Strength in collective action – The Oil Machine in Dumfries

Strength in collective action – The Oil Machine in Dumfries

A sudden burst of clapping from a couple at the back of the café and a ripple of laughter through the audience. This is the first response of the evening and the humour is ironic. It is in response to comments from the panel about the challenge of getting to...
Hospicing the Pipeline – The Oil Machine in Hawick

Hospicing the Pipeline – The Oil Machine in Hawick

Julie and I talked long. And we talked of death. We talked of the passing of fathers, and husbands, and friends. An idea grew between us through that conversation in her flat. Later we shared it with those sitting in The Cornucopia Room, gathered to watch a screening of The...
Cromarty - Gifts from the Sea

Cromarty – Gifts from the Sea

The Stagecoach bus judders and swerves as it takes the bend past Braehead and Davidston, past the fields of stubble and grazing sheep. The driver knows these empty roads on The Black Isle intimately and is eager to reach the journey’s end. Suddenly, over the crest of the hill, Cromarty...
The Lie of the Land - Hunting The Oil Machine in Inverness

The Lie of the Land – Hunting The Oil Machine in Inverness

The words of Sir David King, head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, haunt me. Speaking at the launch of The Oil Machine film, he explained his view on what has been taking place since 2019. “What we have experienced in the last three years is a series of extreme...
Enough is Enough! - Medway's resistance to an unjust transition.

Enough is Enough! – Medway’s resistance to an unjust transition.

  Down the canyon of Chatham High Street comes the march. Banner of Medway Trades Council proudly to the fore. Chants and shouts echoing off the shopfronts and the buildings above. “Enough is Enough! Enough is Enough!” Past the pound shops and the charity shops. Past the boarded up windows...
Who Owns the Wind?  – the promise of a publicly owned renewable energy system

Who Owns the Wind? – the promise of a publicly owned renewable energy system

The North Westerly gale billows and shakes the heavy white pvc of the marquee on the Portsoy harbourside, Aberdeenshire. Festival goers drift from stall to stall, under the pallid light of sun through plastic, dithering over the t-towels and pots of honey. At one end of the tent, a wall...
The Cardinal’s Song – In honour of Suzi Gablik and her bright bold inspiring words

The Cardinal’s Song – In honour of Suzi Gablik and her bright bold inspiring words

Amongst the White Oaks and Hickory trees at the headwaters of the New River, the Cardinals are singing. Their brilliant red wings flashing amongst the silver branches and trunks. Spring time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. Suzi Gablik is leaving her body behind. As breath moves slowly in...
'Oil is the poison: Action is the antidote' – sixteen days in the movement to end fossil fuels

‘Oil is the poison: Action is the antidote’ – sixteen days in the movement to end fossil fuels

At 8.25 on Friday 15th April, as the rush hour traffic poured off the M4 at Chiswick, four activists stepped out in front of an Eddie Stobart oil tanker. Two held up a banner declaring ‘Just Stop Oil’ whilst two others disabled the braking system and clambered up onto the...
Tectonic shifts – the energy crisis and the leap beyond - The Economic War, part 4

Tectonic shifts – the energy crisis and the leap beyond – The Economic War, part 4

Shell declares it may go back into Cambo and the oilfield’s exploration license is extended by two years. The British government pushes for renewed drilling in the UK North Sea. There is public outcry at the Chancellor’s failure to defend households from the attack on living standards driven by price...
Time to kick Oil out of Football? – The Economic War, part 3

Time to kick Oil out of Football? – The Economic War, part 3

Roman Abramovich under sanctions! Chelsea up for sale! Scandal engulfs Everton FC as a key donor Alisher Usmanov is added to the UK government’s list of ‘named Oligarchs’. The Economic War has opened a new front on the pitch. Football is pulled into the Russian invasion of Ukraine just as...
Hail to the dockworkers! A Tale of Three Tankers - The Economic War, part 2

Hail to the dockworkers! A Tale of Three Tankers – The Economic War, part 2

You can track them still on MarineTraffic.com … the MV Seacod, the MV Boris Vilkitsky and the MV Pearl. Three ghost ships of the energy system, the spirits of the Economic War. All three of these vessels broke out of the fog that normally swathes the constant trade in oil...
The Guns of Economic War – unpicking the decisions by BP to sell out of Russia

The Guns of Economic War – unpicking the decisions by BP to sell out of Russia

Far from the terrifying realities of the shelling of civilians in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities, far from the desperation of women and children trying to board trains for Poland, far from the sickening din of armour in the streets, the guns the economic war are firing. The bravery...
Fuel poverty and Shell profits – who possesses the gas system?

