BP’s top brass tried to persuade investors that its plans to quit fossil fuels were credible as they warned that the days of oil were numbered. Chief executive Bernard Looney told shareholders and fund managers that the oil giant would begin weaning itself off hydrocarbons and intensifying its focus on renewable energy. He acknowledged that many of them were sceptical that the 111-year-old business could reinvent itself so radically.

Telegraph 14th Sept 2020 read more »

BP has become the first oil major to predict that global oil demand may not rebound to pre-Covid-19 levels if national governments collectively align their recovery strategies with net-zero.

Edie 14th Sept 2020 read more »

Last summer, oil and gas-industry groups were lobbying to overturn federal rules on leaks of natural gas, a major contributor to climate change. Their message: The companies had emissions under control. In private, the lobbyists were saying something very different. At a discussion convened last year by the Independent Petroleum Association of America, a group that represents energy companies, participants worried that producers were intentionally flaring, or burning off, far too much natural gas, threatening the industry’s image, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by The New York Times.

New York 12th Sept 2020 read more »

A group representing investors that collectively manage more than US$47tn in assets has demanded the world’s biggest corporate polluters back strategies to reach net-zero emissions and promised to hold them to public account. Climate Action 100+, an initiative supported by 518 institutional investor organisations across the globe, has written to 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies to set 30 climate measures and targets against which they will be analysed in a report to be released early next year. It is the latest step in a campaign by climate-concerned shareholders to force business leaders to explain how their targets and strategies will help reach the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.

Guardian 14th Sept 2020 read more »

CDC Group, the UK’s development finance agency, is once more under fire for its investments in fossil fuels. Catholic charity Cafod said the agency is undermining UK’s leadership on climate change by ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds into fossil fuel projects, including gas and coal power plants, via funds operating in developing countries. Analysis conducted on Cafod’s behalf by Bond, a UK network for international development organisations, suggests CDC Group’s energy portfolio includes £632m of fossil fuel investments, compared to £610m in renewables.

iNews 14th Sept 2020 read more »

Global demand for oil may already have peaked as the coronavirus crisis is likely to have a “significant and persistent” impact on global economic activity, according to BP. Spencer Dale, the oil major’s chief economist and a former director of the Bank of England, said that assessing the impact of Covid-19 was highly uncertain because of the rise in new infections and the lack of an approved vaccine. However, he said that the decline in growth was likely to fall disproportionately on emerging economies such as India, Brazil and those in Africa, which have driven growth in energy demand over recent years. The changes in behaviour triggered by the pandemic, such as people travelling less and switching their modes of travel away from aircraft, were likely to “dissipate over time” as the virus was brought under control. Some of the effects, though, were likely to persist, such as working from home, and there would be “scarring effects”, Mr Dale said.

Times 14th Sept 2020 read more »

BP will lay out details this week of how it plans to achieve a new green strategy as it tries to convince investors that it can make a success of renewables. Three days of briefings, dubbed “BP week” by the company, begin today after it surprised the market last month by announcing the key pillars of its strategy alongside the decision to halve its dividend. Bernard Looney, its chief executive, has promised to increase green investment tenfold to $5 billion by 2030, including developing 50 gigawatts of renewables, and to allow oil and gas output to decline.

Times 14th Sept 2020 read more »

In a decision hailed by campaigners as a hugely significant climate milestone for the UK, the government has again blocked plans for a controversial open cast coal mine in England’s North East.

Business Green 9th Sept 2020 read more »

UK Export Finance (UKEF), the Government’s export credit agency, has historically been one of the less visible parts of government. But recent missteps, including offering a $1 billion in support for a new $16 billion LNG facility in Mozambique, have highlighted how UKEF decisions are undermining UK efforts to tackle – and leadership on – climate change. This cannot be allowed to continue, and UKEF should be reformed to better align with climate change and other interconnected government priorities, such as levelling-up.

