For nearly fifty years Shell has been flaring gas in the Niger Delta in vast quantities. The practice is a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions, and a major source of air, noise and light pollution for the people of the Niger Delta. It causes huge resentment amongst the communities who bear the brunt of oil exploration. In a ground-breaking ruling, on 14 November last year a Nigerian Court ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Iwherekan, in the Niger Delta.

So far, Shell has not done so.

Now Friends of the Earth has set up a website where you can email

Tomorrow is the first Anniversary of the UN Kyoto Protocol taking effect.

A year on the Protocol is fundamentally weakened by the Bush Administration's refusal to sign up to it. However some parts of the agreement are booming - especially carbon trading.

Carbon dioxide is now one of the world's fastest-growing markets, worth as much as 34 billion euros (40.2 billion dollars) annually by the end of this decade, according to some analysts.

"The carbon market is going very well. We've seen tremendous growth this year," argues Henrik Hasselknippe, senior analyst at Point Carbon, a firm that monitors the CO2 pollution business. Much

Whats the US Congress' response to record profits and high gas prices? Why its royalty relief for the oil & gas industry, of course! According to this morning's New York Times, "the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period.". Yikes. Separation of Oil & State, anyone?

Under their new leader David Cameron, the Conservatives could be about to radically alter thier energy policy, as their try and improve their "green" credentials. Launching a review of their energy policy today, the shadow Trade and Industry spokesperson, Alan Duncan, has indicated that the party are looking for a greater proportion of energy to come from renewables, such as wind and solar. They are also suggesting that they might drop their historic support for nuclear power.

However, Duncan also suggested there could be "a new lease of life" for fossil fuels, based on clean-coal and carbon-capture technology. What do you

To their admirers, they are the latest must-haves in status, style and chic. To their critics, they are dangerous, polluting and gas guzzling brutes. Known as Chelsea tractors they are urban 4X4s or SUVs. But the news that Londoners are the most likely people in the whole of the UK to buy 4X4s will come as no surprise to people who have watched in horror as more and more off-roaders clog up London’s streets and pollute its air.

A recent survey has found that one in six Londoners who are looking to replace their car this year planned to buy an

The British Environment Agency has calculated that over two million homes are at risk of being flooded, a situation that will get worse because of climate change. "The risk of flooding is ever present, and increasing", says the Environment Agency (EA).

Despite everyone knowing that climate change will make matters worse, developers are still trying to develop on known flood-risk areas. Last year, planning permission was granted for 21 cases of "major developments" in the UK against the advice of the EA.

Barbara Young, the chief executive of the EA, says: "Recent floods, storms and drought have shown how vulnerable we are

The fight against climate change received an unexpected boost yesterday when 86 evangelical Christian leaders in American backed a major initiative to fight climate change.  A statement they released said: "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

The statement continued: "For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority. Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we

Tony Blair yesterday warned world leaders they had less than seven years to save the climate, but then ruled out a special tax on the most polluting travel of all - flying.

"It is unrealistic to think that you will get some restriction on air travel at an international level", said Blair. So we can all carry on flying and leave climate change to governments to sort out... Sounds like a great plan, Mr. Blair

Yesterday saw BP join Shell and Exxon in reporting record profits of $19.3bn (£11bn).

What the three company results highlight is the fundamental flaw of how they are valued by city investors. As both Shell and BP posted record profits their share price actually went down as the profits were not as large as some had expected.

But the real reason that city investors were disappointed is that they felt that both BP and Shell had underperformed in key areas. Shell had not replaced as much reserves as the city analysts had hoped. BP also disappointed mainly through its refining operations. To

A sustainable society must depend upon renewable resources,
which oil cannot be. It must recycle nonrenewable resources,
and burned oil cannot be recycled. It needs to restore the base
of renewable resources — our forests, soils, cities and human
minds.