Stop Royal College of GPs from hosting conferences on oil and gas exploration
Stop Royal College of GPs from hosting conferences on oil and gas exploration
The Issue
Thank you to all of you who signed and shared this petition. The Royal College of GP’s (RCGP) has now prevented the event from happening on their premises and issued a full statement. Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College said “We deeply regret that a booking was accepted to host an event at our headquarters that conflicts with the College’s longstanding commitment to combat the impact of climate change on the environment and on the health of our patients” (full statement below).
What a fantastic outcome. We are delighted at the result and the decision taken by the RGCP.
When we first heard that an event was being held that was “helping the [oil and gas] industry to improve exploration success” we were shocked that the fossil fuel industry was still pressing ahead with a ‘business as usual’ approach given the climate emergency we are in. It came as a further shock to us when we realised it was being held at the headquarters of the RCGP, an organisation that has joined the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and is aware of the impact of climate change on human health. It appears that the same event has happened there in previous years - booked through the company Searcy’s who manage the events at the College - and we are delighted that this positive action has now been taken in line with the College’s values and commitment to divest from fossil fuels.
Since launching the petition it has been very heartening to discover the many passionate Doctors within the College and healthcare practitioners working to take this issue forwards. Without the groundwork done within the College and the lobbying of RCGP members, input from numerous other XR members and the willingness of protesters to attend the event it is likely to have gone ahead as in previous years. We also honour the long history of activism to protect this living planet, much of which has been unseen, and remind ourselves that without that we would not have the tools or the organisation or inspiration to act now. So many elements, past and present, seen and unseen come together to produce outcomes like this, we bow to them all.
We are at a time of transition and therefore friction and while we feel joy for this outcome we also understand it has been stressful for a number of people within the College and to Searcy’s staff and to Oil and Gas UK. We acknowledge this and the truth that change can be painful and unwelcome. To quote Greta Thunberg ‘People are waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not’. As we challenge ourselves, our governments, institutions, companies, employers, colleagues, friends, even our lovers to protect this living planet we will not always know exactly what the right thing to do is. And yet we must act to protect our shared home. On this occasion something went well. However whilst Greta speaks at the UN and is celebrated as Time magazine’s Person of the Year, the police issue guidance (now withdrawn) to report school climate strikers to the Prevent programme as extremists. We seek to hold steady in the face of praise and blame and success and failure. And we also see people stepping up, in all walks of life whether as activists or not, and we see the receptivity and courage and decisiveness of the College. In this we find our trust in the inherent wisdom and compassion of our precious species.
We very much hope that this situation will serve as an inspiration to the College to go further with its efforts.
We will still be tracking the Oil & Gas Conference itself and be looking for it at its replacement venue.
Searcy’s also have questions to answer: what is their position on offering venues at extremely prestigious locations (https://searcys.co.uk/event-venues/ to an industry which is poisoning our planet?
With many thanks for your support
XR Buddhists
The following is a press release from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) issued 16 January
The College has announced today that an oil and gas conference due to take place at its headquarters has been cancelled
Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We deeply regret that a booking was accepted to host an event at our headquarters that conflicts with the College’s longstanding commitment to combat the impact of climate change on the environment and on the health of our patients.
“The conference in question was clearly not a College event, but it would have compromised our integrity as the first medical Royal College to divest from fossil fuel companies. We are extremely conscious of the irreversible damage being caused by gas, electricity and oil companies in their exploitation of energy reserves, and the direct link this has on greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our building at 30 Euston Square also operates as an external conference venue, contracted by us to a third party event management company. Whilst there is guidance about who can use the College premises, it did not explicitly exclude fossil fuel companies. This was an oversight on our part and we apologise to our members and thank them for their patience while we worked through a number of complicated issues, including the legal implications of our action.
