Forecasts of convenience: why is the fossil fuel industry mapping our energy future?

July 1, 2015By Hannah McKinnonBlog Post, Featured 1 Comment

Would you take it seriously if tobacco companies announced that smoking trends weren’t expected to change much over the next 30 years? And imagine then, that this is what governments used to make tobacco policy: “Forecasts show that people aren’t going to quit smoking, steady rates of smoking around the world are inevitable, so all anti-smoking policies will assume not much is going to change.”

Signs, signs, everywhere the signs    

June 25, 2015By Hannah McKinnonBlog Post, News

There are usually clear signals if you find yourself driving towards a cliff. Presumably the smooth paved road you were driving on ends and turns into a less-travelled gravel road, from there, chances are dirt starts to take over where gravel is no longer hauled in. As you get closer to the cliff, lets be … Read More

#StopFundingFossils

June 11, 2015By Hannah McKinnonBlog Post, Featured, News

As another round of UN climate negotiations wraps up today in Bonn, expectations are taking shape for the end of the year Paris conference where countries will have yet another chance to prove they are ready to take on one of the world’s greatest challenges. Nobody (with the possible exceptions of Canada, Australia, and Japan … Read More

Kick Big Polluters out of the climate talks

June 10, 2015By Hannah McKinnonBlog Post, Featured, News

– By Greg Muttit and Hannah McKinnon Last week, six European oil companies declared their apparent conversion to the climate cause. To much fanfare, Shell, BP, Total, Eni, Statoil and BG committed to being part of a constructive solution on climate change, asked for a formal role in international climate negotiations, and called for governments … Read More

Fossil Fuel Fatalism and the Untouchable Arctic

May 20, 2015By Hannah McKinnonBlog Post, Featured

Yesterday at the Royal Dutch Shell AGM in The Hague, the company’s leadership was grilled with questions and concerns about its high-risk plans for offshore U.S. Arctic oil exploration, and how it will square that circle with its apparent commitment to take climate change more seriously. Interventions ranged from powerful statements and concerns from indigenous … Read More