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
The European Emission Trading Scheme has been getting about as much bad publicity as BP recently. The latest hounding comes from Times columnist, Camilla Cavendish, who attacks the ETS in a good old fashioned rant.
She says: "Those of us who have been shouting into the wind for years about melting glaciers, wilting polar bears and rising tides are feeling strangely becalmed. For the political climate has changed. Global warming is fashionable. The world reverberates to the sound of a million new paper-rustling committees. But the flurry of activity brings few useful results. China goes on its stately way building one
The New York Times reports on the growing moves to convert coal to oil. The paper points out that the coal in states like Illinois have more energy than all the oil in Saudi Arabia. The technology to turn that coal into fuel for cars, homes and factories is proven. And at current prices, that process could be at the vanguard of a big, new industry.
However there is a huge catch, as producing fuels from coal generates far more carbon dioxide, than producing vehicle fuels from oil. But that is not stopping business and the US government from moving in
Dramatic new evidence has been released of high-level lobbying for Iraqi oil contracts, on behalf of oil companies BHP Billiton and Shell. New documents show that Malcolm Rifkind, the former British Foreign Secretary, lobbied Dick Cheney for Shell and BHP Billiton to obtain a major Iraq oil contract, just weeks after the 2003 invasion.
Rifkind, who was director of international strategy at BHP Billiton, made the promise when he met with oil company executives and the Australian Foreign Minister in London in May 2003. The minutes of the meeting have now been published by Australia’s Cole Inquiry into corruption in the
European airlines are said to be “reeling” after amazing developments at the EU yesterday over the environmental impact of flying. MEPs voted in favour of the “immediate introduction” of a tax on jet fuel for flights within the 25 member states of the EU. Because the cost of “cheap flights” is so low the charge effectively doubles the cost of millions of “budget” flights.
Air passengers will be charged up to £40 extra for a return ticket within Europe to pay for the environmental impact of their journeys . MEPs also accepted a recommendation for a special emissions trading scheme for
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.