Just stop oil funding
Executive summary
Just Stop Oil (JSO) pushed for a UK moratorium on new oil and gas licences and says that its core demand — no new licences — became government policy; the group announced it would “hang up the hi‑vis” in late April 2025 while pledging to regroup and continue activity through new, less adversarial tactics [1] [2]. Most reporting and JSO’s own materials say its funding has been dominated by donations from the Climate Emergency Fund and small public donations, with named backers such as Aileen Getty and earlier seed support from Adam McKay [3] [4] [5].
1. What “just stop oil” refers to and what the campaign achieved
“Just Stop Oil” is a UK civil‑resistance coalition that demanded the government stop consenting to new fossil fuel licences and to work with other governments on a binding treaty to end extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030 [3] [6]. JSO and several outlets claim the campaign secured a moratorium on new oil and gas licences as a central success, and members framed the late‑April 2025 suspension of street actions as a pause after that policy shift [1] [7].
2. Who funds JSO — the headline picture
JSO’s public statements and multiple profiles say the Climate Emergency Fund provided critical seed funding and continued support, while later activity was sustained largely by small donations from the public [3] [6]. Major named figures linked to that fund include heiress Aileen Getty; reporting emphasises her role as a founding donor of the Climate Emergency Fund rather than as a direct JSO officer [5] [4].
3. The “oil industry paid protesters” allegation — what sources say
Conspiracy narratives that oil companies are secretly behind JSO rely on the coincidence of donor biographies (for example, Getty’s family history in oil). Multiple sources note those theories but also report denials: the Climate Emergency Fund and JSO describe funding as philanthropic and grassroots rather than industry‑sponsored, and outlets such as GreenMatters and InfluenceWatch trace public funding channels back to the Climate Emergency Fund rather than fossil‑fuel corporations [8] [5] [3]. Available sources do not allege direct cash flow from oil companies into JSO.
4. The role of named donors and why they matter
Aileen Getty — granddaughter of oil magnate J. Paul Getty — is repeatedly named as a founding donor to the Climate Emergency Fund, which in turn funded JSO; reporting stresses Getty’s philanthropy and that she herself did not work in the oil industry [8] [5]. The linkage is politically potent because it allows critics to frame JSO as paradoxically enabled by oil‑wealth inheritance; supporters and the fund counter that private philanthropic funding of climate activism is legitimate and distinct from corporate fossil‑fuel interests [8] [3].
5. How JSO describes its funding model and tactics
JSO’s own FAQ and statements say early catalyst funding came from the Climate Emergency Fund and Adam McKay, but that ongoing operations were sustained by many small donors and public fundraising; the group portrays this mix as moving from seed philanthropy to grassroots backing [3] [6]. The organisation also argued that civil resistance is an essential lever for policy change and that its tactics — disruptive public actions — were part of that strategy [7] [1].
6. Competing perspectives and motives — why sources disagree
Mainstream and investigative outlets (BBC, Guardian, TIME) emphasise the political effect of disruptive protest, the question of acceptable tactics and the optics of donor relationships [4] [1] [9]. Advocacy materials from JSO emphasise moral urgency and civil‑resistance lineage [7] [2]. Watchdog sites and critics highlight donor biographies to suggest conflicts or odd optics; supporters say those critiques conflate philanthropic wealth with corporate control [5] [8].
7. Practical implications for the query “just stop oil funding”
If the question is how to stop funding for JSO specifically, available sources show JSO relied on a mix of early philanthropic seed funding plus public donations; cutting off a direct corporate pipeline is not documented in current reporting — the primary named funder is the Climate Emergency Fund, a philanthropic vehicle [3] [5]. If the question is broader — halting public or private funding for fossil fuel expansion — the materials show the debate is political: JSO demanded government moratoria and international treaties to legally stop new extraction [3]. Available sources do not provide legal or transactional steps to “stop” private philanthropy directed at activism.
Limitations: reporting is focused on UK politics, JSO’s public claims and named donors; internal finances of donors and all private transfers are not fully detailed in these sources [3] [5]. Where assertions are absent in the supplied reporting, I note that they are not found in current reporting.