LIVE! Extinction Rebellion at fossil fuel enabling law firm A&O Shearman

Activists from Extinction Rebellion are targeting the headquarters of international law firm A&O Shearman demanding they “Cut the Ties to Fossil Fuels”.

Rebels have entered the building and are occupying the lobby, while others spray the outside of the building with fake oil. An oil derrick is outside the entrance on which a grim reaper figure sits holding a scythe and a set of scales with a burning planet in one pan and a pile of oily cash in the other. The air is filled with smoke and the sound of drums, and activists are using a megaphone to spell out A&O Shearman’s crimes against the planet.

A&O Shearman are serial fossil fuel industry enablers, facilitating over $285 billion in fossil fuel transactions between 2019 and 2023, the second highest amount for any legal firm in the world. Prior to their merger Allen & Overy and Shearman Sterling were both individually given the worst rating ‘F’ in the Law Students for Climate Accountability 2024 scorecard.

A&O Shearman advises clients across the oil and gas industry, from exploration and production, pipelines, refining. They act for governments, energy companies such as Saudi Aramco, Chevron, oil field services companies and investors on some of the world’s largest oil and gas transactions. These companies are significantly expanding oil and gas production even as mounting levels of greenhouse gas emissions threaten to trip irreversible climate tipping points, making the planet unrecognisable and accelerating mass extinctions.

A&O Shearman have been silent in the face of mounting criticism from campaign group Lawyers are Responsible over their complicity in the climate emergency.

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#ExtinctionRebellion