News & Events
November 2022:
LFFU Expert Meeting, 29 November
Here you can find all presentations from the event:
1. Key findings from LFFU project: Challenges and opportunities for LFFU
by Prof Barbara Hogenboom (University of Amsterdam), Carolina Valladares (University of Amsterdam), Arthur Rempel (University of Amsterdam) and Prof Joyeeta Gupta (University of Amsterdam).
2. Stories from the fossil fuel frontline in South Africa, Ecuador and The Netherlands
- Desmond D’Sa, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, South Africa
- Prof Patrick Bond, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
- Prof Carlos Larrea, Universidad Andina Simón Bolivar, Ecuador
- Frank Petersen, Fighting extraction in the Waddenzee, Netherlands
3. Presentations by MSc students on LFFU
Full programme of the event: here
February 2022:
We are introducing the LFFU Ten (10) Monthly Workshop Series (10WS). The 10WS initiative aims to understand how to equitably, inclusively and efficiently phase out fossil fuels in European and African contexts.
Through a series of ten workshops between March and December 2022, we aim to co-create knowledge to inform decision making and devise policy options for actors spanning various levels of governance.
Sounds interesting?
Fill out this Form to be included in future communication regarding the workshops!
January 2021:
We are EXCITED to announce that the LFFU team will be hosting two panels at the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies Third Annual Conference (this year taking place virtually and absolutely free!) – hosted by a consortium of Dutch universities and research institutes & spearhead by the University of Amsterdam. The conference this year will focus on Sustainability, Inclusive Development and Education; our two sessions will approach these broad themes from an LFFU angle, calling on various internal and external guest speakers. See the full conference programme here, and more importantly, register here!
November 2020:
A consortium of 40 NGOs, led by the German environmental and human rights NGO Urgewald, just published their annual 2020 Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) – a list of 900+ dirty coal producers that they are urging investors around the world to pull out from.
Compared to other data providers, GCEL includes the entire thermal coal value chain in its data sets, providing a more comprehensive overview of companies’ dependence on coal-related businesses and therefore also the resulting financial risk for investors. It identifies which companies are still developing new coal assets and offers reliable and transparent data with which financial institutions can phase out coal-based business from their portfolios.
Besides publicly listed companies, GCEL also includes data on private companies, which is usually harder to access. The GCEL database is publicly available and can be viewed and downloaded at https://coalexit.org/
July 2020:
New team member in Amsterdam!
- Aya Wietzorrek, Project Intern
Aya obtained her BA in International Development from The University of 
Manchester, with her thesis exploring the links between the “new scramble” for African resources and development cooperation, through the analysis of US and Chinese development policies in SSA. Her particular interests include transnational climate governance, postcolonial development theory and grassroots movements for sustainable and inclusive development pathways.
July 2020:
The 3rd Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) conference, titled Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Education, Sustainability and Inclusive Development, which was originally planned to take place in June 2020, will prospectively be postponed to June 2021.
June 2020:
To build onto the Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) 2018 conference, we will be organizing and hosting two more ‘LFFU sessions’ at the 3rd CSDS conference in June 2020, entitled Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Education, Sustainability and Inclusive Development. Sessions will include:
- Master Class: Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground
This session will present the LFFU narrative from four distinct dimensions (global actors, social movements, Agenda 2030, and an Ecuadorian Case Study) to highlight the complexities and intricacies of the LFFU problem. We strive to propose revamped teaching methods and to guide students and researchers to rethink the climate change problem from an equity and inclusion lens. - Education on How and Why to Leave Fossil Fuels Underground: A Multidisciplinary and Multi-stakeholder Approach
This session will call on the expertise of representatives from the public & private sectors, NGOs, civil society and academia to discuss the importance of integrating LFFU knowledge in their lines of work. Together, we aspire to exchange and co-create educational strategies to better approach inclusive and sustainable development from an array of angles.
November 2019:
Three new team members! Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This month, Arthur, Benjamin and Lisa joined the LFFU team in Amsterdam.
- Arthur Rempel, PhD candidate
Arthur earned his BSc in Chemical Engineering and 
MSc in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. After a short stint working for Corporate America, he bid adieu to the private sector and found his love for academia. Arthur is interested in hybridizing his quantitative background with development research; he is currently focusing on the role that institutional investors (e.g. pension funds) play in LFFU, a topic which he has elegantly found to be at the nexus of numeric and social research.
- Lisa Pier, project intern
Lisa finished her BA in Development Studies at The 
University of Manchester this summer and is trying to figure out topics for her Master’s, but also gain insight into higher level academic research while working with LFFU. She is particularly interested in the ways that environmental justice and postcolonial development theory can supplement each other and open up new perspectives for development research and practice.
- Benjamin Gramsch, project intern
Benjamin has a MSc. in Urban & Regional Economics 
from VU Amsterdam, with interest in political economy and regional development in Latin America, always with a green mark. He is focused on the effects of fossil fuel extraction in the productive matrix of the affected territories.
April 2019:
New short documentary on the lessons from LFFU in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Building the Movement of Resistance to Oil: Lessons From the Ecuadorian Amazon
This video was made made by IUCN NL during our visit to Ecuador for the kick -off meeting of LFFU in 2018. Their project ‘Building the Movement of resistance to Oil’ is linked to partners from Uganda and Congo.
August 2018:
June 2018:
Two ‘LFFU sessions’ on the 2nd conference of the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) entitled Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Water, Food and Climate (25-26 June 2018):
- Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground: Dilemma’s in the South: This session focused on what a phase out of fossil fuels would mean for fossil fuel rich countries in the South and for North-South relations. Speakers in this session include Coen Krijger (IUCN), Prof. Dirk-Jan Koch (RUN & Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Prof. Barbara Hoogenboom (CEDLA-UvA). See abstract.
- Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground: Divestment in the North: This session focused on how Northern countries are addressing the issue of fossil fuel divestment. Speakers in this session were Donald Pols (Milieudefensie), Liset Meddens (Fossiel Vrij NL), Mark van Baal (Follow This), and Prof. Joyeeta Gupta (UvA). See abstract.
