… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Climate Crisis

  • Extinction Rebellion calls out HSBC’s Greenwash at AGM in Birmingham

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    At 10:30am this morning, around fifty protesters descended on HSBC’s annual general meeting at the Eastside Rooms in Birmingham to call out the bank’s shameful climate policies. It comes as the bank announces soaring quarterly profits of $12.9 billion.

    Members of Extinction Rebellion Midlands and Money Rebellion arrived with a bath of greenwash, while a group of ‘dirty scrubbers’ dressed in pinafores and headscarves offered to clean up the bank’s soiled image in return for cash. 

    Inside the conference centre protesters brought the AGM to a standstill as they unfurled banners, sang songs, the dirty scrubbers reappeared with dramatic skits, and people repeatedly called out HSBC’s broken promises over its climate pledges, accusing them of ‘climate genocide’ and ‘lies’. Security eventually removed protesters after 45 minutes of disruption. 

    HSBC has invested $145bn in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement in 2016 and the bank’s climate pledges have been tarnished by a series of damaging exposes. 

    In December, HSBC made a surprise announcement that it was updating its energy policy and would stop new investment in oil and gas fields in an apparent change of policy. However, it’s climate pledges to date have been revealed as mere greenwash. in January, it was revealed that HSBC had given energy giant RWE a secret $340m loan as bulldozed a village to expand a coal mine in Germany, just three months after the bank had pledged to stop financing new coal. Last October, investigators showed that HSBC’s $1 trillion investment in ‘sustainable financing’ and ‘green bonds’ was being used by fossil fuel companies to bankroll mines, pipelines, and oil rigs.[4] 

    Questions have also been raised about the bank’s pledge to stop direct funding of fossil fuel projects, while continuing to indirectly fund fossil fuel companies like Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil and Shell. The bank is also financially supporting ConocoPhillips, the company behind the controversial Alaskan oil drilling Willow project. Despite its various pledges HSBC invested a total of $11.074b in fossil fuels last year.

    Andrew Taylor from Money Rebellion said: “HSBC continues to fund new devastating coal,oil and gas projects. These projects destroy the health and livelihoods of communities who live near them, and are fuelling climate chaos. We will use every tool in the box to stop HSBC and other banks from pursuing this deadly business plan – from disrupting their AGMs to building the biggest bank boycott in history.”

  • BREAKING NEWS: Shell selling stake in controversial Cambo oil field

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    Could this mean that Cambo is to be abolished?

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65497983

    Shell is selling its stake in the controversial Cambo oil field, it has been announced.

    The project – which is west of Shetland – is the second-largest undeveloped oil and gas discovery in the UK’s North Sea.

    The oil major is looking for a buyer for its 30% holding.

    Cambo has been the focal point of many protests, and Shell has been rumoured for months to be looking for someone to take over its part.

    The remaining 70% of the field is owned by Ithaca Energy.

    …

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65497983

  • Greens win big in UK local elections

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    Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
    Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

    Preliminary results are showing that the Green Party has made huge gains in UK local elections increasing their share of elected councillors by about 60%.

    7.40am. I wrote the previous statement at about 6.25am. It’s early and there are only a few results in yet. The Tories (Conservatives) have lost 50% of their seats, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Independents are gaining 20%, the Green Party are gaining roughly 60%.

    11.35am Greens have currently increased their number of elected councillors over 100%.

    1.35pm. Only 37% of results have been announced so far. The Green Party has doubled their number of elected councillors from 43 to 86. Not many I know, but certainly the best result for any political party.

    1.45pm. Tories (Conservatives) are losing roughly 33% of their seats, not 50% as reported above. The rest of my calculations / claims look correct ;)

    3.30pm. Just over half the results are in. Tories (Conservatives) are losing about 30% of their seats, Labour gaining just under 25%, Liberal Democrats gaining 16/17% or so, Independents losing seats, Green Party still about 100% gain.

    5.25pm. 77/78% of results are in. Green Party’s vote is currently increased by 119%, Labour 25% gain, Liberal Democrats 28% gain. ed: Just to be clear, I’m discussing elected councillors here.

    12 midnight. I’ve been waiting for all the results to come in. We have results from 228 of 230 councils, elected councillors.

    Labour 2,662 +25% (seats, swing), Conservative 2,288 -28.5%, Liberal Democrats 1,613 [8.30am 6/5/23 +33% not +43.5%], Independents 872 -8.5%, Green Party 479 +101%, Residents’ Association 88 -21%. Turnout appears to have been very low. There is a narrative promoted about Starmer’s Labour likely to win a general election.

  • Just Stop Oil supporters pledge to continue in wake of 23 arrests for peacefully marching from Downing Street to Parliament.

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    Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.
    Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.

    Just Stop Oil are peacefully marching in defiance of new anti-protest legislation that came into effect yesterday. They state that they will immediately halt their campaign when the government makes a meaningful statement to end licensing and consents for any new fossil fuel projects in the UK.

    From around 8:00 am, over 30 Just Stop Oil supporters began marching from Queen Victoria Street in the City of London. Just Stop Oil supporters have been slow marching in the capital every day since the 24th April.

    Yesterday 23 Just Stop Oil supporters were arrested for peacefully marching from Downing Street to Parliament Square. The police were acting with new powers granted by the Home Office following the commencement of the ‘public order’ bill yesterday. This is the third piece of legislation in two years designed to silence legitimate dissent. The introduction of this bill has been described as ‘alarming’ by Amnesty International and ‘deeply troubling’ by the U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

    The home secretary has also used a controversial ‘statutory instrument’ to grant extra powers to the police, in a bid to ban ‘slow walking’ demonstrations. In doing so, the home secretary has evaded the usual democratic process, as these measures were previously rejected from the ‘public order’ bill by the House of Lords.

    A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:

    “Yesterday, 23 good people were arrested for peacefully marching between Downing Street and Parliament, in accordance with their fundamental human rights. Rights that are protected under international law. All legal avenues for dissent have now been banned by this illegitimate, criminal government. ”

    “In licensing new fossil fuels, they are overseeing the destruction of our homes, livelihoods and food supply. This will lead to the collapse of ordered society. This is treason. Regardless of our divergent political beliefs, it is imperative the citizens of this country wake up to what is happening, and get onto the streets to resist. It is what our children and the next 10,000 generations demand of us. Any less is a betrayal of our loved ones and the hundreds of millions currently experiencing climate collapse around the world.”

  • Shell slammed over eye-watering profits amidst cost of living crisis

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    https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/shell-slammed-over-eye-watering-profits-amidst-cost-of-living-crisis/

    “One of the corporate scandals of our times”

    Earlier this week, BP announced it had secured £4 billion in profits in the first three months of 2023. Today, another fossil fuel giant has confirmed its staggering profits. Shell made record breaking profits of £7.6 billion in the first quarter of the year.

    The news has been met with outrage from trade unions who have slammed the government for not taking action on energy firm profiteering in the middle of a cost of living crisis partially driven by high energy bills.

    TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “These sky-high profits beg the question – will the government ever have the backbone to tax the energy giants properly? While families across Britain have struggled to heat their homes, Shell have enjoyed a record cash bonanza.

    “Our energy market is fundamentally broken. Struggling households shouldn’t be lining the pockets of shareholders and fat cat CEOs. We could all have lower bills if government taxed excessive profits, introduced a social tariff and created public ownership of new clean power. It’s time to end the energy racket.”

    …

    https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/shell-slammed-over-eye-watering-profits-amidst-cost-of-living-crisis/