Simon Taylor

Simon launched Global Witness’s oil and corruption campaign in 1999. This work began the global call for transparency of payments made by extractive industry companies to governments for the oil, gas and minerals that they extract – revenue streams that for many countries make up almost all government income.

Exposing corruption in these sectors led to Global Witness’s conception of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Campaign, which Simon co-launched in 2002 with George Soros and other NGOs, including Transparency International (UK) and Save The Children Fund UK.

The launch of PWYP, which now consists of over 840 civil society organisations in more than 64 countries worldwide, led directly to the 2002 creation of the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) by the UK Government.

EITI is now an independent global multi-stakeholder initiative that places civil society in the central role of holding governments and companies to account for the revenue streams developed from extraction.

Simon is increasingly focusing on climate change, with a particular interest in the way in which the fossil fuel industry has corrupted and co-opted global politics to such an extent that it has been able to prevent action to address the climate crisis.