My social media has been full of climate and conflict: tweets addressing the latest IPCC report and climate catastrophes unfolding around the world, followed by posts about the war in Ukraine and the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to exploit it. There have been plenty of moments during the past two years when I’ve caught myself doom-scrolling my way toward the apocalypse, but this last week has felt different. Is it just me or are the tragedies accelerating? The chaos, increasing? It feels like the world is spinning faster out of control at the very moment we need it to be coming closer together. 

Then last week, a message hit my inbox from a group of climate activist friends and colleagues in Ukraine. Even in the midst of the war, they’d found the time to draft a letter that connected the dots between all the different ideas rattling around my addled brain: war and warming, our dependence on fossil fuels, the connections between Big Oil and autocracy, and the pathway toward peace. 

The letter they wrote, and that now hundreds of organizations around the world have signed onto, is titled “Stand with Ukraine: End global fossil fuel addiction that feeds Putin’s war machine.” It is addressed to “European Nation States, the US, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea and all other importers of Russian oil and gas.” 

The letter begins with a call for solidarity: “We, the undersigned groups and organisations, stand in steadfast solidarity with the courageous people of Ukraine who are fighting not only for their own freedom and self-determination but for a worthwhile world.” It then explains that the invasion of Ukraine is a direct violation of international law and calls on the world to “use all non-violent means necessary to stop Putin and his war machine.”

Then it connects the dots: 

The regime of Vladimir Putin is the clear and sole aggressor in this illegal war, and bears full responsibility for the atrocities committed by its war machine.

It is equally clear that this war machine has been funded, fed, and fuelled by the coal, oil and gas industries that are driving both the invasion that threatens Ukraine and the climate crisis that threatens humanity’s future. 

And the world’s fossil fuel addiction, in turn, is funding Putin’s warmongering—putting not only Ukraine but Europe itself at risk. 

Putin has deliberately weaponised fossil gas to increase his existing energy dominance over the European Union and to threaten European nations that would come to Ukraine’s aid. This needs to stop! 

In clear and compelling language, our friends in Ukraine identify the root cause of so much conflict and suffering around the world: our ongoing dependence on fossil fuels. In their eyes, the climate emergency and this war aren’t separate issues; they’re deeply interconnected crises fueled by the same oil, gas, and coal corporations that are just as willing to partner with brutal dictators as they are to poison our atmosphere. 

Our Ukrainian allies are absolutely right to point the finger at the fossil fuel industry for empowering Putin’s regime. When Putin began to consolidate his control of Russian oil and gas in the early 2000s, he took over a bloated and antiquated industry that was just barely keeping up with production. It was the support of western oil companies like ExxonMobil and BP that helped Russia modernize operations and dramatically expand production. Putin appreciated ExxonMobil’s help so much that in 2016 he awarded former CEO Rex Tillerson the “Order of Friendship,” Russia’s highest honor for a foreign national. Today, oil and gas make up about 60 percent of Russia’s exports and funds 40 percent of its national budget: It is the fuel on which Putin’s war machine operates.  

As it raked in billions of dollars in profits, Big Oil was all too happy to look the other way while Putin imprisoned his rivals, oppressed his own people, and launched his first invasion into Ukraine in 2014. In fact, they did everything they could to keep the taps flowing. During that first Ukrainian conflict, ExxonMobil lobbied against tough sanctions on Russia and then, once they were in place, violated those sanctions to keep producing oil with Putin and his cronies. It’s the same practice that the oil industry has used around the world—from Nigeria to Ecuador to Indonesia to Standing Rock: Partner with thugs and strongmen to increase production, no matter the cost to the local population and the environment. 

But there comes a point when even Big Oil can no longer stomach a partnership with a brutal warmonger. Last week, as the crisis in Ukraine escalated out of control, BP, Shell, and Exxon were all forced to announce that they were ceasing operations within Russia (the French oil giant Total said it would cease new investments but hasn’t committed to pulling out of Russia). Pressure is now growing for banks and other asset managers involved in Russian oil and gas production to also pull out of the country. 

Just because they can no longer operate in Russia doesn’t mean that the oil companies are cleaning up their act. Here in the United States, Big Oil and its allies have tried to exploit the crisis in Ukraine to attack President Biden’s climate policies, push for more fossil fuel production and LNG exports, and even bring back the Keystone XL Pipeline. Russian tanks had barely crossed the border with Ukraine before the American Petroleum Institute was up on Twitter with its demands for the White House. Since then, the entire fossil fuel propaganda machine, from the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal to the talking heads on Fox News, have been chanting their “drill, baby, drill” mantra like some messianic cult. 

But as our allies in Ukraine point out in their letter, there’s no way to drill our way out of this crisis. Fossil fuels trade on a global market, and as long as we’re dependent on oil and gas, we’ll continue to fund petro-thugs like Putin, while remaining victim to the volatility and price hikes that get triggered with every new conflict. The only way out of this crisis is a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. That means pushing our political leaders to pull out all the stops: Pass the Build Back Better Act; use the Defense Production Act to manufacture heat pumps and electric vehicle charging stations; use the president’s executive authorities to stop new fossil fuel projects that are fueling this crisis; electrify everything, everywhere, as fast as possible. It’s time for a mobilization above and beyond what we did on the homefront during World War II, but dedicated entirely to moving the US, Europe, and the rest of the world beyond fossil fuels. 

That’s the vision that our Ukrainian friends share in their letter. They write, “A different tomorrow is feasible. A tomorrow free from Putin and other petro-dictators. A tomorrow free from climate-hostile and war-feeding fossil fuels.” 

Focusing on that tomorrow can feel impossible in the chaos of today, but if Ukrainian climate activists can work toward that vision even in the midst of a terrible war, we here in the United States can certainly try to cut through the fossil fuel industry’s disinformation and propaganda to push our country in the right direction. It’s the very least we can do. 

As our Ukrainian allies write in the conclusion of their letter, “Help us deliver that earnest support by also purposefully tackling Putin’s war budget and by taking bold steps towards the radical decarbonisation of our societies. Ukraine and Ukrainians are entitled to expect that support. Our joint, brighter future demands nothing less.”