Category Archives: Fossil fuels

US demands EU reverse new climate rules to allow surge in gas imports

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US and Qatar say new rules will hinder imports of LNG, posing ‘existential threat’ to European economies

The US has demanded that the European Union roll back its climate and human rights rules in order to allow greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration approved a controversial gas export hub along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

A letter jointly sent by the US and Qatar, two of the three largest LNG exporters in the world, warned the EU that its new rules pose an “existential threat” to European economies as they would hinder imports of gas from countries such as theirs.

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Global use of coal hit record high in 2024

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Bleak report finds greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite ‘exponential’ growth of renewables

Coal use hit a record high around the world last year despite efforts to switch to clean energy, imperilling the world’s attempts to rein in global heating.

The share of coal in electricity generation dropped as renewable energy surged ahead. But the general increase in power demand meant that more coal was used overall, according to the annual State of Climate Action report, published on Wednesday.

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UK ministers met fossil fuel lobbyists 500 times in first year of power, analysis shows

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Lobbyists attended 48% more meetings than Tories, as Labour accused of giving them ‘backstage pass’

Government ministers met representatives from the fossil fuel industry more than 500 times during their first year in power – equivalent to twice every working day, according to new research.

The analysis found that fossil fuel lobbyists were present at 48% more ministerial meetings during Labour’s first year in power than under the Conservatives in 2023.

Ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) met fossil fuel lobbyists 274 times, with industry figures present at almost a quarter of meetings.

Ed Miliband, the secretary for energy and climate change, met fossil fuel lobbyists 250 times – with a third of all his meetings attended by industry figures.

During the same period DESNZ ministers met trade union representatives 61 times

Three fossil fuel companies: BP, Shell and Equinor , met ministers 100 times between them.

Fossil fuel lobbyists attended almost every government meeting about the energy profits levy, a temporary windfall tax on the “extraordinary profits” of North Sea oil and gas companies.

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Energy firms complete UK’s first ‘hydrogen blending’ trial to power grid

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A 2% blend of low-carbon gas injected into gas grid to fuel Brigg power station in North Lincolnshire is a UK first

Energy companies have injected green hydrogen into Britain’s gas grid and used the low-carbon gas to generate electricity, in a landmark development for the UK’s climate ambitions.

For the first time in the UK, a 2% blend of green hydrogen was injected into the gas grid and blended with traditional gas to fuel the Brigg power station in North Lincolnshire which generated electricity for the power system.

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More than 40 Trump administration picks tied directly to oil, gas and coal, analysis shows

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Report looks at White House nominees and appointees and agencies dictating energy, environment and climate policy

Donald Trump has placed dozens of people with ties to the fossil fuel sector in his administration, including more than 40 who have directly worked for oil, gas or coal companies, according to a new analysis.

The report from Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy and ethics non-profit that has been critical of the Trump administration, alongside the Revolving Door Project, a corporate watchdog, analyzed the backgrounds of nominees and appointees within the White House and eight agencies dictating energy, environmental and climate policy. That includes the Environmental Protection Agency, the interior and energy departments and others.

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Corporate ‘middlemen’ mask who really profits from Australian fossil fuel projects, report warns

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Nominee companies – paid to be listed as shareholders on behalf of unnamed investors – could be reducing accountability over financial support of industry

Three global banks are being paid to obscure who profits from 51 fossil fuel projects in Australia that produce 22m tonnes of carbon emissions each year, according to new analysis.

An analyst who authored the report says it highlights a “massive problem” in Australia that could be reducing the amount of scrutiny investors face for financial support of the fossil fuel industry.

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Trump administration spending $625m to revive dying coal industry

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White House allocating 13.1m acres of public land to coal mining, which has been on rapid decline over past 30 years

The White House will open 13.1m acres (5.3m hectares) of public land to coal mining while providing $625m for coal-fired power plants, the Trump administration has announced.

The efforts came as part of a suite of initiatives from the Department of the Interior, Department of Energy, and Environmental Protection Agency, aimed at reviving the flagging coal sector. Coal, the most polluting and costly fossil fuel, has been on a rapid decline over the past 30 years, with the US halving its production between 2008 and 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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Value of Australia’s coal and gas exports will plunge 50% in five years, treasury modelling forecasts

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Figure amounts to a $60bn fall by 2030 under any future scenario of emissions reduction in Australia, modelling predicts

The value of Australia’s coal and gas exports is predicted to plummet by 50% over the next five years as global demand for fossil fuel falls, according to Treasury modelling.

The modelling, released on Thursday as the government announced its emissions reduction target for 2035, found the annual value of fossil fuel exports is predicted to fall by more than $60bn by 2030 under any future scenario of emissions reduction within Australia.

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Human-made global warming ‘caused two in three heat deaths in Europe this summer’

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Researchers from Imperial College London say 16,500 deaths caused by hot weather brought on by greenhouse gases

Human-made global heating caused two in every three heat deaths in Europe during this year’s scorching summer, an early analysis of mortality in 854 big cities has found.

Epidemiologists and climate scientists attributed 16,500 out of 24,400 heat deaths from June to August to the extra hot weather brought on by greenhouse gases.

