The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has labelled the “anti-petroleum” movement as a growing and violent threat to Canada’s security, raising fears among environmentalists that they face increased surveillance, and possibly worse, under the Harper government’s new terrorism legislation. --Shawn McCarthy,
The Globe and Mail, 17 February 2015
Environmental groups in Canada have expressed concern over the nation's new anti-terrorism laws, after a report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reportedly made specific mention of the dangers of green activism. The report, obtained by Greenpeace, said "anti-petrol" environmental advocacy groups pose a threat to Canadian security. --
9 News, 18 February 2015
The Government has so far banned 13 foreign activists of Greenpeace International from entering India including nine from the UK, three from the USA and an Australian national. These activists have been blacklisted as their activities were found to be in violation of visa rules and they were found to be training, motivating and organising Greenpeace India’s activists to create field level protests near thermal plant and coal mine locations, apart from other activities that would damage India’s energy security interests, Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has told the Delhi High Court. --
The New Indian Express, 18 February 2015
British energy giant BP has estimated that strong demand from Asia will spur steady growth in energy demand over the next two decades despite ongoing oil price volatility. Global energy demand was expected to rise an average of 1.4 percent annually over the next 20 years, or a total of 37 percent from 2013 to 2035, BP said in its Energy Outlook 2035 report released on Tuesday. The report also considered global CO2 emissions to 2035 based on its projections of energy markets and seen against a backdrop of national carbon-related policies. Its projection showed emissions rising by 1 percent a year to 2035, or by 25 percent over the period. --
Deutsche Welle, 18 February 2015
The EU Commissioners discussion paper gives a good preview of what we can expect from the ‘Energy Union Framework Strategy’ which is scheduled to be adopted and published by the EU Commission on 25 February. Reading the paper, it is clear that a more appropriate name for this key EU project would be ‘Energy and Climate Union’ or even ‘Climate and Energy Union’. Because the bottom-line of ‘why Europe needs an Energy Union’ is climate, says the EU Commission: ‘Europe has no choice: if it continues on the present path, the unavoidable challenge of shifting to a low-carbon economy will be made harder by the economic, social and environmental costs of having fragmented national energy markets. The Energy Union is the EU’s answer to this challenge.’ --
Alice Stollmeyer, 5 February 2015
So, what is “The Way Forward” in the EU Commission’s view? These are actually the most interesting paragraphs in the leaked discussion paper. The ‘energy security’ dimensions that need to be worked on read more like a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with respect to well-known, persistent but often latent issues, than a real actionable strategy. It begs the question of why something will get done this time, given these issues have persisted for at least a decade. --Roman Kilisek,
The Energy Collective, 18 February 2015
The main driver of all weather and climate, the entity which occupies 99.86% of all of the mass in our solar system, the great ball of fire in the sky – has gone quiet again during what is likely to be the weakest sunspot cycle in more than a century. For the past 5 days, solar activity has been very low and one measure of solar activity – its X-ray output – has basically flatlined in recent days. Not since cycle 14 peaked in February 1906 has there been a solar cycle with fewer sunspots. We are currently more than six years into Solar Cycle 24 and today the sun is virtually spotless despite the fact that we are still in what is considered to be its solar maximum phase. --Paul Dorian,
Vencore Weather 17 February 2015
