Just Stop Oil
Just Stop Oil was a United Kingdom-based environmental activist group founded in February 2022, which demanded that the British government immediately end all new licensing for oil and gas extraction as a means to address climate change through non-violent civil resistance.[1][2][3]
The group conducted a series of high-visibility disruptions, including blocking major motorways like the M25, throwing tomato soup and paint at protected artworks, and halting sporting events, actions that provoked substantial public opposition and resulted in more than 3,000 arrests along with millions in policing costs.[4][5][6]
In March 2025, Just Stop Oil declared an end to its street-based direct actions after the Labour government pledged to stop approving new North Sea fossil fuel projects, shifting focus to courtroom and prison-based resistance while claiming partial success in influencing policy.[7][8][9]
Founding and Historical Development
Origins and Key Founders
Just Stop Oil emerged in late 2021 as a coalition of climate activist groups responding to the United Kingdom government's continued licensing of new fossil fuel extraction projects, with the organization formally launching public actions in April 2022 following its establishment in February of that year.[3][4] The group's formation built directly on prior direct-action campaigns, including Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, adapting tactics of civil disobedience to target oil infrastructure and policy decisions amid warnings of irreversible climate tipping points.[10] Central to its origins was Roger Hallam, a Welsh academic and serial climate activist born in 1965 or 1966, who co-founded Just Stop Oil alongside his role in establishing Extinction Rebellion in 2018 and Insulate Britain in 2020. Hallam, formerly a lecturer in organic farming at Harper Adams University, developed the group's strategy emphasizing high-disruption protests to force media attention and political concessions, drawing from historical nonviolent resistance models while advocating for escalated tactics to halt new oil and gas approvals.[10] His influence stemmed from empirical analyses of past movements, arguing that moderate advocacy had failed to curb emissions, though critics have noted his predictions of near-term societal collapse lack robust probabilistic backing from mainstream climate models.[11] Sarah Lunnon served as a co-founder and early public face, contributing to the group's organizational setup and media outreach from its inception.[12] Lunnon, a former psychotherapist, aligned with Hallam's vision during the pivot from broader environmental coalitions to a singular focus on fossil fuel phase-out, coordinating initial protests at oil terminals like those in Essex.[4] The duo's leadership reflected a shift toward decentralized, affinity-group structures, prioritizing committed volunteers over hierarchical control to sustain momentum against perceived governmental intransigence on energy policy.[9]Expansion and Internal Dynamics
Just Stop Oil was publicly launched on 14 February 2022 as a successor campaign to groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, rapidly expanding its operations through coordinated disruptions such as road blockades and targeted protests against fossil fuel infrastructure. The group's growth was fueled by social media recruitment and funding from the Climate Emergency Fund, which provided grants totaling $1.7 million to climate activists across multiple countries, including the UK, enabling sustained actions like the 2022 M25 motorway protests that drew widespread media attention and increased volunteer participation.[13] By mid-2023, the organization had escalated to over 30 coordinated marches and continuous resistance campaigns in London, reflecting a surge in activist involvement despite growing legal pressures.[14] Internally, Just Stop Oil maintained a decentralized structure emphasizing small, affinity-based cells of committed supporters trained in non-violent direct action, with decisions guided by consensus among spokespeople rather than a formal hierarchy.[12] This model prioritized high-risk tactics to maximize disruption, but it also led to internal strains from accumulating arrests—over 3,300 across three years—and lengthy imprisonments, including sentences of up to five years for 16 activists convicted in connection with 2022 planning.[15] [9] Reports of infighting emerged by early 2025, contributing to a strategic pivot away from civil disobedience, as evidenced by the group's March announcement to end direct action campaigns amid unsustainable legal and personal costs.[16] The cessation reflected a broader internal reassessment, with at least seven members imprisoned and eight on remand by March 2025, prompting a shift toward less disruptive advocacy while warning of potential renewed resistance if policy demands remained unmet.[7] This evolution highlighted tensions between the group's alarmist ideological commitment to immediate fossil fuel cessation and pragmatic limits imposed by UK laws like the 2023 Public Order Act, which increased penalties for infrastructure disruptions.[17]Dissolution of Direct Action Campaigns
