Tag: power

Green Tau: issue 105

The Power of Silence

8th May 2025

According to a recent report in the Guardian, banks including Barclays, HSBC, NatWest and Lloyds have poured more than £75bn into companies developing huge fossil fuels projects with the potential of producing  420bn tonnes of carbon emissions. That would be equivalent to more than 10 years of current global carbon dioxide emissions. (1) 

Banks and fossil fuel companies are clearly working together to wreck our green and sustainable global environment. How do we as ‘powerless’ – when compared to the financial clout of these businesses – individuals respond? 

Yesterday (Wednesday 7th May 2025) Barclays held its AGM at the QEII conference centre just off Parliament Square. The building itself was barricaded off – a barrier reinforced on the inner face by a large number of private security officers (the kind of thing that big businesses can buy) and further reinforced on the outer face by large numbers of police officers. Their objective being to ensure that proceedings were not disrupted by any protest – even though the UK still (just about) upholds the right for people to undertake peaceful protest.

A sizeable crowd of protestors had squeezed into the limited space that lay between the QEII barricades  and the barricades that enclosed the extensive gas repairs being carried out in front of the Methodist Central Hall. Palestinian flags flew high, placards announced “Barclays – Don’t Bank on Apartheid” and protestors accompanied by a drum as protestors chanted slogans highlighting and castigating Barclays for their involvement in financing the genocide in Gaza. 

Meanwhile stage left a small group of Buddhists and Christians from Buddhists XR and Christian Climate Action, spent several minutes checking in with each other as they prepared for an extended period of silent protest. Circling round us were more police officers who then followed as in pairs we quietly walked carrying our various banners across to the QEII centre. We found a space on the street where we could face the conference centre, and enter into a period of silent meditative prayer and reflection. 

Can you hold a silent protest when surrounded by fellow protestors chanting and drumming? Would it not be as easier undertaking if one moved to a quieter spot away from the protest? Yes and yes. Moving to a quieter spot would have made our focus easier, but not being in the heart of the protest would have made it harder.  Rather the noise and clamour focused our minds on the scale of the outrage – the unjust and implacable way that big money rides roughshod over other people’s lives – that we were all protesting against. 

Once focused, the hour and half we were there was tangibly channelling a power into space that would not otherwise have been present. And the contrast between our silence and the noise of the other protesters added to the overall impact of the action. 

Did the shareholders listen? Did the CEO and the board of Barclays take note of what was going on? Will they search in their hearts and consider the morality of financing activities that make the world a worse place? Will they look beyond the profits and bonuses they make, to consider the many lives they are destroying? Will the power they wield, immunise them from feelings of guilt?

We may not know the answers but we do know that we have asked the right questions.

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/01/uk-banks-put-75bn-into-firms-building-climate-wrecking-carbon-bombs-study-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Proper 27 – and also Remembrance Sunday

10th November 2024

Reflection with readings below

When we talk about the House of Windsor, for example, we are talking about a family – a family that goes back many generations and which we anticipate will continue on for many more generations to come. Our first reading is also about the continuation of  dynastic House, that of the House of David. It is a story of the forebears of David, significant for Jews for whom he is Israel’s greatest king, and significant for Christians for David himself is the forebear of Jesus. But the story is also subversive as Ruth, the mother, is not a member of the one of the tribes of Israel but is a Moabite. 

The character of God is thus highlighted as being one who includes rather than excludes. The House of Israel is not exclusive but inclusive. This inclusivity is also the message of the gospels and of the Pauline letters. In writing to the community in Galatia, Paul reminds them that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.

Today is Remembrance Sunday when we remember those who gone before us as victims of war. We remember their sacrifice made in the hope of a better future, a future where all people may live together in peace. Naomi says to her daughter-in-law, Ruth, that she wishes to find security for her – and she does this by enabling Ruth to become part of her extended family. The more we can incorporate each other into one family, the greater will be the peace that we can enjoy. 

Another word for house is home, a dwelling place but perhaps more importantly a place of belonging. So we may talk about our home town, or our homeland. In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis talks of the earth as being ‘our common home’. This is the one home we all share and for which we must all care, if it is to be a home for generations to come.

Today’s psalm reminds us that unless our deeds and actions are both inspired and guided by God, they will fail. It is God’s first command to us in the Garden of Eden. And the call to care for the earth, to care for the vulnerable and the needy, and to pursue justice for all, is the repeated refrain throughout the Bible. Only by so doing, can our common home, our global family, survive and flourish. 

Next week many people with power and influence will gather in Azerbaijan for the global climate conference – COP29. If our common home is to be a place of safety and well-being, we need those people to act positively, speedily and effectively in cutting the use of fossil fuels, in transitioning to renewable energy, and in ensuring a just sharing of resources  – and finances – for all our brothers and sisters, for all our House.

