Scientist Rebellion

Type	NGO
Focus	Climate crisis awareness
Website	scientistrebellion.org
Remarks	Front‑line participation is limited to scientists, scholars, and academics

Scientist Rebellion is an international scientists' environmentalist group that campaigns for degrowth, climate justice, and more effective climate change mitigation.^[1]

More specifically, Scientist Rebellion is a network of academics that tries to raise awareness by engaging in non-violent civil disobedience.^[2] It is a sister organization to Extinction Rebellion.^[3] The group was established around September 2020, somewhat before the COP26 climate summit held in early November 2021.

Front‑line participation is limited to scientists, scholars, and academics.^[4] The white lab coats worn provide a simple way of being identified as scientists.^[4]

Actions

Scientist Rebellion carried out various protests during the COP26 meeting. On 6 November 2021, activists blocked George V Bridge in Glasgow.^[5]

In August 2021, the group leaked parts of the pre-final Working Group III contribution, covering climate change mitigation, to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) prior to intergovernmental approval.^[6]

In April 2022, Scientist Rebellion blocked roads in Berlin in protest against oil extraction in the North Sea.^[7] In late 2022, several activists protested at Autostadt Wolfsburg by gluing themselves to the floor at the Porsche exhibit hall, later complaining they were left alone overnight.^[8]

In October 2023, Dr Gianluca Grimalda, a member, made international headlines by refusing to fly via plane from a field research assignment in Papua New Guinea. Instead, he intended to slow travel via container ships and land routes to save 4.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. His employer, Kiel Institute, threatened termination of his employment contract should he not arrive rapidly and later did apparently follow through.^[9][10]

During the COP28 meeting in December 2023, scientists from Scientist Rebellion signed an open letter calling on the public to become climate activists. Some signatories had contributed to previous IPCC Assessment Reports.^[11][12]

Debate and impact

Several researchers affiliated with the movement have argued for civil disobedience by colleagues, hypothesizing that such actions may lead to significant net changes in pro‑climate public opinion due to the "potential to cut through the myriad complexities and confusion" present in much of the current public discourse.^[13] Online text-based news media reviewed the commentary.^[14][15]

Climate scientist Peter Kalmus has described his motivations for being arrested in Los Angeles with Scientist Rebellion in 2022.^[16] And climate scientist Rose Abramoff was arrested for similar reasons in Washington DC at much that same time.^[17]