EXTRACTED: Daily News Clips 8/25/21
PIPELINE NEWS
Associated Press: Minnesota Supreme Court delivers blow to Line 3 opponents
Star Tribune: Enbridge pipeline opponents criticize Minnesota Capitol fence, police presence ahead of Wednesday rally
Pioneer Press: Why tipis, pipeline protesters and a big security force have descended on Minnesota Capitol
WORT: Madisonians Protest Enbridge’s Line 3 Project
Natural Gas Intelligence: Biden Administration Gives States, Tribes More Time to Review Some Pipeline Projects
Indiana Environmental Reporter: DNR warns proposed Texas Gas Transmission pipeline could harm Indiana plants and wildlife
Press release: Enbridge: Our Approach to Scope 3 Emissions
DTN: Pipelines Seek to Hit Net-Zero Ethanol: Carbon Pipelines Offer Ethanol Lower Carbon Footprints and Tax Credits
Pipeline Fighters Hub: Carbon Capture & CO2 Pipelines: Pipeline Fighters Hub Briefing
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: FIRST IN ME
E&E News: Interior announces first oil drilling sales of the Biden era
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: New Mexico Drilling Permits Skyrocketed Under Trump, State’s Climate Future at Risk
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: 5 dead, 2 missing in fire on Mexico's state-owner oil platform in Gulf
Marketplace: To control methane emissions, the EPA seeks better ways to measure them
Press release: CAPP releases energy platform for 2021 federal election
Star Tribune: Appeals court upholds Superior natural gas plant approval
Grand Forks Herald: Nearly 59,000 gallons of brine spilled in western North Dakota
CLIMATE FINANCE
Oil Change International: Tinkering whilst Rome burns: the Dirty Dozen central banks fuelling climate chaos
Bloomberg: Insurers Can Afford to Drop Oil and Gas—But Many Won’t
OPINION
Guardian: Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook
PIPELINE NEWS
Associated Press: Minnesota Supreme Court delivers blow to Line 3 opponents
STEVE KARNOWSKI, 8/24/21
“The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal by opponents of Enbridge Energy's Line 3 oil pipeline, letting stand a key decision by independent regulators to allow construction on the project to proceed,” the Associated Press reports. “Without comment, the state's highest court declined to take the case, issuing a one-page order that effectively affirmed a decision in June by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. And it left the Native American and environmental groups that have been protesting at construction sites across northern Minnesota with a dwindling number of legal options. The Court of Appeals declared that the state's Public Utilities Commission correctly granted Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge a certificate of need and route permit for the 337-mile (542-kilometer) Minnesota segment of what's a larger project to replace an aging crude oil pipeline built in the 1960s that can run at only half capacity. The court also backed the commission's approval of the environmental review for the project. The Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday dismayed the opponents, who cited the impacts of climate change being felt around the world and the drought in Minnesota. They have long argued that the replacement Line 3 violates treaties and threatens waters where wild rice grows, and that the oil it carries will aggravate global warming. "The rights of a Canadian corporation continue to prevail over the laws of nature and the human rights of Anishinaabe people," Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Indigenous based environmental group Honor the Earth, said in a statement. "It's a sad day for Minnesota. That a court would rule there is no environmental impact when the rivers have been sucked dry and scientists are declaring a Code Red for the planet is deeply disturbing. A crime is being committed in front of us all. And now Enbridge is set to make a profit off the destruction of our north."