And then we too need to be willing to change our lifestyles, changing the way we use and share resources, so that together we can tackle the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and social injustice. Typically we need to consider not flying; driving less and using public transport more; eating less meat and dairy and instead eating more locally produced fruit and vegetables, grains, pulses and nuts; replacing gas with electricity and using that economically; better insulating our homes; reusing and repairing what we already have in preference to the ‘buy, buy’ culture that advertisers promote; and in the words of Christian Aid, living more simply so that others may simply live.

Today’s gospel reading contrasts the different responses that Jesus observed in the ways people followed God’s ways. Some – and it would seem to have been those with wealth and positions of authority – who made token gestures: a biblical equivalent of green washing. Whilst others gave their all, allowing their whole live to be shaped by God’s will. 

Let us pray that both we and those attending COP29 will be be from the second rather than the first camp. Let us pray that the wellbeing of our House, of our common home will be given priority over personal gain; that by allowing our actions to be guided by God, so that our labour will not be in vain. 

Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.” She said to her, “All that you tell me I will do.”

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. The women of the neighbourhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Psalm 127

1 Unless the Lord builds the house, *
their labour is in vain who build it.

2 Unless the Lord watches over the city, *
in vain the watchman keeps his vigil.

3 It is in vain that you rise so early and go to bed so late; *
vain, too, to eat the bread of toil,
for he gives to his beloved sleep.

4 Children are a heritage from the Lord, *
and the fruit of the womb is a gift.

5 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior *
are the children of one’s youth.

6 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! *
he shall not be put to shame
when he contends with his enemies in the gate.

Hebrews 9:24-28

Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Mark 12:38-44

As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Green Tau: issue 81

Oil and Money – a slippery mix

5th October 2023

In 2019 the Oil & Money conference was renamed the Energy Intelligence Forum. Reuters at the time reported “One of the world’s leading oil and gas conferences, Oil & Money, will change its name to the Energy Intelligence Forum to reflect the world’s shift to cleaner energy in the fight against climate change, its organisers said on Tuesday.”

The Forum in relation to its remit says “We are proud that the conference has been a platform for open and unbiased debate for the energy industry since 1979, …The world needs energy, but the energy industry must find ways to meet those needs in a more sustainable way. The mission of the Energy Intelligence Forum will be to provide a place where energy leaders can come together to debate, collaborate and find low-carbon solutions for the world’s energy challenges.” (1)

However looking at their web site for this year’s conference, whilst one of the main issues being addressed is the effect of climate change on the energy business, it is not with a view to finding low carbon solutions. Rather the objective would seem to be maintaining the profitability of those supplying fossil fuels. Speakers are almost universally from the oil industry or have close links.

Some of the particular topics of discussion includes the following agenda items (my numbering):

i. “Climate Divisions and COP – Can The World Move Forward Together (and What Happens If It Doesn’t?)

“The Western world has driven much of the climate agenda to date, but will a more assertive East and Global South change the debate? Is the COP process still relevant or has technology and country-level policy come to the fore? Who will pay for the transition and how?” 

ii. “Building the Future- Constructing Tomorrow’s Energy System Today

“How will the world construct an energy system that can deliver reliable, affordable and clean energy in the next 30 years? What might look the same and what will have to evolve as we think about energy sources as varied as fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear power? Is there enough industrial capacity and raw materials to realise our grand ambitions?” 

iii.  “The  Changing Face of ESG* – Will Net Zero Remain the Standard?

“How are public and private capital looking at exposure to carbon, and what does this mean for companies in the energy business? Will “net zero” remain the touchstone for climate-focused investors or will it be replaced by other metrics? How will ideas about sustainable approaches to investment change, as we move through a rocky energy transition?”

(*ESG – environmental, social and governance) 

iv. “Winning Energy Strategies – How Best to Navigate Climate, Supply Security and Shareholder Returns

“How can oil and gas companies best navigate the competing priorities of supply security, transition, shareholder demands and portfolio limits? Can companies move faster through the transition than consumers? Should they get more involved in shifting demand? What do shareholders and stakeholders want from incumbent energy players?”

v.“The Geopolitics of the New Energy Economy – The emerging contests, opportunities and risks of the low-carbon transition

“The low-carbon transition is reshaping global geopolitics as nations jostle for position in the energy economy. How will tensions between the US and China, and between producers and consumers, play out? Will demand for minerals, metals and other materials create new tensions? What happens to countries that are left behind? What other sources of instability could arise, like migration?” (2)

These are all important topics which ought to be discussed with a broad spectrum of participants including those from the fields of renewable energy, climate science and biodiversity, as well as participants from across the globe.  It is important to consider the role and importance of non-western countries in determining the climate agenda. Especially so when we are considering who is going to pay for the costs of transitioning. Climate justice campaigners have long called for the greater burden to be born by the richer countries both  to reimburse those most affected by the adverse affects of the crisis and to create a level playing field for the future.

