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Energy

Mapped: Donald Trump’s Transatlantic Anti-Green Network

As Donald Trump takes his oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States, his second term comes at an ever-more critical time for climate change. Climate scientists have warned that 2024 was the hottest year on record, and without dramatic action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, global pledges to limit warming to 1.5C and curb the worst effects of climate change are doomed. At the start of 2025, Trump’s “government efficiency” chief Elon Musk (who donated $250 million to Trump’s campaign), pushed grooming gangs to the top of the UK political agenda – with the help of Conservative and Reform UK politicians, and their allies in the media.

Native Organizations Fill Gaps In Federal Support For Renewable Energy

Native-led renewable energy organizations and projects are blossoming across the United States with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) serving as the game changing catalyst. The IRA provides Tribes with renewable energy tax credits for the first time (covering up to 70% of project cost) and increases funding for Tribal energy loans from $2 to $20 billion! Accessing this money, however, is a different story. “The funding is like a fire hose for Tribal communities. It’s great for Tribes that can harness the money with 30% down, but feels like a huge gaslight for the many Tribes who lack development resources, capital funding, or adequate transmission lines to access it,” said Joseph McNeil Jr., Standing Rock Sioux member and Manager of SAGE, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s energy organization.

Norway’s Equinor Forced To Withdraw Key Carbon Capture Claim

Equinor has retracted a claim that it stores about a million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually at its flagship carbon capture project after DeSmog obtained data showing the real figure was as little as a tenth of that amount. The Norwegian oil company scrubbed the estimate from its website in November, when presented with official figures showing that it captured 106,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) at its Sleipner carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility in 2023. Equinor has not captured 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year at the site since 2001, according to the data, provided by the Norwegian Environment Agency.

Midwest Wins Funding For A New Hydrogen Hub

The U.S. Department of Energy is rolling out the first installment of its $1 billion commitment to ramp up clean hydrogen production in the Midwest, part of a bid by the Biden administration to lock in a nationwide roadmap for decarbonization. The Midwest Hydrogen Hub, which is set to span Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan, was awarded $22.2 million late last month as part of a billion-dollar federal cost-share grant through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The hub “aims to decarbonize a variety of industries such as manufacturing, steel and glass production, power generation, refining, and heavy-duty transportation through the use of clean hydrogen,” according to a Department of Energy factsheet.

A Reality Check On Our ‘Energy Transition’

The much-vaunted “energy transition” that promised a great leap forward from fossil fuels to renewables along with a cornucopia of technologies is now struggling with history and complexity. A few facts tell the story. Despite all the talk of “decarbonization,” global coal production reached a record high in 2023. The dirtiest of fuels accounts for 26 per cent of the world’s total energy consumption. And despite all the promises of a green revolution, oil, gas and coal still account for 82 per cent of the global energy mix. Meanwhile greenhouse gas emissions galloped to a new high in 2023. The concentration of carbon dioxide gases in the atmosphere has increased 11.4 per cent in just 20 years.

Developers Eye Louisiana, Texas For Offshore Carbon Storage

The fishers in Gulf of Mexico waters off Cameron Parish, Louisiana, estimate their catch has fallen catastrophically from 1 million tons a season to 150,000 tons since the first liquefied natural gas terminal in the parish began operating eight years ago. Now, a new industry is being developed in the waters that were once the most productive grounds in the nation for fish, shrimp and oysters. A company called OnStream CO2 is developing the GeoDura hub, which it says could hold millions of tons of carbon dioxide captured from fossil fuel industries, including LNG terminals, a mile or more below the waters off Cameron Parish’s shores.

MetroCHARGE Powers EVs With Energy Recovered From Subway Train Brakes

In Barcelona, energy from train brakes that could otherwise be wasted is now being harvested to charge electric vehicles. As part of Spain’s MetroCHARGE project, 16 subway stations in Barcelona use brake energy recuperators to redirect energy from the train brakes to EV charging stations on the streets, The Associated Press reported. Regenerative braking is not a new concept, especially for trains. But the move to transport the energy from the brakes through cables to electric vehicle chargers is an innovative way to supply power to charging stations.