Star Tribune: Enbridge pipeline opponents criticize Minnesota Capitol fence, police presence ahead of Wednesday rally
Stephen Montemayor, 8/24/21
“Organizers of a series of rallies this week against the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project are decrying elevated security measures underway at the State Capitol, calling it a militarized response to peaceful demonstrations,” the Star Tribune reports. “State officials last weekend reinstalled a fence perimeter around the Capitol and visibly expanded the presence of state troopers at levels not seen there since the immediate aftermath of January's deadly U.S. Capitol siege. In calling for the fence's return and ramping up the police presence, Department of Public Safety officials cited the likelihood that thousands of people planned to gather at the Capitol complex this week. Organizers for the Treaties Not Tar Sands demonstrations at the Capitol have planned a series of events that started Monday and will be highlighted by a Wednesday rally calling on Gov. Tim Walz and President Joe Biden to stop the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline from moving tar sands oil from Canada through Minnesota to Superior, Wis. The organizers said that water protectors — activists who oppose projects and policies that they believe harm water systems — also planned to "hold space and camp out on the Capitol lawn" on the evening after the rally. On Tuesday, the group described the fence and police presence as an "excessive and harsh response to the ceremony and art unfolding on the lawn." "We're here at the Capitol for the land, for the water, and for our treaty rights," Nancy Beaulieu, one of the event's lead organizers, told the Star Tribune. "We've come in a peaceful way. For the grandmas to be met with fencing and so many law enforcement officials, as they sit on the lawn in ceremony, doesn't feel right.”
Pioneer Press: Why tipis, pipeline protesters and a big security force have descended on Minnesota Capitol
DAVE ORRICK, 8/24/21
“The marbled austerity of the Minnesota Capitol this week suddenly took on two other distinct — and clashing — aesthetics: Native American tipi villages against police-patrolled concrete barriers with cyclone fencing,” the Pioneer Press reports. “The juxtaposition is the result of a major protest, centered by Native American activists, planned for Wednesday in opposition to an oil pipeline, followed up Saturday by a busy day of demonstrations that span the political spectrum from anti-masking to pro-voting rights to cancer research — all in a post-George Floyd/post-Jan. 6 insurrection world that has security planners erring on the side of too much security rather than too little… “Wednesday’s protest could feature hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of people marching from Crocus Hill in St. Paul to the Capitol in opposition to the new Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. Wednesday’s march, generally planned for between 2 and 5 p.m., is actually the climax in a dayslong series of demonstrations that began Monday, as groups of tipis were erected on the Capitol mall and Native American grandmothers held spiritual events. Final events will be held Thursday. The events, formally called the “Treaties Not Tar Sands Rally,” is a call for President Joe Biden to try to stop the pipeline from being completed and an expression of disapproval against Gov. Tim Walz, who has declined to attempt to halt it.”
WORT: Madisonians Protest Enbridge’s Line 3 Project
JONAH CHESTER, 8/24/21
“As the heat built to an uncomfortable peak earlier this afternoon, a group of about fifty people rallied outside the state capitol building to protest Enbridge, a Canadian energy infrastructure corporation, and its Line 3 oil pipeline project,” WORT reports. “Tim Cordon is an organizer with Building Unity, a social justice organization. He tells WORT Madison’s demonstrators will be joining a caravan on its way to St. Paul, where protesters from across Wisconsin plan to join the final stretch of a mass action. “Since August 7th, a group of people have been walking for the water, from the White Earth Nation, where the pipeline crosses their territory. That walk has gone over 250 miles. And that’s why we’re going to St. Paul today to join them for their last mile and a half,” Cordon told protesters. Tribal rights groups and environmentalists argue that Enbridge trampled tribal rights and lands during the construction of the Line 3 pipeline… “Jill Ferguson tells WORT she’s been arrested at the demonstrations three separate times. Speaking at today’s action, Ferguson criticized Governor Tony Evers for his approval of a 2019 bill that made it a felony to trespass on oil pipelines… “If you were to step on Enbridge’s territory, you would be a felon,” Ferguson said. “Right now, I would have six felony counts on me for doing what I did in Minnesota. That’s not okay, that’s opening the door to felonize any type of protesting.”
