Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Ireland Financing Climate Chaos
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Web of Power
Media Briefing MAIN HEADING PARAGRAPH STYLE IS main head Web of power SUB TITLE PARAGRAPH STYLE IS main sub head The UK government and the energy- DATE PARAGRAPH STYLE IS date of document finance complex fuelling climate change March 2013 Research by the World Development Movement has Government figures embroiled in the nexus of money and revealed that one third of ministers in the UK government power fuelling climate change include William Hague, are linked to the finance and energy companies driving George Osborne, Michael Gove, Oliver Letwin, Vince Cable climate change. and even David Cameron himself. This energy-finance complex at the heart of government If we are to move away from a high carbon economy, is allowing fossil fuel companies to push the planet to the government must break this nexus and regulate the the brink of climate catastrophe, risking millions of lives, finance sector’s investment in fossil fuel energy. especially in the world’s poorest countries. SUBHEAD PARAGRAPH STYLE IS head A Introduction The world is approaching the point of no return in the Energy-finance complex in figures climate crisis. Unless emissions are massively reduced now, BODY PARAGRAPH STYLE IS body text Value of fossil fuel shares on the London Stock vast areas of the world will see increased drought, whole Exchange: £900 billion1 – higher than the GDP of the countries will be submerged and falling crop yields could whole of sub-Saharan Africa.2 mean millions dying of hunger. But finance is continuing to flow to multinational fossil fuel companies that are Top five UK banks’ underwrote £170 billion in bonds ploughing billions into new oil, gas and coal energy. -
Energy for a Changing Climate
Church of Scotland CHURCH AND SOCIETY COUNCIL ENERGY FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE Report Presented to the General Assembly May 2007 1 2 Contents Page 1. Introduction 4 2. Theology 4 2.1 Caring for God’s Creation 4 2.2 General Ethical Principles 5 3. Policy Context 6 3.1 Climate Change 6 3.2 Radical Changes are Required 7 3.3 Government Policy Developments 8 4. Previous Church Reports and Actions 9 5. UK and Scottish Energy Policy 10 5.1 Energy Efficiency 10 5.2 Renewable Electricity Supplies 12 5.3 Location, Communities and Ethics 13 5.4 Priorities and Pragmatism 14 5.5 Electricity Generation Using Fossil Fuels 14 5.6 Electricity Generation Using Nuclear Energy 15 5.7 The Market and the Role of Government 17 6. Policy Conclusions 19 7. Taking Responsibility: How Should we Respond? 20 References 23 Deliverances 25 3 1. Introduction 1.1 Energy policy has frequently featured in Assembly reports of the Society Religion and Technology Project (SRT) and the Church and Nation Committee. (1) The time has come to bring a more substantial review, in the light of the radical measures now needed to address climate change, the altered patterns of UK energy supply, and the recent and ongoing Westminster and Holyrood reviews of energy and climate policy, in which environment is now making a significant impact on policy. The main focus of this report is on electricity supply and energy saving. We plan to examine the larger but more intractable problems of heat supply and transport at a later date. -
Green Action 2011
2011 GreenThe magazineAction of Friends of the Earth Cymru JUST GETTING STARTED 40 years and counting of green action Acting silly for serious action Community energy | Inside the Assembly | Friends of the Earth local groups A good time too Simon Williams, Editor Now is a good time to take a moment But if this is the first time you’ve great satisfaction and think about just how far we’ve thought about it, now is a really good for many, and our come. Friends of the Earth has time to get involved. It was the 1969 communities hold the power for positive campaigned in the UK for 40 years, Apollo space mission pictures of a change. But opponents of wind power and it’s Friends of the Earth Europe’s beautiful, fragile Earth which inspired a and other renewables often claim that 40th anniversary this year too. generation to realise the importance of green energy projects just benefit the Friends of the Earth Cymru hasn’t protecting our environment. And now, big companies, and don’t do enough for existed quite so long, first campaiging facing the massive threats of climate the people on their doorsteps. Possibly in Wales in 1984. But someone who change and biodiversity loss, we’re sometimes true, though somehow this has been around nearly forever is our even more aware of how fragile our is never given as a reason to oppose respected director, Gordon James, only life-support system really is. another coal or nuclear power station. who heads into a very well-deserved Campaigning for the planet and a So here’s your chance to do retirement this year. -
Web of Power the UK Government and the Energy- Finance Complex Fuelling Climate Change March 2013
