More than 120 NGOs – including Finnish Grandparents for Climate – around the world are demanding that EU leaders divest from US fossil fuels. The backdrop is Trump’s actions in Latin America and threats to take over Greenland. Is Trump supposedly a more reliable energy partner than Putin?
Open letter: Resist Fossil-fuelled Imperialism – Stand in solidarity with Latin America and Greenland
To: EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen
EU parliament president Roberta Metsola
EU council president António Costa
CC: Permanent Representations of EU member states
January 29, 2026
Dear leaders of the European Union, Europe prides itself on being a leader in upholding international law and democracy, defending human rights and being a climate champion! The EU has also been able to respond with a clear voice and robust measures to Putin’s imperial ambitions and military aggression. Now, it must take an equally strong stand against Trump’s.
It is a bitter truth we have to face, but this US administration is – unfortunately – no longer a good-faith partner in the historic alliance with Europe.
Trump’s pledge to seize Greenland – even by force – is just one of many recent outrageous developments illustrating that the current US government is not Europe’s ally.
His illegal strikes on Venezuela to take control of its oil resources represent a clear violation of international law and have only deepened an already severe democratic, social and economic crisis in the country. These actions were followed immediately by his imperial threats towards Cuba, Colombia and Mexico. Trump has also made clear his contempt for international law through his attacks on the UN, abandonment of the Paris Agreement, and the illegal and unjustifiable sanctions of European citizens (such as former EU commissioner Thierry Breton and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese).
One partner’s dominance is, logically, another’s subservience. In his quest for US “energy dominance,” Trump pressures the EU to dilute its own climate commitments and commit to trade deals that enrich US fossil fuel companies and entrench his own power at the EU’s own expense. His administration has attacked the EU’s methane regulation and its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, seeking to weaken Europe’s ability to hold corporations accountable for climate and human rights harms.
It used the threat of economically devastating tariffs to ensure the EU would agree to import $750 billion of US energy products over the next three years, in particular its liquified natural gas (LNG). Apart from the fact that US LNG is worse than coal and very expensive, US LNG projects contaminate the air and water of nearby communities, increasing their risk of cancers, asthma, and other serious health harms.
As long as the EU accedes to Trump’s demands, it will be switching one dangerous dependency for another, giving up its sovereignty bit by bit, losing the competitiveness battle, deepening the climate crisis which will be putting its own people’s lives at even higher risk from extreme weather, and jeopardizing its ambitions to be seen as a global climate leader.
Additionally, increasing imports of US fossil fuels are projected to raise energy prices for EU households, up to one in four of whom are already unable to afford to adequately heat, cool, or light their homes, and expose the EU to greater levels of market volatility, as the US has shown that it is not a reliable trading partner. Every Euro spent on US non-renewable energy, and every fossil fuel investment made by European companies and banks in the United States, fuels Trump’s authoritarian agenda at home and his imperial ambitions abroad. The only way Europe can reach energy independence and free itself from outside pressures is by implementing a just transition away from fossil fuels and relying on energy sufficiency/efficiency and homegrown renewable energy. Done well, this can support decent jobs and sound local economies.
It is past time for the EU to draw a line against Trump’s fossil-fueled imperialism. We, international and European civil society organizations and individuals, call on the EU to courageously oppose Trump’s agenda, and defend people, our planet, and the rule of law. The
EU should:
-Stand in solidarity with the Latin American nations threatened by the United States and other manifestations of imperial force, and to stand against all forms of oppression affecting local communities, as in the specific case of Venezuela.
-Stand in solidarity with Greenland. It is up to its people – and only them – to decide on their future.
-Put forth a motion at the United Nations that condemns the US’s blatant violations of international law.
-Immediately cancel negotiations and implementation of the US-EU trade deal
-Engage with EU Member States to renew the European Green Deal and establish a binding roadmap for the phase-out of fossil gas (in particular US LNG)
-Engage with EU Member States to appropriately terminate existing and prevent new long-term contracts for the import or financing of US LNG
-Defend the existing EU Methane Regulation and ensure a strong and robust implementation that applies to imports
–Support the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, organized by the governments of Colombia and the Netherlands