Energy Communities Are Gaining Ground In Spain

Across the European Union, traditional energy systems are still dominated by centralized fossil fuel power plants, slowing the transition to more ambitious climate targets. Spain is no stranger to this. Today, the country’s electricity generation accounts for nearly 15% of its global greenhouse gas emissions, ranking third after transportation (30%) and industry (18%). The good news is that the last five years have also been crucial for developing new solutions to curb emissions and improve energy efficiency. To reduce greenhouse gases, the E.U. has passed several directives promoting a more decentralized energy system, allowing local initiatives to flourish.

Whistleblower Demands Governor Fix ‘Completely Unregulated’ Fracking Wastewater Network

A whistleblowing Pennsylvania oil and gas worker, together with the state’s former lead environmental regulator, are ringing the alarm bell on an unregulated and shadowy network of pipelines at least hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of miles long. The pipeline system was constructed over the past decade by oil and gas operators in Pennsylvania to transport toxic and radioactive fracking wastewater. “There is no oversight,” says Robert Green, who works in southwestern Pennsylvania as a hydrostatic tester, a niche job in the industry that involves assuring pipelines can appropriately handle the complex and often hazardous fuels and waste streams they contain.

The Case For A ‘Bold Idea’ To End The Era Of Coal, Oil And Gas

Could the world negotiate a wind-down of the fossil fuel industry — just as Cold War adversaries once agreed to limit their stockpiles of nuclear weapons? In an interview for the Climate Consciousness Summit 2024, Tzeporah Berman, founder and chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative said a growing wave of support for the proposal — which has been endorsed by more than 3,000 scientists, 121 cities and sub-national governments, and 14 nations — could ultimately make new fossil fuel projects unacceptable, even in the United States, the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas.

Evidence During COP29 That Biomass Is A Disaster

The global biomass energy industry will triple by 2030, increasing woody biomass supply from monoculture plantations by 13 times and woody biomass supply overall by three times, according to a new report Burning up the Biosphere: A Global Threat Map of Biomass Energy Development released on Monday 18 November by the Biomass Action Network of EPN International. The natural forests which supply the wood burnt for energy production will suffer from intensified logging, degradation, and plantation conversion, exacerbating both the climate and biodiversity crises and adversely affecting communities throughout the global supply chains.

Removing Hydropower Dams Can Restore Ecosystems

A free-flowing river supports abundant fish and wildlife, provides drinking water, and other intangible recreational benefits. But humans have sought to block rivers with dams for millennia. While dams have provided benefits like hydroelectricity and water storage, they have also been ecologically disastrous. Besides blocking fish migrations, these human-made structures can destroy seasonal pulses of water that keep ecosystems in balance. Some dams—especially those used for power—can deplete water in streams, leaving entire stretches of river bone dry.

COP29 Must Not Be Another Greenwashing Event

Countries must find real solutions for climate action and climate finance and reject false solutions such as biomass energy, says the Biomass Action Network as the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Climate Convention is set to open in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 11 November. COP29 will focus on finance, as did the Biodiversity COP16 which was suspended last weekend due to the lack of agreement. Developed countries refuse to commit to sufficient financial support for developing countries. Instead, they promote false solutions like centralised (large scale) biomass energy.

How A Former ExxonMobil Employee Confronted Climate Disinformation

Lindsey Gulden, a climate scientist, spent more than a decade working as a data scientist for ExxonMobil until she was fired in 2020 after internally reporting an allegedly fraudulent overvaluation of the company’s assets in the Permian Basin, an oil and gas-producing region spanning Texas and New Mexico. (ExxonMobil says her termination was unrelated and denies fraud took place). That experience prompted her to ask deeper questions about the oil and gas company’s assurances to staff that it is committed to playing a leading role in the energy transition.

Claudia Sheinbaum De-Privatizes Two Major Oil And Energy Companies

On October 30, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum made a very clear anti-neoliberal gesture in her morning press conference: the de-privatization of two emblematic Mexican energy companies. Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) will now be fully controlled by the federal government. The government also signed a decree for the Mexican State to regain full rights over passenger railroads. This was achieved through a constitutional reform approved by Congress, in which MORENA has a majority. Although Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Sheinbaum’s predecessor) sent the proposal several weeks ago, the current president takes the most important credit for having concluded the process.
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