"The data is from the Global Oil and Gas Exit List (#Gogel), a public database on the activities of more than 1,600 companies representing 95% of global production. The data shows that almost all companies are ignoring warnings from #climate scientists that new #OilAndGas fields cannot be developed if global temperature rise is to be kept to the internationally agreed 1.5C limit."
But the spectre of #StrandedAssets hangs over their heads like the sword of Damocles.
Check out our newest story in the @soljourno Story Tracker, " “We Are Suffering”: Despite Steps Taken, Gas Flaring Still Threatens Livelihoods in Niger Delta" by Ekpali Saint:
"The man [Joe Manchin] knows how to time his sabotage. Two days after the Democrats have a big night across the country, he walks away, virtually handing the Republicans a Senate seat. The man could harsh Pollyanna's mellow."
NEW: Nigeria has reduced its gas flaring by a third since 2019. But that is a function of reduced oil production levels, not of any regulatory success.
Ekpali Saint speaks to Niger Delta residents who are bearing the brunt of environmental health impacts:
🇭🇺 🇧🇬 Hungary has asked the European Commission to launch an infringement procedure against Bulgaria over a new fee it has imposed on Russian gas transit shipments, EU affairs minister Janos Boka said in a post on Facebook on Friday.
Damning new leaked docs & whistleblowers show McKinsey is "best understood as possibly the most powerful #oilandgas consulting firm on the planet posturing as a sustainability firm, advising polluting clients on any opportunity to preserve the status quo"
🇮🇳 🇷🇺 India saved roughly $2.7 billion by importing discounted Russian oil in the first nine months of this year, according to calculations based on government data, helping it support economic growth and easing pressure on its trade deficit.
" Management consultancy #McKinsey is using its position as a key advisor to the UN's #COP28#climate talks to push the interests of its big #OilAndGas clients, undermining efforts to end the use of the #FossilFuels, according to multiple sources and leaked documents.
An "energy transition narrative" drafted by the firm and obtained by AFP only reduces oil use by 50 percent by 2050, and calls for trillions in new oil and gas investment per year from now until then."
This is a fuck off to the Pathways Alliance oil company consortium. Their greenwashing ads are constant and incredibly insulting. We all see through your transparent efforts to squeeze the last profit out of the earth that you’ve been destroying for generations. #ClimateChange#oilandgas#greenwashing
🇷🇺 Russia's former 'president', Dmitry 🤡 Medvedev, was quoted as saying on Sunday that cooperation with Europe in energy matters was frozen or pointless as European countries had fallen on hard times and had poor growth prospects 🤦
#Pennsylvania’s Gas Industry Used 160 Million Pounds of Secret Chemicals From 2012 to 2022.
"The chemicals may have included #PFAS, a toxic and pervasive class of chemicals, according to the report from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)
The report urged Pennsylvania to follow the example of Colorado, which banned the use of PFAS by the oil and gas industry, and requires public disclosure of all chemicals used in #fracking, including #ProprietaryChemicals."
"Over the last few years, #PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ have garnered national attention for their potential health impacts. Now, some of #NewMexico’s lawmakers are grappling with the idea that New Mexico’s vast #OilAndGas industry may be responsible for PFAS #contamination.
A spokesperson for the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department confirmed that there have been talks about a potential rule to address PFAS in the oil and gas industry.."
In theory, our state has rules strictly limiting the amount of natural gas "flaring." In practice, environmental advocates say this polluting practice is "rubber stamped" through an easy approval process.
🇭🇺 🇷🇺 Hungary is set to make increased purchases of Russian gas this winter, Moscow's state-owned energy giant Gazprom said, despite growing criticism in the West that the arrangement is funding the war in Ukraine.
"Days ago, voters in Ecuador approved a total ban on oil drilling in protected land in the #Amazon, a 2.5m-acre tract in the #Yasuní national park that might be the world’s most important #biodiversity hotspot. The area is a Unesco-designated biosphere reserve and home to two non-contacted #Indigenous groups. This could be a major step forward for the entire global climate justice movement in ways that are not yet apparent.
"This vote is important not only for Ecuador and for the Indigenous peoples in the Yasuní, who now have hope of living in peace in perpetuity. It is also a potential model for how we can use the democratic process around the world to help slow or even stop the expansion of fossil fuels to the benefit of billions of people.
"The Yasuní referendum proves that real democracy that respects the popular will can be a powerful tool for transitioning to a sustainable future. Ecuador’s state oil company, #Petroecuador, had been producing nearly 60,000 barrels a day in the Yasuní. It now must figure out how to dismantle its entire operation and go home. When in history has a popular vote ever forced an oil company to cease active drilling? Never.
"The Yasuní vote was not the result of a business decision made in a boardroom or government office. It was the product of two decades of #grassroots organizing by citizens and #activists like you and me. I know because I have been to Ecuador more than 250 times to work on a historic pollution case against #Chevron on behalf of the Indigenous people there. Many of the same Indigenous leaders and activists who helped fight Chevron organized the Yasuní vote.
