The great carbon divide. We are not equally to blame for rising temperatures, and recognising that is an important step in identifying possible solutions.....the Oil Barons. Guardian Jonathan Watts  Mon 20 Nov 2023  The climate chasm between the world’s carbon-guzzling rich and the heat-vulnerable poor forms a symbolic shape when plotted on a graph. Climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions are so heavily concentrated among a rich minority that the image resembles one of those old-fashioned broad-bowled, saucer-shaped glasses beloved of the gilded age: a champagne coupe. At the top is the wide, flat, very shallow bowl of the richest 10% of humanity, whose carbon appetite – through personal consumption, investment portfolios, and share of government subsidies and infrastructure benefits – accounts for about 50% of all emissions. Just below is the epicure, that narrowing joint of the glass where the dregs collect. This is made up of the middle 40%, whose carbon habit is roughly proportionate to its number but still double the average carbon budget that everyone would need to stick to if the world is to have any chance of avoiding more dangerous levels of climate breakdown. Going further down is the long, slim, fragile stem comprising the remaining 50% of the world’s population, whose carbon use tapers away along with incomes. At the bottom are the hundreds of millions who live in extreme poverty and barely register in terms of greenhouse gases. The champagne coupe is a fitting image for the great carbon divide that we are living through. 

The last time wealth inequality was as pronounced as it is now was during that belle époque of the 1920s. Then, it was bad enough as a cause of social misery and international instability. Today, it is arguably much worse because the gulf between the haves and have-nots extends to their carbon emissions, which heightens suffering from the climate crisis and impedes efforts to find a solution. This year, the extremes have been more apparent than ever. Oil firms have raked in trillions of dollars in profits that they plan to use to expand production of climate-destabilising fossil fuels despite warnings from the International Energy Agency that this will make it impossible to keep global heating to within 1.5C. Meanwhile, 2023 is on track to be the hottest year on record, and the victims of global heating and extreme weather have been legion. From the dozens of poor Central American migrants who died from heatstroke trying to cross the desert into the wealthy US, to the 18 north Africans, including two children, who burned to death as they attempted to pass through Greek forests engulfed by flames; from the thousands of Hebei villagers who lost their homes when the Chinese government diverted flood waters from wealthy Beijing, to the Mexican fishing community of El Bosque that is being eroded due to more frequent storms battering its coastline. Speaking from an emergency refuge, Guadalupe Cobos Pacheco, a resident of El Bosque, said she felt resentment towards the oil companies that operated platforms within sight of her disappearing village. “We are living in a total climate breakdown. It is a constant worry … we don’t know what to do,” she said. “All this oil exploitation has consequences yet it is we who are paying.” These are just a few of the many individual stories of climate breakdown. Together, they have the potential to fundamentally destabilise life for all of us. Climate justice is expected to be high on the agenda of the UN Cop28 climate summit in Dubai starting later this month. In principle, rich nations have agreed on a “loss and damage fund” to help poor countries cope with the ever more severe fallout from the crisis. But this is not the only form of inequality. Income gaps – and therefore carbon gaps – may have narrowed between countries but they have widened within them. Responsibility for the ongoing climate crisis is becoming more concentrated, while its impacts are spreading.

Corporate Climate Action: Analyzing the Recent Surge of Climate Commitments. RMI analyzes what this increase in corporate commitment means and introduces a new tool to measure impact. RMI James Newcomb,  Adefunke Sonaike,  Daan Walter,  Laurens Speelman  November 29, 2023 On the eve of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), the media buzz about corporate climate action is decidedly mixed. Optimism about the growing numbers of companies setting climate goals is tempered by disappointing news about the pace of many companies’ actions to achieve their goals. We are still creating new structures and systems to guide corporate climate action and working through challenges as these systems mature. Beneath the surface, however, there are encouraging signals. Strong systemic forces are inexorably driving more companies to report greenhouse gas emissions, set independently verified climate action targets, and implement strategies to achieve these goals. RMI is creating new tools and methods, still under development, to better analyze the potential implications of corporate climate action. 

