Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
In light of the war in Ukraine, shareholder actions on climate against Big Oil are faltering. One activist investors says: “The oil industry is really using the energy crisis as an excuse now to stall climate action.”
Leading climate scientists have revealed that there is a “very strong likelihood” that one of the next five years will be the warmest on record and that the chance of at least one of the next five year’s exceeding 1.5°C is rapidly increasing.
With the war in Ukraine dragging on into its second month, there is a relentless depressing news cycle. But as war dominates, other issues slip from the news agenda.
After some of the most destructive flooding ever to hit South Africa last week, which resulted in over 400 killed and 40,000 displaced, climate activists are calling on the government to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels.
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.
Whilst much of the world’s media attention is focussed on Putin’s illegal and horrendous war in Ukraine, our daily climate emergency has slipped from the headline news agenda. But what is happening in the Arctic and Antarctica is alarming scientists and activists alike.
In 2017, Esther Kiobel and three other widows of the Ogoni 9, brought a new legal case against Shell in the Netherlands for complicity in murdering their husbands. And today was judgement day in the Hague. A day for hope. A day of dreams. However, those dreams were to be shattered. But this is not the end of the fight.
The wealthiest countries need to have phased out their production by 2034 at the latest, or by 2031 for a higher chance to stay below 1.5°C of warming. The report is also clear that immediate action is needed: their production must go down by 74% by 2030.