Fuel poverty and Shell profits – who possesses the gas system?

Standing in the front benches of the Opposition in the House of Commons, Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, declared “Citizens Advice have said they have seen a record number of people in January … Only today Shell announced that their profits had quadrupled to 20 billion dollars. They...
Ukraine & the grip of gas – caught in the machine of Crude Britannia

Ukraine & the grip of gas – caught in the machine of Crude Britannia

The newsfeeds hiss and rumble with stories of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are all of us left waiting. Is this truly going to happen, a military conflict between Russia and NATO? Or is this a fevered concoction that aids the Kremlin, the US Administration, and the UK’s...
Cambo & Viking Energy – the common wealth of wind in Shetland

Cambo & Viking Energy – the common wealth of wind in Shetland

In July 1881 a fleet of Sixareen boats were working the haaf fishing grounds 30 or more miles West of Shetland in the vast North Atlantic. Each craft twenty foot long, hand built from wood, with a crew of seven men fishing for Cod and Ling. This valuable catch was...
Cambo, a turning point for the North Sea? – Shell departs and leaves many questions

Cambo, a turning point for the North Sea? – Shell departs and leaves many questions

  Seven twenty in the evening of Thursday 2nd December the news breaks[1]: Shell announces that they are withdrawing from their joint venture with the company Siccar Point that intends to exploit oil in the Cambo field West of Shetland. The announcement is as dramatic as it is unexpected. That...
Platform is recruiting!

Platform is recruiting!

Platform is looking for a Communications Manager Communications Manager is a new role in Platform. You will lead our organisation’s comms across all platforms including digital and press, helping us develop sharp messaging, a strong online presence and effective communication systems. You will work closely with project staff to create...
From Oil Road to Fire Road – of oil pipelines, gas pipelines and climate chaos

From Oil Road to Fire Road – of oil pipelines, gas pipelines and climate chaos

Authored by James Marriott of Platform drawing on the collective experience of so many others in Platform and the multiple organisations we’ve collaborated with. Prompted by an invitation from the Climate Cultures Festival in Berlin to speak about Crude Britannia and The Oil Road, co-authored with Mika Minio-Paluello, I returned...
Just Transition in Glasgow - now is the time for ‘For’ and ‘Against’

Just Transition in Glasgow – now is the time for ‘For’ and ‘Against’

  “We need a massive programme of retrofitting homes”. Francis Stuart of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is outlining his understanding of the social project that needs to take place, the transformation of pretty much the entirety of the housing stock of Scotland – and indeed the UK. Stuart...
The Open Wound – keeping eyes on the constant injustice of oil production in Nigeria

The Open Wound – keeping eyes on the constant injustice of oil production in Nigeria

26th Anniversary of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 Ogoni comrades     Authored by James Marriott of Platform drawing from the collective experience of so many others in Platform and the multiple organisations we’ve collaborated with.   On the morning of 10th November 1995 in a Port Harcourt...
How to Capture the Future and Store Capital - the plans for CCS in Liverpool Bay

How to Capture the Future and Store Capital – the plans for CCS in Liverpool Bay

You can see the future from Formby Beach. You don’t even need to climb up on one of steep sand dunes to catch a glimpse of it. It is out there yellow and white lights blinking in the grey dusk away to the North West. It has supplanted the red...

