It was a project conceived long before Boris Johnson was running the country. But as he tries to make good on his promises to “level up” the north of England and take a global lead on climate change, a proposed new coal mine in Cumbria has become a thorn in the prime minister’s side. The project was approved three times by county councillors, most recently in October, and they had been expected to issue a formal decision notice, granting permission. But, facing threats of a legal challenge, it said in an 11th-hour U-turn last week that it wanted to look at the plans for a fourth time. The pit promises to bring £650m in investment and 500 jobs to an area desperately in need of “levelling up”. The project, from West Cumbria Mining, backed by Australian investors, had received the support of the local council and Tory MPs in the constituencies that stand most to benefit. This is in the heart of what was once Labour’s “red wall”, the former party strongholds that for decades lacked investment and have become one of England’s main political battlegrounds. Cumbria knows that whatever decision it makes, it is likely to see a legal challenge. West Cumbria Mining remains confident the project will go ahead. “WCM and its advisers are clear that the committee on climate change report and … carbon budget are not factors which would have led the committee to reach a different decision,” its chief executive, Mark Kirkbride, said in a statement.If the council reverses its previous three decisions, it could face a costly legal fight with the developers.

Times 14th Feb 2021 read more »

IN March 2002, miners surfaced from their final shift following the flooding of Scotland’s last deep mine at the Longannet complex. They brought the curtain down on a centuries-long historical saga. My new book tells the story of the end of Scottish coal mining. There were more than 100,000 workers in the coal sector alone at the industry’s peak employment during the early 1920s and still around 80,000 in the late 1950s. Whilst deindustrialisation was often a disorientating experience, in the Scottish case, it was not a sudden one.

The National 14th Feb 2021 read more »

French oil giant Total plans to rebrand as “Total Energies”, in a move it said would underline its strategy to become a net zero emissions company. CEO Patrick Pouyanne described the proposal to shareholders as “historic”, setting out plans to change the group’s profile by 2030. Oil products are expected to fall from 55% to 30% of sales in that timeframe, while the growth of energy production will be based on the two “pillars” of LNG and Renewables and Electricity.

Energy Voice 9th Feb 2021 read more »

For the first time, Shell has released a “pathway” showing how the world could potentially meet the Paris Agreement’s ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C. This marks a significant shift in attitude towards action on climate change, given that only six years ago executives at the oil-and-gas major were sceptical about warming not breaching 2C. It now says that the 1.5C goal could be achieved by 2100 with CO2 emissions reaching “net zero” by 2058. A pivotal moment came in 2018 when Shell outlined a ”plausible” route to meeting the Paris Agreement’s “well-below 2C” goal, including seeing “peak oil” in 2025 with “peak gas” following a decade later. However, Carbon Brief analysis of Shell’s new “Sky 1.5” scenario shows that, despite its “highly ambitious” framing, it is, in fact, nearly identical to its 2C predecessor. Shell’s vision of a continued role for oil, gas and coal until the end of the century remains essentially the same.

Carbon Brief 12th Feb 2021 read more »

Royal Dutch Shell says its oil output has peaked and vowed to go “net zero” in the coming decades as part of a global drive to combat climate change.

Telegraph 11th Feb 2021 read more »

Shell’s green promises risk sounding like hot air. Boss Ben van Beurden is right to say “the energy transition must be faster” – it’s just not clear what Shell really proposes to do about it.

Telegraph 11th Feb 2021 read more »

Royal Dutch Shell plans to operate as many as 2.5 million electric vehicle charging points globally by 2030 under a new emissions-reduction strategy that will see its oil output decline. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant sought to flesh out its 2050 net zero emissions goal with a plan to focus on customer-facing business such as electricity sales, rather than power generation like its peers. It intends to operate half a million charging points by 2025, up from 60,000 today, and could increase this to 2.5 million by the end of the decade. Shell also plans to grow its businesses in carbon capture and storage, “nature-based solutions” such as tree-planting, biofuels and hydrogen.

Times 12th Feb 2021 read more »

A consultation seeking the views and expertise of stakeholders on a potential approach to CCUS cluster sequencing. This consultation sets out a potential approach to cluster sequencing for carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), and seeks views on this approach from interested stakeholders.

BEIS 10th Feb 2021 read more »

After much criticism of its decision to approve the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than 30 years, Cumbria County Council has confirmed that it will reconsider the move.

Edie 9th Feb 2021 read more »

FT 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Guardian 9th Feb 2021 read more »

iNews 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Telegraph 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Times 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Business Green 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil was responsible for 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, a staggering one in five of all people who died that year, new research has found.