Media briefing Web of power The UK government and the energy- finance complex fuelling climate change March 2013 Research by the World Development Movement has Government figures embroiled in the nexus of money and revealed that one third of ministers in the UK government power fuelling climate change include William Hague, are linked to the finance and energy companies driving George Osborne, Michael Gove, Oliver Letwin, Vince Cable climate change. and even David Cameron himself. This energy-finance complex at the heart of government If we are to move away from a high carbon economy, is allowing fossil fuel companies to push the planet to the government must break this nexus and regulate the the brink of climate catastrophe, risking millions of lives, finance sector’s investment in fossil fuel energy. especially in the world’s poorest countries. Introduction The world is approaching the point of no return in the Energy-finance complex in figures climate crisis. Unless emissions are massively reduced now, Value of fossil fuel shares on the London Stock vast areas of the world will see increased drought, whole Exchange: £900 billion1 – higher than the GDP of the countries will be submerged and falling crop yields could whole of sub-Saharan Africa.2 mean millions dying of hunger. But finance is continuing to flow to multinational fossil fuel companies that are Top five UK banks’ underwrote £170 billion in bonds ploughing billions into new oil, gas and coal energy. and share issues for fossil fuel companies 2010-12 – more than 11 times the amount the UK contributed in The vested interests of big oil, gas and coal mining climate finance for developing countries.3 companies are in favour of the status quo. -
The Green Shift: Environmental Policies to Match a Changing Public Climate
the green shift: environmental policies to match a changing public climate The Smith Institute The Smith Institute is an independent think tank that has been set up to look at issues which flow from the changing relationship between social values and economic imperatives. If you would like to know more about the Smith Institute please write to: the green shift the green Edited by Peter Bill The Director The Smith Institute 3rd Floor 52 Grosvenor Gardens London SW1W 0AW Telephone +44 (0)20 7823 4240 Fax +44 (0)20 7823 4823 Email [email protected] Website www.smith-institute.org.uk Designed and produced by Owen & Owen 2006 Green_Shift_Text_V1.qxd 17/11/06 10:42 am Page 1 THE SMITH INSTITUTE the green shift: environmental policies to match a changing public climate Edited by Peter Bill Published by the Smith Institute ISBN 1 905370 13 X © The Smith Institute 2006 Green_Shift_Text_V1.qxd 17/11/06 10:42 am Page 2 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Contents Preface By Wilf Stevenson, Director, Smith Institute 3 Introduction Peter Bill, Editor of Estates Gazette 4 Chapter 1. Protecting and improving our environment Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer 8 Chapter 2. Forging an environmental contract Rt Hon David Miliband MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs 18 Chapter 3. Preventing a catastrophe Professor Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government 24 Chapter 4. Setting credible targets Dr Dieter Helm, Fellow of New College, University of Oxford, and Member of the 30 Ministerial Task Force on Sustainable Development Chapter 5. -
Royal Dutch Shell and Its Sustainability Troubles
Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles Background report to the Erratum of Shell's Annual Report 2010 Albert ten Kate May 2011 1 Colophon Title: Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles Background report to the Erratum of Shell's Annual Report 2010 May 2011. This report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) Author: Albert ten Kate, free-lance researcher corporate social responsibility Pesthuislaan 61 1054 RH Amsterdam phone: (+31)(0)20 489 29 88 mobile: (+31)(0)6 185 68 354 e-mail: [email protected] 2 Contents Introduction 4 Methodology 5 Cases: 1. Muddling through in Nigeria 6 1a) oil spills 1b) primitive gas flaring 1c) conflict and corruption 2. Denial of Brazilian pesticide diseases 14 3. Mining the Canadian tar sands 17 4. The bitter taste of Brazil's sugarcane 20 4a) sourcing sugarcane from occupiers of indigenous land 4b) bad labour conditions sugarcane harvesters 4c) massive monoculture land use 5. Fracking unconventional gas 29 6. Climate change, a business case? 35 7. Interfering with politics 38 8. Drilling plans Alaska’s Arctic Ocean 42 9. Sakhalin: the last 130 Western Gray Whales 45 10. The risky Kashagan oil field 47 11. A toxic legacy in Curaçao 49 12. Philippines: an oil depot amidst a crowd of people 52 3 Introduction Measured in revenue, Royal Dutch Shell is one of the biggest companies in the world. According to its annual report of 2010, its revenue amounted to USD 368 billion in 2010. Shell produces oil and gas in 30 countries, spread over the world. -
Lessons Not Learned the Other Shell Report 2004 Dedicated to the Memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa
