This year the Stay Grounded Network took on everything from frequent flying to the industry’s growing obsession with so-called “SAF”. This is a – by no means comprehensive – attempt to give an overview of the activities and achievements of our 207 member initiatives, our individual members, our working groups, our volunteers, our Turtles coordination group, and our team of campaigners.
Anti-capitalist Connections
It was a busy year for the Stay Grounded regional network of Latin America and the Caribbean who took part in meetings and events to connect with anti-capitalist social movements in the region. Here they highlighted the links between the aviation industry and other extractivist industries. The meetings included the 5th National Assembly for Water, Life and Territories in August, the Continental Meeting against Gas Pipelines and other Megaprojects of Death in October, and talks and meetings with grassroots organisations in Mexico City to discuss mega-projects in the region, as well as many others. In November, Permanecer en la Tierra attended the Second Mesoamerican Gathering of Social Movements in Chiapas, Mexico. You can read the full statement which came from the meeting in Spanish. Also in November, the regional network attended the Global Gathering for the Climate and for Life: the Anti-COP 2024 which took place in Oaxaca, Mexico and led to a joint statement.
As well as participating in virtual and in-person events, the regional network produced the first two episodes of a podcast series titled Caminante and two issues of a newsletter. Alongside this they hosted Reflection Talks on aviation and airport expansion across Latin America and the Caribbean which took place over 5 virtual discussions.
Permanecer en la Tierra attended the Anti-COP in 2024
Campaigners and Residents Collaborate
Stay Grounded’s French network, Rester Sur Terre continued with the consolidation of their network. In March, they joined with UFCNA and mobilised for 23 demonstrations at French airports, aerodromes and heliports to demand a cap on flights and a curfew. This saw local residents’ associations unite with environmental activists to demand improvements to public health and climate justice. In October, Rester Sur Terre joined Action Climate Network France to launch a petition pressuring the new government to implement a ticket tax. Beyond this, they launched the Frequent Flyer Levy in France, published eight original French blog posts, launched a newsletter, and ran online and in-person French trainings for the Multiplier Network.
Rester Sur Terre supported mobilisations in France that turned out huge numbers of people
A Focus on Frequent Flying
Moving on from our 2023 campaign for a ban on private jets, in 2024 we broadened our scope to address the issue of frequent flying more generally. Many many months of work on this topic culminated in Stay Grounded and the New Economics Foundation publishing a study on a Frequent Flying Levy in Europe. 90 organisations and 70 scientists supported the proposal for the FFL in a public statement, 4.5K people signed our petition to pledge their support for an FFL, and the study received coverage in major outlets across Europe.
As well as this, Stay Grounded published a number of resources to help members with their own campaigns. These included the Action Toolkit which spotlighted impressive actions and the strategies behind them, the latest in the greenwashing factsheet series which focused on unveiling the reality of Negative Emissions Technologies, a toolkit on submitting complaints against airline ads, and a paper on the noise and health impacts of aviation. Building on decades of campaigning at Schiphol Airport, in September we published an in-depth article detailing what can be learnt from the case for use in other anti-airport expansion struggles.
Stay Grounded and New Economics Foundation launched a report on the Frequent Flying Levy in Europe
Joyful Organising
At the start of the year, Stay Grounded demanded an end to aviation advertising with the International Week of Action Against Airline Advertising, Sponsorship and Greenwash. During the week around 500 advertising sites were repurposed across 30 cities with creative posters calling out aviation greenwashing. The pressure to ban private jets continued in 2024 with a number of groups from the movement to ground aviation taking part in an International Week of Action Against Private Jets between May-June. The action week saw protests happen in Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the US to highlight the climate injustice wrought by the super-rich.
In March, actions took place at five of Europe’s biggest airports to demand flight caps. In September, on the initiative of our German member BBI, Stay Grounded supported the creation of the International Day for the Ban on Night Flights which saw 130 initiatives from 15 countries sign on to the demand. In October, groups took to stations in their pyjamas for a joyful action that demanded a proper night train network across Europe. The groups held silent discos across 10 European cities as part of the Trans-European Pyjama Party.
In 2024 we also saw new groups turn their attention to aviation. The Oil Kills protests saw activists across Europe, Africa, and North America take bold action targeting airports and demanding a treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2025. Across 14 countries, these actions showed that aviation is a critical component of the fossil fuel economy which is responsible for climate breakdown.
Strengthening our network
In 2024 we welcomed 11 new member initiatives and 9 individual members. We saw 40 people take part in our multiplier trainings and now have more than 300 multipliers in total ready to spread the word about climate justice and aviation. The campaigners team continued with the anti-oppression process begun in 2023 and we began a radicality reassessment process to analyse our strategy in light of the escalating crisis.
More collaboration, more momentum
The industry’s reliance on so-called “SAF” and the rise of the right mean 2025 looks likely to be a tricky year, one in which we need to work together and think strategically. If you want to help fight an industry with no credible plan to reduce their emissions then get in touch or become a member. Join us!
We look forward to supporting one another in 2025 and beyond!
