Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase have delivered billions of dollars in financing for coal, oil and gas companies that is “deeply at odds” with the goals of the Paris climate change accord, a new study claims. The banks rank among the top North American and European private sector backers of coal mines, coal power plants and costly oil and gas ventures over the past three years, according to the report by environmental campaign groups, the US Sierra Club, the Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and Oil Change International. Deutsche Bank was the top financer of big coal miners, delivering nearly $7bn between 2013 and 2015, according to the study’s assessment of publicly available financial filings. Citigroup was calculated to have supplied $24bn for large coal power plant operators, making it the largest supporter in this category. JPMorgan Chase was ranked the largest financer of so-called “extreme oil”, financing an estimated $38bn for the biggest owners of untapped reserves in ultra-deep offshore fields, the Arctic or tar sands.
FT 14th June 2016 read more »
Stuart Haszeldine: The vote to ban fracking can be seen as important to indicate the sentiment of several of the combined non-Government parties in Holyrood. But this is not the end of the matter, just another gateway to pass through along the road. It is not surprising that the SNP abstain for two reasons: first because the issue is divisive within the SNP membership at grass roots level; second because having created a Moratorium and a science based inquiry, then the Government can not pre-judge the results of that inquiry- and I say that even if the inquiry outcome is positive or negative towards “fracking”. However the real issue for me is that I fear that this vote is based on only partial facts and in some cases prejudice and ignorance. What this says is actually we do not know enough yet, to be much more certain if “fracking” can be undertaken securely in Scotland or in England.
Herald 14th June 2016 read more »