Climate Emergency

Fossil fuel giant Shell reveals highest profits in its history

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/fossil-fuel-giant-shell-reveals-highest-profits-in-its-history

Unions call on government to ‘expand windfall tax on energy producers’ as public face 40% hike in bills from April

Activists gather at Glengad Beach in Co Mayo as the pipe laying vessel the Solitaire makes its way into Broadhaven Bay

THE government must “get real” on profiteering and increase windfall taxes on oil and gas companies, campaigners and unions urged today as Shell revealed its highest profits in its history.

The oil giant said that core profits rocketed to $84.3 billion (£68.1bn) in 2022 in what is one of the highest gains ever recorded by a British company.

The public face a 40 per cent hike in energy bills from April on top of soaring bills and the cost-of-living crisis.

Following pressure, the government launched a windfall tax, called the energy profits levy, on bumper profits made by producers last year.

Shell said it was due to pay $134 million (£109m) through the levy for 2022, representing just a fraction of its mammoth profit.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/fossil-fuel-giant-shell-reveals-highest-profits-in-its-history

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AI Predicts Warming Will Surpass 1.5 C in a Decade

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-predicts-warming-will-surpass-1-5-c-in-a-decade/

New research from artificial intelligence projects that global warming will hit the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius somewhere between 2033 and 2035

Scientists have long known the world is running out of time to hit its international climate targets. Now, artificial intelligence has arrived at a similar conclusion.

An innovative new AI study finds that it will take about a decade for humanity to blow past its optimistic goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

That’s the same conclusion scientists have come to when using more conventional climate modeling techniques, but the AI research adds more evidence to the growing conviction among climate scientists and policy experts that the world is all but certain to overshoot the 1.5 C target (Climatewire, Nov. 11, 2022).

Policymakers are still striving to keep global warning well below 2 C, even if they overshoot the 1.5 C target. But even that goal is in danger, according to the AI study. It found that the 2 C threshold could approach even faster than previous research has predicted.

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-predicts-warming-will-surpass-1-5-c-in-a-decade/

Climate crisis: UN finds ‘no credible pathway to 1.5C in place’

Continue ReadingAI Predicts Warming Will Surpass 1.5 C in a Decade

Dutch Extinction Rebellion announces another A12 highway blockade in March

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https://nltimes.nl/2023/01/30/extinction-rebellion-announces-another-a12-highway-blockade-march

Climate group Extinction Rebellion plans to again block the A12 highway in The Hague on Saturday, March 11. That would be the sixth time the climate activists blocked this stretch of highway.

Extinction Rebellion activists blocked the Utrechtsebaan, the stretch of the A12 in The Hague that runs by the temporary parliament building and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, this past Saturday. The highway was impassable for hours.

The police arrested over 700 people at the protest. Many hundreds of people stood above the tunnel pit to express support and cheer the activists on.

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https://nltimes.nl/2023/01/30/extinction-rebellion-announces-another-a12-highway-blockade-march

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Over 500 arrested at Dutch Extinction Rebellion protest closing A12 motorway

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https://nltimes.nl/2023/01/29/a12-open-extinction-rebellion-protest-500-people-arrested

The A12 highway near The Hague was reopened to traffic shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to the police. The highway had been blocked for hours by climate protesters from the action group Extinction Rebellion. The last activists were removed by police around 5 p.m., but it took Rijkswaterstaat more than half an hour to clear the road and reopen it to traffic.

Around noon, hundreds of climate activists gathered on the road, next to the Utrechtsebaan and on the Malieveld. They protested because they disagree with the government’s handling of subsidies for fossil fuel producers.

According to the police, hundreds of people were arrested, but an exact number has not yet been announced. According to Extinction Rebellion (XR), however, more than 500 activists were arrested. Those arrested were taken away in buses and placed in gymnasiums, among other places.

Overall, the protest on Saturday was a full success for the climate action group. “We showed the level of support for our demand to stop subsidies for the fossil fuel industry,” a spokesperson for the organization said.

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https://nltimes.nl/2023/01/29/a12-open-extinction-rebellion-protest-500-people-arrested

Dutch Extinction Rebellion protest closes A12 motorway

Continue ReadingOver 500 arrested at Dutch Extinction Rebellion protest closing A12 motorway

Labour Accepted £12,000 From Major Polluter Drax

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https://www.desmog.com/2023/01/26/labour-accepted-12000-from-major-polluter-drax/

A large donation to the Labour Party from wood-burning giant Drax has raised concerns among campaigners over the sway of big carbon emitters over Parliament.

The payment from the former coal-fired power station was registered on September 12 last year, and published in December in the Electoral Commission register of political donations.

Labour has declined to comment on receipt of the donation. 

Opposition leader Keir Starmer has yet to articulate his party’s position on burning wood for electricity – or to clarify whether [pretend] Labour accepts donations from polluting companies.

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https://www.desmog.com/2023/01/26/labour-accepted-12000-from-major-polluter-drax/

Continue ReadingLabour Accepted £12,000 From Major Polluter Drax