Workers Case Studies for debate on The Need for an Offshore Training Passport

Ahead of the Scottish Parliament debate on The Need for An Offshore Training Passport, Platform and Friends of the Earth Scotland shared case studies from offshore workers about their experiences with training in the energy sector, the enormous personal expense in time and money as well as the barriers this represents to efforts to transition […]

Offshore Training Passport Debate Briefing for MSPs

A Platform and Friends of the Earth briefing for MSPs ahead of a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the need for an Offshore Training Passport. Friends of the Earth Scotland and Platform believe an Offshore Training Passport is essential to ensure a Just Transition for workers in the energy sector. The lack of cross-sector […]
What the Gas Price hike means – the Tales of Two Cities

What the Gas Price hike means – the Tales of Two Cities

Hot on the heels of the Petrol Panic comes the Gas Price Panic and the Electricity Price Panic – my head spins as I try to take in each of these fossil fuel driven convulsions. It is worth the effort to unpick this ball of yarn and lay out the...
Petrol Panic II – taking on the barriers to climate action

Petrol Panic II – taking on the barriers to climate action

Week two of the Petrol Panic – Monday 4th October. It looks like the pumps are working as normal in the BP petrol station at 232 Priory Road in Anfield, Liverpool, fed by road tankers filled at the gantries of Stanlow Refinery, 12 miles to south on the banks of...
Profiting from the Panic – how to use a squeeze in the oil flow to financial advantage

Profiting from the Panic – how to use a squeeze in the oil flow to financial advantage

Petrol Panic grips the nation. A second week of fuel shortages on the forecourts threatens to hobble the economy, or at least erode support for the Tories in their heartlands and overshadow the Conservative Party Conference. Will queues at the petrol pumps in Manchester crowd the prime minister’s show? The...
'Much More than a Road' - battling another motorway in Crude Britannia

‘Much More than a Road’ – battling another motorway in Crude Britannia

Another consultation document to go through. Another online form. Another swamp of documents. They are drowning us in data. This is the Community Impacts Consultation for the Lower Thames Crossing issued by the UK government agency, National Highways (formerly Highways England). Again and again we go over the same ground....
Training costs: a barrier to transition for offshore workers

Training costs: a barrier to transition for offshore workers

In September 2020, Platform released a report, OFFSHORE: Oil and gas workers’ views on industry conditions and the energy transition, in collaboration with Friends of the Earth Scotland and Greenpeace UK. The report was the culmination of the first large-scale survey of offshore oil and gas workers in the UK,...
PRESS RELEASE Training costs chaos blocks oil workers moving to renewables: Government must meet workers' demands to remove hurdles

PRESS RELEASE Training costs chaos blocks oil workers moving to renewables: Government must meet workers’ demands to remove hurdles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   TRAINING COSTS CHAOS BLOCKS OIL WORKERS MOVING TO RENEWABLES: GOVERNMENT MUST MEET WORKERS’ DEMANDS TO REMOVE HURDLES   Survey of offshore workers reveals training costs averaging over £1,800 per year. Success of the UK’s transition to renewables currently depends on workers’ ability to pay to duplicate...
Petition for a Just Transition in the North Sea

Petition for a Just Transition in the North Sea

Platform’s Just Transition campaign seeks a well-managed phase out of oil and gas production in the North Sea. This includes preventing future oil and gas licensing rounds, halting fossil fuel subsidies, and most importantly, ensuring that Just Transition measures are implemented during the phase out (i.e. large-scale job creation, re-training...
Participatory policies for a fairer and greener London

Participatory policies for a fairer and greener London

The London Leap project is releasing a short report called “Participatory policies for a fairer and greener London”. This report has been collaboratively produced through our work with Leap participants over the past 18 months, and with Harpreet Kaur Paul who has been crucial in helping bring together the incredible...
Divesting to protect our pensions and the planet

Divesting to protect our pensions and the planet

A report published by Platform, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland, analyses local government investments in coal, oil and gas. You can read more about our divest work by visiting: https://www.divest.org.uk/
Taking Control: Building oil and gas workers' power in the energy transition

Taking Control: Building oil and gas workers’ power in the energy transition

Do you work in the offshore oil and gas industry? Have you worked in the industry in the past? Join our workshops to determine what a just energy transition looks like and learn how we can fight for our demands.  First workshop: Saturday 13 March 2021 10:00am – 1:00pm over...
25 Years On  - Healing Separation, Mobilising Desire 

25 Years On  – Healing Separation, Mobilising Desire 

Next month marks 25 years since the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni 9. Across Nigeria and the wider environmental justice movement, the legacy and story of the lives lost in the defense of the land and communities could not be more poignant. Now more than ever we are...
Crises, North Sea Oil and Covid-19

Crises, North Sea Oil and Covid-19

Last month I spoke on behalf of Platform at an online event on the theme of ‘People Over Profit and Covid-19’ organised by our collaborators Kate and Ryan at Friends of the Earth Scotland. It was a really engaging event with two other speakers followed by breakout groups and a...
The story of Platform

The story of Platform

Want to tell someone about Platform, in a nutshell? Try this video made for precisely that purpose!

