BP has scrapped plans for a pioneering project to capture carbon in Scotland after the British Government’s energy review yesterday delayed a decision on subsidies. Ministers said they planned to launch a competition for a funding award in November – described by the oil giant as “an extension too far” for its ambitious plans to … Read More
energy policy
British MPs Call for an End to Oil Aid:
British Member of Parliament, Michael Meacher, has introduced an “early day motion” that calls on the British aid agency, the Department for International Development, to stop subsidizing oil companies through development agencies like the World Bank. Other Members of Parliament are invited to endorse the motion, which will stay open until November. A similar motion … Read More
Heating up for Wolfowitz at the Bank
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is accusing beleaguered World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz of trying to weaken references to climate change in the World Bank’s Clean Energy and Investment Framework. GAP has released an internal summary of a February 2006 World Bank meeting on the Framework. The summary includes the following passage: “Feedback from the … Read More
An Appeal to Pelosi to Help End Oil Aid
Only 10 days after Congressman Maurice Hinchey introduced the End Oil Aid Bill in the U.S. Congress, more than 150 organizations from 50 countries have written to House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, recognizing her clean energy efforts and calling on her to lend support to eliminate international ‘oil aid’. The letter (Acrobat pdf) cites over $20 … Read More
Ecuador Throws Out World Bank Rep Over Oil Aid:
Direct World Bank financing for oil companies is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but the Bank’s behind the scenes work to make the world safe for Big Oil is priceless. While Bank support for mega-projects involving companies like Exxon and BP may get most of the attention, the Bank’s biggest impact on … Read More
McCain Warns of Vulnerability of Foreign Oil
In the third of three major policy addresses, Republican presidential candidate, John McCain has talked about the “great and urgent challenge – breaking our nation’s critical dependence on foreign sources of oil”. In a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) McCain warned that America’s “dependency on foreign oil and the way … Read More
What else has the government not told us about climate change?
A report released this week by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower protection organization based in Washington D.C., demonstrates the politicization of climate science. According to GAP, political policies and practices “have increasingly restricted the flow of scientific information emerging from publicly-funded climate change research. This has negatively affected the media’s ability to report … Read More
Germans Unite Against Oil Aid!
A group of 40 German NGOs called on G8 Environment Ministers today to phase out fossil fuel subsidies at home and use their influence to steer the World Bank away from fossil fuels and towards a new energy revolution. A long list of German organizations, including the German NGO Forum on Environment and Development, Oxfam … Read More
Development Banks’ Inconvenient Truth
Multilateral development banks concluded a two day conference in London yesterday on “Financing Clean Energy”. Non-governmental organizations were generally shut out of the meeting, restricted to a handful of participants, but a long list of oil and energy companies were in attendance and they were ready to discuss just about anything other than phasing out … Read More
Big Oil Tackles Energy Questions
Some of big oil’s top executives will gather in Houston this week to discuss dwindling oil supplies, pollution concerns and finding new and more effective ways to produce oil and gas — as well as alternatives to fossil fuels. At the Cambridge Energy Research Associates annual weeklong conference that begins today, dozens of the industry’s … Read More