‘Time we fight fire with fire’: Jane Fonda in climate campaign to ‘defeat’ politicians who back fossil fuels

‘I believe this is the most important thing I will do in my lifetime,’ says actor

Actress Jane Fonda is arrested by US Capital Police during a climate change protest in 2020 (REUTERS)

American actor and activist Jane Fonda has launched a climate campaign group that aims to “defeat” politicians who support the fossil fuel industry.

The star of Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie and Hollywood movies such as 9 to 5 announced she had set up the Jane Fonda Climate Political Action Committee to “do what it takes” to replace fossil fuel supporters with environmental champions at all levels of government.

A political action committee (PAC) is a campaigning organisation that donates money to political candidates in the US or parties that support its policies.

“The public is voting with the climate in mind, but the people we elect are not,” Fonda said in an online video statement announcing the group. “If we can’t change the minds of the people in power, we need to change the people in power.”

Fonda is well known for her activism. She has been arrested several times for protesting over the climate crisis and is now calling on her followers to donate and join her movement.

“Greta Thunberg warned that our house is on fire. So, it’s time we fight fire with fire or, in this case, to fight dollars with dollars,” she said. “I believe this is the most important thing I will do in my lifetime.”

Fonda’s call to action comes after the world’s leading authority on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published the second chapter of its most sweeping assessment in seven years last month, warning that the climate crisis is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. It called for urgent, transformative action to secure the planet’s future.

Antonio Guterres, the UN’s secretary-general, described the report as “an atlas of human suffering” and a “damning indictment” of failed climate leadership.

US president Joe Biden has pledged to decarbonise the US electric grid by 2035 as part of his plans to slash domestic emissions.

But he has struggled to get his plan to tackle the climate crisis off the ground as his Build Back Better legislation stalled in Congress. Meanwhile, the US’ Supreme Court is weighing a case that could have impacts on the federal government’s ability to cut planet-heating greenhouse gas.