Natural Gas Intelligence: Biden Administration Gives States, Tribes More Time to Review Some Pipeline Projects
CAROLYN DAVIS, 8/24/21
“The Biden administration is moving to give states and tribal authorities more leeway in approving or denying permits for projects that include oil and natural gas pipelines that cross waterways,” Natural Gas Intelligence reports. “Under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), states and authorized tribes have allowed to grant, deny or waive certification for proposed federal licenses or permits that may discharge into waters of the United States. However, the Trump administration last year set a maximum one-year timetable for states and tribes to affirm or deny permits. A joint memo issued last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army’s Civil Works office would allow states and tribal authorities to extend their reviews beyond one year… “Section 401 “provides states and tribes with a powerful tool to protect the quality of their waters from adverse impacts resulting from federally licensed or permitted projects,” wrote Fox and Pinkham. “States, tribes and stakeholders have expressed significant concerns” about the length of time to review permits, among other things. There are “circumstances under which states or tribes can take more than a year to approve permit applications coming directly from developers of projects like pipelines and power lines, or from the Army Corps for Nationwide Permits.” Federal authorities “will consider additional guidance, as appropriate, to facilitate implementation of the 2020 rule,” along with 16 NWPs finalized in January before President Biden took office. NWPs have faced increasing pushback in recent years from environmental groups and the courts. For example, an NWP for a stream crossing for Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC was put on hold last November pending another review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.”
Indiana Environmental Reporter: DNR warns proposed Texas Gas Transmission pipeline could harm Indiana plants and wildlife
Enrique Saenz, 8/24/21
“The route of a proposed pipeline connecting an Indiana power plant to a natural gas network in Kentucky could have “significant impacts” on endangered plant species and waterways in Posey County, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources,” says the Indiana Environmental Reporter. “The proposed 24-mile Texas Gas Transmission LLC pipeline would connect two proposed natural gas-fired power plants at CenterPoint Energy Inc.’s A.B. Brown Generating Station in Posey County to a network of interstate natural gas pipelines. Texas Gas Transmission wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the project without an environmental impact statement. In comments to FERC, DNR said the project could affect animal species protected by state and federal authorities, like endangered mussels in the Ohio River, the Indiana bat and northern long-ear bat, and forest and wetland areas along the river in Posey County… “A number of risks threaten the success of horizontal directional drilling projects, including drilling fluid circulation loss, pipeline damage during the pullback of the drill and hole instability. If any of those happen during pipeline construction, or if the pipeline fails later, animal and plant species could be affected.”
Press release: Enbridge: Our Approach to Scope 3 Emissions
8/24/21
“Operational emissions from midstream companies like Enbridge account for a small portion of total GHG emissions across the energy value chain. Our immediate focus is on executing on our plan to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Yet, we are doing our part to reduce Scope 3 emissions as well. Enbridge has been investing in solutions to reduce third-party (Scope 3) emissions for years. Since our initial investment in a single wind farm in 2002, we’ve committed more than $7.8 billion in renewable energy and power transmission projects. Today we have net renewable energy capacity—either operating or under construction—of 2,075 MW of zero-emission energy… “We believe that RNG—which is produced by turning decomposing organic waste into pipeline-quality methane—provides a cost-effective way to decarbonize sectors like heavy transport… “We are an early investor and a big believer in hydrogen. Our natural gas infrastructure will be critical to the development of a hydrogen economy in North America... “Enbridge currently tracks and reports on the following Scope 3 data: utility customer natural gas use, employee air travel and electricity grid loss. Despite limited guidance defining Scope 3 parameters for the midstream sector, Enbridge is committed to tracking and reporting Scope 3 emissions. To that end, we’ve developed a new metric designed to measure the emissions intensity of the energy we deliver. Emissions intensity of the energy we deliver—This metric—a response to a growing desire to differentiate energy products on the basis of their lifecycle emissions—measures the upstream emissions intensity of the energy that Enbridge delivers on behalf of its customers.”
