While Chevron’s Richmond refinery has been making the news lately with a very visible incident, our attention has been drawn to less noticed recent events in America’s biggest refining center on the Gulf Coast, where what was to become the country’s largest refinery also ran into a spot of trouble. You’d think that if you … Read More
Carbon emissions
Tar Sands: “No get-out-of-jail-free card”
If you read some of the Canadian press coverage, a recent scientific study has offered the pro-tar sands movement a real fillip in its attempts to spin its dirty fuel as “ethical oil” that is no dirtier than conventional crude. The Canadians are now essentially arguing it gives them the scientific back-up to carry on … Read More
Record CO2 Emissions and a Deal by … 2020
The daunting task of somehow creating a meaningful post-Kyoto deal at the Durban climate talks has been made even more urgent by the news that global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuels jumped by the largest amount on record last year. According to new research by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) emissions of CO2 rose … Read More
What if the Carbon Bubble Bursts?
For many years now, a number of activists and analysts have argued that if we are serious about tackling climate change then the reserves of oil and gas in the ground need to be seen as liabilities and not assets. At the moment an oil company is judged by investors by the strength and size … Read More
“This is the worst news on emissions”
When historians look back at the beginning of this century, one of the complex phenomena that they must unravel is that as the warnings about climate change got more severe, the stronger the conspiracy became that it was not happening. Take just the last 24 hours. Yesterday, the Guardian ran with the headline that “Worst … Read More
UK Gov Drops Consumer Levy on CCS
If we are going to carry on burning fossil fuels, then either the climate will slowly fry, or we have to find a way to stop carbon dioxide frying the climate. One way is to bury it. One of the most controversial techniques is Carbon, Capture and Storage, where the CO2 will be captured and … Read More
12