Blog

Just as the U.S. oil and gas industry is looking to exploit the Ukraine war to expand exploitation of shale gas, so too is the European shale gas industry. 

One of the leading trade associations promoting fracking in the U.S. sees Putin’s war in Ukraine as a flagrant opportunity to sell more LNG gas. And lots of it. They are calling on the U.S. to “unleash American energy’s strength and security”.

No words will ever be able to describe the full horror of war. The bombs, the bullets, the trauma. The wanton destruction of life. Hopes and dreams evaporated.

A key British Russian lobbying group, the board of which included executives from BP, and whose hierarchy included British Royalty, British and Russian Ambassadors and ex-British parliamentarians, has quietly erased online content about its activities and personnel over the last few weeks.

The solution to both the US and UK decisions to stop importing Russian oil and gas is not to drill for more oil, either in the US or UK - something the fossil fuel industry and its supporters are already arguing. It is to invest in renewables and alternatives such as heat pumps and weatherization.

For decades Big Oil courted Putin and helped him exploit Russia’s vast reserves. Big Oil poured billions into Russia’s war chest with devastating consequences.

As I write the dire threat of war once again hangs over Europe after the Russian President, Vladimir Putin,  recognised the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine and ordered his troops over the border.

A “Traitor”. “Putin’s Poodle”. "Open Treason". These are just some of the harsh headlines to greet Trump after yesterday’s summit in Helsinki with Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

These are dangerous days for the climate. Not only do we have a climate denier in the White House, we have one in the Kremlin too.