DTN: Pipelines Seek to Hit Net-Zero Ethanol: Carbon Pipelines Offer Ethanol Lower Carbon Footprints and Tax Credits
Chris Clayton, 8/24/21
“After years of battles over oil pipelines, two companies are pitching carbon dioxide pipelines that would crisscross six states and combine to sink as much as 24 million metric tons of carbon emissions into geologic formations -- if they can convince landowners and others their pipelines will help the local ag economy,” DTN reports. “The proposed pipeline projects reflect a new strategy in the way ethanol plants can lower their overall carbon footprints. The pipelines will also change the way agriculture has interacted with pipelines. Farmers and landowners will be asked for right-of-way access that may financially benefit the ethanol plants where they sell their corn. The competing Midwest carbon pipelines were launched within weeks of each other, both with major financial backing and a separate collection of ethanol companies lined up as customers and partners. The pipelines offer ethanol plants more favorable market access in low-carbon fuel markets, the possibility of selling carbon offsets, and federal tax credits for sinking carbon into the ground. The companies project their ethanol-plant customers can get to "net-zero" emissions by the end of the decade. That fits into President Joe Biden's goal to cut U.S. emissions by at least 50% by 2030… “Both Summit and Navigator project their pipelines will sequester about 12 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. If that comes to fruition, the carbon sequestered would equate to eliminating the emissions of about 5.2 million vehicles.”
Pipeline Fighters Hub: Carbon Capture & CO2 Pipelines: Pipeline Fighters Hub Briefing
8/25/21
“PIPELINE FIGHTERS HUB BRIEFING: Aug. 25, 6-7pm CT. Join us to learn about this *false solution* to our climate crisis, and how the fossil fuel industry is positioning CO2 pipelines and "carbon capture" as their next lifeline to keep drilling and increasing emissions. Q&A will follow the panel discussion. Panelists: Carolyn Raffensperger, Science & Environmental Health Network; Kert Davies, Climate Investigations Center; Carroll Muffett, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL); Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance & Pipeline Fighters Hub. REGISTER: https://bit.ly/pfhbriefing1”
WASHINGTON UPDATES
Politico Morning Energy: FIRST IN ME
Matthew Choi, 8/24/21
“Several of the nation’s leading environmental groups are writing to Democratic congressional leadership today to push for fossil fuel leasing reforms and updated bonding requirements to be part of the party’s reconciliation legislation,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “Congress’s reconciliation priorities in oil and gas must focus on updating federal oil and gas bonding standards to be consistent with closure costs; updating minimum bids, rents, and royalty rates; ending non-competitive leasing; and ending the leasing of lands with low or no potential for oil and gas development. Each of these important reforms will help advance responsible management of our shared public resources and will protect the interests of taxpayers, frontline communities, and future generations,” the 32 groups write in a letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi. The signatories include the Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Earthjustice and Public Citizen.”
E&E News: Interior announces first oil drilling sales of the Biden era
Heather Richards, 8/25/21
“The Biden administration announced yesterday it will hold its first ever oil and gas lease sales this year, even as it continues to fight in court for its authority to suspend auctioning drilling rights to vast stores of fossil fuels on federal lands and waters,” E&E News reports. “The Department of Justice laid out its plan to hold lease sales in a brief filed last night in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, where Judge Terry Doughty had ordered the Biden administration to show it was complying with a June ruling requiring the federal leasing program to resume. The announcement is the latest move in a fraught battle between the White House, Republican states and oil interests over the future of the federal oil and gas program overseen by the Interior Department… “President Biden froze new oil and gas lease sales shortly after taking office as he ordered a review of the program and its climate impacts. The move prompted fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers, who said it would thin revenues and threaten industry jobs. A group of 13 red states filed suit to undo Biden’s freeze. The Biden administration is appealing the June preliminary injunction from Doughty and maintains that the oil and gas leasing program is riddled with flaws. The agency said it would first move forward with a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore producing region in the country. Interior said it will issue a record of decision for a sale in the Gulf by the end of the month, with a sale notice likely coming out in September. It will also begin consideration of quarterly lease sales, and weigh restrictions for lands proposed by industry, in the western United States, with sale notices coming out later this year. Interior also announced it will begin a draft environmental review this fall for an auction to be held in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.”