Big oil spent decades sowing doubt about fossil fuel dangers, experts testify. US Senate hearing reviewed report showing sector’s shift from climate denial to ‘deception, disinformation and doublespeak’ Guardian Dharna Noor  Wed 1 May 2024 The fossil fuel industry spent decades sowing doubt about the dangers of burning oil and gas, experts and Democratic lawmakers testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The Senate budget committee held a hearing to review a report published on Tuesday with the House oversight and accountability committee that they said demonstrates the sector’s shift from explicit climate denial to a more sophisticated strategy of “deception, disinformation and doublespeak”. “Big oil had to evolve from denial to duplicity,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, the Rhode Island Democrat, who chairs the Senate committee. The revelations, based on hundreds of newly subpoenaed documents, illustrate how oil companies worked to greenwash their image while fighting climate policy behind the scenes. “Time and again, the biggest oil and gas corporations say one thing for the purposes of public consumption but do something completely different to protect their profits,” Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, testified. “Company officials will admit the terrifying reality of their business model behind closed doors but say something entirely different, false and soothing to the public.”

The findings build on years of investigative reporting and scholarly research showing that the sector was for decades aware of the dangers of the climate crisis, yet hid that from the public. In the absence of decisive government action to curb planet-warming emissions, the impacts of the climate crisis have gotten worse, committee Democrats said. Several senators said the industry should have to pay damages for fueling the crisis. “In my view, it should not be state governments or the federal government having to pick up the bill,” said the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. “I think it’s time to ask the people who caused that problem, who lied about that situation, to pick up the bill.” But budget committee Republicans pushed back on the very premise of the hearing. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa senator and the committee’s top Republican, said it is “undeniable that … fossil fuels are critical to our energy security”. “Among all the tactics that the fossil fuel interests have used over the decades to deny their products have caused global warming, one of the most common is character assassination,” Supran said in an interview after the hearing. “The idea is to attack the messenger rather than the message, because they don’t have a foot to stand on with the message.”....read on   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/may/01/big-oil-danger-disinformation-fossil-fuels

Taking on the Big Banks......Say They’re Acting on Climate, But Continue to Finance Fossil Fuel Expansion Two new reports say banks are not shifting away from fossil fuels fast enough. While lending declined last year, it was likely because oil companies were “swimming in profits.” Inside Climate NewsNicholas KusnetzApril 13, 2023 If money makes the world go round, it should be no surprise that fossil fuel still powers the global economy. Ever since world leaders reached the Paris climate agreement in 2015 to limit warming and slash the pollution driving it, environmental groups have chronicled the continued flow of finance from the wealthiest banks to the oil and gas industry. Climate advocates have been increasing the pressure on banks to change course, and many lenders have responded by adopting policies to reduce the climate pollution generated by their vast portfolios. Some have also pledged to stop financing certain types of fossil fuel extraction altogether, such as coal mining and Arctic drilling. But have those policies made any difference? A pair of new reports provides a muddled picture. Banks lent significantly less money to fossil fuel companies last year, according to a report by a collection of environmental groups led by Rainforest Action Network. However, the decline was likely driven not by choices the banks made, the report said, but because oil companies were sitting on so much cash they didn’t need to borrow any. Many oil firms, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, earned record profits last year.

All told, the world’s top 60 banks plowed $673 billion in financing into fossil fuel companies last year, according to the report, which is the lowest amount since the groups began tracking in 2016. Despite the decline, the report’s authors said the banks’ fossil lending policies remain weak and inadequate, and that such financing is not declining nearly fast enough to curb climate pollution in line with the Paris Agreement’s more ambitious target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. “We still see just this tremendous flow of finance into fossil fuel companies, including into companies that are expanding fossil fuels,” said April Merleaux, research manager at Rainforest Action Network and the report’s lead author. The report singled out the largest companies involved in fossil fuel expansion—those exploring new oil fields, for example, or building new pipelines—and found that banks had lent them $150 billion last year. “Every dollar that’s going into expansion is a dollar that is pushing us past that 1.5 degree target.”......read on    https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13042023/banks-say-theyre-acting-on-climate-but-continue-to-finance-fossil-fuel-expansion/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyo60BhBiEiwAHmVLJWRtLvwEGKg7mFGhvzO9LfvADnob87T616VjSXArHW1NXotadllU-BoCDFEQAvD_BwE