"At the same time, the vote underscores how important it is to protect our increasingly fragile democracy. Without a robust democracy that allows citizens to place issues of critical importance on the ballot without the intermediation of elites, the Yasuní referendum never would have happened.
"The flipside is that powerful #OilAndGas companies understand the threat a real citizen-based democracy poses to their power. They fear a society where citizens can put referendums on the ballot without the approval of business leaders. Those of us in the climate movement often can’t even stop to focus on the connection between democracy and climate justice because we’re so focused on dealing with the immediate crises taking place before our eyes, such as the Maui fire.
"In the United States, it is not broadly known that the #FossilFuel industry quietly funds a national lobbying campaign that has introduced draconian #antiprotest bills in at least 18 states. These laws threaten anyone #protesting at an oil or gas facility with huge fines and serious prison sentences; some states even impose criminal liabilities on non-profit advocacy groups that support the protesters. These are really laws of intimidation designed to stop protest before it happens. And they are also manifesting in other countries including #Australia, the #UnitedKingdom and #Germany.
"As a result, many Americans who have committed #peaceful acts of non-violent #CivilDisobedience – central to the birth of our country and a cornerstone of our political tradition – now face decades in prison. In Atlanta, #Georgia, 42 people have been charged by prosecutors with 'domestic terrorism' for trying to save the city’s last green canopy in the #WeelauneeForest. Local police are trying to raze part of the forest to build a military-style police training academy, colloquially called “#CopCity”, that already resulted in the first police killing of a climate activist in US history. (The police have said that the activist, Manuel Paez #Terán, was used a weapon; activists dispute that claim.)
"The Atlanta cases represent a frightening escalation of attacks on #FreeSpeech and protest in the US. None of those charged – whom authorities accused mainly of vandalism and arson – committed a direct act of violence against another person. Nobody was injured other than the activist shot and killed by police while sitting in the forest.
"That this is happening in a city considered to be one of the cradles of the American civil rights movement shows just how entwined corporate and police power have become in their efforts to erode democratic rights.
"The prosecutions in Georgia are also occurring in a broader context where the right to vote has been seriously impaired. Voter suppression is now a regular feature in many US states, with ludicrous laws being passed to throw out votes. In this short century, two presidents have taken office in the US who did not win the popular vote. Votes are constantly thrown out for the thinnest of reasons, as journalists such as Greg Palast have meticulously documented.
On top of these threats to democracy at the state level, the US #supremecourt and its unelected, mostly #FarRight justices are weakening both our democracy and its ability to regulate the fossil fuel industry. The court has consistently approved measures like voter ID laws and felon disenfranchisement that make it more difficult for historically marginalized groups to vote. It has also, of late, decided its role is to strike down popular legislation, so who knows what they’d do to a popularly won ban on oil drilling.
"I am an #EnvironmentalJustice and #HumanRights lawyer, but one reason I spend significant time focused on issues of democracy is because I simply cannot do my work if our political system does not allow the political space to advocate freely. After I helped Indigenous peoples win a major pollution case in Ecuador, I was detained for almost three years in the US after being targeted with the nation’s first-ever corporate prosecution. My own case is a reminder that the normal rules of democracy can easily be suspended when entrenched economic interests face a serious enough threat to their bottom line.
"As I write this, a heat dome in the US sits over the entire midwest and is affecting 100 million people. Fires have destroyed millions of acres of land. A tropical storm just smacked southern California for the first time, and the historic town of Lahaina in Hawaii burned to the ground with hundreds of people still unaccounted for. In the meantime, the oil industry is reporting record profits, creating enormous incentives for a small group of powerful shareholders to maintain their power by shrinking our democratic space.
What the referendum in Ecuador teaches us is that democratic processes when coupled with strong grassroots organizing can produce startlingly effective results. Taking a cue from our friends in that brave country, the next major move for the climate justice movement could be to launch a national campaign to put the simple question presented in Ecuador before the American people in every state that allows citizens to place their own questions on the ballot. The question is whether we can vote to end the destruction of our planet by the burning of fossil fuels.
"It is clear we cannot trust either of the two major US political parties – both of which mostly support fossil fuel expansion – to adequately address this crisis. We simply cannot save the planet without first protecting and strengthening our democracy."
🇷🇺 🇮🇳 The share of Russian oil in India's overall imports rose to about two-fifths in the first half of fiscal 2023/24, consolidating Moscow's position as the top supplier as refiners curbed purchase from the Middle East, industry data showed.
🇷🇺 🇨🇳 Russia wants to increase trade with China via the Northern Sea Route and become its top supplier of liquefied natural gas, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.
🇭🇺 🇧🇬 Hungary pledged to retaliate against Bulgaria after the Balkan nation blindsided it with a tax on Russian gas transit, potentially threatening the viability of energy imports through a critical route 🇷🇺