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Who Should Pay for Climate Damage? Majority of the World Agrees: Big Oil

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

Climate campaigners march in London on October 19, 2023 to demand that fossil fuel corporations pay for their climate damage. (Photo: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“As governments debate how to finance climate action, they can be confident that making polluters pay is not only fair, but also far more popular and effective than placing the burden on ordinary citizens.”

A multinational survey commissioned by Greenpeace International and published Monday revealed that a majority of respondents favor making fossil fuel companies pay for being the main cause of the climate emergency.

Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign commissioned the strategic insight agency Opinium Research to survey 8,000 adults in eight countries—Australia, Argentina, France, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States—ahead of this month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“Asked about who should bear the most responsibility for climate change impacts, the most popular option across all eight countries in the survey was making oil and gas companies pay, with high-emitting countries and global elites ranked second and third,” Greenpeace International said in a summary of the survey, adding that “60% of all surveyed countries see a link between profits of the oil and gas industry and rising energy prices.”

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The survey also found that two-thirds or more of respondents are angry about Big Oil CEOs getting huge bonuses even as their products exacerbate the planetary emergency; fossil fuel expansion; industry disinformation; and the “historic and ongoing role of oil and gas companies in conflict, war, and human rights violations.”

Eight in 10 respondents said they were worried about climate change. However, more than twice as many people surveyed in the Global South said the climate emergency has personally affected them than respondents in the Global North.

According to Greenpeace International:

Imposing a fair climate damages tax on extraction of fossil fuels by OECD countries—proposed by the charity Stamp Out Poverty and supported by 100 NGOs, including Greenpeace International—is one example of a tax on big polluters. This could generate $900 billion by 2030… This would be key for annual climate-related loss and damage costs, estimated to be between $290-$580 billion by 2030 in low-income countries, as well as for reducing the emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases and adapting to the impacts of the climate crisis in all countries.

“This research shows how taxing the wealthy polluters-in-chief—companies like Exxon, Chevron, Shell, Total, Equinor, and Eni—has become a mainstream solution among people, cutting across borders and income levels,” said Stop Drilling, Start Paying co-chair Abdoulaye Diallo. “As governments debate how to finance climate action, they can be confident that making polluters pay is not only fair, but also far more popular and effective than placing the burden on ordinary citizens for a crisis for which they bear little or no responsibility.”

The Opinium survey was published on the same day that Amnesty International called on the richer countries most responsible for the climate emergency to “fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods” in Africa.

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“African people have contributed the least to climate change, yet from Somalia to Senegal, Chad to Madagascar, we are suffering a terrible toll of this global emergency which has driven millions of people from their homes,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty’s regional director for West and Central Africa. “It’s time for the countries who caused all this devastation to pay up so African people can adapt to the climate change catastrophe.”

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

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Greenpeace calls for government action over failure to meet carbon emissions

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/greenpeace-calls-uk-government-action-over-failure-meet-carbon-emissions

Greenpeace activists outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London, where environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg is due to appear charged with failing to comply with a condition imposed under Section 14 of the Public Order Act, November 15, 2023

ENVIRONMENTAL campaign Greenpeace UK has called for Westminster action after a United Nations report said governments are abjectly failing to meet carbon emissions targets.

The UN report covers 196 countries that were part of the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change, warning: “Current national climate plans fall miles short of what’s needed to stop global heating from crippling every economy and wrecking billions of lives and livelihoods across every country.”

Greenpeace called on the government to take action. Policy director Dr Doug Parr said: “Together with ending all new oil and gas licences, the Labour government must at least triple renewables and double home energy efficiency rates by 2030, as well as properly support workers to transition away from polluting industries.

“Failure is not an option.”

The UN said its report must be a turning point, with “much bolder new national climate plans from every country.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/greenpeace-calls-uk-government-action-over-failure-meet-carbon-emissions

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BP Scraps Target of Reducing Oil Production by 2030

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https://www.ecowatch.com/bp-abandons-oil-reduction-target-2030.html

Climate activists protested against BP at the energy giant’s annual general meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland on May 21, 2019. Karen Murray / Friends of the Earth Scotland.

Oil major BP has scrapped its goal of reducing oil and gas production by the end of the decade, angering environmental groups who say the company is prioritizing profits over the planet.

According to three sources who have knowledge on the matter, BP CEO Murray Auchincloss scaled back the company’s energy transition plans in order to regain investor confidence, reported Reuters.

“As Murray said at the start of the year in our fourth-quarter results, the direction is the same but we are going to deliver as a simpler, more focused and higher-value company,” a spokesperson for BP said, as The Times reported.

In 2020, BP unveiled an ambitious strategy to reduce its production by 40 percent, while quickly ramping up renewables by 2030, reported Reuters. In February of 2023, the London-based company pared back the reduction goal to 25 percent, as investors concentrated on near-term profits instead of the energy transition.

In 2022, the oil giant recorded record profits of $28 billion, The Guardian reported.

“It’s clear that Auchincloss is hell-bent on prioritising company profits and shareholder wealth above all else as extreme floods and wildfires rack up billions of dollars in damages, destroying homes and lives all over the world,” said Philip Evans, senior climate campaigner of Greenpeace UK, as reported by The Guardian.

…

https://www.ecowatch.com/bp-abandons-oil-reduction-target-2030.html

People march through Glasgow, a demonstration led by Fridays for Future. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion Scotland and Simone Rudolphi
People march through Glasgow, a demonstration led by Fridays for Future. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion Scotland and Simone Rudolphi

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New analysis commissioned by Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe reveals a sharp rise in private jet flights to European holiday hotspots last year, with a significant increase during peak vacation periods compared to off-season travel. 

