Category Archives: Fossil fuels

Johnson takes jibe at Truss plans for fracking and North Sea drilling

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Outgoing leader hails £700m funding for Sizewell C nuclear plant in penultimate speech

• Boris Johnson says ‘madness’ not to build Sizewell C – UK politics live

Boris Johnson has vowed to give his total support to the next prime minister, but could not resist using his penultimate speech to take a potshot at Liz Truss’s energy plans.

In an attempt to shore up his legacy just days before he leaves No 10, the outgoing Conservative leader hailed the government’s “accelerated, long-overdue reforms” to make the UK more energy independent and announced £700m for the Sizewell C nuclear plant.

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Burning native forest wood waste for electricity shouldn’t be classed as renewable energy, Senate report suggests

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Climate bill inquiry says government should consider establishing a transition authority for coal and gas workers

A Labor-led committee has recommended the government consider changing a controversial law classifying electricity from burning native forest wood waste as renewable energy after the Senate votes for its climate change legislation.

The Senate committee inquiry into Labor’s climate change bill also recommended the Albanese government consider how to help with “transition arrangements” for fossil fuel workers affected by the shift to a cleaner economy.

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Canada invokes treaty with US in push to keep cross-border pipeline open

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Canada warns of ‘significant’ economic damage in the event of a shutdown of Line 5, which travels through Michigan

Canada has once again invoked a longstanding treaty with the US as it seeks to keep a controversial cross-border pipeline open, warning of “significant” economic damage to both countries in the event of a shutdown.

Canada’s foreign minister said Line 5, a pipeline operated by Calgary-based Enbridge, was a critical source of energy security.

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‘Completely laughable’: claims that a mine will create ‘more jobs per hectare’ than the Great Barrier Reef derided

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Clive Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal suggested proposed coalmine is a ‘greater economic powerhouse’

Claims that Clive Palmer’s proposed Central Queensland coalmine would help the Great Barrier Reef – and would generate “more jobs per hectare” – have been derided as “completely laughable” by an environmentalist, economist and First Nations people.

Earlier this month environment minister Tanya Plibersek said she intended to block the coalmine due to its “unacceptable impacts” on the reef world heritage area, which is 10km from the two proposed open cut mines.

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Just Stop Oil activists stage protests at Essex and Midlands oil terminals

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Essex police arrest 18 people at three locations as protesters try to disrupt distribution of fuel

Dozens of environmental protesters have blocked critical oil infrastructure in Essex and the Midlands as they revived a campaign to “just stop oil”.

At daybreak on Tuesday, about 50 people took part in protests targeting three oil terminals, from where fuel is distributed to petrol stations, the activist group Just Stop Oil said.

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‘Too much to lose’ in Santos gas project off Tiwi Islands, marine ranger tells court

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Federal court hearing on the islands, north of Darwin, told a spill would mean ‘everything ends up dead’ in delicate marine ecosystem

A large gas project off the Tiwi Islands could threaten a vulnerable turtle species and disrupt a thriving ecosystem of fish, a marine ranger has told the federal court.

Tiwi Islander Dennis Tipakalippa is challenging the decision to allow Santos to drill eight wells in the Barossa gas field, 265km north-west of Darwin.

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Greens propose shutting down all Victorian coal-fired power plants by 2030

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Exclusive: New bill also increases the state’s legislated renewable energy target to 100% by decade’s end

Victoria’s three remaining coal-fired power plants would be progressively shut down over the next eight years, under a Greens bill to be introduced to parliament this week.

The Energy Legislation Amendment (Transition from Coal) Bill 2022, is the Greens final piece of legislation to be debated before the state goes to the polls in November, and is set to form a central pillar of the party’s climate policy.

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At least 89 Covid deaths; Littleproud tells Nationals he’ll bring pragmatic policies to jobs summit – as it happened

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Nationals leader outlines vision for party at federal council meeting. This blog is now closed

White whale calf seen off NSW coast

There’s one newborn hogging all the attention off the NSW coast – a southern right whale calf born whiter than usual, AAP reports:

Southern right whales are mostly very dark, although some have splashes of white called a blaze.

Its white areas will darken to grey as it ages. It’s one of around one-in-30 southern right whale calves born with brindle colouring.

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Cumbria coalmine decision delayed again as critics condemn ‘zombie’ No 10

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Campaigners told new deadline for decision on first new deep coalmine in more than 30 years is 8 November

A much-anticipated decision on whether the UK’s first new deep coalmine in more than 30 years should go ahead has been delayed again.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) has written to Friends of the Earth to inform the organisation that the new secretary of state, Greg Clark, has set a new deadline of 8 November to rule on whether the coalmine should be granted planning permission.

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Rinehart-backed joint venture pledges $1bn gas expansion but hurdles remain

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Senex Energy says extra fuel will be for domestic use but plans are yet to secure state or federal environmental approvals

Gas producer Senex, which is jointly owned by South Korea’s steel giant Posco and Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, has planned a more than $1bn expansion to its Queensland gasfields with the bulk of the extra fuel apparently to be earmarked for domestic use.