On March 27, 2025, Just Stop Oil announced the cessation of its direct action campaigns, stating that its core demand to end new oil and gas licensing had become UK government policy under the Labour administration led by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.[7][18] The group described this as marking one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history, crediting three years of disruptive protests—including road blockades, art vandalism, and infrastructure disruptions—for pressuring policymakers to halt new fossil fuel extraction approvals.[19][20] The announcement specified that direct actions, such as throwing soup at artworks or spraying monuments with cornstarch paint, would end, with the group "hanging up the hi-vis" vests synonymous with its activists.[21][8] Supporters framed the move not as defeat but as a strategic pivot, emphasizing that civil resistance would continue in other forms, though the group planned to wind down operations by late April 2025 following thousands of arrests and dozens of imprisonments among members.[9][22] A final demonstration occurred on April 26, 2025, in London, drawing crowds but eliciting public backlash, including flares of anger from onlookers amid the group's parting claims of victory.[23][24] Critics, including outlets skeptical of the activists' tactics, questioned the permanence of the policy shift, noting that existing fossil fuel infrastructure and imports would persist, potentially undermining the group's self-proclaimed success.[25] By May 2025, Just Stop Oil had effectively disbanded its direct action arm, redirecting energies toward less confrontational advocacy, though splinter groups and related climate networks continued sporadic disruptions.[26][27]Ideology and Objectives
Core Demands and Policy Positions
Just Stop Oil's foundational demand, articulated since its formation in 2022, is for the UK government to immediately halt all future licensing, consents, exploration, development, production, and infrastructure related to fossil fuels, encompassing oil, gas, and coal projects within UK jurisdiction.[28][29] This position frames new fossil fuel extraction as a direct accelerator of catastrophic climate impacts, incompatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C as per scientific consensus.[28] In practice, the group targeted policies enabling North Sea expansions and domestic drilling approvals, estimating that compliance would avert billions of barrels of oil equivalent from extraction.[30] By late 2024, Just Stop Oil declared this demand substantively met following the Labour government's announcement on September 6, 2024, to cease new oil and gas licenses, including revoking consents for projects like Rosebank and Jackdaw, potentially blocking 4.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent.[30] The organization credited its civil resistance campaigns for influencing this policy shift, though critics, including energy analysts, contend that existing fields will continue producing for decades and that UK emissions constitute less than 1% of global totals, rendering domestic bans marginal without international enforcement.[30] Beyond the immediate halt, Just Stop Oil advocates for a global phase-out of fossil fuel extraction and combustion by 2030 through a legally binding Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, modeled on nuclear non-proliferation efforts, to coordinate international cessation and mitigate supply-driven emissions.[31][32] This extends their policy stance to critique insufficient national measures, urging supranational agreements to address fossil fuels' role in exceeding planetary boundaries, as warned by UN officials.[28] The group rejects incremental reforms, positioning fossil fuel dependency as a systemic threat necessitating rapid decarbonization over economic growth priorities that perpetuate extraction.[28] While primarily fossil fuel-centric, Just Stop Oil's rhetoric encompasses broader systemic critiques, including demands for political-economic restructuring to prioritize survival over elite interests, though these remain subordinate to the licensing moratorium.[28] The organization has not formally endorsed ancillary policies like public transport nationalization in core manifestos, despite occasional supporter signage invoking such ideas during actions.[28] Empirical assessments of their demands highlight tensions: UK net-zero pathways from bodies like the Climate Change Committee align with phase-out timelines but emphasize technology-neutral transitions, contrasting Just Stop Oil's outright bans without equivalent focus on replacement energy scalability.[29]Philosophical Foundations and Alarmism
