When you have been writing about the oil industry for decades, it is easy to slip into hyperbolic language when significant events happen. But yesterday was one of these moments. For years, climate activists have been warning Big Oil and their loyal investors that there would come a time when their most prized assets,
A majority of urban residents across Europe do not want to see air pollution return to pre-Covid-19 levels and support changes in transport to protect clean air, according to a YouGov opinion polling in 21 European cities. Levels of air pollution from traffic and other sources plummeted when countries imposed pandemic lockdown measures. Data
UK oil and gas major BP has announced it will cut 10,000 jobs in a response to COVID-19 and the subsequent economic downturn. The company is reducing expenditure across the business, with additional measures such as senior staff not receiving a pay rise this year and cash bonuses under question. In February, BP’s new
Value of reserves could fall by two-thirds as Covid-19 hastens peak in demand, study shows The coronavirus outbreak could trigger a $25tn (£20tn) collapse in the fossil fuel industry by accelerating a terminal decline for the world’s most polluting companies. A study has found that the value of the world’s fossil fuel reserves could
In the three years after countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement, the UK nearly doubled its public finance support for fossil fuel projects. A new report shows the UK spent an average of £1.3 billion annually on the projects since countires agreed the climate deal. In contrast, in the same period to the end
The shift to electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies could disrupt crude oil demand on a similar scale to the coronavirus pandemic, Suncor Energy Inc’s chief executive said on Monday. The comments are a stark prediction in an industry that frequently downplays the impact of electrification and points to forecasts of rising global oil
Coal generation in the UK has fallen by 35% in the last month due to COVID-19. This is according to new analysis from technology group Wärtsilä, which found that between 10 March and 10 April 2020, coal power dropped 35% and gas 24% compared with the same period in 2019. Renewables held a 43%
Once the coronavirus crisis is over, going back to business as usual is not an option if we want to save humanity and what is left of nature As we pause in sorrow at the 15,000 UK and the 150,000 global lives already lost to the coronavirus, it is also time to remember the
Global oil and gas major BP is to “fundamentally re-organise” its business, establishing a new low carbon power unit and doubling down on clean investments in a bid to become net zero by 2050. In a major strategy announcement unveiled today, new BP chief executive Bernard Looney, who took the reins last week, has
A small government agency is supporting fossil fuel projects abroad with estimated carbon emissions of a country the size of Portugal, it has emerged. UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government agency in the Department for International Trade, is spending billions of pounds on the projects, Newsnight researchers have found. This is despite a government