January 2013

Today, we published an advert in the Telegraph outlining a long list of disasters that have already befallen Shell and which demonstrate that Arctic drilling is a risk too far. The list is copied here and contains references for the facts referred to in the advert.  

If you don't trust Shell with the Arctic either, join the campaign to Save The Arctic. 

Boris Johnson has a message for "scientists and environmentalists". Or at least, it’s addressed to scientists and environmentalists, although if I were trying to reach that particular audience, I might not have chosen the Telegraph. In fact, I’d probably be more likely to try to put an article in the Telegraph if I was trying to reach Tory backbench MPs. But that’s just me.

How’s your New Year’s resolutions list going? We’re waiting to hear how Volkswagen has begun 2013.

This morning more than 25 Greenpeace activists protested against the carmaker’s stance on the climate outside the Vienna car show. Handing out leaflets and making the point that VW can do better, we were hoping that the company makes some strong commitments.

The Met Office have changed their decadal forecast for the next four years from a predicted 0.54 degree rise to a 0.43 degree rise, measured relative to the 1971-2000 average. This doesn’t sound all that exciting, even to real climate geeks like us, but then Lord Lawson’s climate denial outfit, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, got hold of the story and turned it into ‘Global Warming at a standstill’ in the Telegraph and similarly dramatic variations on the BBC’s Today programme and elsewhere.

Shell's most recent 'mishap' a few days ago was not the first setback the oil giant has suffered in its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic. In fact, it's the eighth in a growing list of reasons why Shell should not be trusted in the Arctic.