Just Stop Oil's philosophical foundations rest on a framework of moral necessity and collective system change, positing that individual behavioral adjustments are insufficient against entrenched governmental and corporate interests perpetuating fossil fuel dependency. The group's strategy, outlined in its operational plan, emphasizes four interlocking principles: attrition through repetitive actions to sustain public pressure; nonviolent disruption to polarize debate and compel negotiation; moral necessity, whereby bold interventions are deemed ethically imperative in proportion to the perceived scale of the climate threat; and scalability to expand participation and impact.[29] This approach draws from traditions of civil disobedience, adapted by co-founder Roger Hallam—who previously helped establish Extinction Rebellion—to advocate nonviolent rebellion as the sole means to avert societal breakdown, arguing that democratic institutions have failed to address systemic inertia.[33] Hallam's influence underscores a rejection of incrementalism in favor of high-stakes disruption, rooted in a diagnosis of climate dynamics as a "full-system breakdown" affecting food production, health, and governance, necessitating immediate mass mobilization over elite-led reforms.[34] Just Stop Oil frames continued fossil fuel extraction not merely as environmentally harmful but as a deliberate policy of "genocide," subsidized by the UK government at £12 billion annually, which allegedly condemns future generations to oblivion through resource depletion and ecological tipping points.[35] Central to their alarmism is the assertion that halting new oil and gas licensing is non-negotiable to prevent catastrophic outcomes, including widespread starvation and the "slaughter of billions" from cascading failures in agriculture and infrastructure under projected warming scenarios.[35] Hallam has repeatedly warned of billions perishing imminently without radical intervention, citing potential crop collapses and heat-induced societal unraveling as terminal diagnoses beyond mitigation by conventional policy, a view he promotes in public statements and writings as the moral imperative for activists to treat every action as if "everything depends" on it.[36] [37] This rhetoric positions fossil fuel advocacy as equivalent to mass murder, prioritizing disruption of supply chains to enforce accountability, though it diverges from mainstream climate assessments like those from the IPCC, which project severe risks but not such immediate, near-total human losses.[35]Organizational Structure and Funding
Leadership and Membership Profile
Just Stop Oil maintains a non-hierarchical organizational structure, lacking a formal leadership cadre and instead relying on autonomous blocs of activists who coordinate through shared resources and strategy teams responsible for campaign planning and mobilization.[3][11][38] Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and a social movement strategist, served as a pivotal figure in Just Stop Oil's inception and tactical framework, contributing to its initial design and operational model despite the absence of official titles.[39][40][41] Hallam, an organic farmer turned activist, emphasized disruptive direct action in his influence over the group, drawing from prior campaigns like Insulate Britain.[42] Membership draws from a coalition of diverse professionals, including scientists, lawyers, and former oil industry employees, alongside predominantly young recruits prepared for arrest and imprisonment as part of non-violent civil resistance.[3][43] The group, youth-led as an offshoot of broader climate networks, has amassed over 3,300 arrests since 2022, with approximately 138 members imprisoned at various points and a core of several hundred participants evident in actions like its final 2025 protest involving a couple hundred individuals.[27][1][44] Exact membership figures remain undisclosed, reflecting its decentralized nature and recruitment challenges amid low public support levels around 17%.[45]Financial Sources and Transparency Issues
Just Stop Oil received its initial seed funding primarily from the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), a U.S.-based organization that channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the group in 2022, including $1.3 million earmarked for a "spring uprising" of protests.[13][46] The CEF, which acts as a fiscal sponsor for disruptive climate activism, was seeded with a $500,000 donation from Aileen Getty, granddaughter of J. Paul Getty and heiress to the Getty Oil fortune, alongside contributions from other wealthy philanthropists and filmmaker Adam McKay.[13][47] By March to August 2023, the group's funding mix shifted to 51% from public donations, 21% from individual contributions exceeding £20,000, and 16% from green energy sector sources, with CEF continuing as a supporter.[3] Notable large donors included British green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince, who contributed over £340,000 before withdrawing support in October 2023, citing the ineffectiveness of further protests.[48] The group's reliance on CEF has drawn scrutiny for enabling donor anonymity, as the fund provides a "safe harbor" for contributions to high-risk activism without requiring public disclosure of individual identities.[49] Just Stop Oil Ltd, incorporated in December 2022 and dissolved via compulsory strike-off in May 2024, filed no annual accounts with Companies House, limiting insight into detailed financial flows despite legal requirements for active companies.[50] Self-reported details on the group's website emphasize small public donations as the primary ongoing source post-2023, but lack itemized breakdowns or audited statements.[47] Critics have highlighted the irony of funding from fossil fuel-linked figures like Getty, questioning whether such ties undermine the campaign's anti-oil message, though Getty has positioned her donations as personal opposition to industry expansion.[51] Unverified social media claims alleging direct big oil sponsorship to discredit environmentalism have circulated but lack evidence beyond the Getty connection.[52] Mainstream reports from outlets like The Guardian, which often align with climate activism, have downplayed these concerns while confirming the funding channels, potentially reflecting institutional biases toward sympathetic coverage of such groups.[13] Overall, the opacity of pass-through funding via CEF contrasts with the transparency expected of registered charities, raising questions about accountability in a movement emphasizing systemic change.Tactics and Methods
