To confront the climate emergency and cut global emissions in half by 2030, we must immediately halt expansion of oil and gas production and phase out fossil fuels. In oil and gas frontiers worldwide — from Uganda and Mozambique to Argentina and the Dominican Republic — frontline partners are leading a growing and interconnected movement against the mounting impacts of fossil fuel expansion.
Guyana is a case in point. Among the smallest but biologically richest countries in the Americas, Guyana has no history with oil and gas production. Oil giant ExxonMobil is leading the charge to change that — racing to open new offshore oil and gas wells in ultradeep waters off Guyana’s coast at breakneck speed. Oil companies are looking to create a massive new oil and gas frontier spanning the entire northeastern coast of South America, from Guyana to Brazil, and Guyana is their number one priority.
The incredible speed and enormous proposed scale of the Exxon-led buildout poses serious risks to people and ecosystems in Guyana and beyond. Exxon’s first well in the country has flared gas almost continuously since it began operating in late 2019. A well blowout or other catastrophic spill would devastate ecosystems, economies, and livelihoods throughout the Caribbean. And opening an enormous new oil field threatens to quickly turn Guyana from a net carbon sink into a carbon bomb.
But the people of Guyana are fighting back against plans to tie the country’s future to a failing industry. Rallied together in A Fair Deal for Guyana, A Fair Deal for the Planet, and supported by courageous Guyanese lawyer Melinda Janki, they are reshaping the debate over oil in their country. Last year, with assistance from CIEL, Guyanese partners won their first major victory against Exxon: a lawsuit settlement that forced Guyana’s government to cut the terms of the environmental permits for the first offshore oil wells in the country from over twenty years down to five. The wells, initially approved through 2040, must now be reauthorized and reopened to public scrutiny in 2022 — giving Guyana’s people an informed say in the projects for the first time.
In May 2021, Guyanese citizens filed a case in Guyana’s Constitutional Court contending that the approval of offshore oil production violates the right to a healthy environment. This case is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, and another milestone in the accelerating global climate litigation movement. And it triggered growing media interest that is taking their story and their fight to international audiences, and to Exxon investors and shareholders around the world.
Just as critically, our Guyanese partners are getting connected with partners facing or supporting similar fights in countries around the world — to share information, tools, strategies, and successes. Together, they are building a movement of lawyers, leaders, and voices, working in many countries, but with a shared vision: a world where people matter more than oil. That’s what turns individual moments into real momentum.
