Our message to global leaders: we need solar power everywhere by the decade’s end | Open letter


We the undersigned write this letter out of great fear and great hope.

Over the last few months, we’ve seen the world set ablaze by both war and warming. From the conflict in Iran, which has claimed thousands of lives and disrupted billions more, to the series of ever worsening climate disasters, from wildfires in Europe to collapsing glaciers in Nepal, the world seems to be falling apart exactly when it needs to be coming together.

We know that these crises are connected. The oil that governments fight over is also the carbon pollution that is warming our climate. The bad air quality in Delhi, the high price of fuel in Vietnam, the cost of electricity in the United States, the terrifying floods in the Himalayas – they all connect back to fossil fuels.

Until we end that dependence, we’ll never be able to address the climate emergency and stop fighting these endless oil-soaked wars. That’s why today we are inviting the world to unite around a common cause: repowering the world with cheap, clean energy.

We are calling on governments, businesses, institutions and the public to work together to provide clean, affordable energy to everyone, everywhere by 2030.

From the nearly 1 billion people who still lack access to reliable electricity, to the billions more of us who pay too much for dirty fossil fuels.

We know this world is within reach.

Building clean energy is now the cheapest and fastest way to slash energy bills, reduce pollution, and provide electricity access to the places that need it most.

With cheap solar, wind and batteries, we can create huge and rapid change.

California is already using just half as much natural gas to generate electricity as it did three years ago, thanks to solar and batteries. In Pakistan, people have put up millions of solar panels in just months, relying on social media for instruction. Each month, millions more people across sub-Saharan Africa are getting electricity for the first time with home solar kits.

This energy transition is already moving quickly – but we need it to go much quicker. And so we come together to urge two steps.

First, we must build clean power for everyone. For the first time ever, we can reliably bring electricity to the one in 10 people on earth living without regular access.

We ask everyone who can afford it to donate something so that others can turn the lights on for studying, cooking and medical care – and never have to think about a gallon of diesel or gas again. It takes just $15 to give access to clean electricity for one person for a generation.

Second, we need to build clean power everywhere, and to make that happen, we need to build a movement powerful and beautiful enough to force governments to take large-scale action.

Individual steps alone are not enough: too many of our leaders will resist action until we demonstrate together how much we want them to move. We must demand that governments stop building coal, oil and gas projects we no longer need, and start building the clean-energy systems that works – no pollution or wars required.

One important day along this path will be 20 June, as the summer solstice approaches in the northern hemisphere, generating the most solar power of any day on earth yet. We will celebrate that day as Sun Day, coming together to celebrate and accelerate this great shift.

The path forward is difficult, but the way is clear. We want solar for everyone, everywhere, before the decade is out.

We know that standing up to the powerful can be scary. But if there is one thing that unites us, it is that we live beneath the same sun. That unity is our strength, and we must use it to act now.

Signed,

Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, director of programs, Renewables First

Alyssa Barber, content creator, @NewLifestyleABB

Lauren Bash, content creator and film-maker

Rachel Bender, disability rights advocate, @rachcutiepie

Tzeporah Berman, chair, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative

Caitlin Blunnie, content creator, 2Liberal Jane

Jessica Craven, content creator, @jesscraven101

Nick Cutsumpas, founder, Farmer Nick

Summer Dean, founder, Climate Diva Media

Christiana Figueres, former UN climate secretary and founding partner, Global Optimism

Jane Fonda, actor, activist and founder, Jane Fonda Climate Pac

Nela Cadinanos Gonzalez

Saul Griffith, engineer and co-founder, Rewiring America

Malynda Hale, actor, film-maker, creator

Fletcher Harper, executive director, Greenfaith

Alex Honnold, professional climber and founder, Honnold Foundation

Danny Kennedy, chair, Global Solar Council

Catherine McKenna, founder, Climate and Nature Solutions & Women Lead on Climate

Bill McKibben, author, climate activist and co-founder, Third Act

Kumi Naidoo, president, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative

Ky Polanco, co-Founder, @Feminist

Sean Taylor Pugerude, creator and community Organizer, @heyseantaylor