Fossils ‘Much Better at Capturing Politicians’ than Emissions, Gore Says, as Pressure Mounts on COP28 President

Fort McMurray, Alberta

Don’t trust the oil and gas industry to report its actual carbon pollution, said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who added that the man leading the COP28 climate talks in Dubai this week and next runs one of the “dirtiest” oil companies out there.

“They’re much better at capturing politicians than they are at capturing emissions,” Gore told The Associated Press in a sit-down interview.

The Nobel Prize-winning climate activist, author, filmmaker, and Climate Reality Project founder blasted COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who is also CEO of the national oil company of the host nation, United Arab Emirates. Gore said Al Jaber’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is “one of the largest and one of the dirtiest, by many measures, oil companies in the world.”

It’s also laying plans to increase oil drilling 42% by 2030, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported December 1, just a day before the COP28 secretariat trumpeted a voluntary methane reduction deal that brought together 50 of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies, including ADNOC.

In previous comments, AP writes, Al Jaber’s colleagues have dismissed media coverage detailing ADNOC’s expansion plans. The company in 2019 announced plans to expand its output to five million barrels per day.

In an hour-long, data-heavy presentation during the COP, Gore said: “The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company still claims to have no emissions from methane or anything else from the transport of oil and gas. Well, actually, they do. We can see them from space.”

“Why can we see the leakage from space if there are no leakages? Well, these were self-reported emissions,” Gore said. Then showing his data: “And this is the actual emissions. And these are the emissions last year, here.”

In his interview with AP, Gore repeatedly took aim at Al Jaber’s controversial appointment by the UAE to chair the COP. As summit host, the local government chooses the president whose duty it is to guide the talks to the most ambitious outcome negotiators can achieve.

“He’s a nice guy. He’s a smart guy. I’ve known him for years. But he has a direct conflict of interest,” Gore said. “And this isn’t some kind of nitpicking complaint. This goes to the heart of whether or not the world is going to have the ability to make intelligent decisions about humanity’s future.”

Gore added that Al Jaber’s “main job is the head of the oil company. And honestly, when I look at the massive expansion plan that they have to increase their production of oil, 50%, increase their production of gas” after the climate conference ends, he asked, “do you take us for his fools?” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/fossils-much-better-at-capturing-politicians-than-emissions-gore-says-as-pressure-mounts-on-cop28-president/ | theenergymix.com/fossils-much-…

#cdnpoli #world #COP28 #environment #AlJaber #UnitedArabEmirates #AlGore
#greenwashing #methane #emissions

COP28: Canada’s new methane plan eyes 75% slash in emissions

Canada has released a new draft plan that the government says will help cut methane emissions from the country’s oil and gas sector by at least 75 per cent.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault made the announcement Monday at the ongoing UN climate conference, also known as COP28, being held in Dubai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruDkpJXYPxY

Under the new draft regulations, Canada would eliminate the routine venting and flaring of oil and gas infrastructure, which can cause large amounts of methane to enter the atmosphere.

Methane doesn’t stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, but it is better at trapping heat, so cutting methane emissions is considered one of the most effective ways of tackling climate change.

“We’re also establishing new performance standards for leak detection and repair, focusing on sites with the highest risk,” Guilbeault said.

That means facilities with equipment that has greater potential for emissions will be required to undertake more frequent inspections, according to a release from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The proposed rules would also see the introduction of an audit system, requiring one annual third-party inspection to validate company program results, ECCC said.

Alberta, Saskatchewan react to Ottawa’s plan

The new rules, which will start rolling out in 2027, were opposed by both Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who is also at COP28, called the proposed regulations “costly, dangerous, and unconstitutional.”

“Once again, the federal government is setting unrealistic targets and timelines. Infrastructure can only be updated as quickly as technology allows,” she said in a statement.

Smith said Alberta will not impose a total ban on flaring at this time, calling it ”a critical health and safety practice.” |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10146078/cop28-canada-methane-plan/ | globalnews.ca/news/10146078/co…

#cdnpoli #abpoli #smith #Guilbeault #COP28 #methane #emissions #politics #audits

On the Brink: A Nova Scotia family and the ‘never-ending struggle’ to survive

This is the first instalment of a Global News series called ‘On the Brink,’ which profiles people who are struggling with the rising cost of living. In this story, a Nova Scotia woman talks about the challenges of making ends meet while supporting her family.

Maria Burgess knows what it’s like to be on the brink.

After years of hardship, the 32-year-old has finally managed to carve out a happy life for herself and her family – but it wasn’t easy.

“Now we have a working stove, a working fridge, the clothes on our back and food in our cupboards, which is the big thing for me,” she said in an interview from her home in Moncton, N.B., where she recently moved after exhausting her options in Nova Scotia.

She recalls, not too long ago, having to choose between buying groceries, paying rent and letting a bill go. In their case, food always came first, so her children could eat.

“The struggle is real,” Burgess said.

