Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
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.
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.
Two prominent African environmentalists are pushing back against those advocating for more fossil fuel drilling on the continent. They argue that “far from generating prosperity and stability in sub-Saharan Africa, investments in fossil fuels cause real harm,” noting “Decades of fossil fuel development have failed to deliver energy to much of the continent" and "have deepened inequality, caused environmental damage, stoked corruption, and encouraged political repression.”
Increased recognition from governments, institutions, and even parts of the financial sector of the role of fossil fuels in climate change represents a sea change from where we were even just a few years ago. The importance of phasing out oil and gas are now featured in climate policy discussions across all sectors.
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.
