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350.org
'They Profit, We Pay': Coalition Says End Mideast Wars, Tax Fossil Fuel Giants
Governments gathering for International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings "have a clear responsibility," said a 350.org leader. "End this illegal war, stop the flow of destruction, and make the profiteers pay."
Apr 14, 2026
As the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group were held in Washington, DC during a two-week ceasefire between the United States, Israel, and Iran, over 130 civil society groups this week urged global governments to "secure a permanent end to the wars in South West Asia and break the chains of fossil fuel dependence."
The joint statement was coordinated by Fight Inequality Alliance and 350.org, which has been advocating for a windfall profits tax on oil and gas giants since the US and Israel launched their illegal war on Iran in late February, and the Iranian government responded by restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which sent fossil fuel prices soaring worldwide.
"While people struggle to afford food, fuel, and basic necessities, fossil fuel companies are profiting massively from the chaos. The IMF itself has warned of the risk of a global recession," said 350.org managing director Savio Carvalho in a statement.
"Governments gathering in Washington have a clear responsibility: End this illegal war, stop the flow of destruction, and make the profiteers pay," Carvalho argued. "Taxing windfall oil and gas profits could provide immediate relief to families and invest in the clean, affordable energy systems we urgently need. They profit, we pay. It's time to fix it now: no bombs, no barrels."
A permanent end to the war—which has killed people across the region—is the first demand of the open letter. The second is a windfall profits tax on fossil fuel giants, with the revenue being used "to guarantee public services, and provide immediate support to families and precarious workers hit hardest by soaring food and fuel prices."
Martha Tukahirwa, Fight Inequality Alliance's Africa coordinator, explained that "while thousands are killed in the war in Iran, millions of people across Africa are being crushed by soaring fuel prices that have made even the simplest meal unaffordable. In Nigeria, diesel has surged over 60%. In Malawi, the poorest households are forced to choose between cooking and eating."
"In Zimbabwe, the cost of public transport has soared, making it impossible for working people to earn a living," Tukahirwa continued. "This is no accident—fossil fuel companies and commodity traders are reaping massive profits from this crisis while our governments stand idle. Tax these obscene profits and redirect the money to shield our people from hunger and hardship. The time for half measures is over, the time for bold action is now."
The letter's third demand is to "make food and energy secure for all." The war has impacted the availability of not only fuel but also fertilizer. The coalition called on governments to "invest public money in sustainable local farming and homegrown renewable energy, and stop harmful handouts to weapons, fossil fuels, and fossil fertilizer."
The groups—which also include ActionAid International, Corporate Europe Observatory, Council of Canadians, Friends of the Earth International, GreenFaith, Greenpeace Japan, Make Polluters Pay, Oxfam in the Pacific, War on Want, and more—called for urgently rolling out "renewable energy solutions for farms, homes, schools, and clinics to protect them from this and future energy crises."
Rev. Fletcher Harper, executive director of GreenFaith, said that "our faiths call us to make peace with people and the planet alike, and to hold the powerful to account. Letting fossil fuel giants pocket windfalls while families struggle is a moral failure. Taxing windfall profits to provide energy relief is not radical. It is basic justice."
The fourth and final demand is to cancel debt payments for Global South countries, and agree to fairer debt rules. The coalition stressed that "after paying interest to Wall Street lenders, bankers, and rich governments, many Global South countries have no money left over to protect their people from this crisis."
As part of the debt demand, the coalition also urged governments to "support informal workers, farm laborers, women, and older people, and guarantee universal access to healthcare, education, and public transport."
David Archer, head of programs and Influencing at ActionAid, pointed to civil society's push for a United Nations treaty for restructuring sovereign debt.
"Billions of people across the Global South are living in countries already facing a debt crisis. This war will make their lives even harder, leading to rising prices and rising interest rates," Archer said. "We need urgent action to cancel debt and to take the power over debt away from the IMF and rich countries—through developing a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt."
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'Fossilflation' Likely to Persist Despite Fragile Iran Ceasefire, Warns Climate Group
"Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens and the ceasefire holds, oil and gas prices will stay above pre-war levels, and consumers will pay."
Apr 08, 2026
Although oil prices dropped after President Donald Trump backed off his genocidal threat against Iran and announced a two-week ceasefire, the international climate group 350.org warned Wednesday that "'fossilflation'—or inflation caused by volatile and rising prices of oil and gas—is still likely to continue," due to the fragility of the deal and extensively damaged infrastructure.
Since the US and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28, the country has closed the Strait of Hormuz—a key shipping route, including for fossil fuels—to most traffic. Oil prices have soared, and Americans have paid more at the pump, with the national average price for a gallon of gasoline topping $4 for the first time in years. As of Wednesday, it was $4.16, despite Trump's Tuesday night announcement.
"In addition to the horrific loss of human life," 350.org said last week, rising oil and gas prices around the world as a result of the war "have already cost consumers and businesses an additional $104.2-$111.6 billion," an estimate that "does not yet include wider knock-on effects, such as rising fertilizer and food costs, declines in economic output and employment, or broader inflation driven by fossil fuel price volatility."
In the United States alone, during the first month of Trump's war, Americans spent an extra $8.4 billion on gasoline, according to a report released last week by Democratic members of the congressional Joint Economic Committee.
Andreas Sieber, 350.org's head of political strategy, explained Wednesday that "even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens and the ceasefire holds, oil and gas prices will stay above pre-war levels, and consumers will pay. Volatility remains high, and supply will stay tight due to infrastructure damage and inventory rebuilding."
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) "markets are still exposed, with few alternatives to Hormuz," he continued. "This will deepen energy poverty, hunger, and inequality. Protecting people means prioritizing resilience and affordability now. The ceasefire must become permanent and extend across the whole region."