STATE UPDATES
Capital and Main: New Mexico Drilling Permits Skyrocketed Under Trump, State’s Climate Future at Risk
Jerry Redfern, 8/20/21
“Over the past four years, oil and gas producers have applied for more than 10,000 permits to drill for oil and gas on federal land in New Mexico,” Capital and Main reports. Recent data provided to Capital & Main by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) shows that Applications for Permit to Drill (APDs) slowly rose quarter by quarter from 2017 through the start of 2020, then more than doubled in the last half of the year. And just a few companies are behind the jump. “We’ve already locked in decades of warming and catastrophic climate change,” Jesse Prentice-Dunn, policy director at the Center for Western Priorities, told Capital and Main. “And when these permits are drilled, we’re locking in decades more of it.” “...And if all of these permits are approved and used, the resulting wells would pose a major increase in fossil fuel production and carbon emissions at a time when climate science clearly shows that any new drilling and production should instead be winding down… “Trey Cowan, an oil and gas analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told Capital and Main the dramatic increase in permits is “basically piling on ahead of the worry that they won’t be able to get them anymore” in light of possible future climate and environmental restrictions. And they piled on in the closing months of the extraction-friendly Trump administration.”
EXTRACTION
Associated Press: 5 dead, 2 missing in fire on Mexico's state-owner oil platform in Gulf
8/23/21
“Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Monday five workers were killed, two workers are missing and six were injured in a massive fire at one of its oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico,” the Associated Press reports. “Petroleos Mexicanos said the fire at the processing platform in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field had been brought under control on Sunday. The company said the blaze caused the shutdown of 125 wells in the field, which will reduce Mexico’s daily output of oil equivalents by 421,000 barrels per day. That is equivalent to about one-quarter of Mexico's daily production of almost 1.7 million barrels. It was unclear what possibility remained of finding the two missing workers. The platform was badly charred. The company's director, Octavio Romero said some of the workers killed were carrying out routine maintenance and cleaning of gas lines on the platform… “The accident comes less than two months after another Petroleos Mexicanos pipeline in the Gulf leaked, causing a strange subaquatic fireball that Pemex said was caused by a bizarre chain of events, including a lightning storm and a simultaneous gas pipeline leak. A leak in an underwater pipeline allowed natural gas to build up on the ocean floor and once it rose to the surface on July 2, it was probably ignited by a lightning bolt, the company said.”
Marketplace: To control methane emissions, the EPA seeks better ways to measure them
Andy Uhler, 8/23/321
“Reducing the amount of methane the oil-and-gas industry pumps into the atmosphere is a key goal of many environmental scientists. But to reduce it, we need to measure it — and that’s not easy,” Marketplace reports. “The Environmental Protection Agency’s method of calculating methane pollution has been widely criticized for underestimating emissions of the potent greenhouse gas… “There are two ways to measure how much methane the oil-and-gas industry emits. The first is what researchers call “bottom up”: Multiply the number of potentially leaky valves, storage tanks and so on by an estimate of how much each part leaks. That’s how the EPA does it. Then there’s the “top down” method. “Technologies that can be used to estimate methane emissions from oil and gas, and that includes airplane-based sensors, satellite-based sensors and vehicle-based sensors,” Jeff Rutherford, who studies methane emissions at Stanford University, told Marketplace. That method suggests the industry is emitting almost twice as much methane as the EPA states. “There are two things that need to be updated,” Arvind Ravikumar at the University of Texas at Austin told Marketplace. First, the EPA has been using equipment counts based on industry self-reporting and some studies from the 1990s, before fracking was used in extraction. Then “there’s a very small number of sites that contribute disproportionately to total methane emissions,” Ravikumar told Marketplace. But the EPA simply uses an average, so it undercounts the impact of those methane superspreaders. Ideally, the EPA would use both bottom-up and top-down methods, Columbia University’s Robert Kleinberg told Marketplace.”