‘Constructing tomorrow’s energy system today’ is what all countries should have been doing for the last 50 years. Here governments have been most remiss leaving these decisions to those in the industry with the most power (the fossil fuel producers) rather than evening out the power balance to enable smaller, newer, renewable producers to have a viable voice. Too often governments have only listened to the voices of the big oil producers rather than listening to climate scientists and those developing alternative energies. 

It is important that ‘net zero’ remains the standard for that is the only coherent target that provides a pathway to reducing carbon emissions to a safer level. It must remain a constant, unchangeable standard if it is both to be effective  vis a vis the climate crisis, and to provide fairness and stability in a global economy where everyone is looking for the competitive edge. We have just recently seen in the UK that, arbitrarily and at short notice, changing the cut off date for ending the production of cars with petrol engines, is as destabilising for manufacturers as it is for customers – and thus also for investors. Equally we have seen that when the government does not gear its energy subsidies towards net zero, that we end up, in the UK certainly, with government money further subsidising new oil whilst failing to boost wind farm construction.

‘Can companies move faster through the transition than consumers?’ One hopes so, otherwise we consumers are forced to buy unsustainable products. In fact companies are not always keeping up with customers – and again this may be due to lack of government support or encouragement. Recently it has been reported that the cost of insuring electric vehicles has rocketed because the infrastructure for the repair of damaged vehicles and batteries is not yet to scale. This  means that the costs for repairs are higher and therefore the cost of insurance cover too is higher. In the area of solar panels and heat pumps, the rate of manufacture and supply is way behind customer demand. Many customers have a long wait or are forced into buying a less climate friendly alternative. In an ideal world energy companies would be pioneering and investing in these industries. Octopus Energy – which is in the business of selling rather than producing energy –  by comparison, is currently promoting the sale of domestic heat pumps, starting from £500 for a complete installation.

Where fossil fuel companies are gambling – and perhaps their gamble looks safe given the power of the companies and the lack of government intervention – is that they are continuing to invest heavily in new oil and gas projects where the fuel won’t come on line for 5 to 10 years and for which the pay back period is going to be even longer. Will there still be a strong market for fossil fuels in 20 or 30 years time? Worryingly for the environment, they, at present, seem to be successfully making that case with shareholders that that will be so.

The Geopolitics of the low-carbon transition is relevant not just with regard to fossil fuels, but also in the growing markets for minerals such as lithium and cobalt for the manufacture of batteries. This gives countries with these raw materials the opportunities for increased wealth or more likely, increased exploitation. Just as large oil companies have been able to manipulate and control supply and demand for fossil fuels, so equally powerful mineral companies are able to so the same. Invariably this is at the expense of the environment and of the local workforce and of the rights of indigenous people. The size of the multi national companies and their control over what are becoming key raw materials, seems to prevent any effective global policing of welfare, environmental and safety standards. 

And as the agenda blurb suggests, there is a real risk that the shift in geopolitics will lead to  conflict between countries or between rival groups within countries. On the last day of the conference one agenda item in particular highlights the close link between the power of large industries, economic power and conflict.

“The New Geopolitics – The Messy Shift Toward a Multipolar World and the New Middle East

“How has the conflict in Ukraine accelerated the geopolitical and economic shifts away from a unipolar world and toward a multipolar order? What does the rise of China mean for US dominance? How will large emerging countries like Saudi Arabia, India and Brazil assert their own independent path, while balancing their traditional alliances. What does this mean for energy companies and commodities which flourished over the past 20 years of steady globalisation?” (2)

Should such self serving conferences as the Energy Intelligence Forum be held without reference to or inclusion of other groups representing the interests of the environment, sustainable development, fair trade, and global well being? The decisions made at the Forum will potentially have major impact on the lives of everyone – and everything – in the world.

A final word from Laudate Deum, Pope Francis’s most recent encyclical, paragraph 23:

 “It is chilling to realise that the capacities expanded by technology “have given those with the knowledge and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world. Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used… In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it”. [Laudate Si  104: AAS 107 (2015), 888-889.]”

(1)https://www.energyintel.com/0000017b-8742-d2d1-affb-f74a076d0001

(2) https://www.energyintelligenceforum.com/2023/agenda

Counting on … day 271

9th August 2022

I don’t generally watch much television but have just watched the BBC’s series Big Oil v the world. I  had not realised how little I knew about the power of big oil companies to influence the world’s future. When we talk about about the capacity of humanity to cause climate change, we are shocked and  stunned. It seems we should be doubly shocked at our human capacity to create a deadly future for ourselves.

It is worth watching so as to be more fully informed and hopefully, be more committed to take preventative and mitigating action. If we can count on humans to cause this crisis, we must have the belief that humans have the capacity to reverse it. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0cgqlv1/big-oil-v-the-world-series-1-1-denial