Why Journalism Matters
New investigation on the biggest carbon polluters since the Paris climate agreement. Art, undercover reporting and the arms trade. Fighting for the Press in Ukraine
3 minute read
Fossil fuel industry responsible for 80% of carbon emissions since 2016
A London-based non-profit think tank and climate change investigator has presented the world with the research it needs to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the burgeoning climate crisis that threatens our future.
The curiously named InfluenceMap has recently updated its Carbon Majors report into worldwide carbon dioxide emissions since 2016. And--surprise, surprise—the vast majority of those emissions can be traced to a group of just 57 fossil fuel and cement producers.
From 2016 to 2022, the 57 entities, including nation-states, state-owned firms and investor-owned companies produced 80% of the world's CO2 emissions according to the research.
The Carbon Majors report is a highly detailed study which traces the historical emissions of industrial organisations going back to the 19th century. It seeks to name and shame polluters by building the evidence base for both legal action and public campaigning.
The world's top three CO2-emitting companies in the period since 2016 were all state-owned: Saudi Aramco, Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom and the India state-owned coal producer Coal India. In reporting on this research Reuters sought comment from all three but not responded by the time of publication on April 4.
Investor-owned Exxonmobil and Shell are also in the top 10 list.
The Reuters account added: “The report found most companies had expanded their fossil fuel production since 2015, the year when nearly all countries signed the U.N. Paris Agreement, committing to take action to curb climate change.”
Tougher targets
“Since then, while many governments and companies have set tougher emissions targets and rapidly expanded renewable energy, they have also produced and burned more fossil fuels, causing emissions to rise.”
Last year the International Energy Agency reported CO2 emissions had hit record highs.
InfluenceMap said its findings showed that a relatively small group of emitters were responsible for the bulk of ongoing CO2 emissions, and it aimed to increase transparency around which governments and companies were causing climate change.
A previous edition of the Carbon Majors database was cited last month in a legal case brought by a Belgian farmer against French oil and gas company TotalEnergy. The farmer argued that as one of the world's top 20 CO2-emitting companies, TotalEnergies was partly responsible for damage to his operations from extreme weather.
(International court actions against companies and governments are becoming prominent events and may be the best hope for curbing the fossil fuel industry.)
“It is morally reprehensible for companies to continue expanding exploration and production of carbon fuels in the face of knowledge now for decades that their products are harmful,” said carbon geographer Richard Heede, who established the Carbon Majors data set in 2013. “Don’t blame consumers who have been forced to be reliant on oil and gas due to government capture by oil and gas companies.”
Reference
3 minute read
The story behind the surreal and secretive art of selling arms
Investigative journalism can require artistic imagination as well as factual reporting to make an impact.
Jill Gibbon is a British artist who has taken that concept to heart. She is a Reader in Drawing at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, but has a second life working undercover as an artist and reporter exploring the shadowy world of the international arms trade.
Since 2008 she has gone below the radar, adopting a false identity as an international arms consultant, attending some of the world’s largest arms trade exhibitions to report on what goes on, producing a series of drawings that tell the often surreal story of how those who wage war acquire their weapons.
In a statement about the nature of her work Gibbon explains: “My drawing method combines expressive and observational approaches, challenging the implicit positivism of much reportage. I parody classical and fashion drawing methods to evoke the use of polite culture and marketing to validate weapons sales.”
Most recently she has visited one of the world’s biggest arms fairs, Defence and Security Exhibition International (DSEI),held every two years at the ExCeL centre, in the heart of London’s Docklands.
War mongering
While there she examined the international companies and their vast networks of manufacturing and trade that supply some of the most war mongering countries in the world.
(Eight of the countries that the UK listed as attending were also on Britain’s list of countries with major human rights concerns. Although the UK foreign office publishes an annual report about the human rights situations in what it terms ‘priority’ countries, arms sales to them are never mentioned.)
This month Gibbon wrote about her experience for The Conversation, the respected international online publication that combines journalistic flair and insight with rigorous academic research.
She writes: “Screens project spectacular explosions with filmic music. Sales staff circulate with wine, beer and toy fighter jets. Executives forge alliances over burgundy and steak. And reps hand out glossy carrier bags filled with sweets and catalogues giving weapon specifications.
“Here, missiles are treated as global commodities, and warring regimes as clients and business partners. The fair gives an insight into how arms sales to Israel can continue despite the horrific bombardment of Gaza.”
She also describes how the current arms industry evolved from the end of the cold war in the early 1990s. In order to maintain sales arms companies developed into multi-national corporations in order to pursue global markets.
But instead of selling cosmetics, electronic consumer goods and cars, they trade in lethal force that is used to kill civilians and raze modern cities to the ground.
On its website DSEI describes itself as “a gilt-edged opportunity to reach key personnel – some chequebook ready”. But this privileged access is not available to everyone and these exhibitions are rarely covered or analysed in the mainstream press, although the wars and security operations that kill and injure thousands of people around the world wouldn’t be possible without them.