Press release: CAPP releases energy platform for 2021 federal election
8/24/21
“The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has released its Energy Platform for Canada for the 2021 federal election. The platform is a forward-looking, solutions-based document outlining the crucial role Canada’s natural gas and oil industry plays in three vital areas: Recovery – the energy industry is a primary engine in the country’s economy and can help drive Canada’s recovery by putting people back to work, creating investment, exports and economic growth, and generating government revenues through taxes and royalties. The benefits of a strong natural gas and oil industry are nation-wide, through direct and indirect employment and a multi-billion-dollar supply chain. Renewal – Canada’s energy industry is part of the collective global challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the demand for affordable, reliable energy. The industry is continually evolving and developing solutions that improve environmental performance. Reconciliation – the natural gas and oil industry champions the importance of Indigenous reconciliation and considers natural resource development to be integral to the Canadian reconciliation process. Responsible resource development contributes to Indigenous self-determination by supporting the growth of sustainable and prosperous Indigenous communities. The Federal Energy Platform also highlights recommended actions for federal leaders to support and enhance the industry, creating ongoing recovery, wealth and prosperity while addressing emissions.”
Star Tribune: Appeals court upholds Superior natural gas plant approval
Brooks Johnson, 8/23/21
“State regulators correctly found a proposed $700 million natural gas plant in Superior, Wis., is necessary and "serves the public interest better than a renewable-resource alternative," the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday,” the Star Tribune reports. “Duluth-based Minnesota Power won approval in 2018 from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to supply power from the plant, but environmental groups have challenged that decision and said Monday they will "continue to push to block the development of the plant." “...The appeals court concluded in Monday's ruling that "substantial evidence supports the commission's determination that NTEC best serves the public interest" and provides "a more reliable and lower cost (including environmental costs) source of energy than the equivalent renewable resources." “...Environmental groups and other opponents say no new fossil fuel plants should be built in the face of climate change, and the plant could drive up electric rates. "This disappointing ruling doesn't change the facts: Our Twin Ports communities simply cannot afford to burn more fossil fuels in the midst of the ongoing climate crisis," Jenna Yeakle, Duluth organizing representative with the Sierra Club, told the Star Tribune. "Rather than move us towards the clean energy future that Minnesotans want and deserve, this ruling takes a huge step backwards."
Grand Forks Herald: Nearly 59,000 gallons of brine spilled in western North Dakota
Adam Willis, 8/23/21
“Close to 59,000 gallons of highly concentrated salt water spilled 11 miles south of Stanley, North Dakota, on Thursday, Aug. 19, according to an incident report filed to the state last week,” the Grand Forks Herald reports. “Almost all of the spill, which was reported by Whiting Oil and Gas and followed delivery of the produced water to Goodnight Midstream Bakken, was contained to the well pad, according to the report. Produced water, or brine, is a byproduct of fracking that is highly saturated with salt and can contain chemical fluids, hydrocarbons and other contaminants damaging to local ecology and agricultural land. Whiting reported that 1,400 barrels, or 58,800 gallons, of produced water was released onto the site, and at the time of reporting 1,304 barrels had been recovered. The Denver-based company attributed the spill to "a broken fitting" between a transfer pump and pipeline.”
CLIMATE FINANCE
Oil Change International: Tinkering whilst Rome burns: the Dirty Dozen central banks fuelling climate chaos
ANDY ROWELL, 8/24/21
“Due to our climate emergency, we are leaving an increasingly hostile climate to our children and grand-children,” according to Oil Price International. “...The world’s leading scientists, the IPCC, have also recently issued a “code red” for humanity and said that we must stop investing in fossil fuels. But despite these warnings and continued record floods and wildfires, and now the new report from UNICEF, this is still not happening. Especially with key players in the climate crisis: central banks. Central banks could play a critical role in catalyzing the rapid shift of financial flows away from oil, fossil gas, and coal, and toward the zero-carbon solutions required to confront the climate crisis. To date, however, this is still not happening. A new report, published today by Oil Change International and other organisations, entitled “Unused Tools: How Central Banks Are Fueling the Climate Crisis”, reveals that twelve of the largest central banks around the globe continue to support climate chaos-causing fossil fuels through policy and direct finance. Using a ten-point system to gauge how well central banks’ were responding to the climate crisis, the new analysis finds that not one of the twelve major central banks analyzed comes close to alignment with the Paris Agreement on any of the criteria. Not one bank. The criteria focused on three aspects of central banks’ functions, including asset management, rules and support for commercial banks, and policy and research – so including both monetary policy and prudential regulation. And the report found that between 2016 and 2020, central banks failed to prevent financial flows to fossil fuels on the order of USD 3.8 trillion. Financial flows to exploration and development projects, which will allow fossil fuel production to grow in future – as well as to other aspects of fossil fuel producers’ businesses – have continued to increase. To stop this, the report provides a series of recommendations to better align central banks’ activities with climate goals, including amending the mandates of central banks where necessary to give them the power to support the managed decline of fossil fuel production by facilitating an end to fossil fuel finance, in line with the Paris Agreement.”
