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US Fracked Gas Imports to EU Could ‘Take World Far Beyond Safe Climate Limits’, Campaigners Warn

May 1, 2019

US Fracked Gas Imports to EU Could ‘Take World Far Beyond Safe Climate Limits’, Campaigners Warn

Port of Rotterdam

Environmental activists representing more than 200 organisations have called on the EU and the US to put an end to a booming transatlantic trade in fracked gas or face “taking the world far beyond safe climate limits”. 

In an open letter to the EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete and US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, campaigners warn that the continued use and import of fracked gas “torpedoes critical climate targets and violates basic human rights”.

The statement comes after the US Department of Energy announced that Perry would be attending the first EU-US Energy Council High-Level Forum in Brussels on Thursday. 

Critics are concerned the high-level energy meeting, titled “Towards large-scale US Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) exports to the EU’s gas market”, will pave the way for fracked gas to become a key part of a new transatlantic trade agreement between the EU and the US.

European Commission data shows that EU imports of LNG from the US increased 181 percent between July 2018, when President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to strengthen cooperation in the energy sector, and March this year.

The rapidly growing US natural gas export market has benefitted from a push in large-scale fracking projects which led to an increase in LNG production. US gas now represents around 12 percent of the EU’s total LNG imports.

Earlier this year, the EU Commission said it was ready to facilitate more gas imports from the US if prices and regulations became more favourable.

Environmental campaigners warn that developing new gas infrastructure that has a lifespan that goes beyond the point when developing countries need to fully decarbonise their energy sectors would “lock in” high levels of gas consumption and see the EU miss its long-term climate targets. 

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

BP’s First Global Advertising Campaign Since Deepwater Horizon Accused of Being ‘Deceptive and Hypocritical’

January 31, 2019

BP’s First Global Advertising Campaign Since Deepwater Horizon Accused of Being ‘Deceptive and Hypocritical’ 

Baby featured in a BP ad

Nearly a decade after being held responsible for the largest marine oil spill in history, BP’s first global advertising campaign in ten years has been denounced as “deceptive and hypocritical”.

The global advertising campaign called “we see possibilities everywhere” aims to showcase BP’s efforts to embrace clean energy and includes a series of short videos profiling the British oil giant’s plan to increase its energy production while lowering its emissions.

BP did not respond to DeSmog UK’s request for comment on time for publication but it previously said the campaign would allow the company to communicate its low-carbon activities in an “exciting” way. But critics say that with clean energy amounting to only around three percent of the company’s total capital expenditure programme, the campaign is little more than a blatant “greenwashing” effort.

It is the first time BP has taken part in a major corporate revamp of its image since the ‘Beyond Petroleum’ campaign and follows months of record profits for the company, which benefited from stronger oil prices and higher production from new oil fields.

‘Possibilities everywhere’

Speaking in Davos, BP’s CEO Bob Dudley admitted that the last decade has been “very difficult” for the company, which had to manage significant reputational damage of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I don’t think we had the credibility to talk about things in an exciting way,” he told CNBC.

“I think it’s time for us to tell our story a little bit differently, let people know we are engaged in this big energy transition and we have a big core business.”

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Polish Government Issues Terrorism Alert in Katowice Days Before Start of UN Climate Talks

November 28, 2018

Polish Government Issues Terrorism Alert in Katowice Days Before Start of UN Climate Talks

The Polish government has implemented a terrorism alert in the province where the annual UN climate talks are about to start.

Climate campaigners are warning of a “tense atmosphere” in and around the city of Katowice in southern Poland, where the global climate negotiations, known as COP24, are due to kick off on Monday.

Katowice, a city of around 300,000 people — and the smallest city to host the UN climate talks yet — is about to welcome nearly 30,000 people for the climate conference, including heads of state, government representatives and UN officials.

Over the weekend, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has signed an order declaring an ALFA alert  — the first of four increasing terrorism security levels — across the entire southern province of Silesia, where Katowice is located, and the city of Krakow.

‘ALFA’ alert 

In a statement, the government confirmed the heightened security measures had been introduced in connection with COP24and will remain in force for the entire length of the talks, until December 15.

The heightened alert has seen increased controls implemented across the affected areas, with residents are asked to report any suspicious situation or individual.

It also means enhanced security forces will be deployed in cases of emergency and that officers can control and check vehicles as well as access private communications.

The Polish border police also confirmed that Poland’s borders with Germany, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia had temporarily been restored and that the border could only be crossed in designated areas, with further checks being carried out at ports and airports.

The measures are due to last for the entirety of the climate conference with random checks being carried out for people entering Poland.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Matthew and Sarah Elliott: How a UK Power Couple Links US Libertarians and Fossil Fuel Lobbyists to Brexit

November 19, 2018 / 1 Comment on Matthew and Sarah Elliott: How a UK Power Couple Links US Libertarians and Fossil Fuel Lobbyists to Brexit

Matthew and Sarah Elliott: How a UK Power Couple Links US Libertarians and Fossil Fuel Lobbyists to Brexit

The Elliotts network map

If you have detected a distinctly American flavour to the rampant lobbying in Westminster corridors over a Brexit deal, there is a good reason why.