“We are already in the process of reviewing the contractual agreement in place and the policies we have with the event management company. We are also reviewing our College sponsorship policy and will ensure that any third party activity is aligned with this to guard against a similar situation ever happening again in future.”
https://www.rcgp.org.uk/about-us/news/2020/january/energy-conference-cancelled-after-college-concerns.aspx
Original Petition:
The Royal College of GPs must withdraw support from a conference on oil and gas exploration being held at their headquarters.
The Oil and Gas UK Exploration Conference is being held on 29 January 2020 at 30 Euston Square, London NW1 2FB, premises owned by the Royal College of General Practitioners.
A conference dedicated to “help the industry to improve [oil and gas] exploration success” is not compatible with the urgent action needed to address the climate emergency we are facing.
We call upon the Royal College of General Practitioners to withdraw their support for this conference and all future conferences by Oil and Gas UK and to ensure RCGP headquarters are not used by organisations that threaten public health by promoting the use of fossil fuels.
The RCGP describe Climate Change as one of their policy and campaign areas and state they have decided to stop any investment in fossil fuels. For this conference to happen on the site of their headquarters appears to go against these statements and the Hippocratic Oath (to do good or avoid evil).
In order to say within the Paris Agreement and limit global heating to 1.5C, CO2 emissions need to rapidly decrease. The UN International Panel on Climate Change has calculated a carbon budget for the planet which gives the world a 2/3rds chance of staying below 1.5C and emissions need to reduce globally at a rate of 7.6% every year to keep within 1.5C. If the UK’s emissions continue at current their current trajectory, we will have exceeded our part of that carbon budget by 2026. The simple reality is that we must immediately reduce our use of fossil fuels and not explore for fresh reserves.
The World Health Organisation has estimated up to 250,000 additional deaths between 2030 and 2050 as a result of climate change. The Lancet Countdown Report is the work by 35 academic institutions and UN agencies from every continent and the consensus of climate scientists, public health professionals and doctors and the most authoritative assessment of the impact of climate change on the health of the global population. Their 2019 Report documents:
- Last year alone there were an additional 220 million exposures to heatwaves (during the European heatwave of 2003 there were 20,000 additional deaths. At 3-4 degrees of warming, that would be a normal summer);
- That means more heat stress and heat stroke, acute kidney injuries, heart failures, but also increased risk of interpersonal and collective violence;
- A business-as-usual response to climate change is expected to result in an additional 2 billion flood-exposure events per year by 2090, which “will likely overwhelm health systems and public infrastructure”;
- With more heat and rain, conditions are becoming increasingly optimal for diseases to spread. And that means more people will be at risk of infection. For example, a billion additional people will be at risk of malaria and dengue by the end of the century as the mosquito responsible for spreading those diseases moves into new territories.
Fossil fuel emissions that contribute to global warming also produce fine particulate matter that pollutes the air we breathe. The health consequences of this are profound:
- In 2016, air pollution resulted in 2.9 million premature deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases;
- In Europe, the figure is approximately 790,000 premature deaths;
- In the UK, according to a study produced by Royal College of Physicians air pollution resulted in 40,000 premature deaths in 2016 from lung and heart disease.
The Lancet Commission concludes: “unless immediate action is taken a child born today will experience a world that is more than four degrees warmer than the pre-industrial average, with climate change impacting human health from infancy and adolescence to adulthood and old age”.
We must massively reduce our dependence upon fossil fuels and do so immediately. Exploring for new oil and gas is to show reckless indifference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. We must all act now.The Royal College of General Practitioners must show leadership and integrity and withdraw their support for this conference and all future conferences by Oil and Gas UK and ensure RCGP headquarters are not used by organisations that threaten public health by promoting the use of fossil fuels.
Extinction Rebellion Buddhists
With thanks to Dr Andrew Harmer, Senior Lecturer in Global Health, Queen Mary University of London for allowing us to use some of his writing in this petition
References
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploration-conference-29-january-2020-tickets-64421299842
https://bjgp.org/content/62/604/591
https://www.cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/zero-carbon-sooner/
http://www.lancetcountdown.org/2019-report/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/air-pollution-smoking-deaths-compare-a8818851.html
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution
Victory
The Issue
Thank you to all of you who signed and shared this petition. The Royal College of GP’s (RCGP) has now prevented the event from happening on their premises and issued a full statement. Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College said “We deeply regret that a booking was accepted to host an event at our headquarters that conflicts with the College’s longstanding commitment to combat the impact of climate change on the environment and on the health of our patients” (full statement below).