Bloomberg: Insurers Can Afford to Drop Oil and Gas—But Many Won’t
Tim Quinson, 8/25/21
“For the insurance industry to fulfill its stated commitment to combat climate change, it may want to accelerate its efforts to exit the oil and gas industry,” Bloomberg reports. “To date, just one insurer has promised to take “significant action” in this regard, according to analysts at Societe Generale SA. Australia’s Suncorp was the first to announce it would no longer provide coverage for all new oil and gas production projects. While insurers (23 in all) have moved to end their underwriting of coal-related activities, they have been slow to act on oil and gas. That’s mainly because the insurance market for those fossil fuels is considerably larger, with estimated premiums of more than $17 billion in 2018, compared with $6 billion for coal power, Peter Bosshard, program director at the Sunrise Project and global coordinator of Insure Our Future (IOF), told Bloomberg… “The oil and gas part of the insurance market is highly concentrated in about 10 companies, including American International Group Inc., Travelers Cos. and Zurich Insurance Group AG. The 10 companies account for about 70% of total underwriting, according to the IOF environmental nonprofit. Insurers can have a huge impact on the oil and gas industry by refusing to provide coverage for the very worst aspects of the industry when it comes to atmospheric and environmental destruction—oil and tar sands, oil shale and Arctic drilling—and by refusing to insure new projects, the SocGen analysts wrote in their 26-page report entitled “Insurance ESG Big Picture.” Premiums from insuring new oil and gas projects amounted to about $1.7 billion in 2018, which equals just 0.1% of all property and casualty premiums. This means the financial impact on insurers from restricting coverage for new capacity wouldn’t be very significant. In other words, insurers can afford to drop the world’s biggest perpetrators of climate catastrophe, but choose not to.”
OPINION
Guardian: Big oil coined ‘carbon footprints’ to blame us for their greed. Keep them on the hook
Rebecca Solnit, 8/23/21
“Personal virtue is an eternally seductive goal in progressive movements, and the climate movement is no exception,” Rebecca Solnit writes in the Guardian. “People pop up all the time to boast of their domestic arrangements or chastise others for what they eat or how they get around. The very short counterargument is that individual acts of thrift and abstinence won’t get us the huge distance we need to go in this decade. We need to exit the age of fossil fuels, reinvent our energy landscape, rethink how we do almost everything... “But the oil companies would like you to think that’s how it works. It turns out that the concept of the “carbon footprint”, that popular measure of personal impact, was the brainchild of an advertising firm working for BP… “The company unveiled its “carbon footprint calculator” in 2004 so one could assess how their normal daily life – going to work, buying food, and (gasp) traveling – is largely responsible for heating the globe. The main reason to defeat the fossil fuel corporations is that their product is destroying the planet, but their insidious propaganda, from spreading climate-change denial to pushing this climate footprint business, makes this goal even more worthwhile… “That is, private individual actions don’t increase at a rate sufficient to affect the problem in a timely fashion; collective action seeking changes in policy and law can… “As citizens we must go after the climate footprint of the fossil-fuel corporations, the beef industry, the power companies, the transportation system, plastics, and so much more.”