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Economy

Fifteen experts on the hidden consequences of the oil crash

4th February 2016

Oil prices drive not just economics, but geopolitics. Alliances rise and fall over petroleum. For these reasons and more, the collapsing value of oil will have profound consequences, with the potential to destabilize regimes, remake regions and alter the global economy in lasting and unforeseen ways. Fifteen experts tell Politico what that means for the world….

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #81

30th January 2016

India, Colombia and Nigeria have the most cases of conflict caused by climate change and environmental disputes, according to a map of global ecological conflict. The Environmental Justice Atlas, released last month, shows that more than 200 conflicts in India are caused by ecological disputes and scarcities of basic resources such as water and forests….

CLIMATE CRISIS

A historic event or a fraud? Critical thoughts on the Paris Climate Accord

14th January 2016

Climate change is just the most glaring manifestation of real and deeper causes – the growing demands of a growing world population, while our natural resource base is dwindling and the ability of nature to absorb man-made pollution is diminishing – in short, the lunatic idea that in a finite world infinite growth is possible….

Peakoilbarrel.com

ENERGY

2015: The year oil peaked?

31st December 2015

Ron Patterson writes: It is obvious to me that OPEC is producing flat out. Only Iran has potential to increase production, but that will only replace decline in other OPEC nations. OPEC production will likely hold steady for the next four or five years before starting a steady decline. It will not prevent peak oil….

CLIMATE CRISIS

Paris Climate Accord: Interactive guide and post-mortem

20th December 2015

This interactive graphic by Carbon Brief outlines and explaines all the fundamental components of the Paris climate deal. Among other issues, the graphic covers mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, finance and transparency. It looks at the elements of the so-called “ambition mechanism”, the inclusion of a 1.5C aspirational target, the long-term goal, and much more….

CLIMATE CRISIS

Why India is about to move to the ‘center stage’ of world energy

16th December 2015

Chris Mooney reports: “India is moving to the center stage of global energy,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol says. “All the numbers are indicating that India will be the number one country in terms of coal consumption and oil demand growth worldwide. India will also have more than 20 percent of the solar PV worldwide.”…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Richard Heinberg: An open letter to climate leaders

Author and Post Carbon Institute founder Richard Heinberg writes: Here are nine critical issues to consider as we come away from COP21–because as media commentaries about whether the COP21 meetings were a success or a failure run their course, the burden falls on our shoulders to return to the hard work of fighting for, and implementing, the energy transition….

CLIMATE CRISIS

Why have we failed to address climate change?

12th December 2015

In this essay, leading Australian public intellectual Robert Manne writes: Our conscious destruction of a planet friendly to humans and other species is the most significant development in history. No less important than the impact of climate change is the question of why human beings have so far failed so comprehensively to rise to its challenge….

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #75 (Climate special)

3rd December 2015

We are already seeing chatter about whether this is our last chance to “save the world” or keep us below 2°C of global warming. But that’s the wrong way to think about Paris. They’re not designed to do that. The actual goal is more modest: to add structure and momentum to efforts that are already underway….

CLIMATE CRISIS

The corporates bankrolling the Paris climate talks

1st December 2015

Inviting major polluters to pay for the talks compared to ‘hiring a fox to guard a hen house’ Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams From financial giant BNP Paribas to fossil fuels company Engie, the same corporations that deny science and drive carbon pollution are now sponsoring, co-opting, and interfering with the upcoming United Nations climate talks…

Consumerism/Lifestyle

The false promise of economic growth

29th November 2015

We can have it all; that is the promise of our age. We can own every gadget we are capable of imagining, without compromising Earth’s capacity to sustain us. The promise that makes all this possible is that as economies develop, they become more efficient in their use of resources. In other words, they decouple….

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 5

(Note: In this series of posts, we take a closer look at India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), ahead of the Paris climate talks. This concluding post primarily examines trends in India’s energy consumption, which is what will primarily determine whether we can meet our climate targets or not. Also read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of…

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #74 (Climate special)

26th November 2015

Climate change makes past five-year period the warmest on record: WMO The Guardian Climate change made 2011-2015 the warmest five-year period on record, according to the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) state of the global climate report. This year is set to be the single hottest ever registered, with planetary temperatures passing the symbolic milestone of 1C…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Special: Institutions are pulling out investments worth billions from fossil fuels

24th November 2015

What is fossil fuel divestment? Divestment is the opposite of investment – it is the removal of your investment capital from stocks, bonds or funds. The global movement for fossil fuel divestment (sometimes also called disinvestment) is asking institutions to move their money out of oil, coal and gas companies for both moral and financial…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Pablo Solon: Behind the negotiating text for the Paris Climate talks

22nd November 2015

Bolivia’s former climate negotiator Pablo Solon writes: In the current text there are good and bad proposals, and the final result will be something in between the most ambitious and the weakest proposals. Are they going to put us on a path that limits the increase of the temperature to 1.5 ºC or 2 ºC?…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Research: Burning existing fossil fuels will melt the Antarctic ice sheet

17th November 2015

READ ORIGINAL PAPER: Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet By Ricarda Winkelmann, Anders Levermann, Andy Ridgwell and Ken Caldeira If We Burned All the Fossil Fuel in the World Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker What would happen if we burned through all of the fossil-fuel resources known to…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Video & Report: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Push Us Closer to Climate Disaster

14th November 2015

‘Production Subsidies are Driving the World to Burn More Fossil Fuel than it Needs’ Unfortunately, these environmentally damaging subsidies are often ignored during discussions on fossil fuel pricing and use, which tend to focus on the quantifiably larger and more politically controversial consumer-focused subsidies The Wire With global climate talks set to happen in Paris…

CLIMATE CRISIS

World Energy Outlook 2015 has a mixed message for the future

12th November 2015

Latest World Energy Outlook sees clear signs that the energy transition is underway, but warns strong direction is needed from Paris climate summit IEA.org More at: www.worldenergyoutlook.org An extended period of lower oil prices would benefit consumers but would trigger energy-security concerns by heightening reliance on a small number of low-cost producers, or risk a…

CLIMATE CRISIS

High GDP growth centered paradigm and GHG emissions

11th October 2015

Shankar Sharma, ORF Energy News Monitor Whereas many conventional economic analysts argue that in order to have adequate human development index the country’s economy has to grow continuously at an appreciable rate, a densely populated and resource constrained society such as ours cannot afford to ignore the implications of high energy / material consumption (which…

CLIMATE CRISIS

News update

13th September 2015

Burning all fossil fuels will melt entire Antarctic ice-sheet, study shows The Guardian, UK Burning all the world’s coal, oil and gas would melt the entire Antarctic ice-sheet and cause the oceans to rise by over 50m, a transformation unprecedented in human history. The conclusion of a new scientific study shows that, over the course…