What a fantastic outcome. We are delighted at the result and the decision taken by the RGCP.
When we first heard that an event was being held that was “helping the [oil and gas] industry to improve exploration success” we were shocked that the fossil fuel industry was still pressing ahead with a ‘business as usual’ approach given the climate emergency we are in. It came as a further shock to us when we realised it was being held at the headquarters of the RCGP, an organisation that has joined the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and is aware of the impact of climate change on human health. It appears that the same event has happened there in previous years - booked through the company Searcy’s who manage the events at the College - and we are delighted that this positive action has now been taken in line with the College’s values and commitment to divest from fossil fuels.
Since launching the petition it has been very heartening to discover the many passionate Doctors within the College and healthcare practitioners working to take this issue forwards. Without the groundwork done within the College and the lobbying of RCGP members, input from numerous other XR members and the willingness of protesters to attend the event it is likely to have gone ahead as in previous years. We also honour the long history of activism to protect this living planet, much of which has been unseen, and remind ourselves that without that we would not have the tools or the organisation or inspiration to act now. So many elements, past and present, seen and unseen come together to produce outcomes like this, we bow to them all.
We are at a time of transition and therefore friction and while we feel joy for this outcome we also understand it has been stressful for a number of people within the College and to Searcy’s staff and to Oil and Gas UK. We acknowledge this and the truth that change can be painful and unwelcome. To quote Greta Thunberg ‘People are waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not’. As we challenge ourselves, our governments, institutions, companies, employers, colleagues, friends, even our lovers to protect this living planet we will not always know exactly what the right thing to do is. And yet we must act to protect our shared home. On this occasion something went well. However whilst Greta speaks at the UN and is celebrated as Time magazine’s Person of the Year, the police issue guidance (now withdrawn) to report school climate strikers to the Prevent programme as extremists. We seek to hold steady in the face of praise and blame and success and failure. And we also see people stepping up, in all walks of life whether as activists or not, and we see the receptivity and courage and decisiveness of the College. In this we find our trust in the inherent wisdom and compassion of our precious species.
We very much hope that this situation will serve as an inspiration to the College to go further with its efforts.
We will still be tracking the Oil & Gas Conference itself and be looking for it at its replacement venue.
Searcy’s also have questions to answer: what is their position on offering venues at extremely prestigious locations (https://searcys.co.uk/event-venues/ to an industry which is poisoning our planet?
With many thanks for your support
XR Buddhists
The following is a press release from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) issued 16 January
The College has announced today that an oil and gas conference due to take place at its headquarters has been cancelled
Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We deeply regret that a booking was accepted to host an event at our headquarters that conflicts with the College’s longstanding commitment to combat the impact of climate change on the environment and on the health of our patients.
“The conference in question was clearly not a College event, but it would have compromised our integrity as the first medical Royal College to divest from fossil fuel companies. We are extremely conscious of the irreversible damage being caused by gas, electricity and oil companies in their exploitation of energy reserves, and the direct link this has on greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our building at 30 Euston Square also operates as an external conference venue, contracted by us to a third party event management company. Whilst there is guidance about who can use the College premises, it did not explicitly exclude fossil fuel companies. This was an oversight on our part and we apologise to our members and thank them for their patience while we worked through a number of complicated issues, including the legal implications of our action.
“We are already in the process of reviewing the contractual agreement in place and the policies we have with the event management company. We are also reviewing our College sponsorship policy and will ensure that any third party activity is aligned with this to guard against a similar situation ever happening again in future.”
https://www.rcgp.org.uk/about-us/news/2020/january/energy-conference-cancelled-after-college-concerns.aspx
Original Petition:
The Royal College of GPs must withdraw support from a conference on oil and gas exploration being held at their headquarters.