As Gibbon writes: “Arms fairs are secretive events, closed to the public. When DSEI is on, ExCel is circled by police, security guards and riot fences.
“I’m an artist and visit DSEI as a play on official war art, a tradition where artists are commissioned to draw in war zones. My aim is to draw what official war art leaves out – the role of UK and US industry in global conflict.
Act the part
“I’ve visited DSEI under a number of guises, including as a security consultant wearing a suit and paste pearls. Over the years, I’ve learned to act the part, strolling up and down the aisles viewing displays like a prospective client.
“The latest DSEI, which took place in September 2023, was particularly busy with more than 1,500 exhibitors, 36 international pavilions, and dignitaries and delegations from nearly 100 countries in attendance. Guests included regimes currently involved in wars, human rights abuses and repression. Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel and Saudi Arabia were all there.
“Saudi Arabia provides perhaps the best example of the problem with the DSEI admissions policy. According to research by Oxfam, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen used US and UK-made weapons to kill 87 civilians and wound 136 people in just one year of war between January 2021 and February 2022. US and UK-made fighter jets were used in a further 13 airstrikes on hospitals and clinics.
Although the UK Arms Trade Treaty, which became law in 2014 prohibits selling weapons which will be used against civilians, Saudi Arabia was welcome at DSEI in 2023, as was Israel.
Reference
The Conversation: art and the arms trade
4 minute read
The battle for press freedom and investigative journalism continues in war-torn Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine grinds on into its third year the battle to maintain a free press and unfettered journalistic investigations also continues.
The Ukrainian National Union of Journalists is also maintaining support for journalists and their families who have been wounded or killed during the conflict.
At least 17 journalists have been killed during the conflict and many more have been injured or detained by the Russians.
"Since the very beginning of the war, we have been watching the Russian military hunt for journalists in Ukraine," said Serhiy Tomilenko, President of the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists (NUJU) in a recent interview with the International Federation of Journalists.
Firing at media
"The Russians are firing at media workers using drones and sniper rifles, illegally capturing them, directing missiles and drones at places where journalists usually gather," said Serhiy Tomilenko. "So the tactics of repeated shelling of places where there have already been hits, where rescuers and media workers work, completely fits into the Russian war against journalists."
The most recent attacks were reported at Kharkov on April 4 and Zaporizhzhia on April 5. As a result four journalists were injured, two homes of media workers were damaged and an editorial office was completely destroyed.
A Zaporizhzhia Correspondent of the Ukrainian national news agency "Ukrinform" Olga Zvonaryova was injured in a drone attack and is being treated in hospital.
The journalist has a damaged thigh, in which many pieces of debris got into, her stomach (a small piece of debris stuck there, the doctors decided not to remove it) and a fractured wrist.
“The patient's condition was quite serious, due to massive trauma and blood loss. However, we did everything on time and in full,” Petro Ryzhenko, director of the city's emergency medical care hospital, told Ukrinform .
"We all believe that Olga will recover soon," commented Oleksiy Matsuka , director general of the news aency who visited the journalist in her hospital ward. “Doctors are currently monitoring the condition... We as a whole agency are monitoring the situation, in contact with the mother and relatives."
Meanwhile, the Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s leading English language news publication (covered extensively in previous editions of WJM) has uncovered a Russian disinformation campaign.
The newspaper reports that pranksters, allegedly aligned with the Russian state, stole the identity of Ukraine’s former President Petro Poroshenko to target the country’s International Legion soldiers in an attempt to undermine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and gather intelligence about Ukraine’s frontline positions.
As the Independent wrote:“Those impersonating Poroshenko lured foreign fighters into a conversation by making them believe that Zelensky’s predecessor and political rival was building a personal security battalion and wanted to hire them as officers. The pranksters soon shifted the conversation to try to make soldiers give away Ukraine's army’s front-line weaknesses and insult Zelensky personally.”
“This attack highlights a disinformation threat in Russia’s war against Ukraine, as well as potential operational security vulnerabilities among foreign fighters.
“Three legionnaires the Kyiv Independent spoke to admitted that morale issues and low pay in some units have made the International Legion more susceptible to such attacks.”
Defence procurement
The Independent also reports targeted attacks against Investigative journalists looking into corruption related to Ukraine’s procurement of defence equipment.
The Prosecutor General's Office announced on April 8 that it had opened a criminal investigation after the journalist of the Ukrainian investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info, Yevhenii Shulhat, had been allegedly targeted by military enlistment officers as retaliation for his investigation into a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) official.
After Slidstvo.Info reported on the incident on April 6, the SBU told the Independent that it was reviewing the published information, adding that the Defence Ministry and the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Force are also involved in the inspection.
The Prosecutor General's Office said that it had initiated a criminal investigation into possible abuse of office and obstruction of a journalist's professional activities by the SBU employees and military enlistment officers.
On Jan. 18, President Volodymyr Zelensky called pressure on journalists unacceptable.
Reference
Kyiv Independent: attacks on investigative journalists
National Union of Journalists Ukraine
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