Week 4 vigil outside Peter Khalil’s Office on Tuesday 24 June 2025 between 11am and 1pm.

We knitted, we danced, we talked to passers by, we drank coffee, we played music, we chaulked messages on the pavement, we discussed the current situation here in Australia and globally with climate action.

We handed in to the office an article published in Science, 30 May 2024: No new fossil fuel projects: The norm we need. A social-moral norm against new fossil fuel projects has strong potential to contribute to achieving global climate goals.

Fergus Green et al., No new fossil fuel projects: The norm we need. Science 384,954-957(2024).DOI:10.1126/science.adn6533

Abstract

Global production and use of fossil fuels continue to expand, making the goals of the Paris Agreement ever more difficult to achieve. Echoing calls made by climate advocates for years, the groundbreaking decision at the United Nations (UN) climate meeting in late 2023 (COP28) calls on parties “to contribute to…transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” The normative case for ultimately phasing out fossil fuels is strong, and in some cases, it is feasible to phase out projects before the end of their economic life. However, the movement should focus on a more feasible, yet crucial, step on the road to fossil fuel phaseout: stopping fossil fuel expansion. Proponents of ambitious climate action should direct policy and advocacy efforts toward building a global “No New Fossil” norm, encompassing exploration for and development of new fossil fuel extraction sites, and permitting and construction of new, large-scale fossil fuel–consuming infrastructure.

For those of you without an academic subscription to Science, an author’s manuscript is available to read.

For more information on no new coal, oil or gas visit our leaflet page with Arabic, Greek and Italian translations, with an extensive updated list of references.