Andrea Leadsom: More Fossil Fuels Now, Renewables in the Future

Fossil fuels will continue to play a role in our energy mix for decades to come said energy minister Andrea Leadsom at a Conservative Party conference fringe event on Wednesday. The event was hosted by free market think tank, Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and sponsored by Lord Vinson, a funder of the climate denying […]

Report: How Coal and Gas Industry Get Their Way In Fossil Fuel Rich Queensland

Where and how should the public expect negotiations between fossil fuel industries and governments be carried out? What kind of relationships should exist between fossil fuel corporations and the politicians and public servants who are part of the decision-making process that those corporations seek to influence? Should reasonable details of those negotiations be recorded and take place […]

Amber Rudd: Climate Crisis, What Climate Crisis?

It’s safe to say climate change is not on the Conservative Party conference agenda this year. If you showed up just 12 minutes late to Monday afternoon’s main event, you would’ve missed energy secretary Amber Rudd entirely. And indeed, it seems quite a few people did. In contrast, there were enormous queues seen in the morning […]

A New Kind of Frackademia? New Environmental Inspectors Offered Free Industry-Funded Classes on Fracking

At an industry conference in Philadelphia last month, oil and gas executives gathered to hear about a little-known public relations effort with a very precise target: newly hired state and federal environmental inspectors. At a seminar titled “Staying Ahead of Federal and State Regulations: A Partnership with Academia and Government,” officials from Pennsylvania State University and […]

A Climate and Energy Guide to the Conservative Party Conference

Everyone’s really excited to see what the Conservative Party has to say about energy and climate this week, right? (We’re assuming so.) The UK’s energy policy is all over the place, to say the least. Just last week the International Energy Agency warned governments “must not chop and change their political support for renewable energy”  (something […]

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani Offers Fracking Industry PR Strategy, Draws Three Mile Island Parallels

At a shale industry conference in Philadelphia, former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani offered up advice to drilling companies struggling with an oil price collapse and increasing public awareness of the damage that fracking can do to air, water, the climate and the economy. “And you do face a public relations problem,” […]

Watch DeSmog’s Justin Mikulka Interviewed on ‘Ring of Fire’ About Risky Crude Oil Trains

Following up on several recent articles and a video explaining how the risks of Bakken oil “bomb trains” will continue to endanger communities across North America for years to come despite new regulations, DeSmog contributor Justin Mikulka recently appeared on Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV. In a conversation with host Farron Cousins (a […]

California Finding New Ways To Extend Benefits Of Solar To Low-Income, Minority Communities

The California legislature has sent a bill to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk that aims to extend the benefits of solar energy to communities that often have no access to clean energy technologies. Assembly Bill 693 would create the Multi-Family Affordable Housing Solar Roofs program, which would be authorized to spend $100 million a year for […]

Cost Of Doing Nothing To Hit $400 Trillion

The numbers are in, and they aren’t looking good for climate change deniers. According to the latest reports, the cost of doing nothing on climate change, even based on moderate warming models, will top $400 trillion in economic losses. If that figure isn’t startling enough, then consider the additional $43 trillion in damages that we’ll see […]

Revealed: Local Council Pension Funds Investing £53m in Fracking Companies

Local councils across the UK have invested more than £53 million in companies directly involved with the dash for onshore oil and gas through their pension funds, DeSmog UK can reveal. A total of £53,178,179 of local councils’ pension funds is being invested in GDF Suez and INEOS, both of which have been awarded exploratory drilling permits in […]