Direct Action Strategies
Just Stop Oil's direct action strategies center on non-violent civil disobedience designed to impose economic and social disruptions, thereby compelling media coverage and governmental response to their demand for halting new fossil fuel extraction. The group explicitly frames these actions as civil resistance, drawing parallels to historical movements like the Freedom Riders' desegregation campaigns, where sustained pressure through interruption forces policy concessions.[28][10] Early tactics emphasized trespass and low-level sabotage targeting fossil fuel logistics, such as occupying oil depots and blockading fuel trucks to interrupt supply chains, as initiated in their founding phase in 2022.[53][10] A core strategy involves traffic obstructions, including mass slow marches on major roadways and supergluing participants to asphalt or vehicle frames to halt vehicular movement for hours or days. These actions, often coordinated in urban centers like London, aim to generate widespread inconvenience and economic costs estimated in millions of pounds per incident from delays and policing. For instance, in April 2022, activists blockaded oil terminals like the Navigator Terminal in Essex, locking gates and climbing tankers to prevent tanker departures.[4][54] Road occupations escalated in subsequent months, with participants using bicycles, tents, and barriers to sustain blockades, intentionally prioritizing high-visibility routes to maximize public disruption.[53] Cultural and symbolic targets form another pillar, where protesters apply washable substances like tomato soup or paint to protective glass over artworks or heritage sites, followed by gluing hands to frames, to symbolize the threat of climate inaction without causing permanent damage. Notable examples include hurling soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers on October 14, 2022, at the National Gallery, and spraying orange powder paint on Stonehenge monoliths on June 19, 2024.[4][55] These interventions, justified by the group as "attacking symbols of wealth and power," seek viral media amplification, though they have prompted debates on whether such property-focused tactics alienate broader support.[56][10] Additional methods extend to infiltrating sports events and public spectacles, such as invading pitches during Premier League matches or disrupting theatrical performances, to interrupt elite gatherings and equate fossil fuel dependency with societal collapse. The group trains activists in de-escalation and legal awareness to maintain non-violence claims, with actions planned via affinity groups for rapid deployment and evasion of arrests until objectives are met. By March 2025, Just Stop Oil announced cessation of these street-based disruptions, citing partial policy shifts like moratoriums on new North Sea licenses, though attributing success to their pressure tactics.[4][9][53]Risk Assessment and Justifications
Just Stop Oil frames its tactics within the tradition of civil disobedience, arguing that the existential threats posed by climate change—such as projected 2.7°C warming by 2100 under current policies—necessitate breaking unjust laws to avert catastrophe, drawing on philosophers like Henry David Thoreau and John Rawls who posit such actions as a moral duty when governments fail to uphold justice.[57] The group justifies disruption as a last resort after 32 years of ignored IPCC warnings and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies, contending that nonviolent campaigns historically succeed over 50% of the time when mobilizing sufficient public involvement, as evidenced by studies of 1900–2006 movements.[57] Activists assert moral rightness in targeting oil infrastructure directly, viewing fossil fuels as instruments of harm equivalent to "bombs killing our earth," with tactics calibrated for media spectacle to shift public discourse via radical flank effects.[53] The organization commits to non-violent direct action (NVDA), emphasizing protocols to minimize physical risks, such as slow marches, yielding to emergency vehicles with active sirens and lights, and designing interventions to avoid compromising anyone's safety.[7] [53] Over three years, Just Stop Oil claims no instances where participant or public safety was endangered by their methods, transitioning from infrastructure sabotage—which carried higher legal perils—to public disruptions for broader visibility after initial efforts garnered insufficient media coverage.[7] [53] Legal risks are acknowledged explicitly, with over 3,300 arrests, 180 imprisonments (including sentences up to four years), and ongoing surveillance, yet these are deemed proportionate to averting greater harms like ecosystem collapse and policy-induced emissions.