It’s time to stop feeling powerless in the face of global insecurity and recurring energy crises, and instead reclaim our democratic system so that it works for the many.

Since the US-Israel war on Iran began, we have witnessed a huge, coordinated lobbying push, cynically using this crisis to advocate for more, expanded domestic extraction of oil and gas. And as the crisis threatens to send the cost of living ever higher, these arguments are increasingly gaining ground.

This is a dangerous time for the fragile transition to a greener, fairer, and safer society.

We are constantly being told that:

• Energy sovereignty requires ‘maxing out the North Sea’ – even though our reliance on fossil fuels has made the UK more exposed to energy crises than other nations, and despite the fact that future oil will be sold on the global market at high prices.
• Reliance on fossil fuels is the price of geopolitical safety, even though the pursuit of energy dominance on behalf of Trump’s USA is threatening peace everywhere – from Palestine, Lebanon and Iran to Venezuela and Cuba.
• The economic burden of a crisis like this must fall on the most precarious in society, even while the oil and gas lobby stands to make super-profits through price gauging.

But we don’t have to stand for this.

The question before us is: Do we double down on the fossil fuels that are making our societies and economies increasingly fragile and unjust? Or do we seize this opportunity to accelerate the shift to a fairer, greener world?

That’s why Hope for the Future is organising this crucial event.

In the first half, we’ll be hearing from campaigners working at the heart of these questions. They’ll be providing us with a range of different campaigning and policy responses to the crisis, helping us to understand and respond to the new context.

So far, we’re excited to confirm that we will be joined by speakers from the Stop Rosebank campaign and the Transition Security Project, with more to be announced.

In the second half, we’ll be exploring a ‘counter-lobbying’ approach to taking campaign asks directly to those in power, showing them that the oil and gas industries don’t speak for us. This is a key way we can hold our politicians to account and fight for a just transition to a greener, safer world.

You can sign up for free at https://hftf.org.uk/event/oil-wars-workshop.