Tag Archives: fossil fuels

EU Climatologists: 2023 Was Hottest Year On Record

The Associated Press reports: Earth last year shattered global annual heat records, flirted with the world’s agreed-upon warming threshold and showed more signs of a feverish planet, the European climate agency said Tuesday. In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was …

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US Oil Production Has Broken Records Under Biden

The Washington Post reports: You won’t hear President Biden talking about it much, but a key record has been broken during his watch: The United States is producing more oil than any country ever has. The flow of huge amounts of crude from American producers is playing a big role in keeping prices down at the pump, diminishing the geopolitical …

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NOAA: 2023 Will Likely Be “Hottest Year On Record”

NPR reports: As 2023 draws to a close, it’s going out on top. “It’s looking virtually certain at this point that 2023 will be the hottest year on record,” says Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit that analyzes climate trends. Though temperature records from December have yet to be finalized, climate scientists at the National Oceanic and …

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WaPo: Scientists Fear Global Warming Is Accelerating

The Washington Post reports: For the past several years, a small group of scientists has warned that sometime early this century, the rate of global warming — which has remained largely steady for decades — might accelerate. Temperatures could rise higher, faster. The drumbeat of weather disasters may become more insistent. And now, after what is poised to be the …

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200 Nations Agree To Transition From Fossil Fuels

Reuters reports: Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, a first of its kind deal signaling the eventual end of the oil age. The deal struck in Dubai after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations was meant to send a …

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Big Oil Deal: Chevron To Buy Hess For $53 Billion

Reuters reports: Chevron Corp said on Monday it will buy smaller rival Hess Corp in a $53-billion all-stock deal, as the oil major looks to increase its footprint in oil-rich Guyana. The deal puts two of the top oil giants, Chevron and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), head-to-head in two of the world’s fastest growing oil basins – shale and Guyana. Guyana …

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Guardian: Big Oil Has Walked Back Climate Pledges

The Guardian reports: It was probably the Earth’s hottest week in history earlier this month, following the warmest June on record, and top scientists agree that the planet will get even hotter unless we phase out fossil fuels. Yet leading energy companies are intent on pushing the world in the opposite direction, expanding fossil fuel production and insisting that there …

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Climatologists Predict Record Heat Over Next 5 Years

The New York Times reports: Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. The record for Earth’s hottest year was set in 2016. There is a 98 percent chance that at least one …

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Big Oil Sees Record 2022 Profits After Gas Prices Surge

Reuters reports: The West’s top energy firms are expected to rake in a combined record profit of $200 billion from a turbulent 2022 marked by huge volatility in oil and gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with buoyant earnings likely to roll through 2023. Flush with cash, BP Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and TotalEnergies also delivered shareholders unprecedented returns …

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Scientists: Last Eight Years Were Hottest On Record

The New York Times reports: The world remained firmly in warming’s grip last year, with extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributing to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record, European climate researchers said on Tuesday. The eight warmest years on record have now occurred since 2014, the scientists, from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported, …

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STUDY: Arctic Is Warming Much Faster Than Predicted

Science News reports: The Arctic is heating up at a breakneck speed compared with the rest of Earth. And new analyses show that the region is warming even faster than scientists thought. Over the last four decades, the average Arctic temperature increased nearly four times as fast as the global average, researchers report August 11 in Communications Earth & Environment. …

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Biden Celebrates As Gas Prices Decline For 8th Week

Bloomberg News reports: US retail gasoline prices fell below $4.50 a gallon for the first time since mid-May, starting to ease pressure at the pump for millions of Americans. The nationwide average was at $4.495 a gallon, according to data released on Tuesday by the American Automobile Association. Prices have fallen more than 10% since hitting a record last month …

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Biden Taps Oil Reserve To Battle Rising Energy Costs

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered 50 million barrels of oil released from the strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs, in coordination with other major energy consuming nations, including China, India, and the United Kingdom. The move is aimed at global energy markets, but also at voters who are coping with higher inflation and …

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United Nations Climate Panel Issues Dire Report

ABC News reports: A United Nations climate panel has confirmed — in its strongest language ever — that the impacts of human-caused climate change are severe and widespread, and that while there is still a chance to limit that warming, some impacts will continue to be felt for centuries. “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean …

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Greenland Suspends Oil Search Due To Climate Change

The Associated Press reports: The left-leaning government of Greenland has decided to suspend all oil exploration off the world’s largest island, calling it is “a natural step” because the Arctic government “takes the climate crisis seriously.” No oil has been found yet around Greenland, but officials there had seen potentially vast reserves as a way to help Greenlanders realize their …

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GM Aims To Stop Making Gas Vehicles By 2040 [VIDEO]

The Detroit Free Press reports: General Motors “aspires” to have all of its global new light-duty vehicles, including full-size pickups and SUVs, be zero emission by 2035. It also targets 2040 for its global products and plants to be carbon neutral. GM made the announcements Thursday, stopping short of saying all of its vehicles will be zero emissions, which means …

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United Airlines Pledges To Eliminate Emissions By 2050

The Verge reports: This week, United Airlines pledged to completely eliminate its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To make good on that promise, the company says it will invest in emerging technologies that capture planet-heating carbon dioxide from the air. It also plans to continue powering its flights with sustainable aviation fuel. United is the latest airline to respond to …

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Fracking Pioneer Chesapeake Energy Goes Bankrupt

The Guardian reports: Chesapeake Energy, the shale gas drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Oklahoma City-based company said on Sunday that it had been forced to enter chapter 11 protection because its debts of $9bn were unmanageable. It has entered a plan with lenders to cut …

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Vatican Calls For Catholics To Divest Fossil Fuel Stocks

Reuters reports: The Vatican urged Catholics on Thursday to disinvest from the armaments and fossil fuel industries and to closely monitor companies in sectors such as mining to check if they are damaging the environment. The calls were contained in a 225-page manual for church leaders and workers to mark the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical “Laudato Si” …

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Billions Could Live In “Extreme Heat Zones” By 2070

The New York Times reports: As the climate continues to warm over the next half-century, up to one-third of the world’s population is likely to live in areas that are considered unsuitably hot for humans, scientists said Monday. Currently fewer than 25 million people live in the world’s hottest areas, which are mostly in the Sahara region in Africa with …

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