From David Turnbull at Oil Change International: International Energy Agency is holding governments back on climate policy:
Through its energy forecasts, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has been guiding governments towards energy decisions that are inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, new research has found.
The IEA’s “New Policy Scenario (NPS)” is commonly used as a roadmap for energy policies and investments, and sees increasing consumption of oil, gas and coal. A new report by Oil Change International and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finds that:
- The NPS implies burning an amount of fossil fuels that would exhaust the carbon budget for the 1.5°C target by 2022, and for a 2°C limit by 2034.
- Of the NPS’ recommended upstream oil and gas investment, between 78 and 96 percent – US$ 11.2 to 13.8 trillion over 2018-40 – is incompatible with the Paris goals.
Greg Muttitt, Research Director at Oil Change International, said:
“The IEA promotes a vision of the future where the world remains dependent on fossil fuels. As a basis for policy and investment decisions, this is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. All 30 of the IEA’s member countries have signed the Paris Agreement, so the IEA should be helping them achieve climate goals, not holding them back.” [...]
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“A day will come in your lifetime when the Earth, your mother, will beg you, with tears running, to save her. Ho, if you fail to help her, you [Lakota] and all people will die like dogs. Remember this.”
~Hollow Horn, Lakota medicine man
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
On this date at Daily Kos in 2010—Economic Outrage du Jour: Ripping Off the Jobless:
As if things were not bad enough for Americans who have lost their jobs and are among those lucky enough to be eligible for unemployment benefits, one company has become adept at keeping many of them from actually collecting on that lifeline. They've done it, according The New York Times, through a combination of delays, failure to show up at hearings, bogus appeals and other chicanery, including outright lies and fraud. The company reportedly handles 30 percent of all the nation's jobless claims. Jason DeParle writes:
The work has made Talx a boom business in a bust economy, but critics say the company has undermined a crucial safety net. Officials in a number of states have called Talx a chronic source of error and delay. Advocates for the unemployed say the company seeks to keep jobless workers from collecting benefits. ...
Wisconsin officials were among the first to complain, passing a law in 2005 to prevent what they called a common Talx practice: failing to respond to requests for information, only to appeal when workers got benefits. …
Good ol' American entrepreneurialism at work. And lucrative, too. The guys who started Talx gobbled up seven companies in five years, then sold the blend three years ago for $1.4 billion. There are, of course, men and women in the hallowed halls of Congress who no doubt cheer the efforts this company makes. After all, they agree with their ideological predecessors of 75 years ago who fought against creating a benefits program for the jobless in the first place. Like Talx, they'll do just about anything to keep Americans on the ropes from getting relief since they view the benefits as creating lazy Americans, "hobos," as Nevada Rep. Dean Heller said six weeks ago.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin put us in a philosophical and reflective (not projective) mood, re-examining authoritarianism, and boycotts vs. "capital strikes." So naturally, that led us to re-examine capitalism, ISIS, cocaine cartels & The Godfather. Just your typical KITM show.