Stockholm+50: We need decentralisation of ‘power’

Power generation and transmission models that are local and self-sustaining can increase access to energy in the future

Koshy Mathew Cherail

Down To Earth | June 03, 2022

Availability and access to uninterrupted and reliable energy sources is a prerequisite to enable an equitable and just development of communities, nations, and regions at large.

Countries that have clear goals of raising the socio-economic conditions of their population have prioritised access to energy above other development goals.

Construction and operation of power plants, as well as ensuring a steady supply of fuel of consistent quality, is a time-consuming and capital-intensive process.

Global warming: 400 million tonnes CO2 pumped to atmosphere a year from this source the world is blind to

Gas flared at and gas facilities is greater than EU’s total import from Russia and a key source of methane emission

Down To Earth | May 06, 2022

Something that has not changed over 160 years of oil production is the deliberate burning of gas associated with it, called gas flaring. It is turning out to be a major source of methane emission, a greenhouse gas (GHG) “over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a warming gas on a 20-year timeframe”.

The World Bank’s latest 2022 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report underscored that the efforts to curb this global warming causing activity have “stalled” in the last one decade.

The Danger of Fossil Fascism

Understanding the growing combination of racism, climate science denial, and fossil fuel promotion

Andreas Malm and the Zetkin Collective
WHITE SKIN, BLACK FUEL
On the Danger of Fossil Fascism
Verso Books, 2021

reviewed by Martin Empson

Climate and Capitalism | March 26, 2022

As regular readers of my blog will be aware, I think that Andreas Malm, even where I disagree with key points of his argument, is one of the most stimulating Marxist authors on environmental politics. So it was with eager anticipation that I looked forward to this new publication “one the dangers of fossil fascism” that Malm has co-authored with the network the Zetkin Collective, a group of scholars and activists “working on the political ecology of the far right.”

The book does multiple things. It opens with a study of the far-right and fascist movements and looks at their “anti-climate politics” and asks “what would it mean to live in a world both hotter and further to the right” than it is today. It argues that the far-right’s fixation with anti-climate views is closely tied to its anti-immigration perspective and the way that developing capitalism associated technology (and particularly fossil fuel technologies) with white supremacy. The authors argue in the introduction:

COP26: World agrees to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies and reduce coal

Nearly 200 countries at the UN climate change summit in Glasgow have also committed to revisit and strengthen their 2030 emissions reductions plans next year, keeping the door open to crucial 1.5°C temperature goal

Adam Vaughan

New Scientist | November 13, 2021

COP26 delegates had been negotiating for two weeks in Glasgow, UK. Jonne Roriz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Nearly 200 countries have made an unprecedented and historic pledge at the COP26 climate summit to speed up the end of fossil fuel subsidies and reduce the use of coal, after India pushed through an 11th hour intervention to weaken the language on coal.

Crucially, despite almost a fortnight’s negotiations that ran more than 24 hours late, the 196 countries meeting in Glasgow committed to issuing stronger 2030 climate plans next year in a bid to avert dangerous global warming.

Pledges at COP26 are expected to see Earth warm 2.4°C this century, better than the predicted 2.7°C predicted before the summit but still a rise that would bring extreme climate impacts and see countries overshoot their shared goals of 1.5°C and “well below” 2°C.

New report shows the world is awash with fossil fuels. It’s time to cut off supply

by Peter Christoff

The Conversation | November 21, 2019

A new United Nations report shows the world’s major fossil fuel producing countries, including Australia, plan to dig up far more coal, oil and gas than can be burned if the world is to prevent serious harm from climate change.

The report found fossil fuel production in 2030 is on track to be 50% more than is consistent with the 2℃ warming limit agreed under the Paris climate agreement. Production is set to be 120% more than is consistent with holding warming to 1.5℃ – the ambitious end of the Paris goals.

The UN Production Gap report clarifies the need for fossil fuel non-proliferation

by Tarun Gopalakrishnan

Down To Earth | November 20, 2019

A United Nations Environment-led research coalition published a first-of-its-kind report on November 20, 2019 on The Production Gap. It measured the gap between planned fossil fuel production, climate targets of countries, and goals to limit warming by 1.5 degree Celsius and 2°C goals committed to under the Paris Agreement.

The new report presented a more responsible assessment of global energy trends and projections than last week’s severely criticised World Energy Outlook 2019 by the International Energy Agency (IAEA). The Production Gap drew critical context from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) work.

Environmental activists in Houston protest the use of fossil fuels

A Journal of People report

Several environmental activists suspended themselves from the Fred Hartman Bridge in Houston Thursday morning to protest the use of fossil fuels and challenge Democratic presidential candidates preparing for the debate to hold the industry accountable.

Greenpeace USA, a non-governmental environmental organization, said in a tweet that 22 activists were demonstrating at the bridge to “confront” President Donald Trump and “the oil industry.”

At COP24 Climate Talks in Katowice, 300+ Elected Officials from 40 States Call for Phasing Out Fossil Fuels, Green New Deal Approach

350.org | December 14, 2018

KATOWICE, POLAND – Reiterating the concerns of constituents across the United States whose health and safety is threatened by fossil fuel production and worsening impacts from climate change, more than 300 mayors, state representatives, and elected officials from 40 states released a letter today calling for a nationwide plan to phase out the production and use of fossil fuels and to ramp up renewable energy as part of a green new deal approach to energy and efficiency.

Moving Away From Fossil Fuels Isn’t Separate From Moving Towards Social Justice

by Nagraj Adve

The Wire | December 15, 2018

Oil twilight. Credit: armbrusterbix/Unsplash

The following interview is the first in a new series that will address salient issues in the impacts and politics of climate change.

Avoiding the catastrophic effects of climate change requires a rapid move away from fossil fuels and lower emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. On behalf of The Wire, Nagraj Adve interviewed Simon Pirani, senior visiting research fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, to understand different aspects of this energy transition. He is also the author of Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption (2018).

The questions are in bold. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

World’s energy needs ‘must not destroy civilisation,’ Pope warns oil executives

Morning Star | June 10, 2018

Pope Francis meets a group of children who traveled on a special train from Milan and arrived at St Peter’s station at the Vatican, yesterday, as part of an initiative to give children living in disadvantaged areas of the country a day of joy

POPE FRANCIS warned global oil executives at the weekend that human-caused climate change “is a challenge of epochal proportions,” pointing out that satisfying the world’s energy needs “must not destroy civilisation.”

The Pope held a two-day conference with oil chiefs as a follow-up to his encyclical three years ago that called on people to save the planet from climate change, which the world’s oil companies have played a major role in causing.