There are already concerns that the truce could soon fall apart. The US and Israel halted their bombing of Iran, but Israeli forces unleashed their "heaviest strikes yet" on Lebanon, leaving dozens dead and wounded. According to Reuters, "Iran's Tasnim news agency cited an unnamed source warning that Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire if attacks on Lebanon continue."
Iran hit Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates with missile and drone strikes, "several of which targeted vital oil, power, and desalination infrastructure," Reuters reported. "Iran also attacked Saudi Arabia's huge East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea."
Even if the ceasefire holds or is extended, there's also the issue of the Strait of Hormuz. As Emory University associate law professor Mark P. Nevitt noted at Just Security on Wednesday, "Tehran continues to exercise de facto control" of the crucial waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
As Nevitt wrote:
Iran's Foreign Minister has declared that vessels seeking to transit the strait must coordinate directly with Iranian armed forces, subject to unspecified "technical limitations"—a posture that amounts to a unilateral assertion of sovereign authority over one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints. Meanwhile, President Trump has pledged that the United States "will be helping with traffic buildup in the strait," but that commitment remains undefined, and it is far from certain whether US naval forces will play any role. Since the conflict started, Iran has rerouted commercial shipping through Iranian territorial waters and imposed a $2 million transit fee—an illegal "Tehran toll booth." The fragile ceasefire does not appear to dismantle that arrangement...
Oil analysts and executives warn that the strait must reopen by mid-April or supply disruptions will grow significantly worse. This mid-April timing reflects the normal journey time for tankers transiting from the Persian Gulf to Australia and Asian markets. Yet the window for a military solution is narrowing at exactly the moment the military option looks least promising.
Over the past five weeks, green groups have used the conflict to highlight one of the dangers of fossil fuels, other than their significant contributions to the climate emergency. As Sieber of 350.org put it on Wednesday: "This is not a temporary shock but a structural crisis. The only lasting answer is to replace volatile fossil fuels with homegrown, affordable renewable energy."
Sieber's organization has also called for imposing a windfall profits tax on fossil fuel giants that helped Trump return to power and are now benefiting from his unconstitutional war. Greenpeace USA has similarly advocated for a war-related tax on oil and gas companies, as well as a "bold renewable energy policy that finally ends our dependence on volatile fossil fuels"—including on Tuesday, when the president threatened to wipe out Iran's "whole civilization" before announcing the ceasefire deal.
"This is a moment where the vice president and presidential Cabinet must intervene to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unfit for office," Greenpeace USA program director John Hocevar said of Trump's genocidal threat. "All of us have a responsibility to ensure our members of Congress understand that their constituents expect them to back this action and prevent millions of deaths from happening in our name."
As Common Dreams reported earlier Wednesday, while Trump's Republican Party narrowly controls both chambers of Congress, some Democratic lawmakers are arguing that even with the current ceasefire, the "unstable, unhinged, and unfit" US president must still be removed from office after threatening genocide. There are also mounting calls for another round of votes on a war powers resolution that would permanently halt his unauthorized assault.
Hocevar said that "the American people understand that this war is about the financial interests of the dozen or so billionaires that seem to run this administration, and will not make anyone safer. When US companies are set to pocket upwards of $60 billion in windfall profits from this greed-driven disaster, Trump cannot look the truth in the face and lie to the American people who see it clearly written through the impact at the gas pump, in our travel plans, and the supplies of goods and merchandise millions rely on."
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Windfall Tax on Big Oil Demanded as Trump's Iran War Pads Profits of Fossil Fuel Giants
"The Iran war is exposing the deadly consequences of global fossil fuel dependence."
Apr 03, 2026
With the price of oil surging and showing no signs of coming down anytime soon thanks to President Donald Trump's illegal war in Iran, renewable energy advocacy organization 350.org renewed its previous call to slap fossil fuel companies with a windfall profits tax.
In a Friday statement, 350.org noted that the oil supply shortage caused by the Iran war is growing so acute that it's leading to a "global surge" in coal production to meet energy demands.
Specifically, 350.org pointed to both Japan and South Korea lifting their coal consumption limits, as well as Thailand firing up old coal plants that had previously been shut down.
Additionally, the group found that "Indonesia, the world’s largest coal exporter, has reversed planned cuts to production," while "Australia, South Africa, Turkey, and the Philippines are also increasing exports to meet soaring demand."
The group said it expects the increased demand in coal to be a temporary byproduct of the Iran crisis, but warned "it will still impose heavy costs: increased deaths from air pollution, more climate chaos, and a transfer of wealth from consumers to coal producers in the form of windfall profits."
Given this, 350.org executive director Anne Jellema said it was time to impose a windfall profits tax on fossil fuel companies to help fund the continued development of renewable energy sources and provide real long-term relief to global consumers.
"The Iran war is exposing the deadly consequences of global fossil fuel dependence," said Jellema. "Coal producers are making massive profits while governments delay the clean energy transition. It’s a stark reminder why windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies are more relevant than ever."
Jellema added that Trump's Iran war "shows what we have long warned: fossil fuel dependence creates crises, profits for polluters, and suffering for ordinary people," and promoted windfall taxes and accelerated deployment of renewables as "urgent tools to turn this around."
Nations including Germany and Australia are weighing windfall oil taxes during the Iran crisis, and US Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) last month reintroduced their the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, a bill whose stated aim is "to curb profiteering by oil companies and provide Americans relief at the gas pump."
US consumers have been getting hit hard at the gas pump in recent weeks, and Democratic members of the Joint Economic Committee on Thursday released a report showing that Americans have collectively spent $8.4 billion more on gas than they otherwise would have since the beginning of the war.
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