Norway Gets It! Deutsche Bank Gets It!

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Bill Hewitt

Al Gore called them “subprime carbon assets.” More and more banks, companies, countries, pension funds, universities, churches, and many others are beginning to understand the considerable investment risks in the constellations of fossil fuel companies. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the world’s biggest and most efficient sovereign wealth fund, last week jettisoned 32 coal mining companies, 5 tar sand producers, 2 cement companies and 1 coal-based electricity generator from its $850 billion portfolio. The Guardian quotes a GPFG rep here: “Our risk-based approach means that we exit sectors and areas where we see elevated levels of risk to our investments in the long term.” Continue reading →

Keystone → Veto

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Bill Hewitt

I went to a cool little rally last evening here in New York City. We were standing across from the David H. Koch theater at Lincoln Center to say “No!” to the KXL. We were there, of course, because the Koch Brothers have been the principal funders in recent years of any number of reactionary organizations, including Americans for Prosperity and ALEC, not to mention the Tea Party itself. Of course, they have a serious vested interest in the Canadian tar sands. By the time I left, we had a good 200 or so people out on a cold night. The excellent folks at 350NYC organized the rally and we knew that there were scores more across the country at the same time. Continue reading →

Demand Destruction

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Bill Hewitt

While we’re waiting for our brothers and sisters in Lima to come up with a template for agreement in Paris next year, here’s a great story from Bloomberg about the demand destruction for oil. (See my post, “Houston, You’ve Got a Problem,” for some background.) If we keep on this trajectory for reducing greenhouse gases, an international treaty will be useful, certainly, but not essential. Continue reading →

NYU Divest!

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Bill Hewitt

The very impressive students at NYU Divest took a big step forward yesterday. They met with NYU President John Sexton and Exec. VP Martin Dorph and came away with several key understandings: Continue reading →

Blockbuster Paper on Major Emitters

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Bill Hewitt

There is a characteristically excellent story from The Guardian on a blockbuster paper that’s just come out in one of the premier science journals, Climatic Change. The Guardian reports that “The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.” Continue reading →

The Next Step in Going Fossil Free

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Bill Hewitt

Cool poster, isn’t it? I’m on this panel and I think it will be pretty interesting and energizing. Continue reading →

Keystone XL Truth

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Bill Hewitt

I wrote here recently about Tom Steyer and his mission to stop the pipeline. He, along with Bill McKibben, 350.org, the Sierra Club, and a growing universe of activists are building what we all hope is an inarguable case against the pipeline and the tar sands. We are trying to make the movement against KXL inexorable.

Here is the first of Tom Steyer’s video spots, airing nationally, against the pipeline and the tar sands. For more, go to Keystone Truth and to Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action.

Don’t believe Tom Steyer? How about 21 Nobel peace and science laureates? They’re against the tar sands too and want the EU to immediately implement its Fuel Quality Directive. This would ban tar sands oil from Europe.

Five Energy Revolutions

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Bill Hewitt

I sat in on a pretty compelling talk last week by Carlos Pascual, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs for the State Department. He leads State’s Bureau of Energy Resources.

He had quite a bit to say about the Geopolitics of the Global Energy Revolution. Ambassador Pascual, a greatly experienced and articulate man, led us on a tour of some of the most salient issues in global energy. He highlighted what he thought were “five revolutions” that are underway in supply transformation, emerging market demand, “liquid gas,” clean power, and energy access. Continue reading →

NYC Rally Against KXL

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Bill Hewitt

Last Saturday’s “Draw the Line” events around the country have further galvanized the movement against the Keystone XL project and the Alberta tar sands development. We had a great turnout in New York City. I had the privilege of speaking at the rally in Battery Park before it headed uptown for some demos along the march route then another rally at the South Street Seaport.

Here’s a video of me at the rally. There’s still a little fire left, it appears, in this old activist.

Stop the Keystone XL

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Bill Hewitt

I’ve written here a number of times about the Alberta tar sands and the Keystone XL, and going back a few years as well at my old Foreign Policy Association blog. Ryan Lizza, a great political analyst and writer, wrote a fascinating update recently at The New Yorker: The President and the Pipeline. Not only does Lizza bring us up to date on the politics of the pipeline, but he profiles one of the key players in the mix today: Tom Steyer. Steyer is an activist with a difference – he’s got financial resources and many like-minded friends with similar resources. He’s got the ear of President Obama. He’s an increasingly influential force in Democratic party politics. He also founded the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford Law School, along with his equally high-powered wife, Kat Taylor. (I interviewed the executive director there, Dan Reicher, for my book, when Dan was still at Google.) Steyer is, in short, somebody I’m glad to have in my foxhole with me. Continue reading →

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