The multinational mining giant Glencore spent millions bankrolling a secret, globally coordinated campaign to prop up coal demand by undermining environmental activists, influencing politicians and spreading sophisticated pro-coal messaging on social media. An investigation by Guardian Australia can reveal the covert campaign, dubbed “Project Caesar”, was orchestrated by world-renowned political operatives at the C|T Group, the firm founded by Sir Lynton Crosby and Mark Textor.
Guardian 7th March 2019 read more »
STIRLING Students’ Union has claimed a victory after the University of Stirling became the latest organisation in Scotland to commit to ending investment in fossil fuel companies. It has become the ninth Scottish organisation to make such a commitment, joining a group of 71 others across the UK. The university said the move would “help the university ensure it continues to embed sustainability at the core of its business practices”. The students’ union has been campaigning for the university to remove any fossil fuel investments from its portfolio. In a statement it said that joining the 71 others would see fossil fuel companies deprived of £11 billion of potential investment. Stirling University joins other high-profile divestment commitments including the University of Edinburgh, New York City and local councils in London. But FoES have confirmed that 34 of Scotland’s MPs have pledged support for divestment from fossil fuels of the Westminster Pension Fund. Falkirk Pension Fund, which serves the Stirling area, has committed to investing in line with global agreements on climate change, but still retains significant investments in fossil fuels. Jon Preston, from Divest Falkirk, which is trying to change this, welcomed the Stirling move and added: “We are urging other institutions to show leadership and follow suit by divesting the Westminster Pension Fund, the Scottish Government Pension Fund and the Falkirk Pension Fund.”
The National 8th March 2019 read more »
Long heralded as an ideal transition from heating oil, natural gas is now being pushed out of homes and getting shoved aside as a fossil-fuel relic. The shift underscores the existential crisis gas producers may confront as governments battle climate change and wind and solar costs plunge. In New York State, where pipelines face fierce opposition, a utility slapped a moratorium on new residential hookups in Westchester County. The Netherlands, once among Europe’s leading gas producers, is outlawing new service connections permanently. Now groups in California and the U.K. are pressing for the same. “We are headed toward electrifying everything,” Barry Perry, chief executive officer of the North American utility owner Fortis Inc., said at the S&P Power & Gas conference in New York this week. And that, he noted, is coming from someone whose company is in the business of distributing gas. The U.K.’s Committee on Climate Change, an independent adviser to the government, released a report last month calling for a ban on new homes being connected to the gas grid by 2025. In the U.S., a coalition of California cities, utilities and environmentalists wants to get rid of natural gas entirely in homes and buildings. Sempra Energy’s natural gas utility, which is part of a separate group opposing the effort, on Wednesday asked regulators for permission to get 20 percent of its gas from so called renewable sources by 2030, including dairy farms and wastewater plants.
Energy Voice 8th March 2019 read more »
