Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

michaels said:

Martyn1981 said:

Just an update on the recent incredibly great news that FF giants are being held responsible for some of the harm they have/are causing. And new cases working through the courts. This news couldn't be bigger, it's akin to when 'Big Tobacco' started to lose cases.

Shell’s historic loss in The Hague is a turning point in the fight against big oil

The oil giants that have helped drive the climate crisis are finally being forced to take responsibility for their actions

On a rainy afternoon in The Hague, the district court delivered a judgment against Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of the Shell group. It refuted the excuses regularly relied on to continue extracting oil and gas and vindicated longstanding calls to keep fossil fuels in the ground. The court held that Shell’s current policy of merely reducing the “carbon intensity” of its products by 20% by 2030, and aiming to reach net zero by 2050, would contribute to climate impacts that endanger the human rights of the plaintiffs.

The extraordinary events preceding the oil industry’s so-called Black Wednesday bring to mind the proverbial path to bankruptcy: it happens gradually, and then all at once. Hot on the heels of a landmark report by the global energy body the International Energy Agency warning against new fossil fuel production, Wednesday’s historic ruling has blown another hole in the defences of an industry that has overwhelmingly failed to accept responsibility for driving the climate emergency.

The decision marks several legal firsts with global implications. It is the first time that a court has found that a company has a legal duty to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement. It is also the first time that international human rights standards have been used to inform a binding emissions-reduction obligation for a company.

A lawsuit in France against oil major Total is likely to be the next case in which a company’s climate policy is tested against binding human rights standards. Dozens of cases seeking compensation from fossil fuel companies for climate impacts are already playing out in US courts, and a recent case in the UK exposed the public subsidies received by oil and gas producers. While Shell has indicated it will appeal against the district court’s decision, there is no guarantee it will succeed – as the Dutch government learned when it lost twice on appeal in another landmark climate case.

No discussion of the case should omit the fearlessness and perseverance of the plaintiffs and their lawyers, led by Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands), a cohort of other Dutch NGOs, and more than 17,000 individual co-plaintiffs. To take on one of the world’s richest, most powerful companies in court is brave in any circumstances. To do so when the arguments you are making are unprecedented is extraordinary. That courage has paid off in ways that may change the course of history.

Apologies as this is not really the thread for it but if we were to go 'cold turkey' on fossil fuels then there would be a lot of death short term.  It is easy for the courts to rule something is not long term compatible with climate change policy but there are also short term issues that may also be negative to people's health.  Perhaps someone who is priced out of keeping their warm sufficiently warm due to climate change policies could also sue Shell?  Shell are an energy supply company, if the only way they can meet climate commitments is by supplying less energy then there will be less energy to consume (and thus higher prices to reduce demand to meet supply), there are not alternatives just waiting to be tapped in the short term - even solar and wind take time to roll out.

Why would you introduce the strawman of 'cold turkey'?

Martyn1981

Interesting idea to supply green leccy to the UK's off-shore oil and gas industries. Reminds me of all those mines in Australia (and elsewhere) that have rolled out wind and PV to reduce their electricity costs.

New UK developer unveils £10bn North Sea floater play

Green infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has revealed an ambitious £10bn plan to decarbonise oil and gas assets in the North Sea via a 200-turbine floating wind and hydrogen development.

The company, led by oil and gas industry entrepreneurs Dan Jackson and Mark Dixon, said it has submitted a request for seabed leases to Marine Scotland for projects west of Shetland and in the central North Sea.

Cerulean claims the project would have the ability to electrify the majority of current UKCS assets as well as future production potential from 2024 to reduce emissions ahead of abatement targets.

The turbines would also offer 100% availability of green power to offshore platforms at a price below current gas turbine generation through a self-sustained scheme with no upfront cost to operators, claims the developer.

No subsidies or CfD is required and hundreds of millions of pounds would go to government revenue via leases and taxation through to 2030, added Cerulean.

EVandPV

Half price heat pumps and '£4,000 grants' to help households before gas boiler ban in 2025

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/household-help-gas-boiler-ban-24220477.amp

Martyn1981

UK production and jobs, and this time it's all spin, so to speak.

Majority of Seagreen blades to be made in UK

SSE Renewables has confirmed that 87% of the blades at its 1075MW Seagreen project will be produced in the UK.

Of the 114 V164 blade sets to be installed at Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, 99 will be produced by Vestas domestically for installation off the Angus coast by the end of 2022.

Production by Vestas is currently underway for the Seagreen project at its blade factory and R&D centre on the Isle of Wight.

The turbine manufacturer recently revealed its 1000th offshore wind blade produced in the UK– an 80m V164 blade – which recently rolled out of the facility is destined for Seagreen.

