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Emissions set to surge 50 pct by 2050: OECD

michaela — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:33:21 +0000

Global greenhouse gas emissions could rise 50 percent by 2050 without more ambitious climate policies, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Thursday.

See http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/15/oecd-environment-idUSL5E8EE68W20120315.

Argentine Environmental Group Files Complaint Against Xstrata Copper

Richard — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:42:29 +0000

The environmental and human rights organization CEDHA along with two other environmental groups, lodged a complaint today against Xstrata Copper in Australia, accusing the multinational mining company of destroying glaciers and permafrost in two of its operations in Argentina, El Pachón and Filo Colorado.

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10971

OECD Complaint Filed Against Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines in Mongolia

Richard — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:35:46 +0000

(Source: Miningwatch Canada newsletter Summer 2010)

On March 31, 2010, the Government of Mongolia signed an investment agreement with Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. for the development of a massive gold/copper mine.

On April 1, 2010, MiningWatch Canada and Britain’s Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) assisted the Mongolian organization OT Watch in filing complaints in the United Kingdom and Canada against Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe for alleged breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. OT Watch is the lead Mongolian complainant acting on behalf of the Centre for Citizens’ Alliance, the Centre for Human Rights and Development, Steppes without Borders, Drastic Change Movement, and National Soyombo Movement.

The companies in question are developing the Oyu Tolgoi project located in the fragile ecosystem of the South Gobi Desert in Mongolia. In the absence of an adequate Environ-mental Impact Assessment and water study, Mongolian civil society groups fear that the mine will reduce the quality and availability of water, threaten Mongolia’s wildlife and biodiversity, and decrease the amount of pasture on which the country’s traditional nomadic population depends for its survival.

On April 23, 2010, Mongolian NGOs appealed to John Ruggie, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, to urge the Mongolian government to oblige Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe to undertake a more thorough environmental impact assessment and water study and review the benefits-sharing arrangements in the government/company Investment Agreement. The appeal to John Ruggie followed demonstrations and hunger strikes by Mongolians concerned about the impacts of the proposed mine project on their lives.

Climate change after the talks in Bonn

Richard — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:26:34 +0000

Bonn Climate Negotiations

The recent UN climate talks in in Bonn have at least moved on from the fiasco at Copenhagen. However, the draft text that emerged at the end of the talks is still seriously flawed. Developing nations in the Group of 77 and China described it as ‘unbalanced’. The text calls for global emission reductions of 50-85% by 2050 (without expressing a base year), and emission reductions by developed countries of 25-40% by 2020 and 80-95% by 2050 from 1990 levels. The text is largely based on the Copenhagen Accord, with its focus on voluntary pledges. It does not refer to any requirement for developed countries to list their emissions pledges within a legally binding compliance mechanism like the Kyoto Protocol. So far, individual pledges from rich countries pledges to cut emissions have been nowhere near enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. It delays the peaking year for global emissions (i.e. from 2015 to 2020), while requiring developing countries to peak their emissions in 2020. This would force them to move rapidly away from fossil fuels in just a few years. References to equity and burden sharing have been removed from the section on the shared vision for future climate action. Meanwhile, the text is still too ambitious for the the US, which said some elements were ‘unacceptable’. The US has so far only pledged to cut its emissions 17% by 2020 on 2005 emission levels. A poll of delegates’ expectations, conducted by the WWF, found that most expected no agreement to be reached before December 2011 in South Africa at the earliest.

Science

A study finds that 98% of climate scientists that publish research on the subject support the view that human activities are warming the planet.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10370955.stm.

A group of climate scientists and campaigners have written to the energy and climate change secretary calling on him to stand by Liberal Democrat manifesto pledges to push for an ambitious international climate treaty based on the contraction and convergence.

See http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264654/campaigners-urge-huhne-stand.

A new report finds the world could produce 95 per cent of the electricity it needs from renewable sources by 2050.

See http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2264307/report-renewables-revolution.

Subsidies

The OECD has urged governments to end fossil fuels subsidies, arguing this could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent.

See http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6581DI20100609.

EU Mulls 12 Years More State Aid For Coal: Draft

The European Union is considering 12 more years of state aid for coal, a draft European Commission document showed, even as the Group of 20 prepared to discuss phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. The current EU subsidy regime expires this year, and European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has said he intends to put forth a new plan in about two weeks. A draft seen by Reuters reveals a gradual phase-out of state aid for coal mining between the start of 2011 and the end of 2022 and cites concerns about employment.

See http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE65N14R.htm.

Fossil fuel subsidies are a sticky problem

The world’s addiction to oil and other fossil fuels is enabled by the subsidies many governments provide to make them so cheap. Some details have already started to leak out, and the scale of subsidization worldwide is massive. The IEA came out with its own announcement that public spending on consumption subsidies – payments made to make coal, oil and gas more affordable to consumers – was $556-billion (U.S.) in 2008, a $215-billion increase from 2007. The IEA estimates that phasing out the subsidies in the next 10 years could cut global energy demand by 6 per cent, and reduce carbon emissions equal to 30 per cent of the reduction needed to keep global temperatures from rising by 2 degrees.

