Climate Crisis

Chris Packham cleared to challenge Government’s net zero rollback in court

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Chris Packham by Garry Knight from London, England - People's Walk for Wildlife 2018 - 04, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76235680
Chris Packham by Garry Knight from London, England – People's Walk for Wildlife 2018 – 04, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76235680

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/government-chris-packham-friends-of-the-earth-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-b1142894.html

A judge will decide whether it was lawful for ministers to decide to water down the policies, with a hearing to take place later this year.

Chris Packham has been granted permission for a judicial review of the Government’s decision to reverse some of its green policies.

The naturalist and TV presenter sent a challenge to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in October after the Government watered down policies aimed at helping to cut UK climate-warming emissions to zero overall by 2050, known as net zero.

Mr Sunak announced the rollback in September, which included delaying the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, reducing the phase-out of gas boilers from 100% to 80% by 2035, and scrapping the requirement for energy efficiency upgrades for homes.

The Prime Minister said the UK’s approach to net zero was imposing “unacceptable costs on hard-pressed British families”.

In an announcement on Monday, law firm Leigh Day, which is representing Mr Packham, said Mr Justice Eyre had granted permission for the legal challenge to be heard in court.

The legal team said a judge will decide whether it was lawful for ministers to decide to water down the policies, with a hearing to take place later this year.

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Carol Day, a Leigh Day solicitor representing the TV star, said: “Mr Packham will argue that it cannot be lawful for the Government to abandon carefully thought-out policies designed to achieve net zero targets without having other measures in place.

“It would make the Government’s report to Parliament under the Climate Change Act nothing more than a snapshot in time.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “We strongly reject these claims and will be robustly defending this challenge.

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https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/government-chris-packham-friends-of-the-earth-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-b1142894.html

Continue ReadingChris Packham cleared to challenge Government’s net zero rollback in court

We need a Revolution. What’s the plan?

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https://juststopoil.org/2024/03/03/we-need-a-revolution-whats-the-plan/

This system is fucked, politics is failing us, we need a revolution or we really do face rule by ‘the mob’. As we pass through 1.5C of heating to 2C and then the predicted 3C in the lifetime of many alive today, we will lose all we cherish and value. Our treasured landscapes, the rule of law, education, healthcare, pensions – and yes the people we love. We will not be able to feed ourselves and those who rule us do not care. Look at Gaza, this is what they are prepared to let happen. Genocide is now acceptable.

In response, nonviolent civil resistance to a harmful state will continue, with coordinated, radical actions that reach out to new people and capture the attention of the world. Alongside this, a new political project will be set up. This will run local assemblies and will support and stand candidates to shape the electoral debate. A coordinating structure known as Umbrella, will support these projects and this will be the heart of our community of resistance. 

Just Stop Oil will continue to be the major focus until we win, but we have a new three part demand: No New Oil, Revoke Tory Licences and Just Stop Oil by 2030. In addition to disrupting high-profile cultural events and continuing our Stop Tory Oil campaign, focussing on MP’s and those in power, this summer Just Stop Oil will commence a campaign of high-level actions at sites of key importance to the fossil fuel industry – airports.

In addition to Just Stop Oil, young people and students will be taking action in a new campaign that will demand an end to genocide – both in Palestine, and globally, from the continued drilling and burning of oil and gas.  

Umbrella will launch Assemble, a democracy project that will mobilise hundreds of people by running local assemblies on issues of concern to communities across the country and giving them pathways to action. The goal is to create a “People’s House” to parallel the House of Commons as the first step towards having permanent legally binding citizens assemblies- a democratic revolution.

Umbrella will be the hub for fundraising, mobilisation and directing resources to a range of new campaigns and groups, including Robin Hood, a major new campaign based around a demand to properly fund our public services by taxing the richest in society. 

Each of these campaigns will share the values of nonviolence and accountability.  

The system is fucked. You know it, everyone knows it. Don’t just sit around and watch everything collapse. Build what comes next: a revolution in politics, economics – our entire way of life.

It’s time to unfuck the system.

We are going for it. Join us.

https://juststopoil.org/2024/03/03/we-need-a-revolution-whats-the-plan/

Continue ReadingWe need a Revolution. What’s the plan?

Who is Jim Ratcliffe, the pro-Brexit billionaire promised €700m from UK government to build ‘carbon bomb’ in Europe?

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/who-is-jim-ratcliffe-the-pro-brexit-billionaire-promised-e700m-from-uk-government-to-build-carbon-bomb-in-europe/

Environmental campaigners warn that Ratcliffe’s controversial ‘Project One’ will bring ‘US-scale plastic production to Europe.’

Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s pro-Brexit billionaire, hit the headlines this week with news that the government is providing a €700m guarantee for him to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years. The plant will turbocharge the production of plastic.

Left Foot Forward takes a look at who Ratcliffe is, and how his controversial ‘Project One’ that will bring ‘US-scale plastic production to Europe’ is recieving significant financial guarantees from the Tory government.

