April, 13 2016, 09:30am EDT
350.org on Peabody Declaring Bankruptcy: "A Harbinger of the End of the Fossil Fuel Era"
Peabody 50th coal company to declare bankruptcy since 2012, stressing necessity of a just transition away from fossil fuels that prioritizes communities and workers
BROOKLYN, New York
Peabody Energy Corporation, the world's largest private-sector coal company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today, spelling the end of coal and a bleak outlook for the entire fossil fuel industry.
Coal has been in a structural decline since 2013 and today's announcement highlights the need to create a comprehensive plan for a just transition away from fossil fuels.
"Peabody Energy's bankruptcy is a harbinger of the end of the fossil fuel era," said Jenny Marienau, U.S. Divestment Campaign Manager with 350.org. "Peabody is crashing because the company was unwilling to change with the times -- they doubled down on the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, and investors backed their bet, as the world shifted toward renewable energy. They have consistently put profit over people, and now their profits have plummeted. Our world has no place for companies like Peabody."
As oil prices plummet and renewable energy attracts record levels of investment, Peabody is the latest major United States-based coal corporation to file for bankruptcy. Peabody is the 50th coal company to declare bankruptcy since 2012, following announcements from Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coal in the last few months.
In their 2014 SEC filings, Peabody cited that the fossil fuel divestment movement "could significantly affect demand for our products or our securities." During the Paris climate talks in December, 350.org and Divest-Invest announced that more than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion had committed to some level of fossil fuel divestment.
"Peabody Energy has lost 95 cents on the dollar over the course of the last year. It's more clear than ever that divestment is the morally and financially smart thing to do," said 350.org's Senior Global Analyst, Brett Fleishman. "The country's largest pension systems urgently need to take a deep look at the fossil fuel companies on their books. This bankruptcy, in a series of others, will ripple through communities, leaving a wake of economic and environmental destruction. There is literally no reason every institutional investor shouldn't divest from coal."
In 2015, Peabody was found to have broken the law by providing false and misleading statements about the financial risks of climate change.
A coalition called on Peabody Energy's President and CEO to take meaningful steps to protect the American public, the climate, public lands, and workers, calling on the company to withdraw pending coal lease applications, relinquish coal leases, and reclaim its mining operations.
"Institutions around the world are divesting from coal companies like Peabody because they see the writing on the wall: the fossil fuel age is coming to an end," said May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director. "As we repower our economy with 100% renewable energy we must repower our communities, as well. That includes a just transition for Peabody's employees and prioritizing workers in the fossil fuel industry. Peabody shouldn't take these communities down with them."
The groups also called on Peabody to ensure the needs of workers and retirees are fully met, and that communities--including the St. Louis community--are aided as they transition from coal.
"This is a company that willfully and deliberately sought to delay, dismantle or destruct climate action. Perhaps if they had spent more time and money diversifying their business rather than on lobbying against climate action and sowing the seeds of doubt about the science, they might not have joined the long (and ever growing) list of bankrupt global coal companies," said Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org.
This May, groups are coming together under an unprecedented mobilization to Break Free from fossil fuels, targeting major fossil fuel projects around the world. Through this platform, the global fossil fuel resistance movement will join actions taking place across 6 continents which aim to stop dirty fossil fuels and speed up the just transition to 100% renewable energy.
"We are on the brink of a historic, global shift in our energy system," said Marienau. "It's high time that our governments invest in a just transition for the security of communities and workers rather than bail out destructive corporations like Peabody whose inherent business model depends on planetary destruction."
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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"The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn't restricted to the ocean floor: It will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it," one campaigner warned.
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Amid global calls for a ban on deep-sea mining to protect marine ecosystems, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to advance the risky practice and "restore American dominance in offshore critical minerals and resources."
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"Authorizing deep-sea mining outside international law is like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite—it threatens ecosystems, global cooperation, and U.S. credibility all at once."
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"We condemn this administration's attempt to launch this destructive industry on the high seas in the Pacific by bypassing the United Nations process," Hemphill declared. "This is an insult to multilateralism and a slap in the face to all the countries and millions of people around the world who oppose this dangerous industry."
"But this executive order is not the start of deep-sea mining. Everywhere governments have tried to start deep-sea mining, they have failed. This will be no different," he added. "We call on the international community to stand against this unacceptable undermining of international cooperation by agreeing to a global moratorium on deep-sea mining. The United States government has no right to unilaterally allow an industry to destroy the common heritage of humankind, and rip up the deep sea for the profit of a few corporations."
No exaggeration, deep sea mining could cause the massive collapse of the entire deep sea ecosystem and food chain. This is an existential risk to every person on this planet. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/c...
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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) April 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Ocean Conservancy vice president for external affairs Jeff Watters also blasted the move, saying that "this executive order flies in the face of NOAA's mission. NOAA is charged with protecting, not imperiling, the ocean and its economic benefits, including fishing and tourism; and scientists agree that deep-sea mining is a deeply dangerous endeavor for our ocean and all of us who depend on it."
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He highlighted that "NOAA is already being threatened by this administration's unprecedented cuts. NOAA is the eyes and ears for our water and air. NOAA provides Americans with accessible and accurate weather forecasts; it tracks hurricanes and tsunamis; it responds to oil spills; it keeps seafood on the table; and so much more. Forcing the agency to carry out deep-sea mining permitting while these essential services are slashed will only harm our ocean and our country."
"It's not just our country this executive order would harm: This action has far-reaching implications beyond the U.S.," Watters added, warning that by unilaterally allowing deep-sea mining, "the administration is opening a door for other countries to do the same—and all of us, and the ocean we all depend on, will be worse off for it."
As The New York Timesreported:
The executive order could pave the way for the Metals Company, a prominent seabed mining company, to receive an expedited permit from NOAA to actively mine for the first time. The publicly traded company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, disclosed in March that it would ask the Trump administration through a U.S. subsidiary for approval to mine in international waters. The company has already spent more than $500 million doing exploratory work.
"We have a boat that's production-ready," said Gerard Barron, the company's chief executive, in an interview on Thursday. "We have a means of processing the materials in an allied friendly partner nation. We're just missing the permit to allow us to begin."
In response to the late March disclosure—which came during International Seabed Authority negotiations—Louisa Casson, senior campaigner for Greenpeace International, said that "this is another of the Metals Company's pathetic ploys and an insult to multilateralism. It shows that a moratorium on deep-sea mining is more urgently needed than ever. It also proves that the company's CEO Gerard Barron's plans never focused on solutions for the climate catastrophe."
"The Metals Company is desperate and now is encouraging a breach of customary international law by announcing their intent to mine the international seabed through the United States' Deep-Sea Hard Mineral Resources Act," the camapigner asserted. "This comes after the Metals Company has spent years exerting immense pressure on the International Seabed Authority to try and force governments to allow mining in the international seabed—the common heritage of humankind."
Casson stressed that "states, civil society, scientists, companies, and Indigenous communities continue to resist these efforts. Having tried and failed to pressure the international community to meet their demands, this reckless announcement is a slap in the face to international cooperation."
Less than a week later, the Norwegian deep-sea mining company Loke Marine Minerals declared bankruptcy—which Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, a campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic, noted came "on the same day that we shut down a deep-sea mining conference in Bergen."
The Norwegian government in December halted plans to move forward with deep-sea mining in the Arctic Ocean, which Steve Trent, CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, had called "a testament to the power of principled, courageous political action, and... a moment to celebrate for environmental advocates, ocean ecosystems, and future generations alike."
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