As Alabama miners continue their seven-month strike against Warrior Met Coal, a trio of U.S. senators on Tuesday sent letters of inquiry to the private equity firms the lawmakers say “made off like bandits” after taking over the company while workers “endured severe cuts to pay and benefits” in order to ensure its success. By Brett […]
About six years ago, British landed gentry Matt Ridley was a recurring voice in climate denial-land, penning long opinion pieces about the never-not-debunked pause in warming, criticizing the now-repeatedly-reproven hockey stick graph and otherwise leeching credibility from legitimate science institutions. But DeSmog’s revelation that his pro-coal and anti-climate lobbying might stem from the millions in annual fees from coal mines on his family estate seemed to put a damper on his eagerness to publish […]
Environmentalists on Monday hailed the shutdown of Portugal’s last coal-fired power plant—a move that came nearly nine years ahead of the government’s 2030 target—while warning against converting the facility to run on unsustainable biofuel. By Brett Wilkins Common Dreams Reuters reports the Pego power plant in Abrantes, which was responsible for 4% of Portugal’s carbon emissions, exhausted its coal stock […]
More than 40 countries have signed an agreement at COP26, the latest UN climate change summit in Glasgow, to phase out coal in electricity generation. The signatories include some of the world’s biggest coal burners: Canada, Poland, Vietnam, South Korea, Ukraine and Indonesia. The larger of these economies pledge to cease using coal in their […]
COP26 officials on Thursday are heralding developments they say signal that “the end of coal is in sight”—but advocates for strong climate action suggest holding the applause. By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams “Agreed at COP26 is an inadequate agreement that allows coal to continue for nearly 20 more years,” tweeted Extinction Rebellion. “But that’s excluding major […]
As the world prepares to discuss more aggressive cuts to carbon emissions at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, China has just sent out the worst possible advance signal. It is going to loosen restrictions on coal mining in the final three months of the year in response to an energy crisis which has […]
Climate campaigners on Friday responded to Sen. Joe Manchin’s unrelenting obstruction of his own party’s efforts to spend $3.5 trillion to combat the climate crisis and make other major social investments by accusing the right-wing West Virginia Democrat of doing the fossil fuel industry’s bidding, and drawing attention to the “modern-day coal baron’s” staggering conflicts of interest. By […]
Just two days after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the world’s largest coal producer would stop funding overseas coal projects, seven countries on Friday pledged they would also cease building new coal power plants—the latest sign one of the world’s dirtiest energy sources is on its way out. By Julia Conley Common Dreams Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Montenegro, Sri Lanka, and […]
Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement late Tuesday that the country will end its financing of overseas coal projects, climate action advocates applauded the “huge step forward” into a future with far fewer carbon emissions—while pushing China to commit to further action. By Julia Conley Common Dreams In a pre-recorded address at the United Nations General Assembly […]
Though it may not seem like it, we really try not to talk about UC-Boulder professor Roger Pielke Jr.’s “so bad even Nate Silver had to apologize” takes, unless he’s being used by professional deniers, which is, admittedly, pretty often. And ever since his tin-foil, denier-beloved January 2020 Forbes post about how billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg “corrupted […]
There is now a broad consensus that unabated coal power generation must be rapidly phased out if the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement are to be met. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sees coal use falling by around four-fifths this decade on a 1.5C pathway. The International Energy Agency roadmap for 1.5C says unabated coal power should end by 2030 in advanced economies and […]
Defying a “code red” warning about the climate crisis and sustained pressure to take urgent action on the planetary emergency, the conservative government of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday vowed to continue coal mining.By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams Asked at a press conference whether his government would put a time limit on the coal industry, Morrison responded […]
Long before the coronavirus (COVID-19) hit and oil prices collapsed, the U.S. fossil fuel industry and its workers were vulnerable. Threats included increasing cost-competitiveness of renewable energy compared to fossil fuels, investor concerns about financial risks and stranded assets, and a changing policy landscape (at state and local levels at least) seeking to meet decarbonization […]
For generations, hundreds of thousands of West Virginia coal miners earned a good living. The money they made supported local economies in towns across Appalachia. And their labor down in deep mines brought light to the rest of the world. But this prosperity came at a high price. Mountains were blown to pieces, rivers ran […]
Members of United Mine Workers of America and other labor activists picketed outside BlackRock’s New York City headquarters on July 28, 2021 to demand better pay and working conditions at Warrior Chanting “Warrior Met has no soul—no contract, no coal,” over 1,000 United Mine Workers of America members and their allies picketed outside multinational asset management […]