The Oil and Gas UK Exploration Conference is being held on 29 January 2020 at 30 Euston Square, London NW1 2FB, premises owned by the Royal College of General Practitioners.
A conference dedicated to “help the industry to improve [oil and gas] exploration success” is not compatible with the urgent action needed to address the climate emergency we are facing.
We call upon the Royal College of General Practitioners to withdraw their support for this conference and all future conferences by Oil and Gas UK and to ensure RCGP headquarters are not used by organisations that threaten public health by promoting the use of fossil fuels.
The RCGP describe Climate Change as one of their policy and campaign areas and state they have decided to stop any investment in fossil fuels. For this conference to happen on the site of their headquarters appears to go against these statements and the Hippocratic Oath (to do good or avoid evil).
In order to say within the Paris Agreement and limit global heating to 1.5C, CO2 emissions need to rapidly decrease. The UN International Panel on Climate Change has calculated a carbon budget for the planet which gives the world a 2/3rds chance of staying below 1.5C and emissions need to reduce globally at a rate of 7.6% every year to keep within 1.5C. If the UK’s emissions continue at current their current trajectory, we will have exceeded our part of that carbon budget by 2026. The simple reality is that we must immediately reduce our use of fossil fuels and not explore for fresh reserves.
The World Health Organisation has estimated up to 250,000 additional deaths between 2030 and 2050 as a result of climate change. The Lancet Countdown Report is the work by 35 academic institutions and UN agencies from every continent and the consensus of climate scientists, public health professionals and doctors and the most authoritative assessment of the impact of climate change on the health of the global population. Their 2019 Report documents:
- Last year alone there were an additional 220 million exposures to heatwaves (during the European heatwave of 2003 there were 20,000 additional deaths. At 3-4 degrees of warming, that would be a normal summer);
- That means more heat stress and heat stroke, acute kidney injuries, heart failures, but also increased risk of interpersonal and collective violence;
- A business-as-usual response to climate change is expected to result in an additional 2 billion flood-exposure events per year by 2090, which “will likely overwhelm health systems and public infrastructure”;
- With more heat and rain, conditions are becoming increasingly optimal for diseases to spread. And that means more people will be at risk of infection. For example, a billion additional people will be at risk of malaria and dengue by the end of the century as the mosquito responsible for spreading those diseases moves into new territories.
Fossil fuel emissions that contribute to global warming also produce fine particulate matter that pollutes the air we breathe. The health consequences of this are profound:
- In 2016, air pollution resulted in 2.9 million premature deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases;
- In Europe, the figure is approximately 790,000 premature deaths;
- In the UK, according to a study produced by Royal College of Physicians air pollution resulted in 40,000 premature deaths in 2016 from lung and heart disease.
The Lancet Commission concludes: “unless immediate action is taken a child born today will experience a world that is more than four degrees warmer than the pre-industrial average, with climate change impacting human health from infancy and adolescence to adulthood and old age”.
We must massively reduce our dependence upon fossil fuels and do so immediately. Exploring for new oil and gas is to show reckless indifference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. We must all act now.The Royal College of General Practitioners must show leadership and integrity and withdraw their support for this conference and all future conferences by Oil and Gas UK and ensure RCGP headquarters are not used by organisations that threaten public health by promoting the use of fossil fuels.
Extinction Rebellion Buddhists
With thanks to Dr Andrew Harmer, Senior Lecturer in Global Health, Queen Mary University of London for allowing us to use some of his writing in this petition
References
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploration-conference-29-january-2020-tickets-64421299842
https://bjgp.org/content/62/604/591
https://www.cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/zero-carbon-sooner/
http://www.lancetcountdown.org/2019-report/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/air-pollution-smoking-deaths-compare-a8818851.html
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution
Victory
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Petition created on 12 January 2020