energy model for people and the planet”, according to Rebelión por el Clima.

Repsol, leader in extractivism. Repsol continues to have a strong presence in Latin American and African countries, where it promotes the plundering and extractivism of energy resources – such as coal and oil – at the cost of serious environmental impacts, the violation of human rights and the displacement of local populations. Moreover, Repsol has participated in the creation of a system of transnational impunity according to which, through instruments such as the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), companies are not only exempt from liability for damages caused, but can sue states in private courts for the implementation of legitimate measures to end fossil fuels.

Repsol, a leader in profiteering. Despite Repsol’s huge profits, the company is trying to absorb part of the European Next Generation Funds designed for economic recovery after the COVID-19 crisis without any kind of climate, environmental or social commitment, denounce the activists of Rebel for Climate. Repsol aims to mobilise 5.959 billion euros of public money for a portfolio of 30 energy projects, including sectors such as hydrogen and gas in regions such as Bilbao, A Coruña and Puertollano. Furthermore, the company’s lobbying of the new Climate Change and Energy Transition Law has led to the use of gas in transport being permitted.

In view of this situation, Rebelión por el Clima makes four very clear demands to Repsol:

1. The development of a plan to shut down all its fossil activities to align with a 1.5°C climate scenario, reducing its emissions rapidly and decarbonising no later than 2040.

2. A halt to all lines of research aimed at hybridisation with fossil fuels and those that would violate planetary boundaries and the achievement of the Paris Agreement targets. Climate traps such as carbon capture or obtaining hydrogen from fossil fuels.

3. Immediate closure of all projects where there are suspicions of human rights violations.

4. The cessation of misleading greenwashing environmental messaging and the withdrawal of its application for public funds.

Just a few weeks ago, nine activists from Rebelión por el Clima who were prosecuted for spilling crushed tomato and squid ink at Repsol’s headquarters to denounce the company’s climate negligence, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, were found to be in the right. Days earlier, a Dutch court handed down a landmark ruling against Shell, which has been forced to reduce its emissions by 45% by 2030. “We are at an unprecedented climate crossroads. Civil society must continue to fight for justice. Companies responsible for the climate crisis, such as Repsol, cannot go unpunished. We will continue to protest until we achieve climate and social justice”, declared the activists of Rebel for Climate.

 

Last modified: Monday June 21st, 2021