Phasing out North Sea oil – what does it mean for jobs in Scotland?
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Sep 17, 2019
This blog is a version of our presentation of the report Sea Change: Climate Emergency, Jobs, and Managing the Phase-Out of UK Oil and Gas Extraction, at its launch event in Edinburgh on 11 September 2019. An abridged version has appeared in the Herald on Sunday. We know that tackling the climate emergency means...
$450 million in US ‘development’ finance for fracking in Patagonia
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Sep 12, 2019
The US development finance corporation OPIC has just loaned $450 million to a large fracking project in Argentinian Patagonia – despite objections from eight US senators, Indigenous rights concerns, and the climate crisis. The two loans will fund Vista Oil & Gas and Aleph Midstream (respectively sister company and subsidiary to London-listed Riverstone Energy) to...
Government issues nearly £2 bn for fossil fuels abroad… and 0.0005 as much for renewables
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Jul 3, 2019
New data shows: last year the UK government supported oil, gas and coal projects in other countries to a tune of £1.8 billion – through UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government department that purports to support UK businesses operating elsewhere. We’ve analysed UKEF’s annual list of loans and financial guarantees, and here’s some of the...
Comunicado: No al fracking por empresas británicas en Patagonia
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May 22, 2019
En el día de hoy, una delegación de representantes del gobierno y del sector empresarial argentino se encuentra en Londres para tratar inversiones en fracking. Argentina Solidarity Campaign, Reclaim the Power y Fossil Free London se reúnen para oponerse a la expansión del fracking en Argentina, y al rol de las empresas y el gobierno...
Statement: don’t frack Patagonia
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May 22, 2019
Today a delegation of Argentinian officials and businesses is in London to talk about fracking investments. Argentina Solidarity Campaign, Reclaim the Power, and Fossil Free London are coming together to protest the expansion of fracking in Argentina and the role of the UK Government and British companies in this venture. From Lancashire to Sussex communities...
North Sea oil: The unmentionable climate emergency scandal… until now
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May 15, 2019
We’re in a climate emergency – so why is the UK aiming to extract 20 more billions of barrels of oil?! Our research, out today, shows just how far out of touch with reality this plan is – and what the UK needs to do instead, not only to protect the climate, but also workers’...
UK government spends aid money on promoting fracking
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Nov 18, 2018
News just in: the UK is spending its official development aid funds to promote fracking abroad. The Foreign Office financed two projects in China to “export UK expertise in shale gas development”, aiming to create “an improved business environment” for UK companies. Our research, released today in collaboration with Friends of the Earth and Christian...
BP Chairman: “fracking is a great opportunity” but don’t ask us about the risks
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May 21, 2018
Today I attended BP’s annual shareholder meeting alongside Fernando Cabrera from OPSur (Argentina). Fernando came to challenge BP’s board on the dangers from their fracking operations. BP’s Argentinian arm Pan American Energy is using fracking frighteningly close to Patagonia’s freshwater supplies and fruit orchards (see our report “BP’s Fracking Secrets” for more on this). Here’s...
Revealed: UK council pensions are banking £16.1 billion on climate disaster
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Nov 9, 2017
Today we’re releasing new data analysis showing that UK councils invest £16.1 billion in fossil fuel corporations through their workers’ pensions. These investments are bankrolling the companies most responsible for climate change, like Shell and BP. The councils with the biggest investments in fossil fuels – Manchester, Galloway & Dumfries, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Torfaen...
The Great Gas Lock-in
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Oct 31, 2017
New Report out on the gas industry’s lobbying power This year we have seen devastating hurricanes and floods, deadly wildfires, and other extreme climate catastrophes. But rather than facing up to the problem and focusing on renewable energy and energy reduction, the European Union is locking itself into another 40-50 years of fossil fuel infrastructure....
There is no magic money tree, except for handouts for BP
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Jul 3, 2017
The UK government paid oil companies $312 million to drill in the North Sea during the fiscal year 2016-2017 according to a new report by the HMRC, The Times reports. Successive UK governments insist “there is no magic money tree” to fund public hospitals and schools, or to insulate cold homes. But apparently the magic...
Council workers’ largest trade union votes for divesting pensions
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Jun 23, 2017
After two years of impressive mobilisation by UNISON grassroots members across England, Scotland and Wales, the trade union has officially taken on fossil fuel divestment policy. Yesterday the union’s National Delegate Conference voted unanimously to seek divestment of Local Government Pension Schemes from fossil fuels over five years giving due regard to fiduciary duty UNISON...