Check here for a Greenpeace factsheet on the research, with country-level data.

At European holiday destinations, private jet arrivals surged by 250% in July compared to January, indicating that most of these flights were for leisure purposes. Over 117,000 flights to 45 luxury destinations were recorded throughout 2023, resulting in more than 520,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Notably, Nice, Geneva and Palma de Mallorca emerged as the top three destinations for private jet traffic.

Clara Thompson, transport campaigner for Greenpeace Germany said: “While ordinary people face the devastating impacts of the climate crisis – extreme floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires – the ultra-wealthy continue to hop aboard their private jets under the guise of business travel, but often for leisure trips to Europe’s most luxurious holiday spots. These private flights account for a disproportionate share of aviation emissions, accelerating the climate emergency. This extravagant luxury not only worsens environmental harm but also deepens inequality, leaving the majority to suffer the consequences of climate disasters and daily hardships.”

The research, conducted by the T3 Transportation Think Tank, focuses on destinations heavily promoted by luxury tour operators and private jet companies. The majority of private jet flights occurred in the Mediterranean during summer and shifted to the Alpine region in the colder months. The data reveals a significant seasonal spike, highlighting increased use for leisure and holiday purposes. 

Furthermore, 93.2% of these flights were within Europe, with 11.9% covering short distances of up to 250 km – journeys that could have easily been made using more sustainable options like trains or ferries. A single private jet flight to these destinations emits almost as much carbon as the average European citizen’s annual energy-related emissions (4.46 vs. 5.37 tonnes of CO2), underscoring how the ultra-wealthy disproportionately contribute to the climate crisis.

Greenpeace is calling for an immediate ban on private jets, and for governments to consider a wealth tax for billionaires in Europe to fund public goods such as affordable housing and public transport.

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Scientists, Experts Demand ‘Immediate End’ to EU Fossil Fuel Subsidies

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

Oil storage tanks and a container terminal are seen in the Port of Le Harve, northern France on June 12, 2023. (Photo: Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“E.U. leaders must make a choice: Stand with the people and the planet, or continue propping up an economy that’s driving us towards climate catastrophe,” said one advocate.

Warning that policymakers in the European Union are undermining the bloc’s own climate goals by continuing to subsidize fossil fuel extraction, climate scientists and other experts from across Europe were among the signatories of an open letter released Wednesday, demanding that officials redirect hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to “turbocharge climate solutions.”

The coalition United for Climate Justice spearheaded the letter, which comes ahead of a planned march in Brussels on Saturday, October 5.

“These subsidies go against Europe’s plans for a sustainable and just transition and fuel the devastating heatwaves we have seen this past summer in our continent,” reads the letter. “Europe is now the fastest warming continent; we have reached a turning point and cannot afford to delay any further.”

Groups including Extinction Rebellion, 350.org, and Greenpeace E.U. pointed to goals the bloc has set in recent years, including the 8th Environmental Action Program, which entered into force in 2022 and included a commitment to “phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.”

The subsidies, which were estimated at more than €400 billion ($441 billion) in 2023, also stand in the way of meeting climate targets put forward in the European Green Deal, said the signatories. The plan aims to make Europe “the first climate-neutral continent,” with no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and “interim targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and by 90% by 2040,” notes the letter.

“This will not happen without an immediate phaseout of fossil fuel subsidies,” said the groups bluntly, “as a step towards a fossil-free Europe.”

By continuing to subsidize fossil fuel projects, they added, the E.U. is also flouting its own Parliament’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019.

To act in line with the declaration and its climate commitments, said the groups, the E.U. must:

  • Set a timeline for the phaseout of fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, providing technical and financial assistance to member states
    facing challenges in meeting phaseout deadlines and offer incentives for achieving milestones ahead of schedule;
  • Adopt comprehensive methodological guidance for member states that accurately and transparently accounts for both explicit and implicit subsidies associated with fossil fuels; and
  • Develop a binding framework to monitor and report on member states’ progress towards phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, with noncomplying members facing consequences such as financial penalties and reduced access to E.U. funding.

The bloc’s fossil fuel subsidies “distort energy demand, perpetuate dependence on polluting energy sources, and undermine European energy security, while subsidizing industries that contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions,” said the groups.

Phasing out the subsidies would “future-proof the European economy, reducing climate-related financial risks,” they added.

The letter comes weeks after Storm Boris dumped record-breaking rains on European countries including Romania, Austria, and Poland, leading to deadly flooding.

“The E.U. cannot claim leadership on climate action while continuing to support polluting industries with billions,” said Angela Huston Gold, spokesperson for United for Climate Justice. “E.U. leaders must make a choice: Stand with the people and the planet, or continue propping up an economy that’s driving us towards climate catastrophe. The recent disastrous floods in Central and Eastern Europe are yet another wake-up call. We must end our fossil fuel dependency and therefore eliminate all fossil fuel subsidies.”

Also last month, the Portuguese government declared a “state of calamity” over wildfires that killed at least seven people. Last year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the E.U.’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) determined the Europe is the fastest-warming continent.

“Year after year, commitments have been made and left unfulfilled, and we can no longer accept inaction,” said the signatories of Wednesday’s letter, who also included Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society, and Paul Stubbs of the Institute of Economics in Croatia. “Until these necessary changes occur, people will continue to take to the streets to make our voices heard and hold you accountable.”

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

Continue ReadingScientists, Experts Demand ‘Immediate End’ to EU Fossil Fuel Subsidies