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Onward to more oil!
Shell's slick greenwashing can't hide its dirty Nigerian past
Hi friend,
About a month ago, I was bitching about Shell's sudden exit from the Niger Delta, where it has contributed to an environmental nightmare through decades of oil spills that have contaminated water, soil, and people’s livelihoods.
Catch up here, if you want 👇
Well, that story is back in the news this week, with the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (Somo) saying Shell cannot be allowed to withdraw from the Niger Delta before it “takes responsibility for its toxic legacy of pollution and the safe decommissioning of abandoned oil infrastructure”.
Somo says Shell has helped to make the Niger Delta one of the most oil-polluted places on Earth, leaving communities to face the consequences.
“Shell has pulled off the ultimate Houdini act,” said Audrey Gaughran, executive director of Somo. “As the oil industry enters its final phase, Shell has sold its toxic assets and will not be left holding them when the music stops. Shell must not be allowed to simply walk away from this most emblematic of unjust energy transition cases.”
Why aren’t more people saying this? Why aren’t more people furious that Shell is shirking its responsibilities in Nigeria. Why aren’t more people pissed off?
Maybe it’s because Shell is working very hard to make us believe that it’s a responsible corporate citizen with the launch of Onward (formerly known as Studio X), Shell's startup that promises to connect innovators to "tackle energy and climate challenges" and “create a compelling, evidence-based picture of the benefits of a net-zero future”.
Sounds noble, right? Well, here's the kicker: Studio X was originally established to “help define the future of exploration and discovery”, and most of Onward's projects focus on oil and gas production, with job descriptions that read like a petroleum engineer's dream.
How can a start-up intended to expand oil and gas production transform into one that tackles energy and climate challenges? And why is it still focusing on oil and gas projects and recruiting for specialist skills if it’s trying to “prove the benefits of a net-zero future”? It all seems a bit green-wishy-washy to me.
— Tarryn ✌️
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The good news
🌱 The EU Parliament has passed legally binding nature restoration targets. Under the law, the EU will implement restoration measures on at least 20% of land and sea by area size this decade, expanding to all ecosystems in need of repair through to 2060.
✋🏻 A new report has found that plastic bag bans around the US has reduced the number of single-use plastic bags used each year by around six billion – enough to wrap the planet 42 times.
👩🏻⚖️ Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth, and Good Law Project are suing the UK government for what they say is a deficient climate action plan. The groups say the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan fails to comply with the mandates of the Climate Change Act, which aims to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.
💸 The Biden administration is rushing to finalise major environmental rules to protect against potential reversals if Trump were to become US president again. One such rule is the introduction of a methane fee to curb emissions from the oil and gas industry. Companies will need to pay US$900 per metric ton for methane emissions exceeding a set threshold from 2024.
🛑 Biden has also paused approvals for pending and future applications to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from new projects. His government wants to review the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America's energy security, and the environment.
🛰️ Google will launch a satellite that measures methane leaks from oil and gas companies around the world, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). MethaneSAT will orbit Earth 15 times a day, surveying methane levels over the world’s largest oil and gas regions. Google will also create a global map of oil and gas infrastructure to better understand what the main sources of methane emissions are.
The bad news
🪸 The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has added three new levels to an alert scale that signals heat-caused ocean stress and the risk of coral bleaching. The current highest level – Bleaching Alert Level 2 – has for years represented coral catastrophe. Now, Bleaching Alert Level 1 signals significant bleaching, while Bleaching Alert Level 5 signals near-complete coral mortality, when at least 80% of corals in an area die due to prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures.
🛢️ Britain has granted permission to 17 large oil companies – including Shell and BP – to extract fossil fuels in 24 new areas in the North Sea. This adds to the 27 licenses it granted in October last year.
♹ A new report from the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) revealed that plastic producers have known for more than 30 years that recycling will not solve the plastic problem, yet they still promoted it. A 1986 report noted that “recycling cannot be considered a permanent solid waste solution [to plastics], as it merely prolongs the time until an item is disposed of”. In 1989, the Vinyl Institute said: “Recycling cannot go on indefinitely, and does not solve the solid waste problem.”
🦭 A rapidly spreading outbreak of avian flu that has decimated seal populations in recent months is now spreading to penguins.
Business news
🤥 Chicago is suing big fossil fuel companies – including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute – accusing them of lying about their products and the dangers of climate change, and for discrediting science and misleading the public.
🥩 New York is suing JBS USA, the American arm of the world’s largest meatpacker, saying the company made misleading statements about its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
👩🏻⚖️ Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon are suing oil company Eni for its contribution to global warming, amid revelations of the company's ties to climate deniers. This marks Italy's first climate change legal action.
🤑 The world’s five largest listed oil companies – BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies – have made US$281 billion in profits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to dramatic increases in energy prices and household bills.
💰 A report by Carbon Tracker found that 24 of the world’s 25 largest listed oil and gas firms incentivise executives to expand fossil fuel production.
❌ Less than half of Australia’s big 10 businesses are on track to meet their own climate goals or global standards for net zero targets. A study by the University of Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures also found that none of the businesses surveyed plan to phase out fossil fuels, around half of the firms were using carbon credits to achieve reductions, and reporting on emissions often lacked transparency.
💰 The UK has launched the world’s first financial research and advocacy hub dedicated to creating a fair and inclusive transition in the global economic system. Based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Just Transition Finance Hub will work to ensure that social factors are considered and integrated into decisions made by financial institutions.
🛑 The UK is pulling out of the Energy Charter Treaty that lets fossil fuel firms sue governments over their climate policies, after failed efforts to align it with net zero emissions plans. The UK says the treaty is outdated and in urgent need of reform and that remaining a member would not support the country’s transition to cleaner, cheaper energy.
🌀 Wild weather:
🔥 Wildfires force 2,000 to flee their homes in Australia.
🌪️ Indonesia records its strongest tornado on record.
🥶 Temperatures broke a 64-year-old record in China's Xinjiang region, plunging to a bone-chilling -52.3 degrees Celsius.
🔥 Second-largest wildfire on record hits Texas and could become the largest.
😶🌫️ In Vietnam, smog pushes air quality to 11 times above safe levels and forces hundreds of flight cancellations.
Well, that's interesting
Scientists sent a robot to the depths of the ocean and discovered more than 100 species completely new to science, including ghostly white sponges and lobsters with beady eyes and barbed legs, in addition to corals, urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies.
See what the researchers saw 14,000 feet beneath the ocean:
One small thing you can do
Turn up the temperature on your freezer.
The international freezing standard for food is -18°C. But if we increased this to -15°C, we can avoid a lot more emissions.
Turning your freezer temperate up a few degrees can also save you money because you won’t need as much energy – and your food won’t taste frost-bitten.
Because lots of little actions combined can add up to something remarkable.
I'll leave you on this happy note...
Judging by his face, this rhino farts a lot.
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