Lessons Not Learned The Other Shell Report 2004 Dedicated to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa “My lord, we all stand before history. I am a man of peace. Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly-endowed land . anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and determined to usher into this country . a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization. I have devoted all my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated. I have no doubt at all about the ultimate success of my cause . Not impris- onment nor death can stop our ultimate victory.” —Ken Saro-Wiwa’s final statement before his execution on 10 November 1995 Guide to contents 1 Guide to contents 2 Foreword from Tony Juniper & Vera Dalm This report is based largely on evidence from people Tony Juniper, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth (England, around the world who live in the shadows of Shell’s vari- Wales & Northern Ireland) & Vera Dalm, Director, Milieudefensie ous operations. This report is written on behalf of (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) Friends of the Earth (FOE); Advocates for Environmental Human Rights; Coletivo Alternative Verde; Community In- 3 The Year in Review power Development Association; Concerned Citizens of Norco; Environmental Rights Action (FOE Nigeria); 4 Niger Delta, Nigeria Global Community Monitor; groundWork (FOE South Injustice as a Shell Trademark Africa); Humane Care Foundation Curacao; Louisiana Bucket Brigade; Niger-Delta Project for the Environment, 7 Durban, South Africa Human Rights and Development; Pacific Environment Communities Doomed with Aging Refinery Watch; Sakhalin Environment Watch; Shell to Sea; South Durban Community Environmental Alliance; and 10 Sao Paulo, Brazil United Front to Oust Oil Depots. -
Key Campaigns for System Change 2013
Key Campaigns for System Change “Activism is my rent for living on the planet” Alice Walker We urgently need to campaign for decisive action that will work. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes clearer than ever the need for decisive national and international action. So far UN Summits have not produced legally binding measures to prevent catastrophic climate change and further damage to the ecological system. Talks in Bonn in April 2010 failed to firm up actions to implement the 2010 Copenhagen Accord, which many smaller and poorer nations had refused to sign. Poorer nations must be properly included and outcomes must reflect their interests. Otherwise all of us will lose. The economic crisis now overshadows everything else. Many people are confused, depressed and disempowered. We cannot allow the campaigns of vested interests, intent on denying the part humans play in climate change, to succeed. We must find solutions that will work and put even more pressure on governments and big corporations. The most promising proposals yet are a Global Carbon Tax and an initiative to establish Ecocide as the Fifth UN Crime against Peace. 7bn people have the power to bring about radical change. It’s up to us to demand a great transition to a sustainable, just and non-violent economic system. My top priorities are Avaaz.org, 350.org, 38 degrees, Eradicating Ecocide, James Robertson – working for a sane alternative, New Economics Foundation (nef), Onehundredmonths.org, Positive Money, Peace Direct, RoadPeace – ending road violence, Transition Town Network, Unlock Democracy/Local Works and World Development Movement (WDM). -
The Corrib Debacle
1. THE CORRIB DEBACLE – WHY IRELAND IS COMPLETELY OFF LIMITS FOR INVESTMENT 1.1 The background to the debacle Natural gas generates over 60% of the electricity in Ireland and fuels homes and industry. While the Kinsale Field was discovered and developed in the early seventies, gas from the European network is currently pumped into the reservoir there over the summer and drawn out over the winter months. Very little is drawn any more from the field itself. Indeed a single gas pipeline from the European grid goes to a compressor station in South Western Scotland and then is routed under the Irish Sea to North of Dublin. The country is hanging off that pipe! Ireland has not had a good innings with petroleum exploration. About 150 exploration wells have been drilled in the Irish Sector, outside of Kinsale Field we had to wait until 1996 until Enterprise Energy Ireland finally hit pay dirt with the Corrib Natural Gas Field. Note: Shell Exploration and Production Ireland Ltd (SEPIL) acquired Enterprise Energy Ireland in 2002. A pretty poor run from exploration in Irish waters, in particular given that a drilling rig costs about €0.6 million per day and the success ratio in the North Sea sector is about one producing field for every four exploration wells drilled. 1 Bit of a difference in petroleum finds in North Sea and Irish waters. However, many Irish are insistent that the same exploration terms should apply in both jurisdictions. The Corrib field is marginal by international standards; the well head is 80 km off the exposed North Western Coast and at a depth of 300 m. -
SAFE ENERGY E-JOURNAL No.68
