Our Horizon is a national not-for-profit organization that works with governments to require climate change disclosures on gas pumps. The idea is a low-cost, globally-scalable intervention to communicate the hidden costs of fossil fuels to end users and drive change upstream. The concept was developed by Our Horizon‘s founder and Toronto-based lawyer Robert Shirkey.

On January 26, 2015, West Vancouver Council unanimously passed a resolution “that all vendors of retail petroleum products in Canada be legislated to provide warning labels on all pump handles.” This resolution has since been supported by numerous communities across Canada. On September 25, 2015, mayors and councillors from across British Columbia voted at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities annual convention to support the implementation of climate change labels on gas pumps. On November 16, 2015, the City of North Vancouver became the first jurisdiction in the world to pass a law requiring climate change labels on pumps at gasoline retailers. While the final design was largely co-opted by industry, we’re confident that other governments will build on these efforts with more impactful designs. The idea is also being pursued by several cities in the United States.

With similar labels on tobacco packages all over the world, this idea has been primed to go global. Our vision is to continue to create precedents in North American communities and share these examples of leadership with the world. To that end, we have had volunteers across Canada visit government websites around the world to help us build a massive database of politicians’ emails. Please read our four-page briefing note for an overview of the concept.

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