EVandPV

   Biden to suspend Trump Arctic drilling leases

US President Joe Biden's administration will suspend oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pending an environmental review.

The move reverses former President Donald Trump's decision to sell oil leases in the refuge to expand fossil fuel and mineral development.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57322511

EVandPV

Protest urges Scots council to take pension investments out of fossil fuels

CLIMATE activists have held online and physically-distanced protests in Glasgow to urge the city’s pension fund to end its £508 million investments in coal, oil and gas companies to tackle the worsening global warming crisis.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19340757.protest-urges-scots-council-take-pension-investments-fossil-fuels/

Martyn1981

And the good news keeps coming with FF's getting it from all sides, be it legislation, economics, or 'insiders' trying to help them:

Activist fund expected to win third seat on ExxonMobil board

ExxonMobil expects to lose a third board seat to an activist hedge fund, Engine No 1, adding to the pressure on one of the world’s largest oil companies to introduce a more effective climate transition plan.

Engine No 1 said: “We are grateful for shareholders’ careful consideration of our nominees and are excited that these three individuals will be working with the full board to help better position ExxonMobil for the long-term benefit of all shareholders.”

The hedge fund garnered support from large investors by nominating directors with significant oil industry experience. There is still a nine-to-three majority of Exxon nominees on the board.

“We look forward to working with all of our directors to build on the progress we’ve made to grow long-term shareholder value and succeed in a lower-carbon future,” said Darren Woods, Exxon’s chairman and chief executive.

Martyn1981

What it's all about, and why we need to move away from FF's asap. Scary stuff, but at least we know what the cause is, and what we must do to address it.

Climate tipping points could topple like dominoes, warn scientists

Ice sheets and ocean currents at risk of climate tipping points can destabilise each other as the world heats up, leading to a domino effect with severe consequences for humanity, according to a risk analysis.

Tipping points occur when global heating pushes temperatures beyond a critical threshold, leading to accelerated and irreversible impacts. Some large ice sheets in Antarctica are thought to already have passed their tipping points, meaning large sea-level rises in coming centuries.

The new research examined the interactions between ice sheets in West Antarctica, Greenland, the warm Atlantic Gulf Stream and the Amazon rainforest. The scientists carried out 3m computer simulations and found domino effects in a third of them, even when temperature rises were below 2C, the upper limit of the Paris agreement.

The level of CO2 in the atmosphere required to push temperatures beyond the thresholds could be reached in the very near future, she said. “In the next years or decades, we might be committing future generations to really severe consequences.” These could include many metres of sea-level rise from ice melting, affecting scores of coastal cities.

“The study suggests that below 2C of global warming – ie in the Paris agreement target range – there could still be a significant risk of triggering cascading climate tipping points,” said Lenton. “What the new study doesn’t do is unpack the timescale over which tipping points changes and cascades could unfold – instead it focuses on the eventual consequences. The results should be viewed as ‘commitments’ that we may be making soon to potentially irreversible changes and cascades, leaving as a grim legacy to future generations.”

However, the chance of a cascade of tipping points leading to a runaway greenhouse effect, where the planet gets ever hotter even if humanity stops carbon emissions, is extremely unlikely, according to Prof Anders Levermann, also at PIK but not involved in the new work. “The Earth will get as warm as we make it, which means we’re the ones [that must] stop it,” he said.

Martyn1981

Bit complicated this one, but basically, Chinese Polysilicon manufacturers are keeping prices and profits high, but that's leading to a reduction in Chinese module production, where profits are lower, whilst waiting for costs to fall. Seems to be having a knock on effect around the World, where projects are being delayed as a reduction in panel costs is expected. Hope that makes sense. So, short term, delays and bad news, but longer term, yet more cost reductions.

Gigawatt-plus UK solar 2021 installation surge awaiting module price reset

Having installed 660MW of new solar PV in the 12 months to 31 March 2021, large-scale solar sites across the UK are now eagerly awaiting expected declines in module prices, allowing 2021 deployment to reach and exceed the GW-levels forecast earlier in the year.

While this ground-breaking hiatus continues, more planning applications are adding to the pipeline, now well in excess of 15GW. About 15-20 sites (mostly in the 40-50MW range each) are ready to go, but without any incentive deadlines to drive early build, it simply requires a reset in module related capex back to levels seen at the end of 2020.

Indeed, the situation in the UK is not too different to other GW-scale global end-markets. Nobody is enjoying the uptick in module pricing, brought about by a combination of polysilicon tightness and wafer supplier desperation at accessing polysilicon to operate ingot/wafer fabs, at almost any cost. These two issues – entirely China driven – are now acting in unison, to the detriment of the industry as a whole.

Exiled_Tyke

Very much a first world problem but great to see the renewables industry investing in understanding wildlife issues and beginning to address them.     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176807