Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
As the COP21 climate negotiations go down to the wire in Paris tonight, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the talks have been the most complicated and difficult he has ever been involved in.
It started as just any other morning for one of Paris’ most iconic tourist attractions, the Louvre. Under a cold, clear bright blue sky the snaking queue of tourists waited patiently to get their glimpse at the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
There were two different actions over the last few days in Paris, with the same underlying message: as we enter the so-called business end of the COP21 talks, there can be no more false solutions to climate change.
For twenty five years there has been one company that beyond all others has tried to undermine the UN Climate talks. For those twenty five years it has obfuscated the truth about climate by pouring millions into the funding of a network of climate sceptic and denial think tanks and politicians.
One of the most detailed studies of climate denial has concluded what many researchers have long known - that funding by the fossil fuel industry created a corrosive “ecosystem of influence” on both the content and language of the climate debate, especially in the US.
With less than one week before Paris climate talks, known officially as the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), the campaign group Corporate Accountability International has released a report exposing the “filthy” track record of some of the corporations sponsoring the talks.
And so the climate movement marches on. The last couple of months have been pretty amazing for those working towards a healthy climate future. The controversial Keystone XL pipeline is dead; Exxon is being investigated for lying about climate change; Shell and Statoil have pulled out of the Alaska Arctic, and Obama has cancelled further Arctic leases.
As I pointed out last week, one of the ground-breaking developments in the lead up to the Paris climate talks later this month has been the announcement by the New York Attorney’s office that it was investigating Exxon for misleading the public and shareholders about climate change.
To start with one huge, massive, significant step forward. Victories do not come sweeter than this. After years of campaigning by millions of people from grass-roots activists, First Nations, farmers and ranchers to environmental groups such as Oil Change International, Sierra Club, 350.org and many others, President Obama announced on Friday that the controversial Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline is dead.