Guardian 9th Feb 2021 read more »

The UK’s climate tsar, Alok Sharma, has been urged to resign unless the prime minister scraps plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria. Mr Sharma, who will lead a vital UN climate conference in Glasgow in November, is said to be “apoplectic” over the decision to approve the mine. The Lib Dems say the project, earmarked for a site near Whitehaven, undermines Mr Sharma’s position. They have called for him to tender his resignation over the issue. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey – a former energy secretary and climate negotiator – said in his letter to Mr Sharma: “I want to urge you in the strongest possible terms to advise the prime minister… that he must find a way to overturn the recent decision to grant planning permission to the Cumbrian coal mine to 2049.

BBC 8th Feb 2021 read more »

The world’s state-owned fossil fuel companies are poised to invest about $1.9tn (£1.4tn) in the next decade in projects that would destroy any prospect of meeting the Paris agreement climate goals. A large proportion of these investments are likely to become stranded assets, with at least $400bn unlikely to be profitable if the world sticks to its promises to hold global heating to less than 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels, according to a report from the Natural Resource Governance Institute thinktank.

Guardian 9th Feb 2021 read more »

The UK’s first deep coal mine in decades leaves Britain at risk of breaking the Paris Agreement if it goes ahead, leading climate scientists have told Boris Johnson. Lars Nilsson, a professor at Lund University who contributed to the latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is one of 13 experts to have written to the prime minister calling for him to intervene to stop the £165m West Cumbria coal mine. The mine was approved last year by Cumbria County Council, and will supply coking coal for steel production in the UK and for export before it closes by 2049. But critics say it will undermine the UK’s efforts to reach net zero by 2050 and its role as a climate change leader ahead of Cop26. The Government’s climate change advisers, the CCC, have criticised the decision by Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, to decline to intervene in the matter, on the grounds that it was a local issue for Cumbria.

Telegraph 8th Feb 2021 read more »

Air pollution from burning fossil fuels is causing more than twice as many deaths as thought, a study has found. Almost one in five deaths in the UK is linked to fine particle pollution from road traffic, power generation and other activities that involve burning petrol, diesel, coal and gas, according to scientists from Harvard University and University College London.

Times 9th Feb 2021 read more »

Plans for the first deep coal mine in three decades have unleashed a fierce row over jobs versus pollution as Britain prepares to host the UN climate summit in Glasgow. Mark Kirkbride has been told the same thing often: “Most other people would have given up.” You wouldn’t blame him if he did. For several years, Kirkbride has run one of Britain’s most divisive projects: trying to get permission to dig Britain’s first deep coal mine in more than three decades, on the Cumbrian coast. Yet against the odds, he may be about to succeed. In October, Cumbria county council approved the plans for Woodhouse Colliery — the third time they had done so — and last month the government opted not to call in the project for an official inquiry, saying it would respect what was a “local” decision. An almighty battle has since erupted. On one side are locals and politicians who want the 500 jobs that will be created with the opening of West Cumbria Mining’s £165 million Woodhouse Colliery in Whitehaven in Copeland. On the other are environmentalists from round the world who say it is incompatible with Britain’s climate change ambitions and target to hit net zero by 2050.

Times 7th Feb 2021 read more »

Here is my rather exasperated and off the cuff comment on today’s Sunday Times article which features in hero mode the CEO of West Cumbria Mining Mark Kirkbride . The impacts mentioned speak only of climate … and of course there is no mention that it was nuclear safety campaigners Radiation Free Lakeland who took the lonely step of opposing this mine in 2017 with our Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole campaign when no one else could be bothered….now it’s an issue in vogue – but don’t mention nuclear- keep schtum about that at all costs!

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole 7th Feb 2021 read more »

Letter: Gaby Hinsliff’s piece propagates an illusion advanced principally by vested fossil fuel interests: that we have to choose between green policies or jobs. In reality, no such dilemma exists. The International Energy Agency and Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise have published reports which conclude that renewable energy infrastructure projects deliver far more jobs than economic stimulus for business as usual. Nowhere is the false dichotomy of “prosperity versus the environment” more evident than in Cumbria, where so many families are the victims of devastating flooding, attributable to the fossil fuel induced climate crisis, leading to the collapse in the value of their homes. Precarious jobs in industries which increase the vulnerability of people in the region have nothing to do with levelling up. Finally, the article implies that a carbon tax would hurt those on low wages. Under Prof James Hansen’s proposal for a “fee and dividend” approach to taxation, the opposite would be true. Since the wealthy consume more carbon, they pay more carbon tax, while low consumers earn the dividend and end up better off.

Guardian 7th Feb 2021 read more »

The UK is poised to back a major Brazilian offshore oil project that will contribute the same emissions as 800,000 cars annually, despite its promise to end funding for overseas oil and gas projects. The Government promised last year to end taxpayer support for fossil fuel projects overseas before the UK hosts the international climate summit Cop26 in November. But it has emerged that its export credit agency, UK Export Finance, is considering backing for 17 fossil fuel projects that could be concluded by July, before a ban is introduced.