[7] In weighing risks, Just Stop Oil prioritizes the scale of climate inaction—potentially endangering billions—against temporary inconveniences or personal liabilities, asserting that conventional advocacy fails amid institutional inertia and that provocative NVDA expands the Overton window, enabling moderate groups like Greenpeace to gain traction.[53] Upon suspending direct actions in March 2025, the group cited achieved policy shifts, such as rulings against new oil and gas licenses and retention of 4.4 billion barrels underground, as validation that risks yielded net benefits, though it vowed continued resistance through legal and informational means against perceived anti-protest oppression.[7] This assessment aligns with their view that disruption, while polarizing, proves effective in forcing governmental concessions where democratic channels have stalled.[53]Protest Activities
Initial Campaigns in 2022
Just Stop Oil initiated its protest activities on April 1, 2022, with coordinated blockades targeting multiple oil terminals across England as part of a "spring uprising" campaign aimed at disrupting fossil fuel distribution.[58][59] The actions, conducted in coalition with Extinction Rebellion, focused on sites including the Esso West Terminal near Heathrow Airport, Esso Hythe and Fawley in Southampton, and BP Hamble, resulting in suspended operations at several facilities and initial arrests of activists who blocked access roads and tanker routes.[60][61] These blockades affected fuel supplies in the south-east and Midlands regions, contributing to reported petrol shortages at pumps.[62] The campaign escalated over subsequent days, with activists blocking up to ten critical oil facilities near London, Birmingham, and Southampton, including revelations of an underground tunnel network at sites like Navigator and Grays to impede lorry access.[63][64] By April 8, over 40 arrests had occurred, including for alleged damage to petrol pumps during the actions, prompting criticism for the disruptions to essential fuel logistics.[13] Just Stop Oil paused the terminal blockades on April 19 for one week, urging government response to their demand for halting new oil and gas licensing, but resumed activities when no concessions were made.[65] Subsequent early efforts in 2022 shifted toward high-profile disruptions, such as the July 5 occupation of the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, where activists spilled oil on paintings to symbolize fossil fuel impacts, leading to further arrests and injunctions against repeat actions at cultural sites.[13] These initial tactics established Just Stop Oil's strategy of nonviolent direct action focused on economic pressure through supply chain interruptions, though they drew backlash for prioritizing disruption over dialogue amid ongoing energy security concerns.[4]Intensification in 2023
![Just Stop Oil protest at Radcliffe Camera, Oxford, October 2023](./assets/Just_Stop_Oil_protest%252C_Radcliffe_Camera%252C_Oxford%252C_October_2023_$2 In early 2023, Just Stop Oil expanded its direct actions to include disruptions at sporting events, such as the April 17 incident at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, where a supporter climbed onto a match table and scattered orange powder, halting play during a televised session between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry.[66] [67] This marked a tactical shift toward high-visibility interruptions of public entertainment, aiming to amplify media coverage of their demand to halt new fossil fuel licensing.[68] Throughout the summer, the group sustained weekly slow marches in central London, reaching the thirteenth consecutive week by mid-July with over 30 such actions reported, leading to repeated arrests for public nuisance.[14] Cumulative arrests exceeded 2,200 since the campaign's 2022 launch by that point, reflecting intensified recruitment and commitment despite legal risks.[69] October saw a surge in property-targeted protests, including the October 10 vandalism of Oxford University's Radcliffe Camera with orange paint by two student supporters protesting fossil fuel ties, alongside similar actions at the University of Exeter.[70] [71] This period escalated into coordinated mass actions, with over 100 participants blocking Whitehall on November 6 and initiating a daily Trafalgar Square convergence from November 20.[72] The late-year campaign triggered 65 arrests on October 30 alone under newly enacted Public Order Act powers, culminating in 630 detentions by early December amid sustained road occupations.[73] [74] Metropolitan Police estimated the year's disruptions cost nearly £20 million in policing resources, underscoring the operational scale and resource drain.[44]Final Actions in 2024-2025
