Residents of the Dutch city of Groningen, where gas is being extracted by the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM), have lost confidence in the company, and in the regulations intended to protect them. Social movements, civil society organisations and local political parties gathered and discussed the dismantling of the NAM and the need to democratise the energy sector.
TNI co-organised the conference “A future without the NAM?” in Groningen on 7 January 2017.
This short video was produced after the conference and shows 5 ways to move beyond gas and towards a just energy transition.
Residents of the Dutch city of Groningen, where gas is being extracted by the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM), have lost confidence in the company, and in the regulations intended to protect them. NAM, owned by Shell and ExxonMobil, has too much power and the Dutch government has done too little to protect residents. The frequent earthquakes, caused by the gas drilling, affected at least 90.000 people in Groningen, damaging their homes, health, and the environment. To restore the people’s confidence, gas extraction must be reduced to a safe level and ultimately to zero. Further, we should push for a future without the NAM, a future in which the energy sector is publicly-owned, democratically controlled and based on renewable resources.
Watch Frida Kieninger’s (Food & Water Watch Europe) presentation about the Beyond Gas Network and dismantling the EU's push for gas:
Watch Cecile Blanchet (Commons Network) presentation explaining why energy is a commons, and should be owned by the community:
Watch Kahra Wayland-Larty’s (Global Justice Now) presentation on the vision of the Switched on London campaign, their political strategy and why democracy is so important.
Watch TNI researcher Daniel Chavez on Costa Rica and Uruguay's progressive energy policies and their successful struggle against privatisation:
In three sessions, speakers and participants focussed on local problems, shared inspiration from international cases and discussed plans for further action. TNI organised the international session in which Food & Water Watch campaigner Frida Keiningen dissected the EU’s push for gas and discussed how to move beyond it. Cecile Blanchet, a Commons Network fellow, explained why energy is a commons and should be owned by the community. Global Justice Now campaigner Kahra Wayland-Larty talked about her vision for energy democracy and why democracy is so important. TNI researcher Daniel Chavez closed the panel by discussing what the Netherlands can learn from Uruguay and Costa Rica’s national energy policies.
The conference was organised by: GIFT (Knowledge Earthquakes and Sustainable Development), GBB (Groningen Earth Movement), TNI (Transnational Institute), Friends of the Earth, SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), Christian Democrats (ChristenUnie), Green Left (Groenlinks), Animal Party (Partij voor de Dieren) and the Dutch Socialist Party (SP)
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