Telegraph 6th Feb 2021 read more »

Letter sent to the Committee on Climate Change today – please do write your own letters urging the Committee to write to their parent department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy who hold ALL the cards.

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole 6th Feb 2021 read more »

The final months of 2020 were a tough end to a tough year, according to BP’s chief executive. But Bernard Looney’s verdict on the worst financial year in the industry’s history is a devastating understatement. It was a period marked by thousands of job cuts, battered dividend policies and record multibillion-dollar losses. BP revealed a full-year loss of $18bn, its first since the Deepwater Horizon disaster more than a decade ago, while US oil giant ExxonMobil reported an annual loss of $22.4bn – its first ever. Shell capped a year in which it slashed its dividend for the first time since the second world war with a debit of almost $20bn. The crushing decline of the oil industry during the Covid-19 pandemic may be unprecedented, but it is also a foreseeable outcome for fossil fuel producers in the years ahead. The race to create clean-burning biofuels and hydrogen to propel aircraft and seaborne tankers is gaining pace. At the same time, electric vehicles are accelerating into the mainstream. A green transport future is arriving faster than even the most optimistic environmentalists had hoped, and fossil fuel executives had feared.

Guardian 7th Feb 2021 read more »

Shell’s slow-burn evolution risks leaving investors cold. Rivals such as BP are powering ahead with the switch to carbon neutral, but Shell is sticking to its more cautious approach. Big oil is under unprecedented pressure. Accelerating global action on climate change is forcing powerful companies to move into new and unfamiliar energy markets or risk being overtaken by nimble rivals. Pressure has been growing due to the pandemic which has hammered oil prices, and catalysed the move towards renewable energy in many parts of the world.

Telegraph 7th Feb 2021 read more »

Dozens of humanitarian charities and green groups have written to Boris Johnson in protest at government approval for a new UK coalmine. They warn the decision is “an embarrassment” when Britain is hosting international talks this year, when other countries will be urged to set tougher climate goals. And they are calling on the prime minister to send the decision to a public inquiry, saying backtracking would “help restore confidence in the UK government’s climate leadership, both internationally and at home”.

Independent 5th Feb 2021 read more »

Plans for a small coal mine in Cumbria are becoming a symbol of the UK government’s inability to match ambitious words on climate change.

FT 5th Feb 2021 read more »

Pressure is growing on the government over its support for a new coalmine in Cumbria, as the UK prepares to host the most important UN climate summit since the Paris agreement was signed in 2015. Developing country experts, scientists, green campaigners and government advisers are increasingly concerned about the seeming contradiction of ministers backing the new mine – the UK’s first new deep coalmine in three decades, which will produce coking coal, mostly for export, until 2049 – while gathering support from world leaders for a fresh deal on the climate crisis.

Guardian 5th Feb 2021 read more »

Plans for the UK’s first deep coalmine in more than 30 years have led to local divisions in Cumbria, even as it becomes an international issue over the country’s climate change commitments. James Hansen, one of the world’s foremost voices on the climate, this week took the unusual step of sending Boris Johnson a strongly worded letter warning that if the mine was allowed to proceed it would lead to “ignominy and humiliation” for the UK. He said the plans for the mine showed a “contemptuous disregard for the future of young people”. He hoped the prime minister would take the chance to help the UK change the world’s climate trajectory by showing the “acumen and gumption” to be a global leader on environmental issues. Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser, backed Hansen’s intervention. “They should not [go ahead with the mine],” he told the Guardian. “It is a big mistake. I think Jim Hansen has expressed it very well.”

Guardian 4th Feb 2021 read more »

The global production of zero emissions steel has taken a massive step forward, with a world leading Swedish project completing the construction of a world-first fossil-free steel pilot plant in Luleå, Sweden.

Renew Economy 1st Sept 2020 read more »

Government mulls carbon tax push, as criticism mounts over ‘contemptuous’ coal mine decision. Number 10 has instructed every department in government to propose a price for carbon emissions, in a move that could provide the basis for a major extension of the UK’s carbon tax regime. The Times reported this morning that it has seen a Whitehall memo that confirms Number 10 and the Treasury have asked all departments to bring forward plans for a carbon pricing scheme that would cover all areas of the economy, potentially leading to new levies on carbon intensive products and services, such as meat and dairy, and gas for heating, which are currently subject to negligible or non-existent environmental taxes.

Business Green 4th Feb 2021 read more »

How does one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history square with Shell’s grand plan to move away from dirty fossil fuels towards green energy and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050? The answer is that it may take a miracle, as investors seem to have recognised – Shell’s share price is still roughly a third below pre-pandemic levels.

Telegraph 4th Feb 2021 read more »

BP green deal with Rosneft is nowhere near enough, says Greenpeace.

Times 5th Feb 2021 read more »