Just Stop Oil is a direct action campaign demanding the UK government halt all new fossil fuel licensing and production to tackle the climate crisis.
Just Stop Oil (JSO) was launched in early 2022, as part of a new wave of climate activism focused on fossil fuel resistance. Formed by activists connected to Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, the group emerged from a growing sense of frustration that even as climate warnings intensify, governments continue to approve new oil and gas projects.
The group’s foundational principle is simple but powerful: no new fossil fuels. This clear message reflects a scientific consensus that continuing to expand fossil fuel infrastructure will lock the planet into catastrophic climate breakdown. By taking a zero-compromise stance, JSO aims to force the UK government to shift its energy policy in line with climate science and justice.
JSO’s approach is grounded in nonviolent civil resistance. Their tactics include blocking major roads, disrupting sports events, gluing themselves to infrastructure, and pouring paint or soup on artworks and buildings — actions designed to be headline-grabbing and impossible to ignore. While critics often focus on the disruption, the group argues that passive protest has failed and more dramatic action is ethically necessary.
These actions are part of a calculated strategy of mass arrest and moral confrontation. Activists are trained to stay peaceful, accept arrest, and use courtroom trials as platforms for raising public awareness. Like Extinction Rebellion, JSO believes in personal sacrifice as a form of witness — a way to show the seriousness of the climate emergency through embodied action.
Just Stop Oil has polarised public opinion in the UK. Supporters hail the group as courageous truth-tellers who are sounding the alarm in a world still addicted to oil. Critics — including some politicians and media outlets — accuse the group of alienating the public and targeting the wrong people. The most controversial actions, such as disrupting the Premier League or throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, have made global headlines.
Yet even when controversial, these actions have succeeded in putting the climate crisis back into public conversation. JSO’s leaders argue that social disruption is a necessary part of any meaningful justice movement — pointing to historic campaigns for civil rights and women’s suffrage, which were similarly disruptive and unpopular at the time.
Just Stop Oil is closely aligned with the wider environmental resistance movement, including Extinction Rebellion and Youth Demand. These groups share resources, training, and a sense of urgency, while each developing their own identity. JSO stands out for its laser focus on fossil fuels and its willingness to create public outrage as a form of leverage.
What connects these movements is a belief that time is running out — and that the old ways of protest are no longer enough. For JSO activists, the choice is clear: continue business as usual and face climate collapse, or disrupt that business and demand a livable future. In their eyes, the real extremists are not those gluing themselves to roads, but the governments and corporations that continue to fuel the crisis.
As the climate emergency intensifies, Just Stop Oil remains committed to escalating pressure until its demand is met: an immediate stop to all new fossil fuel exploration and development in the UK.