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Hopes rise for green economy boom at Africa Climate Summit

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Renewables are thriving, with Africa breaking solar energy records – but action is needed to plug financing gap

The first signs of a takeoff of Africa’s green economy are raising hopes that a transformation of the continent’s fortunes may be under way, driven by solar power and an increase in low-carbon investment.

African leaders are meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Africa Climate Summit, a precursor to the global UN Cop30 in November. They will call for an increase in support from rich countries for Africa’s green resurgence, without which they will warn it could be fragile and spread unevenly.

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WA museum tells staff ‘almost all of us are guilty’ of burning fossil fuels in email defending Woodside partnership

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Exclusive: Climate advocates reject CEO’s claim he is ‘not qualified’ to comment on risks of gas firm’s plan to extend production to 2070

The head of the Western Australian Museum has told staff that burning fossil fuels is something “almost all of us are guilty of in one way or another” in an email defending the institution’s renewed research partnership with Woodside.

The museum’s chief executive, Alec Coles, sent the email to staff before a Woodside-sponsored August open day at the Maritime Museum – one of WA Museum’s seven locations. It came amid public criticism of the extension of the “longstanding collaboration”, in which the gas company supports the museum’s biodiversity research along the WA coastline.

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Tories would maximise North Sea oil and gas extraction, Badenoch to say

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Conservative leader says it is ‘absurd’ to shift away from fossil fuels and leave ‘vital resources untapped’

The Conservative party will aim to “maximise extraction” of oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins power, Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce.

Badenoch will use a speech in Aberdeen in the coming days to set out her plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible instead of shifting away from fossil fuels, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

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Murray Watt advised by own department to declare protection order over ‘significant Aboriginal area’ in WA

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Exclusive: Environment department document states that Burrup peninsula site near Woodside gas plant ‘under threat of injury or desecration’

The environment minister, Murray Watt, has been advised by his department to declare a protection order over part of the Burrup peninsula in Western Australia due to its significance as an Aboriginal site, a government affidavit filed in the federal court shows.

A Murujuga traditional custodian, Raelene Cooper, applied in 2022 to protect the area’s cultural heritage from nearby industrial activities, including Woodside’s planned extension of its North West Shelf processing plant.

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US pipeline protester’s obstruction conviction overturned by appeals court

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New trial for Mylene Vialard after Minnesota judges find ‘pervasive’ prosecutorial misconduct in Line 3 protest case

The controversial felony conviction of a peaceful climate activist has been overturned by an appeals court due to “pervasive” prosecutorial misconduct.

Mylene Vialard, 56, was found guilty of felony obstruction in 2023 for her role in trying to halt construction of a fossil-fuel pipeline through Indigenous territory in Minnesota, in a trial beset by irregularities.

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Plan to extend Queensland coalmine would bulldoze ‘critical’ koala habitat

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Glencore says it is working with state and federal governments to minimise the impact of flora and fauna in the 680ha area west of Mackay

Habitat for threatened koalas that are part of a population described by one expert as nationally significant would be bulldozed under plans to extend a Queensland coalmine.

The campaign group Lock the Gate used drones with thermal imaging cameras to find 13 koalas in one night in trees earmarked for clearing by mining company Glencore.

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Commonwealth Bank urged to repay fees of 2 million low-income customers after posting record profit

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Australia’s biggest bank delivers bumper payout to shareholders as CBA vows to end lending to coal companies with no net zero plans

The Commonwealth bank has posted a record cash profit, sparking renewed calls for Australia’s biggest bank to repay more than 2 million low-income customers $270m in fees – something it has refused to do.

CBA recorded $10.25bn in annual cash profits for the year to June – a 4% lift on the previous year – and gave a bumper $2.60 payout per share to shareholders.

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BP makes its biggest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off coast of Brazil

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Company to carry out more tests on its Santos basin find as it continues shift from renewables back to fossil fuels

BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery of the past 25 years off the coast of Brazil as it continues to shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.

The Santos basin oil and gas discovery, which is located in deep waters, is the company’s 10th oil discovery of the year and could be its largest since its discovery at the Shah Deniz gasfield in Azerbaijan in 1999.

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Countries failing to act on UN climate pledge to triple renewables, thinktank finds

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Fossil fuel reliance likely to continue and Cop28 target of limiting global heating to below 1.5C will be missed

Most global governments have failed to act on the 2023 UN pledge to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade, according to climate analysts.

The failure to act means that on current forecasts the world will fall far short of its clean energy goals, leading to a continued reliance on fossil fuels that is incompatible with the target of limiting global heating to below 1.5C.

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Gorilla habitats and pristine forest at risk as DRC opens half of country to oil and gas drilling bids

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Government launches licensing round for 52 fossil fuel blocks, potentially undermining a flagship conservation initiative and affecting an estimated 39 million people

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is opening crucial gorilla habitats and pristine forests to bids for oil and gas drilling, with plans to carve up more than half the country into fossil fuel blocks.

The blocks opened for auction cover 124m hectares (306m acres) of land and inland waters described by experts as the “world’s worst place to prospect for oil” because they hold vast amounts of carbon and are home to some of the planet’s most precious wildlife habitats, including endangered lowland gorillas and bonobo.

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