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pietillidie
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
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| Post subject: The Oil Industry Has Been Put on Notice |  |
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| BloombergBusiness wrote: | The Oil Industry Has Been Put on Notice:
Keystone rejected, Exxon investigated—this doesn’t end well for oil.
There were two huge developments today, both for the oil industry and the earth's climate. New York’s top lawyer issued a subpoena to Exxon, seeking information on whether the world’s biggest oil explorer deceived the public for almost 40 years about climate change. Hours later, President Obama announced that the U.S. would reject the Keystone pipeline.
The rejection of Keystone is more symbolic than substantive. The pipeline would have added $3.4 billion in economic growth but contributed to climate change by speeding up production of oil-sands crude, which is about 17 percent more carbon-intensive than the conventional barrel. Rejection will neither halt oil-sands production nor damage the broader economy. Perhaps anticipating rejection, TransCanada had asked to postpone the final review earlier this week.
The investigation of Exxon could have more far-reaching implications. Alleged disinformation by oil companies has long been compared to the actions of big tobacco, which eventually agreed to pay hundreds of billions of dollars in settlements. The New York probe follows investigative articles by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times alleging that Exxon’s scientists had evidence that carbon dioxide emissions were damaging the environment as far back as 1977. At a minimum, the probe could put a chill on anti-climate change funding during a critical U.S. election year.
Both actions come as more than 80 world leaders prepare to meet in Paris this month to hammer out final details on the most ambitious global pact yet to curb the future course of climate change. The biggest current and future polluters—including the U.S., China, and India—have already made aggressive long-term pledges ahead of the meeting.
The world will depend on oil for decades to come. But 2015 may very well be remembered as the beginning of the end, with the rejection of Keystone and the investigation of Exxon as key markers on the timeline. Here’s a chart of oil forecasts from the International Energy Agency since 1994, from a Bloomberg New Energy Finance keynote presentation this week in Shanghai. Forecasts have been dropping, and the transformation of oil markets may be coming sooner than we think.
Declining Prospects for Oil
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-06/the-oil-industry-has-been-put-on-notice
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pietillidie
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
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Bloomberg is very good on oil topics (from the US POV, of course). The above follows on from many influential pieces including this one last month:
| BloombergBusiness wrote: | Americans Have Never Been So Sure About Climate Change—Even Republicans: Look at the massive shift among Republicans on the issue this year.
Maybe it's the pope. Or the freakish year in extreme climate records. It might even be explained by the United Nations climate talks and the bright lights of the presidential election cycle. Whatever the cause, U.S. views on climate change are shifting—fast.
Three-quarters of Americans now accept the scientific consensus on climate change, the highest level in four years of surveys conducted by the University of Texas at Austin. The biggest shocker is what's happening inside the GOP. In a remarkable turnabout, 59 percent of Republicans now say climate change is happening, up from 47 percent just six months ago.
When public opinion shifts this much in a single survey, a bit of skepticism is justified. (You can take a look at the methodology here.) Yet these results are precisely in line with a separate survey published this month by the University of Michigan, which found that 56 percent of Republicans believe there's solid evidence to support global warming, up from 47 percent a year ago. The Michigan poll also found bipartisan agreement with climate science at the highest level since 2008.
The changing views by Republicans could strand some of the leading presidential candidates in an increasingly unpopular position. Many in the party reject mainstream climate science, and not just at the margins. Republican leaders including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and top presidential contenders Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio all articulate views that would be considered extreme in other countries.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-23/americans-have-never-been-so-sure-about-climate-change-even-republicans
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In the end the rain comes down, washes clean the streets of a blue sky town.
Help Nick's: http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/fundraising.htm |
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think positive 
Side By Side
Joined: 30 Jun 2005
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pietillidie
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
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| The Aged wrote: | Paris UN Climate Conference 2015: Funds worth $1 trillion divest from fossil fuels
More than 100 institutions controlling $US800 billion ($1.09 trillion) in funds worldwide have opted to make new divestments of at least some of their fossil fuel assets in the 10 weeks running up to the Paris climate summit, according to campaign groups 350.org and Divest-Invest.
The tally brings to $US3.4 trillion the amount of funds under management by firms that support at least a partial sell-off of their holdings of coal, oil or other fossil fuels. The latest to sign up range from the City of Melbourne to the parliament of the summit hosts, France.
"People are voting with their wallets," Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of the Climate Council, told Fairfax Media. "The divestment movement worldwide has grown at breakneck speed illustrating the appetite for action on climate change from citizens, cities, businesses and institutions."
The groups launched a "Divest for Paris" plan in September when the tally of institutions agreeing to cut exposure to the fossil fuel sector totalled about 400 firms with $US2.6 trillion in assets. The huge figures do not represent the size of the investments actually sold off, only the scale of funds that they manage.
"This the greatest challenge of our time," Stephen Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, said. "The momentum of this campaign is accelerating day by day."
"There is a moral imperative to save the planet, and to do so, we need to end the fossil fuel era now," Mr Heintz said.
The economics were also stacking up against fossil fuel investments as nations prepare to curb carbon emissions, with 60-80 per cent of remaining reserves of such fuels had to remain in the ground if global warming is to remain with 2 degrees, he said. |
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/un-climate-conference/paris-un-climate-conference-2015-1-trillion-in-funds-exit-in-10-weeks-20151202-gldg6z.html
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In the end the rain comes down, washes clean the streets of a blue sky town.
Help Nick's: http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/fundraising.htm |
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