{"id":61771,"date":"2026-10-13T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=61771"},"modified":"2026-10-13T15:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T15:31:20","slug":"pay-baby-pay-african-activists-confront-oil-majors-at-african-energy-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/61771\/pay-baby-pay-african-activists-confront-oil-majors-at-african-energy-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay Baby Pay: African activists confront oil majors at African Energy Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While the industry toasts “Drill Baby Drill”, Greenpeace Africa hands polluters the bill for climate damage across the continent<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Cape Town, South Africa:<\/strong> Greenpeace Africa activists today confronted oil and gas companies at African Energy Week (AEW) in Cape Town, demanding that the companies stop looking away from the human cost of the climate crisis and pay for the loss and damage they are driving.<\/p>\n\n

Outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre, activists deployed giant inflatable wine bottles reading “Pay Baby Pay” and a banner declaring “Don’t Look Away. Make Polluters Pay.” Inside, a short film about communities hit by climate disasters was projected during the opening keynote, and a balloon banner rose above the registration hall.<\/p>\n\n

Sherelee Odayar, Oil and Gas Campaigner, Greenpeace Africa, said:<\/strong> “They are toasting more drilling while families in the Eastern Cape are still rebuilding homes the floods took. The companies in that hall made billions from the fuels heating our continent. Africa is paying the bill. Today we handed it back. Pay up.”<\/p>\n\n

The action responds to the African Energy Chamber’s launch of a “Drill Baby Drill” wine at this year’s AEW. The Chamber says the wine “celebrates the African and international investors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders” of the energy industry.<\/p>\n\n

Cynthia Moyo, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: <\/strong>“Of all the things to toast drilling with, they chose wine. Few industries depend more on a stable climate. Vineyards need predictable rain, cool nights and steady seasons, and the Western Cape drought showed how quickly that can disappear. When the climate breaks, the grape harvest shrinks and farmworkers lose their jobs first. This bottle celebrates the very thing that threatens the land it was grown on. Our bottle carries the honest label: Pay Baby Pay<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n

In 2025, extreme weather and climate events affected at least 13 million people across Africa and killed more than 3,000, according to the World Meteorological Organisation. In June 2025, floods in South Africa’s Eastern Cape killed more than 100 people. In the same year, ExxonMobil reported earnings of USD 28.8 billion, TotalEnergies reported adjusted net income of USD 15.6 billion, and BP reported a profit of USD 7.5 billion.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa is calling for:<\/p>\n\n

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  1. Oil and gas companies at AEW to acknowledge their contribution to the climate crisis and pay into loss and damage, adaptation and community recovery across Africa.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. An end to new oil and gas expansion, with financiers, insurers and investors redirecting money to community-led renewable energy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. African governments to adopt laws that make the biggest polluters pay for the damage they cause.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

    Notes to editors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n