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Julien Vincent of Market Forces wins Goldman Environmental Prize

May 26, 2022 at 3:44 pm morelandclimategroup Leave a comment

We have just learned that Julien Vincent from local NGO Market Forces has won one of the 6 Goldman environmental prizes for 2022. Market Forces has been an important force in campaigning to redirect the billions of investment dollars by banks, insurance companies and superannuation funds away from fossil fuels.

There is still more to do in getting banks and other investment funds to be held accountable for investments and to ensure the companies they invest in are moving as fast as possible to sustainable zero carbon business models and away from fossil fuels.

The citation for the award states:

Julien Vincent led a successful grassroots campaign to defund coal in Australia, a major coal exporter, culminating in commitments from the nation’s four largest banks to end funding for coal projects by 2030. Because of Julien’s activism, Australia’s major insurance companies have also agreed to cease underwriting new coal projects. His organizing has produced a challenging financial landscape for the Australian coal industry, a significant step toward reducing fossil fuels that hasten climate change.

Introducing the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

Read more about the Goldman prize and why it was awarded to Julien.

Climate Action Moreland congratulates Julien Vincent and the Market Forces Team

The Goldman Environmental Prize honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world, inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet.

Other 2022 winners included:

• Chima Williams Nigeria / Africa for holding Royal Dutch Shell accountable for widespread environmental damage in Nigeria from oil pipelines.
• Niwat Roykaew Thailand / Asia for stopping  the China-led Upper Mekong River rapids blasting project, which would have destroyed 248 miles of the Mekong to deepen navigation channels for Chinese cargo ships traveling downstream.
• Marjan Minnesma The Netherlands / Europe for holding the Netherlands Government accountable in the Urgenda case for its 2020 climate targets.
• Nalleli Cobo United States / North America 19 year old leader who led a coalition to permanently shut down a toxic oil-drilling site in her community in Los Angeles, and continued organising has resulted in both the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to unanimously ban new oil exploration and phase out of existing sites.
• Alex Lucitante & Alexandra Narvaez Ecuador / South & Central America. spearheaded an Indigenous movement to protect their people’s ancestral territory from gold mining. The community’s legal success protects 79,000 acres of pristine, biodiverse rainforest in the headwaters of Ecuador’s Aguarico River, which is sacred to the Cofán.

You can watch the full awards ceremony, showing the inspiration of these people bringing about change:

Entry filed under: news. Tags: Goldman Prize, Julien Vincent.