See http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-a-sticky-problem/article1611006/.

Climate change poses economic threat

By Wangari Maathai – The current upheaval caused by the economic recession pales in comparison to the potential impacts of climate change, which, if unabated, threatens to bring more disasters, famine, disease, resource scarcity, human displacement and migrations and economic instability than ever before. Too often such conflicts are labelled as inter-ethnic or religious, ignoring the fact that climate change, environmental degradation and the pursuit of fossil fuels is the root cause of so much conflict in the world today. Droughts in Kenya, wildfires in California and melting glaciers in our mountains are further indications that we are on the tipping point of a catastrophe scientists have long been predicting. No country or community is immune from climate change, but the greatest tragedy is that those who are most affected and who are least able to adapt and mitigate against climate change, are least responsible. While leaders of the world’s richest countries bear the greatest responsibility for rising global temperatures, it is those already living on the edge of poverty who will feel the impacts most acutely.

We really can live without tar sands, but don’t tell the oil patch

The scariest thing for the oil industry right now is not the front page pictures of dying, oil-covered birds in the Gulf of Mexico, or pictures of dead, oil covered ducks in the Alberta tar sands. The most frightening spectre for them is a surging renewable energy industry united with environmentalists to destroy the myth of oil’s necessity. Yet that is precisely what happened last week, when Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council released their ‘Energy [R]evolution’ blueprint for cutting carbon emissions while achieving economic growth. The simple solution is to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy and energy efficiency. The study was developed in conjunction with specialists from the German Aerospace Centre and more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world. It demonstrated that in a world taking serious action on climate change, there is no need for unconventional oil from the tar sands.

See http://hilltimes.com/page/printpage/oilpatch-06-21-2010.

Vedanta snubs British government again

Richard — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:01:36 +0000

Vedanta Resources has once again snubbed a British government investigation into its planned mine in Orissa, India, by labelling government calls for a change in its corporate behaviour ‘one-sided’, and urging it to ‘rest the case’.

See http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5632.

Follow up to Final Statement by the UK National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: Complaint from Survival International against Vedanta Resources plc

This Follow Up Statement reflects the parties’ responses on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Final Statement dated 25 September 20091 on the complaint from Survival International against Vedanta Resources plc (Vedanta) under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (the Guidelines).

See http://www.berr.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/survival-international-against-vedanta-resources.pdf.

UK government finds Vedanta in major breach of trust

Richard — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:34:30 +0000

Last week’s conclusion by a UK government agency that Vedanta Resources has violated guidelines laid down by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) is certainly significant. It serves to confirm claims by numerous critics, inside and outside India, that this UK outfit is a “serial” offender against human rights. On 19 December 2008, London-based Survival International lodged a complaint with the OECD’s UK National Contact Point (NCP). In commendable detail, the NGO demonstrated that Vedanta’s plan to construct a huge bauxite mine on the Nyamgiri hills in Orissa, would violate legal provisions for the resident Dongria Khonds. Now, the NCP has ruled that the company dismally failed in this respect. The process for hearing allegations against companies under the OECD guidelines has been criticised as too drawn-out and inconclusive. Only one minerals company has previously been found guility of violations in the past by the UK NCP. This time, however, judgment was both swift and unequivocal. Vedanta didn’t provide any evidence to counter Survival’s complaint – an “own goal” which might have hastened proceedings and sharpened the NCP’s conclusions. The NCP has called on Vedanta to now “change its behaviour.” However, the OECD guidelines are voluntary. If the British government really intends that company alter its ways (blithe hope though that may be) it will have to do more than issue mere exhortations. [Comment by Nostromo Research, 12 October 2009]

See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=9543.

Also see http://londonminingnetwork.org/2009/10/vedanta-niyamgiri-and-the-british-government/.

ANCP issues final statement on BHP Billiton complaint

Richard — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:57:31 +0000

In 2007, complaints were made to the Australian and Swiss National Contact Points (NCP) of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) about mining companies BHP Billiton and Xstrata, listed on the London Stock Exchange but headquartered in Australia and Switzerland respectively.

The complaints concerned forced removals of communities around the Cerrejon Coal mine in Colombia, a mine which the two companies, along with London-listed Anglo American, own. (For various reports on the subject, see http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/content/category/9/20/31/). In December, 2008, an agreement was signed between the Cerrejon Coal company and members of one of the displaced communities (see http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/content/view/444/31/).

Negotiations continue between the company and other communities facing relocation. Community members are highly critical of the negotiations, accusing the company of lacking good faith, failing to keep them properly informed, and imposing timetables for relocation without consulting the communities. Nonetheless, the OECD NCP in Australia has decided to terminate the complaint process on the grounds that progress has been made towards the resolution sought by the complainants.

The NCP’s decision is at http://www.ausncp.gov.au/content/docs/385_435_Final_Statement_BHP_Billiton_Cerrejon_Coal.pdf.