On May 10, 2024, two Just Stop Oil activists, Reverend Sue Parfitt, aged 82, and Judy Bruce, aged 85, used a hammer and chisel to damage the protective glass case enclosing a 1215 copy of the Magna Carta at the British Library in London.[75][76] The pair held a sign stating "The government is breaking the law" during the action, which caused superficial chips to the case but left the document undamaged.[76] Both were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.[75] In June 2024, Just Stop Oil supporters sprayed orange powder paint onto several standing stones at Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site managed by English Heritage.[77][78] The action occurred on June 19, involving two individuals who were arrested for suspected criminal damage, planning, and conspiracy to cause damage.[77] English Heritage reported that the powder was promptly removed to mitigate risks to the stones' lichens, though prosecutors later argued the protest constituted "blatant vandalism" with potential long-term harm.[78][79] By early 2025, amid ongoing legal challenges and a reported achievement of their core demand through court rulings deeming new oil and gas licensing unlawful, Just Stop Oil announced the cessation of its street-based direct action campaigns.[80] On March 27, 2025, the group stated it would "hang up the hi-vis" after three years, shifting focus to courtroom and prison resistance while endorsing a new direct action initiative.[9][8] The final public demonstration occurred on April 26, 2025, as a march in London, marking the end of high-profile disruptive stunts that had included over a dozen imprisonments among supporters.[24][81]Legal Consequences and State Responses
Arrests, Trials, and Imprisonments
Supporters of Just Stop Oil have been arrested more than 3,300 times since the group's launch in April 2022, with many detentions stemming from actions such as road blockades, fuel depot occupations, and disruptions to public events.[82] [15] These arrests frequently resulted in charges under the Public Order Act 1986 for offenses including aggravated trespass and conspiracy to cause public nuisance, leading to approximately 180 documented imprisonments by early 2025.[82] Courts have imposed custodial sentences citing the scale of economic disruption and risks to public safety posed by the protests, such as delays to emergency services.[83] A landmark case involved the November 2022 M25 motorway blockades, where five organizers—Roger Hallam, Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, and Cressida Gethin—were convicted in July 2024 of conspiracy to cause public nuisance after planning actions that caused over 100 hours of traffic disruption across multiple days.[84] Hallam, a co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, received the longest term of five years' imprisonment, while the others were initially sentenced to four years each; appeals in March 2025 reduced Shaw's and Lancaster's terms to three years and Whittaker De Abreu's and Gethin's to 30 months, though the convictions stood.[85] The judge emphasized the premeditated nature of the conspiracy and its foreseeable harm, including an estimated £1.3 million in economic losses and risks to vulnerable road users.[83] Other significant imprisonments include seven activists convicted in February 2023 of aggravated trespass for blockading an Esso fuel terminal in Birmingham in December 2021, disrupting fuel supplies; sentences ranged from suspended terms to short custodial periods.[86] In May 2025, four protesters—Indigo Rumbelow, Leanorah Ward, Margaret Reid, and Daniel Knorr—were jailed for a combined seven years for plotting to disrupt traffic near Manchester Airport, including blocking access roads; individual terms included 27 months for Rumbelow.[87] Separately, Ella Rose Luckett received 18 months in May 2025 for her role in a related conspiracy to cause public nuisance at the same site.[88] By mid-2025, at least seven Just Stop Oil supporters remained incarcerated, serving terms up to five years for various disruptions, amid ongoing appeals and trials for actions like a 20-minute march in London tested under public order laws.[15] [89] Prosecutors have increasingly pursued conspiracy charges for coordinated planning, yielding record custodial sentences for non-violent environmental protests in the UK.[90]Legislative and Policing Measures
In response to disruptive tactics employed by Just Stop Oil, including road blockades and interference with infrastructure, the UK Parliament passed the Public Order Act 2023, which expanded police authority to impose conditions on protests likely to cause "serious disruption" to the public, defined as more than minor interference with daily activities.[91][92] The legislation, explicitly motivated by actions from groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, lowered the threshold for prosecutable offenses such as "locking on" to infrastructure, punishable by up to three years' imprisonment, and enabled pre-emptive arrests for anticipated disruptions.[93][94] Key provisions took effect on July 2, 2023, allowing officers to direct protesters away from transport networks and major sites, with non-compliance leading to immediate arrest.[92] The Metropolitan Police first invoked these powers on October 30, 2023, during a Just Stop Oil slow march near Parliament, resulting in over 60 arrests for breaching conditions intended to prevent gridlock.[73] Secondary regulations in June 2023 further reduced the disruption threshold, facilitating convictions like those of three Just Stop Oil participants in a 2023 Vauxhall march, upheld in February 2025 despite challenges to the laws' proportionality.