With the world's leading nuclear corporations facing bankruptcy due to ever escalating costs, 'unconstructable' reactor designs and financing risks, there's an easy way to finance the UK's new nuclear power stations, writes David Toke: pin the cost onto taxpayers. As for schools, hospitals, pensions, housing, social care and other public services, who needs 'em?
… published . Additional reporting by The Ecologist . Some sources: ' Copeland …
The investor protections in the US-EU TTIP treaty would privilege US corporations over the EU's own citizens and businesses, writes Laurens Ankersmit & Oliver Tickell. That would sideline EU courts and undermine the completion of the internal market. It is therefore essential that the EU Court be asked to rule whether they are legal.
… at ClientEarth. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. More information: ISDS Corporate …
Saturday's delivery of the draft Paris Agreement text for ministers to run with today was a small miracle, writes Luke Kemp. But it came at the cost of 935 bracketed texts to be argued over by ministers this week, while key questions - whether it will be a legally binding treaty, and how poorer countries will be paid to adapt to and mitigate climate change - are still up for grabs.
… some updates / additional reporting by The Ecologist. The arrival of ministers today …
The cash-strapped French energy giant EDF may sell off profitable stakes in its in its eight existing UK nuclear reactors to raise money for the Hinkley Point C project. But with no example of the EPR design planned for Hinkley even near completion, it may all prove a risk too far.
… national titles. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. This article is based on one by …
Who has the longest nose of them all? Worthy winners of France's fiercely contested 'Prix Pinocchio' 2014 were selected last night, recognising corporate greed, hypocrisy and malfeasance, based on a record vote since the awards began.
… Prix Pinocchio . Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. By setting concrete facts against …
In the run-up to the COP21 climate summit in Paris the G20's Antalya Communiqué is weaker on climate, fossil fuel subsidies and support for renewable energy than the G20's 2009 Pittsburgh Statement made shortly before the failed COP15 in Copenhagen six years ago.
… refugees." Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. G20 Leaders Communique from …
Supporters of Greece's fight for sovereignty are unanimous in blaming the evil troika for its humiliating defeat, writes Oliver Tickell. But the real fault is with Syriza for their needless, shameful surrender. Now, as the real battle begins, we must hold firm with the Greek people against neoliberal occupation.
… - over 50 actions. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. They had no plan. They had no …
Creating cash should not be the responsibility of the private banking system, but of the common wealth. Let’s get mutual, urge Molly Scott Cato and Martin Large
… . This article first appeared in the Ecologist November 2008 …
EDF's 'final investment decision' on the Hinkley C nuclear power station next week will be pure theatre, writes David Toke. The truth is that no concrete is to be poured until 2019 at the earliest. Meanwhile post-Brexit UK is running out of money to pay for it, and EDF is under investigation by the Financial Markets Authority for concealing information on Hinkley from investors.
… published . Additional reporting by The Ecologist. We need to ask ourselves - can the …
The theme at COP21 today has been the urgent need to cut fossil fuel subsidies that favour dirty energy over renewables, writes Tony Juniper. Sadly the UK is setting all the wrong examples - ramping up its spending on fossil fuels, while slashing its much smaller renewable energy budgets.
… who is attending COP21 on behalf of The Ecologist. For more than 25 years he has …
Before rushing to finance projects in Africa and the Middle East, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should address its environmental and social lending criteria, says Fidanka Bacheva-McGrath
… but with the evidence growing daily the Ecologist cuts through the jargon to explain …
After over a century of coal ash and colliery waste dumping, the Tyne and Wear coastline is no stranger to industrial pollution. But soon a horrific new technology - underground coal gasification (UCG) - will endanger human health and the environment, backed by unflinching Government support and generous lashings of taxpayers' money.
… moratorium, as I outlined in a previous Ecologist article this does not apply to UCG …
Following high-level criticisms of the Hinkley C nuclear plant from HSBC and the Chancellor's father in law, EDF, the company in line to build the power station, is fighting back hard, writes Oliver Tickell. But it could all be too late to rescue the doomed project.
… money says no. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. The component suppliers to EDF are …
While mainstream media promulgate a fictitious message of Russian threats in the Baltic, Vladimir Putin's next big play lies far to the south, writes Oliver Tickell. The gross intransigence of the EU, the IMF, the European Central Bank and Germany are forcing Greece into a powerful new economic and energy alliance with Russia that will reshape Europe - and for the better.
… of them all. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist, but this article is written in a …
A 'slow genocide' is unfolding in Ethiopia - one driven by greed rather than hatred. With Chinese and World Bank finance, massive dams and plantations are robbing the Omo Valley's 500,000 indigenous people of their land and water. The UK 'sees no evil'.
… headline and introduction paragraph by The Ecologist as we believe that the inevitable …
The latest text of the Paris Agreement on climate change published today sets 1.5C as its 'long term temperature goal', half a degree lower than previously agreed. It's a big victory for poor 'climate vulnerable' countries - and a blow for Saudi Arabia.
… @brendanmontague . Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. The momentum for raising the level …
An occupation of EDF's site office for Hinkley C turned into a celebration today as the EDF Board postponed its 'final investment decision' for the tenth time. With strong opposition among French unions and the project afflicted by severe technical and financial problems, it's not just Hinkley that's going down, but the UK's entire nuclear programme.
… lawsuits. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist . The board is clearly split. They …
The government may want to press ahead with the English badger cull, writes Lesley Docksey. But after the Brexit vote it may just cost too much - for taxpayers and for the farmers who bear part an increasing share of the expense, now facing the loss of the 55% of their income that currently comes from Brussels.
… is a freelance writer who writes for The Ecologist and other media on the badger cull …
The UK government and its Chancellor George Osborne are grossly misleading the public over the relative costs of renewable energy and nuclear power, writes Oliver Tickell. Osborne's claim that nuclear is the 'cheapest low carbon technology' is the very reverse of the truth. He and his nuclear plans must be stopped.
… upon them! Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. By 2025 onshore and offshore wind, …
Nuclear giant EDF could be heading towards bankruptcy, writes Paul Brown, as it faces a perfect storm of under-estimated costs for decommissioning, waste disposal and Hinkley C. Meanwhile income from power sales is lagging behind costs, and 17 of its reactors are off-line for safety tests. Yet French and UK governments are turning a blind eye to the looming financial crisis.
… includes some additional reporting by The Ecologist . EDF's biggest problem is the cost …
The EU faces a choice: a green, democratic future of clean prosperity and social justice? Or a dirty future of corporate domination with resurgent nuclear power, expanding fossil fuels, GMO agriculture and weak human and environmental protection? Junckers' Commission represents the latter. We must assert our own vision - or there will be little worth staying in for.
… and to the people. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. It increasingly appears that the …
The magnitude of Corbyn's victory today represents an irreversible seismic shift in British politics, writes Oliver Tickell. Finally the Tories face serious, principled opposition that will reveal them as the far-right ideologues they truly are. The reverberations will echo far, wide, long and deep, including to the US where the socialist Bernie Sanders is well on his way to winning the Democratic nomination.
… moment too soon. Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. David Cameron has good reason to …
On Monday the World Bank's Conference on Land and Poverty begins in the US. But farmer organizations, indigenous groups, trade unions and others denounce the whole exercise as a sham that, in tandem with other Bank initiatives, is all about accelerating corporate land grabs and robbing the poor that the Bank was founded to assist.
… Twitter: #OLOB Oliver Tickell edits The Ecologist. We can keep going after each …