Ratcliffe’s story is one of capitalist meritocracy, of someone who grew up on a council estate in Failsworth, Manchester, and went on to become the wealthiest man in Britain. He studied chemical engineering at Birmingham University and gained an MBA from London Business School in 1980. Having worked as a chemical engineer, in May 1998 he founded Ineos. The multinational is one of the largest chemical producers in the world and plays a significant role in the oil and gas market.  According to the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List, the company’s owner, Ratlcliffe, is worth £27.9bn.

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This week, it was announced that the government is providing a €700m guarantee for Ratcliffe to build a huge petrochemical plant in Europe. The site will import fracked shale gas from the US to provide the ethane which will produce 1450 kilotons of ethylene – the building block of plastic – a year.

The plant is being constructed by Ineos in the Belgian city of Antwerp. Environmental campaigners have described the petrochemical plant as a ‘carbon bomb,’ warning that it will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in Europe, at a time when countries are hoping to negotiate a binding global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. The ‘Project One’ plant has faced a long-running legal battle by environmental groups. In the summer of 2023, the building of Ratcliffe’s €3bn plant was halted after a landmark court victory by the NGOs. A new legal challenge argues that the true impact of the development on people, nature and the climate has not been considered.

“There is a huge problem of plastic pollution from nurdles already in Antwerp and the Netherlands. This plant will bring US-scale plastic production to Europe,” said Jeroen Dagevos, of the Plastic Soup Foundation, one of the NGOs challenging Project One.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/who-is-jim-ratcliffe-the-pro-brexit-billionaire-promised-e700m-from-uk-government-to-build-carbon-bomb-in-europe/

Continue ReadingWho is Jim Ratcliffe, the pro-Brexit billionaire promised €700m from UK government to build ‘carbon bomb’ in Europe?

Planet-Warming CO2 Emissions Surged to Record High in 2023: IEA

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Original article by THOR BENSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A sign reading “Stop, extreme heat danger” is seen in Death Valley National Park in California. (Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

“The clean energy transition has undergone a series of stress tests in the last five years—and it has demonstrated its resilience,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

Carbon emissions reached a record high in 2023, but the increased adoption of renewable energy is helping slow the pace, according to the International Energy Agency.

The IEA said in a new report that global CO2 emissions “increased by 410 million tonnes, or 1.1%, in 2023—compared with a rise of 490 million tonnes the year before—taking them to a record level of 37.4 billion tonnes.”

But the agency found that carbon emissions “rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before even as total energy demand growth accelerated… with continued expansion of solar PV, wind, nuclear power, and electric cars helping the world avoid greater use of fossil fuels.”

The report notes that “exceptional droughts” decreased the amount of hydropower that could be produced last year. Demand for coal fell to “levels not seen since the early 1900s.” It says CO2 emissions would have been three times larger had renewable energy not been utilized to generate electricity.

An IEA report from September found that rapid adoption of clean energy technologies could keep the world from surpassing the 1.5°C warming target. The Energy Information Administration forecast in December that 2024 could become the first year that wind and solar power generate more electricity than coal in the U.S.

The world will need to adopt a lot more renewable energy to address the climate crisis. Last month was most likely the warmest February on record, and records like that are being set every year. The more countries burn fossil fuels, the higher the temperatures will go.

“The clean energy transition has undergone a series of stress tests in the last five years—and it has demonstrated its resilience,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “A pandemic, an energy crisis and geopolitical instability all had the potential to derail efforts to build cleaner and more secure energy systems. Instead, we’ve seen the opposite in many economies.”

Original article by THOR BENSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Continue ReadingPlanet-Warming CO2 Emissions Surged to Record High in 2023: IEA

Devolved leaders reject shortlist for climate watchdog chair over Tory links

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/01/devolved-leaders-reject-shortlist-for-climate-watchdog-chair-over-tory-links

Lord Deben, the Climate Change Committee’s first chair, was environment secretary under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Photograph: Dorset Media Service/Alamy

Refusal by Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish leaders to approve candidates means whole recruitment process may have to be rerun

Ministers in Westminster have been accused of trying to blunt the teeth of the UK’s net zero watchdog by appointing a Tory loyalist to the post of chair of the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

The leaders of the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have refused to approve any of the six shortlisted candidates, saying they are all too close to the Conservatives and lack diversity.

The row has significantly delayed the UK government’s attempts to appoint a successor to John Gummer (Lord Deben), the committee’s first chair and a former Tory minister, who repeatedly challenged ministers for being insufficiently radical in their policies on combating global heating.

Since the CCC has a statutory duty to oversee climate policies for the UK government and all three devolved administrations, the shortlist requires consent from all four nations.

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In a row that mirrors allegations about cronyism over appointments to chair the BBC and Ofcom, he said the UK government knew that Deben’s successor would be in post for 10 years.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/01/devolved-leaders-reject-shortlist-for-climate-watchdog-chair-over-tory-links

Continue ReadingDevolved leaders reject shortlist for climate watchdog chair over Tory links