Conservative Home 7th Sept 2020 read more »

Friends of the Earth (FoE) has issued a legal challenge to the UK government’s decision to support Mozambique LNG. UK Export Finance agreed to provide $300 million through direct loans, with $850mn in guarantees for commercial banks. The agency said such a move would support UK businesses, helping sustain more than 2,000 jobs. Despite this, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was said to be opposed to the lending. The PM has called for a review of UKEF lending policies. The move by FoE does not come as a surprise. The NGO, represented by Leigh Day, has called for judicial review of the decision.

Energy Voice 7th Sept 2020 read more »

Environmentalists at Friends of the Earth will mount a legal challenge against the government’s decision to offer $1bn in financial support to a major fossil fuel project in Mozambique that they say is “incompatible” with the Paris climate agreement. The green group will go to the high court this week to seek a judicial review into the government’s decision to use taxpayer money to “worsen the climate emergency” by helping to finance a $20bn gas project on the Mozambican coast. Friends of the Earth said the government’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance, offered its largest single financial support package without undertaking a transparent assessment of the project’s environmental and social risks, which is a legal requirement. UKEF has granted loan guarantees and direct funding to British companies bidding for work on fossil fuel projects worth more than £3.5bn since the UK signed up to the Paris climate agreement.

Guardian 7th Sept 2020 read more »

The oil industry is risking $400bn (£301bn) in stranded assets by pinning its hopes on a growing demand for plastics that will not materialise, as governments and consumers move away from single-use items, new analysis suggests. Plastics account for 95pc and 45pc of the central forecasts of BP and the International Energy Agency, according to Carbon Tracker, as the industry looks for ways to offset falling demand from transport and heat from decarbonising societies. “The oil industry is really dependent on growth in this sector and that’s really dangerous,” said Kingsmill Bond, an analyst at Carbon Tracker. “The petrochemical industry already has overcapacity and is in the process of building another 80m tonnes of plastics capacity.”

Telegraph 4th Sept 2020 read more »

Business Green 4th Sept 2020 read more »

A host of top figures from business, finance, and academia led by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney have announced a global Taskforce to accelerate the development of voluntary carbon markets across the private sector, ahead of anticipated surge in demand for CO2 offsets as the net zero transition gathers pace. Launched yesterday, the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets comprises more than 40 leading figures from six continents with backgrounds spanning the CO2 market value chain, including financial sector experts, market infrastructure providers, and buyers and suppliers of carbon offsets.

Business Green 3rd Sept 2020 read more »

SSE has been fined more than £2 million after failing to disclose market-sensitive information that a coal-fired power plant had been saved from closure in 2016. The energy giant had announced in February that year that it planned to close three of the four units at its Fiddler’s Ferry power station in Cheshire in April, shutting down supplies capable of meeting about 3 per cent of Britain’s peak demand. The move threatened to worsen a looming energy crisis in the following winter when power supplies were forecast to be scarce and there were warnings of a heightened risk of blackouts. However on March 22, SSE signed a non-binding ‘heads of terms’ agreement with National Grid, the company responsible for keeping the lights on, to keep Fiddler’s Ferry open in order to provide emergency capabilities to the system. SSE failed to disclose this agreement to the stock market until March 30, when it had finalised the contract.

Times 3rd Sept 2020 read more »

Energy utility companies around the world are continuing to invest heavily in fossil fuel-based power generation, advancing strategies that threaten to undermine the transition to net zero emissions and blow a hole in the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C, a major new study has found. University of Oxford researchers analysed the activities of more than 3,000 power utility companies over the past two decades using a machine-learning technique, which found only 10 per cent had prioritised renewables over expanding fossil fuel generation such as gas or coal power.

Business Green 31st Aug 2020 read more »

Guardian 31st Aug 2020 read more »

Big Oil Is in Trouble. Its Plan: Flood Africa With Plastic. Faced with plunging profits and a climate crisis that threatens fossil fuels, the industry is demanding a trade deal that weakens Kenya’s rules on plastics and on imports of American trash.

New York Times 30th Aug 2020 read more »