Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
It is a gruesome milestone. A year after Russia’s brutal and bloody invasion of Ukraine, the ripples of war have spread across the globe. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, along with over a hundred thousand Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.
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.
Later today, the 538 members of the Electoral College will meet to determine who will be the next President of the US.
The news from over the weekend that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Rex Tillerson, the chairman and chief executive of Exxon, the world’s largest private oil company as Secretary of State, is a clear sign that we face an unprecedented battle against the environmental movement in the years to come.
As Europe gives Russia a week’s grace to reverse its military actions in Ukraine or face a new round of sanctions, the oil industry just carries on investing with Russia regardless.
Is it not time, with the threat of increasing political and economic instability and the growing risk of climate change, that we finally recognize the costs of fossil fuel dependency are too high?
As the West scrambles for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Crimea, they know that as they try and negotiate with Russian President, Vladimir Putin, he holds one of the aces in the pack: Russian gas supplies to the west.
