For over a year now I have been working on and off with Friends of the Earth Europe examining the dirty lobbying by the Canadians on the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive. Last summer we produced a report entitled “Canada’s dirty lobby diary”. The report revealed the extent of Canada’s lobbying – one of the most … Read More
European Union
Shell “Threatens” the EU with Long-Term Exit
Last Friday, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, announced that it had doubled third quarter profits to $7.2 billion. So where is this cash coming from? Let’s not forget that Shell has spent millions over the last fifteen years trying to remould its image from a dirty oil company implicated in human rights abuses to a … Read More
Britain Backs Canadian Bullying Over Tar Sands
Britain was joined by some Eastern European countries yesterday in backing Canada in its dirty fight to force the EU not to discriminate against the tar sands in the Fuel Quality Directive. A meeting of European environment experts yesterday had been expected to vote on a proposal by the European Commission to give a different … Read More
Europe Labels the Tar Sands “Dirty”
Earlier this year I worked with Friends of the Earth on a report that exposed the extent of Canadian lobbying on the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), a landmark piece of legislation by the EU which hopes to reduce CO2 emissions from transport fuels. We detailed how there had been a huge number of lobbying events … Read More
Will Europe Heed Warnings over Fracking?
A recent report by the World Economic Forum on the future of the gas markets has highlighted the revolution that is currently happening in this sector. The report started by saying: “What a difference a few years can make in one of the world’s major energy markets. Advances in the production of unconventional gas – … Read More
Canada’s “Dirty Lobby Diary” Exposed
Over the last few months I have been working with Friends of the Earth Europe looking at the extensive lobbying by the Canadian government over the tar sands in Europe. What we uncovered is that over the last two years we have seen a concerted lobbying campaign by the Canadian and Albertan governments to undermine … Read More
Dave Versus the Dinosaurs
When British Prime Minister, David Cameron staked his reputation on leading “the greenest government ever” he knew that many people would hold him to account to make sure his words translated into action. People also knew that he had a problem: that vast swathes of the Conservative party are climate sceptic, no more so than … Read More
France to Say “Non” to Fracking
Just last week, a study by the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security concluded that unconventional gas resources in Europe – such as shale gas – could radically reshape the continent’s oil and gas outlook, and reduce its dependency on Russia and the Middle East. The report said that, in theory “Europe’s unconventional gas … Read More
EU Looks Set to Label Tar Sands “Dirty”
OK, this week is turning into a tar sands one. The Koch brothers may be keen on cooking the climate by investing in the tar sands, but the EU is one place they may not be able to sell their dirty oil. There is one hell of a diplomatic spat going on behind the scenes … Read More
“The chain is as strong as the weakest link”
The unfolding nuclear emergency in Japan once again highlights the vulnerability of our centralised energy infrastructure to major disasters or even a potential terrorist attack. At the moment all efforts must go to containing and controlling the nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima plant. When this is done, at some time serious questions need to be … Read More