Sign to stop wealthy countries and institutions from using foreign assistance and other public resources to subsidize the activities of international oil companies.

June 2007

Organizations wishing to endorse the call can send a e-mail including name of organization and name of contact person, to Graham Saul at graham@priceofoil.org

We, the undersigned representatives of development, environment, human rights, community, and indigenous rights groups, are calling on wealthy countries and international institutions to stop using foreign assistance and other public resources to subsidize the activities of international oil companies. These subsidies fuel overconsumption in wealthy countries, benefit an already highly profitable and well-established industry, and exacerbate many of the most urgent problems facing humanity today. It is time to end oil aid.

Money that is supposed to be going to help people in impoverished countries is instead being used to subsidize the oil industry. This oil aid is increasing conflict and poverty in many parts of the world and fueling oil dependence and global warming. The World Bank's own Extractive Industries Review called in late-2003 for an end to oil aid when it recommended that "The World Bank Group should phase out investments in oil production by 2008 and devote its scarce resources to investments in renewable energy resource development.". Tragically, the World Bank chose to ignore this recommendation and multilateral development banks continue to use public money to subsidize oil companies.

The World Bank Group alone has provided more than $5 billion to oil extraction projects since 1992, while devoting only a small fraction of its energy budget to clean, renewable energy sources. Moreover, in the oil sector, over 80 percent of the World Bank's approved finance goes to projects that export to the North. These projects are not about alleviating energy poverty - they're about corporate welfare for oil companies and feeding oil addiction in wealthy countries.

Export credit agencies are also providing subsidies worth billions of dollars a year to oil and gas extraction projects and pipelines. Exxon Mobil alone has received more than a billion dollars in support from export credit agencies since 1995 and companies such as Shell, Halliburton, BP and Chevron, Total and Repsol have received hundreds of millions from these publicly owned institutions.

Oil companies are benefiting from this "oil aid" at the same time that they register record profits. As independent research has increasingly indicated, international oil companies are hindering, not promoting, development in poor countries, fueling conflict and sinking oil-producing countries deeper into poverty and economic inequality. Continued oil dependence has a disproportionate impact on the world's poorest countries at a time of high oil prices, thereby undermining the benefits of debt cancellation and harming the very countries that international institutions like the World Bank should be helping.

Due to these and many other problems, it has long been clear that subsidizing oil companies is not an effective or justifiable way to spend limited development assistance and other public money, but global warming has brought the crisis associated with our addiction to oil into focus like never before. Greenhouse gas emissions from wealthy countries over the past century are largely responsible for the growing problem of climate change, but it is the world's most impoverished countries that will bear a disproportionate burden in the coming decades. By using aid and other public money to subsidize the expansion of oil production, wealthy countries and international institutions are actively exacerbating the problem of global climate change without addressing the core issue of overcoming energy poverty.

Ending oil aid and supporting truly sustainable energy alternatives would be an important step in addressing energy poverty and catalyzing a new energy future. With this in mind, we are calling for an end to international assistance to oil companies.

Organizational endorsements and contact people:

International:
African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, Based in Zimbabwe, Charles Mutasa
Central and Eastern Europe Bankwatch Network, Based in the Czech Republic, Petr Hlobil
Friends of the Earth Europe, Based in Belgium, Paul de Clerck
Friends of the Earth International, Based in the Netherlands, Janneke Bruil
Greenpeace southeast Asia, Shailendra Yashwant
Jubilee South, Based in Philippines, Lidy Nacpil
Oil Change International, Based in the U.S.A, Steve Kretzmann or Graham Saul
Oil Watch Sudamerica, Based in Ecuador, Ivonne Yanez

Austria:
GLOBAL 2000, Silva Herrmann

Azerbaijan:
Oil Workers Rights Protection Public Union, Sona Taghiyeva
Himayadar Humanitarian Organization, Himayat Rizvanqizi

Bangladesh:
Banglapraxis, Zakir Kibria

Belgium:
FERN - Belgium/UK, Judith Neyer

Brazil:
Coletivo Alternativa Verde - CAVE, Cesar Augusto Guimarães Pereira

Cameroon:
Global Village Cameroon, Wirsiy Emmanuel Binyuy

Canada:
Halifax Initiative, Fraser Reilly-King
Sustainable Scale Project, Jack Santa-Barbara

France:
Amis de la Terre France, Gwenael Wasse
Helio International, Laura Williamson

Germany:
erlassjahr.de, Jurgen Kaiser
Urgewald, Regine Richter
World Ecology, Economy and Development (WEED), Daniela Setton

Ghana:
Foundation for Grassroots Initiatives in Africa, Yakubu Zakaria

Indonesia:
Yayasan Pelangi Indonesia, Nyoman Iswarayoga

Italy:
Campaign to Reform the World Bank, Antonio Tricarico or Elena Gerebizza

Japan:
Friends of the Earth Japan, Naomi Kanzaki

Kazakhstan:
Ecological Society Green Salvation, Sergey Solyanik

Kenya:
Solidarity Network Africa, Soren Ambrose

Malawi:
Citizens For Justice-(CFJ) Malawi, Reinford Mwangonde

Nigeria:
Community Research and Development Centre (CREDC), Etiosa Uyigue
Centre for Research and Action on Developing Locales (CRADLE), Richard Ingwe
Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Nnimmo Bassey

Poland:
Polish Green Network, Anna Roggenbuck

Russia:
Sakhalin Environment Watch, Dimitry Lisitsyn

Senegal:
African Forum on Alternatives, Demba Moussa Dembele

South Africa:
South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), Desmond D'Sa
groundWork, Bobby Peek

South Korea:
Citizens' Movement for Environmental Justice, Su Jin Yim

Spain:
Deuda en la Globalización (Catalonia, Spanish State), Monica Vargas

Switzerland:
Berne Declaration, Andres Missbach
Alliance Sud, Bruno Gurtner

United Kingdom:
Bretton Woods Project, Lucy Baker
Corner House, Larry Lohmann
New Economics Foundation, Andrew Simms
Platform, Mika Minio Paluello

United States of America
Amazon Watch, Maria Lya Ramos
Bank Information Center, Bruce Jenkins
Friends of the Earth U.S., David Waskow
Jubilee USA, Neil Watkins
50 Years is Enough: US Network for Global Economic Justice, Sameer Dossani

Uzbekistan:
Center "Armon", Dilbar Zaynutdinova