The company, which is seeking federal and state approval for two sites adjacent to its Atlas and Roma North projects in the Surat Basin, made the announcement ahead of a speech by the resources minister, Madeleine King. It still has to clear some state regulatory hurdles, Senex said.

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Australian electricity companies not reducing emissions in line with Paris agreement goals, study finds

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AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin among businesses study says not on track to meet global climate goals to limit heating to well below 2C

Nine out of 10 major Australian electricity companies are failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the goals of the landmark Paris climate agreement, a study has found.

Businesses not acting in accordance with the 2015 Paris agreement goal of limiting global heating to well below 2C since pre-industrial times included the generators and retailers AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin, according to the study led by University of Queensland researchers.

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Fire spreads at Cuba oil storage facility as fourth tank erupts

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The blaze in Matanzas province raises fears that the damaged facility will worsen the island’s energy shortage

Flames have engulfed a fourth tank at an oil storage facility in western Cuba as a raging fire consumes critical fuel supplies on an island grappling with a growing energy crisis.

Firefighters and specialists from Mexico and Venezuela helped fight the blaze in the province of Matanzas with boats, planes and helicopters as they sprayed foam on the containers, a first for crews since broiling temperatures had prevented them from doing so earlier.

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Australia’s high gas prices could be here to stay if threats don’t turn into action

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The east coast faces a potential gas shortfall in 2023 amounting to 10% of demand and there are calls for exporters to fill the gap

Some time in the next couple of weeks, a well-known ASX-listed company could go to the wall if it can’t secure a new contract for gas.

That firm, for now at least, can’t go public without its share price cratering and its employees and suppliers being sent into a panic.

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African nations expected to make case for big rise in fossil fuel output

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Exclusive: leaders expected to say at Cop27 they need accesss to their oil and gas reserves despite effect on global heating

Leaders of African countries are likely to use the next UN climate summit in November to push for massive new investment in fossil fuels in Africa, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

New exploration for gas, and the exploitation of Africa’s vast reserves of oil, would make it close to impossible for the world to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

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Germany puts coal power plant back on network after gas supply cut

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Mothballed facility in Lower Saxony gets emergency permission to run until April

A coal-fired power plant that had been mothballed has become the first of its kind to be put back on to the network in Germany, as debate rages over how Europe’s largest economy will cope without Russian gas.

The facility in Lower Saxony, which is owned by the Czech energy company EGH, has received emergency permission to run until April in an attempt to boost energy production.

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How does the EU plan to cut gas usage by 15% this winter?

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Industry to feel pinch first after all countries in bloc except Hungary agreed to voluntary reduction

The EU has agreed to cut its gas consumption by 15% in an attempt to stave off a winter crisis triggered by a sharp reduction or total shutdown of Russian gas supplies to the bloc.

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DRC to auction oil and gas permits in endangered gorilla habitat

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Sale calls into question protection deal signed at Cop26 as expert warns Congo auction could be a catastrophe for wildlife, health and climate

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has announced it will auction oil and gas permits in critically endangered gorilla habitat and the world’s largest tropical peatlands next week. The sale raises concerns about the credibility of a forest protection deal signed with the country by Boris Johnson at Cop26.

On Monday, hydrocarbons minister Didier Budimbu said the DRC was expanding an auction of oil exploration blocks to include two sites that overlap with Virunga national park, a Unesco world heritage site home to Earth’s last remaining mountain gorillas.

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Biden under pressure to declare climate emergency after Manchin torpedoes bill

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President could bypass the political gridlock as nearly 20% population faces 100F and above temperatures

Joe Biden is under pressure to declare a national climate emergency as temperatures soar across the US and Europe.

Facing political gridlock in Washington, the president could make such an announcement – which would unlock federal resources to address the crisis – as soon as this week, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

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Farnborough airshow to focus on cleaner flying and potential fighter jet deal

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Manufacturers to emphasise their efforts to reduce environmental impact of planes

Low-emission air travel and a potential deal for Japan to help build the UK’s next-generation Tempest fighter jet are set to take centre stage at the annual Farnborough airshow this week.

Executives from global aerospace manufacturers and airlines will gather at the airport in Hampshire after a four-year gap. The show, which begins on Monday, normally happens every two years but was cancelled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, as the aviation industry faced potential collapse.

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Pacific leaders welcome Australia’s ‘renewed commitment’ to climate change

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Albanese hails Pacific Island Leaders Forum a success but Fiji’s prime minister says Australia must end its ‘fossil fuel addiction’


Pacific leaders have welcomed Australia’s “renewed commitment” on climate change and interest in co-hosting a United Nations climate summit with Pacific nations, as Anthony Albanese heralds a successful reset of relationships in the region.

At the close of the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva on Thursday, leaders emerged on time and smiling from their daylong leaders’ retreat, before cutting a cake with a ceremonial sword and posing for a selfie when Albanese pulled out his phone.

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