Andy Rowell

Yesterday, the message from the world’s leading climate scientists was their most brutal and stark yet. It was unequivocal.

The old saying is that the truth will come out. The state may lie and try and bury evidence. It may use brute force to cover up its tracks, but eventually, the truth will come out.

In one of his most controversial decisions so far, President Biden yesterday approved the Willow oil and gas mega-project on the Alaskan North Slope.

We have known for decades now that we must end the disastrous dirty oil age and transition to clean, renewable energy. The wording often used by scientists and activists is that we need a “just transition”. There is where society enables an equitable transition from polluting, undemocratic fossil fuel industries to cleaner community-led renewable technologies.

For anyone in the oil and gas industry, there is only one place to be this week. The great and good of the industry has converged on Houston for CERAWeek, which bills itself as the world’s premier energy event.

This week sees two crucial energy meetings in Japan, a country which remains one of the most prominent financiers of fossil fuels.