No2NuclearPower SAFE ENERGY E-JOURNAL No.68 February 2016 The content of this e-journal was for the most part originally prepared for Nuclear Free Local Authorities and is reproduced, as adapted, with their permission but without liability for its contents. This briefing does not necessarily deal with the UK Government’s proposed new reactor programme. For an update on developments to do with new reactors see here: http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo82.pdf If you are keen to keep abreast of developments in energy at a local level in communities and local authorities around the UK, you can sign up to the weekly Micro Power News here: http://www.microgenscotland.org.uk/news/ 1 Hinkley Point C “descends into farce” Plans for a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset have “descended into farce”, according to the SNP, after EDF delayed its decision on whether to proceed due to funding problems. The next Board Meeting is due to take place on 16th February, but it is not clear a decision will be taken then either. French news reports suggest the firm is struggling to generate funding to supply its 66.5% stake in the project, leading it to lobby the French government for additional capital. Although EDF chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy last week claimed the two new reactors would be built soon, the SNP has now called on the UK Government to rethink its plans. SNP MSP Chic Brodie said: “The UK Government’s plans for a new nuclear power station have been a billion-pound white elephant from the start but these latest revelations show that they have descended into farce. -
WHO's WHO Shell Brian Foley, Contracts Manager, Corrib Project
OSSL SHELL CORRIB SAGA - WHO'S WHO Shell Brian Foley, Contracts Manager, Corrib Project: [email protected] Julia Busby, Head of Shell Legal: [email protected] Frances van Dam, from Shell's business integrity department: [email protected] Charles Hornsby, Ethics and Compliance Officer at Shell Downstream [email protected] Bridgit Lowe, head of Shell Legal, Ireland [email protected] John Gallagher: [email protected] (Exec VP Shell Global Upstream) Alan Mee: Assistance Mayo Manager: [email protected] Ann Hamilton, Shell Corrib Financial Director: [email protected] Wim-Peter Vanbel, [email protected] (regional head Business Integrity Dept Europe & Russia Christy Loftus, Shell Ireland Communications: Christy Loftus [email protected] Michiel Brandjes, Company Sec. & General Counsel: [email protected] Agnes Mclaverty, Permits and Consents Manager for Shell E&P Ireland Limited: [email protected] Mary Barrett, Emergency Response Co-Ordinator Shell [email protected] Peter Voser, RDS PIc CEO: [email protected] Conner Byrne, Shell EP Ireland" (said to have demanded that invoices be falsified and diverted to Roadbridge to avoid any direct connection with Shell - also said to have threatened that OSSL would never work again in oil and gas industry if it revealed any of the activity) Terry Nolan, former CEO, Shell E&P Ireland Michael Crothers, CEO Shell E&P Ireland: [email protected] (said to have "personally felt some moral obligation ..." ) Roadbridge (Main Contractor on Corrib Project?) OSSL people Desmond Kane: [email protected] Amanda Kane Neil Rooney: [email protected] OSSL Supporter/agent/employee? - GEORGE HAMILTON George Hamilton: georgehamiltoneollve.ie Sent email in support of OSSL to Shell to Sea, also made several postings on our "Shell Blog", all supportive of OSSL. -
Powering Our Lives: Sustainable Energy Management and The
Powering our Lives: Sustainable Energy Management and the Printed in the UK on recycled paper with a minimum HMSO score of 75 Built Environment First published November 2008. The Government Office for Science. © Crown copyright. URN 134-08-Fo/on FUTURES REPORT All the papers produced by the Foresight Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment Project may be downloaded from the Foresight website (www.foresight.gov.uk). Requests for hard copies may be made through this website. This report has been commissioned as part of the UK Government’s Foresight Project: Powering Our Lives: Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment. The views expressed do not represent the policy of the UK Government. Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Scenario planning: an overview 4 3. Developing the Project’s scenarios 6 4. The scenarios 10 5. Technology roadmapping 22 6. Working with the scenarios 26 Appendix A: Bibliography of futures studies 33 Appendix B: The scenario narratives 34 Appendix C: Working with scenarios: some underlying principles 53 References 56 1 Introduction 1.0 Project outline 1.1 Report outline Blue Background includes 3mm bleed Please crop to edge of A4 page 2 1 Introduction 1.0 Project outline The role of Foresight is to strengthen strategic policy making by embedding a futures approach across government. It analyses complex issues that cut across government departments, combining robust science with well-informed futures thinking, to inform policy development in government and elsewhere. The Powering our Lives: Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment project aims to explore how the UK built environment could evolve to help manage the transition over the next five decades to secure, sustainable, low carbon energy systems that meet the needs of society, the requirements of the economy, and the expectation of individuals.