[95][80] Policing evolved toward intelligence-led prevention, with forces like the Metropolitan Police deploying proactive surveillance and interception to thwart planned actions, as seen in the 2024 foiling of a Manchester Airport disruption that led to four Just Stop Oil arrests and a combined seven-year sentence in May 2025.[87] These measures contributed to over 3,000 Just Stop Oil arrests since 2022, incurring nearly £20 million in policing costs for the group alone in 2023.[5][12] In 2024, Serious Disruption Prevention Orders were introduced, enabling courts to restrict repeat offenders' movements and protest participation post-conviction, applied amid escalating sentences for coordinated disruptions like the 2022 M25 blockade, where five activists received up to five years in July 2024 for conspiracy to cause public nuisance.[96][84] By October 2025, the European Court of Human Rights criticized aspects of the framework for potentially chilling legitimate dissent, prompting calls for review, though UK authorities maintained the measures addressed verifiable public safety risks from sustained blockades.[93]Criticisms and Controversies
Public Harm and Economic Disruptions
Just Stop Oil's road blockades and disruptions have repeatedly delayed emergency services, posing risks to public health and safety. On October 11, 2022, protesters blocked roads in Knightsbridge and Brompton, preventing an ambulance and fire engine from passing through traffic jams, as captured in videos shared online.[97][98] Similarly, on November 8, 2023, during a demonstration on Waterloo Bridge, an ambulance transporting a patient to hospital was obstructed amid clashes between activists and police, with a paramedic pleading for passage to a life-and-death emergency.[99][100] These incidents, among others, have drawn criticism for endangering lives by impeding critical medical and firefighting responses, though no direct fatalities have been verifiably linked to the delays.[101] The group's actions have imposed substantial economic burdens, primarily through policing expenditures and lost productivity from traffic disruptions. The Metropolitan Police reported costs exceeding £20 million for responding to Just Stop Oil protests by December 2023, including £7.7 million in earlier phases and over £4.5 million in a six-week period in mid-2023 alone.[102][6] The November 2022 M25 motorway blockades, involving activists climbing gantries, resulted in over 50,000 hours of vehicle delays affecting more than 700,000 drivers, with estimated economic damages of at least £765,000 and additional policing costs of £1.1 million.[103][104] Specific vandalism, such as the October 2022 orange paint attack on the Bank of England's gates, incurred £20,644 in reversal costs.[105] These disruptions have compounded taxpayer expenses and hindered commerce, fuel distribution, and daily commutes without yielding measurable policy concessions on fossil fuels.Strategic Ineffectiveness and Backlash
![Just Stop Oil activists at Stonehenge][float-right] Just Stop Oil's core demand to halt all new fossil fuel licensing in the United Kingdom remained unfulfilled during the Conservative government's tenure, as evidenced by approvals for projects like the Rosebank oil field in July 2023, estimated to produce up to 300 million barrels of oil equivalent.[4] The subsequent Labour government's policy in late 2024 to cease issuing new licenses aligned with its pre-election manifesto commitments rather than demonstrable causation from JSO's actions, with critics arguing the protests exerted negligible direct influence on policymakers amid continued global oil demand growth.[106] Despite the group's cessation of direct action in March 2025, UK oil and gas extraction persisted, underscoring the strategy's failure to disrupt the sector's operational continuity.[12] Public opinion polls consistently reflected widespread disapproval of JSO, with a YouGov survey in July 2023 finding only 17% favorable views compared to 64% unfavorable, a sentiment exacerbated by disruptive tactics like road blockades.[107] Similarly, a University of Bristol study reported 68% disapproval in mid-2023, linking the backlash to perceptions of the group's actions as disproportionate and harmful to everyday life.[108] High-profile incidents, such as the M25 motorway disruptions in November 2022, incurred policing costs exceeding £20 million by December 2023 and provoked public outrage over economic losses and safety risks, further eroding support.[4] The strategic emphasis on civil disobedience generated legislative countermeasures, including the Public Order Act 2023, which facilitated preemptive arrests and contributed to JSO's effective "policing to extinction" by April 2025, as activists faced over 2,000 arrests and lengthy imprisonments.[12] Analysts contend this backlash not only neutralized the group's momentum but also risked broader alienation from climate goals, with surveys indicating that awareness of JSO protests correlated with heightened opposition to associated causes among segments of the public.[109] While proponents claim indirect benefits like elevated media attention, empirical assessments highlight the tactics' net ineffectiveness in advancing policy or public buy-in, as fossil fuel dependency endured without corresponding emissions reductions attributable to JSO.[106]Ethical Concerns and Ironies in Funding