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Fighting to keep fossil gas in the ground

Fighting to keep fossil gas in the ground

This project is part of Platform’s long-term commitment to support environmental justice struggles at the front lines of oil and gas drilling internationally. BP does not carry out fracking in the UK where it is headquartered, because “it would attract the wrong kind of attention”. But BP, Shell and a...
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You can help us change the world Platform’s work involves taking risks that many others won’t. Sending staff to Egypt as the revolution was unfolding, challenging structural issues like colonialism and race oppression, and proposing visions of energy democracy. By joining our base of Platform Sustainers, you can help us...

Latest from the Platform Blog

Strength in collective action – The Oil Machine in Dumfries

A sudden burst of clapping from a couple at the back of the café and a ripple of laughter through the audience. This is the first response of the evening and the humour is ironic. It is in response to comments from the panel about the challenge of getting to Dumfries by train. Later the […]

Hospicing the Pipeline – The Oil Machine in Hawick

Julie and I talked long. And we talked of death. We talked of the passing of fathers, and husbands, and friends. An idea grew between us through that conversation in her flat. Later we shared it with those sitting in The Cornucopia Room, gathered to watch a screening of The Oil Machine. In the exchange […]

Cromarty – Gifts from the Sea

The Stagecoach bus judders and swerves as it takes the bend past Braehead and Davidston, past the fields of stubble and grazing sheep. The driver knows these empty roads on The Black Isle intimately and is eager to reach the journey’s end. Suddenly, over the crest of the hill, Cromarty Firth appears in the sharp […]

The Lie of the Land – Hunting The Oil Machine in Inverness

The words of Sir David King, head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, haunt me. Speaking at the launch of The Oil Machine film, he explained his view on what has been taking place since 2019. “What we have experienced in the last three years is a series of extreme weather events around the world, […]

Enough is Enough! – Medway’s resistance to an unjust transition.

  Down the canyon of Chatham High Street comes the march. Banner of Medway Trades Council proudly to the fore. Chants and shouts echoing off the shopfronts and the buildings above. “Enough is Enough! Enough is Enough!” Past the pound shops and the charity shops. Past the boarded up windows and the off licenses. Through […]

Who Owns the Wind? – the promise of a publicly owned renewable energy system

The North Westerly gale billows and shakes the heavy white pvc of the marquee on the Portsoy harbourside, Aberdeenshire. Festival goers drift from stall to stall, under the pallid light of sun through plastic, dithering over the t-towels and pots of honey. At one end of the tent, a wall is taken up by a […]

The Cardinal’s Song – In honour of Suzi Gablik and her bright bold inspiring words

Amongst the White Oaks and Hickory trees at the headwaters of the New River, the Cardinals are singing. Their brilliant red wings flashing amongst the silver branches and trunks. Spring time in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. Suzi Gablik is leaving her body behind. As breath moves slowly in and out of her lungs, […]

‘Oil is the poison: Action is the antidote’ – sixteen days in the movement to end fossil fuels

At 8.25 on Friday 15th April, as the rush hour traffic poured off the M4 at Chiswick, four activists stepped out in front of an Eddie Stobart oil tanker. Two held up a banner declaring ‘Just Stop Oil’ whilst two others disabled the braking system and clambered up onto the back of the tanker. Passing […]

Tectonic shifts – the energy crisis and the leap beyond – The Economic War, part 4

Shell declares it may go back into Cambo and the oilfield’s exploration license is extended by two years. The British government pushes for renewed drilling in the UK North Sea. There is public outcry at the Chancellor’s failure to defend households from the attack on living standards driven by price inflation. The Russian government announces […]

Time to kick Oil out of Football? – The Economic War, part 3

Roman Abramovich under sanctions! Chelsea up for sale! Scandal engulfs Everton FC as a key donor Alisher Usmanov is added to the UK government’s list of ‘named Oligarchs’. The Economic War has opened a new front on the pitch. Football is pulled into the Russian invasion of Ukraine just as Western corporations and the oil […]

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