Like a lot of families who are on the brink, Burgess’s troubles began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the family lost their rented home of five years in Windsor, N.S.

“That’s when the landlord sold and the prices got jacked up,” she said.

Burgess said the search for affordable housing in a province with a sub-one-per-cent vacancy rate was hugely challenging.

“It’s hard to find housing nowadays. It’s usually like $2,800, plus utilities. It’s expensive,” she said. “And trying to survive, buying groceries which have also gone up – it’s just a never-ending struggle.”

After a year in a cramped hotel room, there was finally some good news. Burgess’s husband landed a new job in New Brunswick, and they made the move shortly after.

They spent some time living with a friend, before finally settling into a place of their own in Moncton – a huge upgrade from their tiny camper and hotel room.

“We actually have a private room now,” she said with a laugh. “Here, we can have our time, (the kids) can have their time, and they have space to roam.”

‘Still in that struggle area’

The couple have normal, working-class Canadian jobs. Burgess works at Tim Hortons, and her husband works in construction.

Though they are in a much better position than they were a year ago, Burgess said they still face challenges.

“We’re making more money, but with the amount of groceries, we’re still in that struggle area,” she said. “We’re making it, but we go without sometimes.… It’s tight.” |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10128874/on-the-brink-1-family-struggle/ | globalnews.ca/news/10128874/on…

#nspoli #inflation #covid #rent #IncreasingCosts #PoorWages #politics #NationWide #canada

Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back

Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not by accident but as part of organised political campaigns, in which case we refer to it as disinformation.

But there is a more fundamental, subversive damage arising from misinformation and disinformation that is discussed less often.

It undermines democracy itself. In a recent paper published in Current Opinion in Psychology, we highlight two important aspects of democracy that disinformation works to erode.

Disinformation about climate change is a well-documented example. The fossil fuel industry understood the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels at least as early as the 1960s. Yet they spent decades funding organisations that denied the reality of climate change. This disinformation campaign has delayed climate mitigation by several decades – a case of public policy being thwarted by false information.

We’ve seen a similar misinformation trajectory in the COVID-19 pandemic, although it happened in just a few years rather than decades. Misinformation about COVID varied from claims that 5G towers rather than a virus caused the disease, to casting doubt on the effectiveness of lockdowns or the safety of vaccines.

The viral surge of misinformation led to the World Health Organisation introducing a new term – infodemic – to describe the abundance of low-quality information and conspiracy theories.

Strikingly, some of the same political operatives involved in denying climate change have also used their rhetorical playbook to promote COVID disinformation. What do these two issues have in common? |Read more https://theconversation.com/disinformation-campaigns-are-undermining-democracy-heres-how-we-can-fight-back-217539 | theconversation.com/disinforma…

#world #cdnpoli #politics #misinforamation #democracy #infodemic #covid #ClimateChange

Poilievre’s Conservative party embracing language of mainstream conspiracy theories

Article published Aug. 13, 2023

OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been hitting the summer barbecue circuit with ramped-up rhetoric around debunked claims that the World Economic Forum is attempting to impose its agenda on sovereign governments.

It is, some experts suggest, another sign that some conspiracy theories are moving from the fringes of the internet to mainstream thinking, as people’s distrust of government grows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSscfaiTJJA

On digital IDs, the federal government has been looking at technology to create a national digital identification document to help people access government services. It has not been promoted as something that will become mandatory.

Last winter, a conspiracy theory circulating on social media suggested Trudeau was going to require provinces to sign on to digital ID systems for their residents in order to get billions in new health-care funding. That conspiracy was also debunked.

Duane Bratt, political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said some people have long embraced conspiracies, but now they have moved into mainstream politics.

“The big shift that we have seen is that it is now being promoted by someone who could be prime minister,” said Bratt.

Kawser Ahmed, a politics professor at the University of Winnipeg with a research specialty in conspiracy theories, said the number and uptake of conspiracy theories began to grow after the 2016 presidential election in the United States, aided by social media and encrypted messaging apps.

But Ahmed said the biggest trigger was the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There’s a lot of ideas that are now moving into the mainstream that are simply not supported by science, evidence or facts,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter and some of those politicians have been elected, like the current premier of Alberta.”

United Conservative Party premier Danielle Smith has said she is in lockstep with Poilievre, and will having nothing to do with the World Economic Forum.

Populism has driven politicians to feed into conspiracy theories because they need votes, and fear is a great motivator, said Ahmed. They get less interest peddling for votes using their record.

“It’s very easy to appeal to people that something is a threat,” he said. “For example your identity, your livelihood, your religious values.”

Ahmed said it is affecting our democracy, pitting groups against each other, creating suspicion and harming national security by spreading misinformation that eventually affects policy. |Read more https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/poilievre-s-conservative-party-embracing-language-of-mainstream-conspiracy-theories-1.6517247 | ctvnews.ca/politics/poilievre-…

#cdnpoli #PierrePoilievre #WEF #conspiracy #populism #conservatives #smith #abpoli