BP has astonished many analysts and critics by saying it is going to buy a $1bn stake in the state-owned Russian oil producer, Rosneft. It will seen as a major boost to President Putin just days before the G8 Summit. However opponents of the flotation told the Independent newspaper that BP had “a gun to … Read More
Author: Andy Rowell
G8 Summit Heating Up as Police Snatch Up Rights Activists
In the run-up to the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg this weekend, civil society and opposition figures are holding a two-day conference in Moscow to draw attention to President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian tendencies. They want the other seven G8 countries to put pressure on Russia to spend more time promoting civil rights. The police have … Read More
Legislators to G8: Act on Energy And Climate Security
Legislators from 13 countries have sent a message to the G8 to address climate change, clean energy and sustainable development when they meet in St Petersburg later this week. They pointed out that energy security and climate security needed to be tackled together. “If we do not successfully address both, we risk undermining our development, … Read More
US Senators To Bush: Show Leadership On Climate
Forty US senators have sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to “provide leadership” on climate change, and warning that the US could lose its competitive edge in a “carbon conscious” world. A year after the Senate passed a resolution calling for mandatory programme to reverse global warming, the letter read: “We are writing … Read More
Youth to G8: “Stop Playing Russian Roulette with Our Future!”
Youth organizations from 21 countries have issued a statement calling on the G8 to abandon a disastrous “Energy Security” strategy whose details were first revealed by Oil Change International in February of this year, and which is scheduled for approval during the G8 Summit later this week (July 15-17). According to the 53 youth organizations … Read More
The Flawed Billion Dollar Flotation of Russia’s Oil Company
The Independent leads on how “this week the London Stock Exchange will play host to one of the biggest share sales on record. But the ÂŁ6bn flotation of Rosneft, a state-owned Russian oil producer, will not only be huge, it will also be massively controversial”. The paper goes on to argue that critics of Rosneft, … Read More
Shell: Biofuels from Food Crops “Morally Inappropriate”
At top executive from oil giant Shell, the world’s top maker of biofuels, has said he considers using food crops to make biofuels “morally inappropriate” as long as there are people in the world who are starving. Eric G Holthusen, Fuels Technology Manager Asia/Pacific, said the company’s research unit, Shell Global Solutions, has developed alternative … Read More
Blair Goes Nuclear
Tony Blair will tomorrow announce the results of Britain’s long awaited energy review, which will call for a five-fold increase in energy generation from wind, solar, tidal and agricultural sources. However the boost in renewables will be seen as trying to offset the huge criticism over Blair giving the green light to a resumption in … Read More
A Third of Amphibian Species At Risk From Climate Change and Other Factors
A third of the planet’s 5,700 amphibian species are under threat of extinction, according to fifty of the world’s leading conservation experts who are calling for an urgent rescue mission to save frogs, newts and other amphibians. Up to 122 amphibian species have become extinct since 1980. Climate change, loss of habitat and infectious diseases … Read More
The Race Is On To Grab World’s Last Oil Hotspots
The Guardian reports today that “money [is] no object as the big players grab what is left of a diminishing resource”, quoting the recent decision by Sinopec of China to pay $1bn for the right to explore for oil in deep water off Angola. This has “shocked” the west, “which fears it could be left … Read More