GLOBAL POLICY
The Paris climate goals demand a rapid, just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. We’re pushing governments to lead the way by adopting policies to end oil and gas production.
OVERVIEW OF WORK
In order to achieve climate goals, governments and other decision makers must support a just and equitable move away from fossil fuels. We are pushing for precedent-setting leadership from governments to put policies in place to manage the decline of oil and gas and ensure a just transition for fossil-fuel dependent workers and communities.
Building from a growing group of first mover governments, we are pressuring for increasing numbers of national and regional governments to end new licenses and permits for oil and gas production, and to develop plans to wind down their existing production over time.
LATEST PROGRAM POSTS
At a conference in Greece yesterday, UN officials finally drew up an action plan to tackle the huge oil spill that is spreading along the Lebanese and Syrian coastline. The 15,000 tonne spill could be the Mediterranean's worst ever maritime disaster and was caused by Israel’s bombing of a Lebanese power station.
The officials believe the eventual size of the spill could be close to 35,000 tonnes, similar in size to the official estimates of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989. The spill will cost an estimated 50 million Euros to clean up.
I know I am in danger of becoming a BP-bore, but I am not the only one with an unhealthy obsession with oil companies and the way they operate. There was a fascinating piece earlier this week in the New York Times (reprinted in Truthout) by John Kenney who worked on the BP advertising campaign “beyond petroleum”.
Writes Kenney: “ For some men, it's cars, a sports team or watching "The Godfather" over and over. For me, it's oil companies. They fascinate me. Their size, their power, their reach”.
The League of Conservation Voters has launched a campaign to demand that politicians make global warming and clean energy a priority in the 2006 elections. They are asking people to sign their Global Warming Leadership Petition.
According to the LCV, “with one-third of the Senate and all House members up for reelection this November, we have a perfect opportunity to begin a national discussion and demand practical solutions, including:
New energy technologies that create jobs and build our economy
More fuel-efficient vehicles that reduce our reliance on oil
Cleaner power production
The fall-out from BP’s Alaskan fiasco continues. The company’s shareholders have now filed a lawsuit against top executives accusing them of letting investors down by failing to repair the pipeline that forced the shutdown of part of Prudhoe Bay.
The lawsuit filed earlier this week in Manhattan is targeted at board members and directors including CEO John Browne and Chief Financial Officer Bryon Grote. It says they "allowed one of BP's prized assets" - the Prudhoe Bay oil field - to decay to the point that it was forced to shut operations. "Defendants became aware of the problem of corrosion in
LATEST PROGRAM RESEARCH
This new report, “Public Enemies: Assessing MDB and G20 international finance institutions’ energy finance” looks at G20 country and MDB traceable international public finance for fossil fuels from 2020-2022 and finds they are still backing at least USD 47 billion per year in oil, gas, and coal projects.
This briefing assesses Shell’s fossil fuel extraction plans in light of Shell's appeal of a Dutch court verdict requiring the company to take responsibility for its climate pollution. Our analysis shows that Shell continues to plan for levels of oil and gas production and investment that undermine the world’s chances of curtailing climate disaster.
The countries that produce oil and gas from the North Sea (Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark) rank among the countries with the greatest economic capacity and responsibility to rapidly phase out extraction, and to finance just transitions to renewable energy solutions domestically and abroad.