When Larry Fink announced in mid-January he’d be putting solving the climate emergency at the center of his US$7.43 trillion investment company BlackRock’s strategy, even long-time critics acknowledged it was a huge deal. “It takes leadership and a certain kind of courage to admit that change is needed,” wrote Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune at CNBC. “Now we … [Read more...]
Between the drillers and the deep blue sea
Environmental attorneys Adrian Pole and Kirsten Youens have lodged a detailed appeal on behalf of WILDOCEANS with the Environment, Forestry and Fishery (DEFF) Minister Barbara Creecy, challenging an authorisation granted by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to authorize foreign mining giants Eni and Sasol to drill six exploration oil wells at two deep sea locations in … [Read more...]
Sweden rejects major gas terminal on climate grounds
The Swedish government decided today to deny the EU-backed Gothenburg gas terminal its final permit on climate grounds. This development is the latest in a series of faltering gas projects and follows years of local opposition including a blockade of the harbour and terminal by hundreds of people in September. Olivia Linander of the local grassroots group Fossilgasfällan … [Read more...]
Extinction Rebellion gatecrashes energy conference at CTICC
Earlier today, Extinction Rebellion (XR) Cape Town and XR Winelands took non-violent direct action against the Africa Oil and Power conference currently being held at the CTICC, in order to draw attention to the crimes against humanity that the conference is intended to facilitate. The official website for the conference boasts a “…platform for power pioneers such as Kenya, … [Read more...]
Chevron attacked for poisoning ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest
A prominent Canadian Indigenous leader and lawyer, Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, has issued a blistering critique of Chevron in a United Nations speech for poisoning ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest and engaging in “countless violations” of Indigenous peoples’ rights related to the dumping of billions of gallons of oil waste in Ecuador. The speech by Chief … [Read more...]
BP drilling offshore Nova Scotia: the next Gulf Coast disaster?
Nova Scotians are expressing alarm at news that BP commissioned rig West Aquarius is now en route to drill offshore, despite not having final approval from the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB). “This is the height of regulatory capture,” says John Davis, Director of Clean Ocean Action Committee. “It is costing BP $260,000 a day to move this rig, why would … [Read more...]
Climate change is already forcing U.S. communities to abandon their homes
Projections of climate-fuelled sea level rise show terrifying scenarios with major economic centers like New York and Miami losing much of their land to rising seas. But for some communities in the United States, losing land to climate change isn’t a future nightmare — it’s a present and daily struggle. According to new analysis from the Center for Progressive Reform, at … [Read more...]
Oil & gas prospecting revealing a bleak future for SA oceans
How will our oceans cope with the oil and gas prospective plans? We may boast sustainable fisheries, but oil & gas prospecting is revealing a bleak future for our oceans. South Africa’s coastline is in high demand. It has become increasingly clear to the government, as well as large corporations, that there is money to be made from our coasts. Operation Phakisa was … [Read more...]
Joining forces to protest Arctic seismic testing
Greenpeace and the Inuit have joined forces to protest Arctic seismic testing, warning that plans to gauge oil and gas reserves with high-intensity sound waves in Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait pose grave dangers to marine life. Inuit activists are staging a protest Wednesday in Nunavut's Clyde River, a tiny Baffin Island hamlet just above the Arctic Circle, a week after … [Read more...]
Fracking directly linked to earthquakes for the first time
Geologists in Columbus, Ohio, have for the first time linked earthquakes in a geologic formation deep under the Appalachians to hydraulic fracturing, leading the state to issue new permit conditions Friday in certain areas that are among the nation's strictest. A state investigation of five small tremors last month in the Youngstown area, in the Appalachian foothills, found … [Read more...]
Fossil fuel companies should drive investments in renewables and CCS
The UN’s climate chief has appealed to the oil and gas industry to become the solution rather than the problem to addressing the causes of global warming. In a speech at the London headquarters of IPIECA, the industry’s association for environmental and social issues, Christiana Figueres said she wanted fossil fuel companies to drive investments in renewables and … [Read more...]
