Tzeporah Berman

There is a “gaping hole” in international climate governance, says Tzeporah Berman, a longtime environmental activist. While the Paris Agreement requires countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions, it does nothing to constrain the production of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. Berman is trying to change that.

Since 2020, Berman has chaired the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a global advocacy campaign calling for a treaty, complementary to the Paris Agreement, that would limit the production of new fossil fuels and orchestrate a “managed decline of production based on equity and justice.” “Countries who have not contributed to the majority of the problem and need economic development and those jobs to survive right now [would] get a slower wind down,” Berman explains.

The idea for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty has so far been endorsed by 14 countries (including various island nations), 10 Indigenous nations, the World Health Organization, and hundreds of elected officials the world over. Last December, the initiative was endorsed by Colombia—a major victory, given that the country is one of the world’s largest coal producers, and the sixth largest seaborne coal exporter globally. The initiative has also received the backing of over 2,700 civil society organizations and institutions, and 101 Nobel Laureates. “I feel like I'm holding onto a rocket,” says Berman, who over the last five years has played an “octopus role”: raising funds, meeting with nation states, supporting the initiative’s secretariat, and speaking across the world.

While there’s no single clear-cut path to creating a treaty, the “drumbeat of support” around the initiative generates social and political pressure, which can influence international negotiations and transform the status quo. “This isn't just about electrification,” explains Berman. “There has to be a shift in the systems that have supported the development of the fossil fuel political economy.”