A close look at the transatlantic connections of the London-based groups pushing for the most deregulated form of Brexit reveals strong ties to major US libertarian influencers. These include fossil fuel magnates the Koch brothers — known for funding climate science denial around the world — and the man who bankrolled Donald Trump’s campaign, Robert Mercer.

At the heart of this network lies a little-known power couple, Matthew and Sarah Elliott. Together, the husband and wife team connect senior members of the Leave campaign and groups pushing a libertarian free-market ideology from offices in Westminster’s Tufton Street to major US libertarian lobbyists and funders.

Collectively, the network aims to use Brexit as an opportunity to slash regulations in the UK, paving the way for a wide-ranging US–UK free-trade deal that could have disastrous consequences for the environment.

The current draft withdrawal agreement appears to try and provide some protection for the current level of environmental regulation — at least in principle. But politicians associated with this transatlantic network are lobbying hard for the draft deal to be scrapped, along with those protections.

This DeSmog UK investigation reveals the strength of the ties between Matthew and Sarah Elliott, UK lobbyists and politicians, and US groups with vested interests in fossil fuels keen to profit from deregulation.

It shows how organisations with strong ties to the Koch Brothers and Robert Mercer increased their political activities in the UKimmediately before and after the Brexit referendum.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Exclusive: Shell Took 16 Years To Warn Shareholders of Climate Risks, Despite Knowing in Private All Along

August 24, 2018

Exclusive: Shell Took 16 Years To Warn Shareholders of Climate Risks, Despite Knowing in Private All Along

It took oil company Shell more than 16 years to directly warn its shareholders that climate policy posed a financial risk to the company’s business model despite knowing — in private and for decades — about the relationship between its products and climate change.

Shell started commissioning confidential work about the impact of burning fossil fuels on the global climate as early as 1981. However, analysis by DeSmog UK and DeSmog found that Shell did not start mentioning the possibility of climate change to shareholders in annual reports before 1991 — 10 years after the company started a research stream to study climate change.

Analysis of Shell’s annual reports and financial records at the time show the company did not give a clear warning to its shareholders about the financial risks “related to the impact of climate change” and attached to their investments until 2004.

DeSmog UK and DeSmog have worked through Shell companies’ annual reports submitted to the UK’s Companies House and 10-K’s and 20-F forms filed under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) throughout the 1990s and early 2000s to compare what the company knew in private at the end of the 1980s and what it told its shareholders about the environmental and financial risks attached to their investment during the following decade.

Early Days

What Shell knew about climate change at the end of the 1980s is well-established and revealed in a confidential report commissioned by and for Shell called “The Greenhouse Effect”.

The report was dated 1988 and made public for the first time this year after being uncovered by Jelmer Mommers of De Correspondent and published on Climate Files. It reveals the company’s examination of climate change had already been ongoing for at least seven years.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Introducing Empire Oil: A DeSmog UK Special Investigation

May 16, 2018

Introducing Empire Oil: A DeSmog UK Special Investigation

African Oil Hub

The UK likes to brag about its credentials as a global climate leader. But a new DeSmog UK investigation reveals that beneath the green veneer lies some dirty business.

At the centre of it all is the City of London and its junior stock exchange, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

DeSmog UK’s new three-part investigative series Empire Oil: London’s Dirty Secret, lifts the veil on a “boys’ club” that generates wealth for The City from environmentally damaging activities in politically unstable regions.

Through detailed analysis of company activity and market data, it exposes how AIM’s “light touch” regulation and complex offshore company structures create an opaque corporate environment in which conflicts of interest have been shown to thrive.

Part one, ‘Black Gold’: London’s African Oil Hub, maps the London oil companies operating in Africa. It identifies:

  • How the UK government provides ongoing support for international fossil fuel exploration despite its domestic and international climate change commitments;
  • 12 private and public limited oil and gas companies headquartered in London that have operations in Africa, all of which have ties to tax-havens in British overseas territories and crown dependencies;
  • The failure of international regulation to tackle issues regarding a lack of transparency for companies operating in unstable markets.

Part two, Taking AIM: London’s Wild West Stock Market, lifts the lid on London’s junior stock exchange, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). It shows:

  • A history of scandals and company collapse on AIM, and a lack of public sanction and enforcement;
  • A “light touch” regulation system behind which companies are rarely named and shamed for abusing the system;
  • Fundamental problems with AIM’s regulators, known as nomads, that also act as company brokers and can have vested interests in the companies they oversee;
  • The potential for oil, gas, and mining companies to manipulate information about assets in politically unstable regions, and the obstacles to verification for investors.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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