More than 140 banks worldwide have "pledged" to cut emissions associated with their lending and investments to almost zero by 2050.

But meanwhile...
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Less than a hundred miles from where world leaders are discussing how to meet their climate pledges, BP is drilling for gas. The project, a sprawling gas field off the Azerbaijani coast, could inject more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, striking a major blow to efforts to slow global warming.

BP has said it intends to invest heavily in new oil and gas fields in the coming years. But it would be unable to pursue these dirty projects without billions in support from big banks. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, along with a number of other banks, all helped BP raise more than $5 billion last year.

Since May 2021, global banks committed to "Net-zero" have poured almost $1 trillion into companies pursuing expansion of oil and gas projects that would push the world beyond its survivable limits. Taken together, these projects would produce almost seven times the annual emissions of the U.S.
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FULL STORY -- grist.org/accountability/net-z…

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Economics #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

A few excerpts here from a beautifully written, deeply insightful, and ultimately inspiring essay by Chris Hedges…
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In the end, the election was about despair.

Despair over futures that evaporated with deindustrialization. Despair over the loss of 30 million jobs in mass layoffs. Despair over austerity programs and the funneling of wealth upwards into the hands of rapacious oligarchs. Despair over a liberal class that refuses to acknowledge the suffering it orchestrated under neoliberalism. Despair over the futile, endless wars, as well as the genocide in Gaza, where generals and politicians are never held accountable. Despair over a democratic system that has been seized by corporate and oligarchic power.

Donald Trump is a symptom of our diseased society. He is not its cause. He is what is vomited up out of decay.

Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party live in their own non-reality-based belief system. Harris, who was anointed by party elites and never received a single primary vote, proudly trumpeted her endorsement by Dick Cheney, a politician who left office with a 13% approval rating.

The smug, self-righteous “moral” crusade against Trump stokes the national reality television show that has replaced journalism and politics. It reduces a social, economic, and political crisis to the personality of Trump. It refuses to confront and name the corporate forces responsible for our failed democracy.

The American dream has become an American nightmare.
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FULL ESSAY ➡️ chrishedges.substack.com/p/the…

#USA #Politics #History #Economics #Israel #Gaza

Why did I describe Hedges' essay as “inspiring” when it seems to be all about despair?

Because in the end, he comes to this conclusion…
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We must invest our energy into organizing mass movements to overthrow the corporate state through sustained acts of mass civil disobedience. This includes the most powerful weapon we possess – the strike.

By turning our ire on the corporate state, we name the true sources of power and abuse. We expose the absurdity of blaming our demise on demonized groups such as undocumented workers, Muslims, or Blacks. We give people an alternative to a corporate-indentured Democratic Party that cannot be rehabilitated. We make possible the restoration of an open society, one that serves the common good rather than corporate profit.

We must demand nothing less than full employment, guaranteed minimum incomes, universal health insurance, free education at all levels, robust protection of the natural world, and an end to militarism and imperialism. We must create the possibility for a life of dignity, purpose, and self-esteem. If we do not, it will ensure a Christianized fascism and ultimately, with the accelerating ecocide, our obliteration.
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➡️ chrishedges.substack.com/p/the…

#USA #Politics #History #Economics

In the six years between 2016 and 2021, according to data published in the most recent Circularity Gap Report, the global economy consumed 582 billion tonnes of materials — nearly as much as the 740 billion consumed in the *entire* 20th century.

REPORT ➡️ circularity-gap.world/2024

That’s very bad! But I wonder, do you think the world has been doing better since 2021? 🤔

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that global consumption has NOT declined during the past three years. In fact, the level almost certainly has increased. But let’s just say it has remained steady.

If that’s true, it means another three years of the world annually consuming ~97 billion tonnes of materials. So the total over the past nine years is now at least 873 billion tonnes — or about 18% MORE than all the materials consumed in the 20th century!

Driven by capitalism’s incessant demand for profits at any cost, we are consuming ourselves to death. But who cares about that? As long as billionaires keep getting richer, that’s all that matters, right?

Business As Usual must go on.

#History #Economics #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

Heading from the article linked below: “Global greenhouse gas emissions at record levels.” It states we are now heading for at least 2.9°C of planetary heating by 2100, and possibly higher.

Although the numbers seen here might appear pessimistic to some, I’ll remind you that in the past, nearly all climate reports from the UN have been overly *optimistic* — failing to anticipate both the stubborn intransigence of our capitalist rulers and the unpredictably extreme response of Earth’s ecosystem to rapidly increasing levels of atmospheric carbon.

So I’d advise taking these temperature predictions with a grain of salt. It could turn out even worse than they expect…
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The latest UNEP report finds that human emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, nitrous oxide) reached a record 57.1bn tonnes in 2023. Global emissions grew 1.3% last year compared with 2022 levels – a rate notably faster than that over the prior decade.

Since the previous report, there have not been any notable changes in country pledges or policies – and global emissions continued to grow. This means that the emissions gap is wider than it was last year and the world is further off track from its climate goals.

The report states that a continuation of current policies would result in a 100% chance of exceeding 1.5C, a 97% chance of exceeding 2C and a 37% chance of exceeding 3C by 2100.

As the report notes, these numbers do *not* include many of the climate-related impacts on greenhouse gas emissions that are not a result of direct human interventions – such as the catastrophic Canadian wildfires in 2023. The ability of the biosphere to absorb a portion of human emissions is broadly expected to weaken under scenarios where the world does not rapidly reduce emissions.

Ultimately, the report highlights that the growing emissions gap reflects a lack of political will by countries to address emissions, rather than any fundamental constraint on the world’s ability to rapidly mitigate.
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FULL ARTICLE -- carbonbrief.org/unep-new-clima…

#History #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange

Global temperatures heating up faster than ever? Monster storms on the rise? Ecosystems destroyed and species going extinct?

Who cares about all that?!

It's time to invest in fossil fuels!!!
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Private equity firms are using US public sector workers’ retirement savings to fund fossil fuel projects pumping more than a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere every year, according to an analysis.

They have ploughed more than $1 trillion into the energy sector since 2010, often buying into fossil fuel projects and, thanks to exemptions from many financial disclosures, operating them outside the public eye, the researchers say.

In many cases they are mortgaging workers’ futures by taking the money they have put away for old age and investing it in assets that risk serious damage to the climate.
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This is Business As Usual at its worst and most cynical. Outrageous. 😡

FULL ARTICLE -- theguardian.com/business/2024/…

#Economics #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual