Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Big Oil intends to perpetuate itself

From CNN last week:

"Oil and gas producers must confront a 'pivotal' choice: continue to accelerate the climate crisis or become part of the solution, the International Energy Agency said in a report Thursday [November 23].

The industry currently accounts for only 1% of global investment in clean energy, and continues to pump out disastrous quantities of planet-heating gases, including methane, which is roughly 80 times more potent than CO2 in the near term. If the world is to stand any chance of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, drastic action is needed on both fronts, and fast, the IEA said.

The warning comes ahead of COP28, a United Nations climate summit starting next week, and as a recent UN analysis shows that the planet is set to heat up by nearly 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Scientists predict that warming of that scale could push the world over a number of catastrophic and potentially irreversible tipping points, such as the collapse of the polar ice sheets."

— "‘Moment of truth’ for oil industry: Deepen the climate crisis or help fix it," Olesya Dmitracova, CNN, November 23, 2023


From Bill McKibben today. The Oil Development Sustainability Programme (ODSP) is deliberately trying to increase the use of fossil fuels:

"...another set of Center for Climate Research documents emerged that were even more shocking. They showed that the UAE’s close ally, Saudi Arabia, hard at work on an Oil Development Sustainability Programme which involved hooking African and Asian nations on fossil fuels. It is almost cartoonishly villainous...

* * *

The new documents, which really must be read to be believed, perform the same essential task as the revelations almost a decade ago about Exxon’s climate lies. They end any pretense that these countries are engaged in good-faith efforts to wind down the industry—instead they’re hooking up with car manufacturers to make cheap vehicles that would keep demand for their crude pumping on."

A Corrupted COP: New revelations show just how bad the oil countries really are. Bill McKibben. The Crucial Years (Substack). November 28, 2023.

oil rig on fire

Meet The Secretive ‘Mastermind’ Behind Utah's Oil Boom: Production in Utah's oil-rich Uinta Basin is at an all-time high. Texas oilman Jim Finley is credited with opening the floodgates. Chris D'Angelo, HuffPost, Jan 31, 2024.

Cleaning Up California’s Oil Graveyards Santa Barbara Assemblymember Gregg Hart Announces Bill to Make Oil Operators Plug Their Idle Wells. Callie Fausey, Santa Barbara's Independent, Mar 18, 2024

Just 57 companies linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016: Analysis reveals many big producers increased output of fossil fuels and related emissions in seven years after Paris climate deal, Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, 4 Apr 2024

Brooke Binkowski calls them "climate warlords"; David Roberts says they're driven by "petro-masculinity" (New Republic, Mother Jones)

"Countries that pump out large amounts of greenhouse gases could 'retain or expand' their fossil fuel industries while treating such emissions as 'inevitable' in their net-zero accounting, according to a new study."
Major emitters ‘may retain or expand’ fossil fuels despite net-zero plans, Josh Gabbatiss, CarbonBrief, 9 May 2024

The US is producing more and buying less from OPEC.
See: OPEC+ extends oil output cuts into 2025, Anna Cooban, CNN, June 3, 2024

We have reached peak irony. #JasperFire

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— Dan Shugar (@watershedlab.bsky.social) Jul 27, 2024 at 1:12 PM

A US foundation associated with the oil company Shell has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to religious right and conservative organizations, many of which deny that climate change is a crisis, tax records reveal. www.theguardian.com/us-news/arti...

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— Lauren Ashley Davis (@laurenmeidasa.bsky.social) Aug 15, 2024 at 12:33 PM

We're probably all underestimating how powerful a player the fossil fuel lobby is in the AI "revolution."

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— Gwen C. Katz (@gwenckatz.bsky.social) September 18, 2024 at 1:36 PM

$300bn is still farcical. The amount is too low by a factor of 10 It needs to be at least $3500 per year - total annual fossil fuel revenues per year. We have to be saving the climate by at least as much as we are destroying it!

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— Climate News (@climatenews.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 5:24 AM

Apparently the “absolute embarrassment,” “completely inadequate,” “incredibly weak” climate finance target from rich countries of $250 billion/year by 2035 I wrote about yesterday has been raised to… $300 billion. The actual number should be above one trillion.

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— Dave Levitan (@davelevitan.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 7:07 AM

How much climate damage is done when an AI software provider helps an oil and gas company dig up more fossil fuels? This is a cool, open and detailed calculation from @mrchrisadams.bsky.social nextjournal.com/greenweb/wha...

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— Ketan Joshi (@ketanjoshi.co) November 27, 2024 at 7:41 AM

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