Just Stop Oil's operations have been substantially supported by the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), a nonprofit co-founded in 2019 by Aileen Getty, granddaughter of J. Paul Getty, the founder of Getty Oil Company, whose fortune derived from fossil fuel extraction.[110][111] The CEF, seeded with a $500,000 donation from Getty and later receiving an additional $1 million from her personally, has disbursed over $4 million in grants to climate activist groups, including more than $1 million to Just Stop Oil by 2022 for protests such as road blockades and art interventions.[13][112] This funding model has drawn scrutiny for its reliance on wealth accumulated through the very oil industry the group seeks to curtail via demands to halt all new fossil fuel licensing in the United Kingdom.[113] Critics have highlighted the irony of an organization opposing fossil fuel expansion being bankrolled by proceeds from historical oil profits, arguing it underscores a disconnect between elite philanthropy and the disruptive tactics imposed on the public, such as traffic disruptions costing millions in economic losses.[51] For instance, while Just Stop Oil activists have faced arrests and property damage claims during actions like throwing soup at artworks, the funding enables such high-visibility stunts without equivalent personal risk to donors, prompting accusations of outsourced activism where ordinary citizens bear the inconvenience.[110] Aileen Getty has countered such critiques by framing her contributions as a moral imperative to accelerate systemic change, emphasizing that inherited wealth imposes a responsibility to combat the climate impacts of fossil fuels.[114] Further ethical questions arise from the opacity of donor motivations and the potential for funding to perpetuate a cycle of performative protest rather than substantive policy influence, as evidenced by the group's limited success in altering UK energy licensing despite over £20 million in total donations by 2023.[113] Observers note that while CEF discloses major grants, the indirect sourcing from oil-derived assets raises concerns about greenwashing, where donors mitigate personal carbon legacies through third-party disruption without divesting from existing fossil fuel holdings.[51] This dynamic has fueled debates on whether such funding truly advances causal reductions in emissions or instead amplifies media backlash that entrenches public resistance to climate measures.[115]Impact and Empirical Assessment
Claimed Achievements versus Verifiable Outcomes
Just Stop Oil has claimed that its campaign achieved a policy victory by compelling the UK government to end new oil and gas licensing, asserting in March 2025 that this demand became official under the Labour administration following their 2024 election manifesto commitment.[19][116] The group further stated in December 2024 that its actions since April 2022 prevented the extraction and burning of 4.4 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent from the North Sea, positioning itself as one of the most successful civil resistance movements in recent history by drawing parallels to historical nonviolent campaigns like the Freedom Riders.[117][15] In verifiable terms, no causal link exists between Just Stop Oil's disruptions and the Labour policy shift, as the party's opposition to new North Sea licenses predated the group's major actions and aligned with longstanding internal debates rather than protest-driven concessions.[12] The Conservative government issued licenses in the 33rd Offshore Licensing Round, awarding 31 new ones in May 2024 to bolster energy security amid global supply concerns.[118] Under Labour, while new primary licensing rounds ceased, the administration clarified in June 2025 that it would not revoke prior approvals and issued environmental guidance enabling restarts for fields like Rosebank and Jackdaw, subject to stricter emissions assessments, thus permitting continued development rather than an outright ban.[119][120] UK fossil fuel production persisted, with North Sea output projected to remain significant through the decade independent of protest timelines.[121]| Claimed Achievement | Verifiable Outcome |
|---|---|
| Prevention of 4.4 billion barrels of extraction | No independent data confirms this figure; UK oil and gas approvals and production levels show no measurable decline attributable to protests, with emissions reductions driven primarily by renewable energy expansion and efficiency gains since 2019.[122][12] |
| Heightened public support for climate action | Surveys indicate disruptive tactics eroded backing, with 46% of respondents reporting decreased support for climate policies after exposure to road blockades or cultural disruptions, versus only 13% showing increased engagement; broader polling post-2022 actions revealed net unfavorable views of the group at 60-70%.[109][106] |
| Policy adoption as "government policy" | Partial manifesto alignment occurred, but implementation allowed ongoing projects; empirical analyses attribute limited influence to media spectacle without evidence of direct legislative causation, contrasting with claims of transformative success.[123][124] |