FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 10th, 2021
SUBJ: “Mind the Methane Gap” – 
Activists beam 40-meter “Guerilla Projection” of methane leakage images onto COP26 Venue in response to leaked documents that reveal EU plans for 27 new fossil gas projects just days after signing “Global Methane Pledge.”
CONTACT: Neal Huddon-Cossar, neal@gastivists.org, +39 345 44 70 749
Chiara Arena, scottishclimatecamp@protonmail.com, +44 07585933530
Lorraine Inglis, info@shalemustfall.org, +44 7932146671
IMAGES: Download high-resolution images and video from the action here.
Glasgow, Scotland — Tuesday night, 10 activists from the Shale Must Fall network, Gastivists collective and Climate Camp Scotland beamed a series of unpermitted 40-meter “guerrilla projections” onto the iconic COP26 Climate Summit venue in Glasgow. This action came just days after leaked European Commission documents revealed plans to fast-track approval to 27 new fossil gas infrastructure projects through the “Projects of Common Interest” (PCI) list. The images – which included scandalous infrared images of methane leakage from UK and European fossil gas infrastructure – were aimed at drawing attention to the “Methane Gap” between what was promised in last week’s “Global Methane Pledge” and the construction of new methane infrastructure in Europe.
“The European Commission’s likely decision to approve up to 27 new fossil gas infrastructure projects shows the huge gap between political rhetoric at COP26 and policy back in Brussels. Fossil gas production leaks methane every step of the way: from fracking to freezing to shipping to piping – reducing those super-charged emissions is the low-hanging fruit for climate action, but those emissions need to be treated holistically,” said Neal Huddon-Cossar of the Gastivists Collective. “Putting a few bandaids over the leaks isn’t getting to the root of the problem – our governments need to stop importing methane and commit to leaving greenhouse gases where they belong – underground. ”
On Thursday November 11th, the European Commission will discuss the 5th proposed “Projects of Common Interest,” including the contentious EastMed deep-sea gas pipeline that would bring fossil gas into Europe from the disputed waters of Palestine, Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. The PCI list gives projects fast-tracked priority for funding, permitting and support at an EU level. Infrared monitoring technologies, such as those projected Wednesday, have raised the profile and awareness about the role of methane leaks from fracking and fossil gas infrastructure in contributing to global warming. Methane, conventionally sold as “natural gas”, is both a fossil fuel and a greenhouse gas more than 100 times more potent than CO2 while in the atmosphere. Europe is responsible for nearly half of global gas imports, and in Europe fossil gas is already responsible for more CO2 emissions than coal.
“We are in Glasgow to denounce the genocide and ethnic cleansing being commited by extractivist European corporations that have already taken the life of activists like Samir Flores,” said Miriam Vargas of the Futuros Indigenas network in Mexico. “ We denounce that corporations keep extracting land, water, lives and peace from our territories. We demand an immediate stop to this nonconsensual extraction in our territory.”
The unpermitted guerrilla projections – which included dramatic infrared footage of methane leakages from across British and European infrastructure – is part of a push to force governments to abandon the construction of new methane infrastructure globally and declare a“Global Fracking Ban”.
“This is not terribly complicated: methane is a super-charged greenhouse gas that is already underground – all we have to do is leave it there. The fact that Scotland deems it dangerous to frack here and yet continues to allow Ineos to import fracked gas is simply immoral – if its not ok to frack here, its not ok to pay someone else to do it.” said Jemma Kettlewell of Climate Camp Scotland. “Europe tries to hide the true emissions of fossil gas imports, but methane doesn’t stop at our borders. Whether we import it to burn, or to make plastics or to make petrochemicals – imported methane comes with a heavy price tag for the climate, not to mention the impacts of such industries on local communities like Mossmorran. Any European energy strategy that continues to rely on leaky, immoral, expensive and imported fossil gas simply has no place in our clean energy future.”
This action is the second of a series of planned “guerrilla projections” by the Gastivist Collective that builds pressure on European leaders to include methane reduction as part of national climate strategies. This projection comes just a day before EU MEPs debate about the “Projects of Common Interest” list, and its possible inclusion of 27 new methane infrastructure projects in Europe.
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