XPost: alt.global-warming   
      
   *Wall Street's `monumental' skirmish with Exxon   
   Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic via Carbon Brief   
      
   The coverage of Shell's defeat in court last week and the placement of   
   two activist investors on Exxon's board of directors continues, with   
   journalists reflecting on what the 2 events mean for the fossil fuel   
   industry. Robinson Meyer writes for the Atlantic about how, despite   
   controlling just 0.02% of Exxon, activist hedge fund Engine No. 1   
   succeeded in placing 2 investors on the oil company's board of   
   directors. He notes that to achieve this they won the support of large   
   state-pension funds "that try to act in the best interest of the   
   entire market" and newer financial firms, such as State Street and   
   BlackRock. "Working together, these funds brought Exxon to heel,"   
   Meyer concludes: "Last week, Exxon's shareholders - that is, the   
   owners of capital - acted to rein in Exxon's managers and   
   insiders. Capital has apparently been recruited into the fight against   
   climate change; Wall Street is, à la Mothra versus Godzilla, battling   
   Big Oil. If that's surprising, it shows how tangled the politics of   
   decarbonisation has become".   
      
   A piece by columnist Thomas Friedman in the New York Times also   
   considers events at Exxon, writing that the "petroleum age will end   
   because we invent superior technology that coexists harmoniously with   
   nature", while leaving plenty of oil still in the ground. "Alas,   
   though, not every oil company got the memo," he writes. In light of   
   the shareholder revolt during what Friedman describes as "one of the   
   most consequential weeks in the history of the oil and gas industry   
   and shareholder capitalism", he notes that Engine No. 1 "are out to   
   strengthen Exxon, not destroy it. They view it as one of the world's   
   greatest collections of scientific and engineering talent." He says   
   that while the activists appreciate Exxon's plans for a carbon-capture   
   facility, they also think it needs to invest in a more diversified   
   energy sources "while it still has an income stream from oil and   
   gas". By contrast, Wall Street Journal editorial board member and   
   climate sceptic Holman W Jenkins, Jr describes what happened at Exxon   
   as a "pseudo-event" that has been overhyped as a climate   
   victory. Jenkins argues that asking oil companies to "voluntarily   
   refrain from producing a legal product for which there is huge and   
   inelastic demand" is "absurd", as is proposing Exxon switch to wind   
   and solar, "in which it has no expertise or advantage".   
      
   In the Conversation, Prof Arthur Petersen, a professor of science,   
   technology and public policy at University College London, writes that   
   the order by Dutch judges that Shell must implement stringent carbon   
   dioxide emissions cuts within the next few years "could have far   
   reaching consequences". He continues: "The question arises as to   
   whether any company anywhere in the world can be ordered by Dutch   
   judges to reduce their emissions". Petersen notes that "legally there   
   is nothing fundamentally new happening here" and adds that "more of   
   these cases may follow, in the Netherlands and elsewhere, and the   
   strength of the legal logic will definitely put additional pressures   
   on politicians and businesses to organise for a more rapid low-carbon   
   transition". In the Guardian, Tessa Khan, an international human   
   rights lawyer working on climate change litigation, writes that   
   Shell's loss is a "turning point in the fight against big oil". "The   
   door to real corporate accountability for the climate crisis is   
   finally wide open," she writes.   
      
      
   --   
   Upcoming events:   
   9 Jul 2021		NOAA bn Dollar Disasters Q2   
      
   Indonesia calls off mission to salvage sunken submarine and retrieve sailors'   
   bodies   
   ABC News, 02 Jun 2021 14:19Z   
   Indonesia calls off its bid to salvage a military submarine that sank off   
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   as "very risky".   
      
   Covid origins mystery continues to spark speculation and tension   
   FRANCE 24, 02 Jun 2021 13:14Z   
   Paris (AFP). The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has scorched its way across the   
   world killing mns and bringing economies to a standstill. But where   
   exactly did it ...   
      
   1st matter in the universe may have been a perfect liquid   
   Livescience.com, 02 Jun 2021 11:12Z   
   Scientists have recreated the first matter that appeared after the Big Bang   
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   Herd of wild elephants approaching major Chinese city   
   CBS News, 02 Jun 2021 12:11Z   
   Beijing. A herd of 15 wild elephants that walked 300 miles from a nature   
   reserve in China's mountain southwest were approaching the major city of   
   Kunming ...   
      
     Lost, 'drunk' and hungry: Chinese residents stunned as elephants rampage   
     through farms and towns   
     ABC News, 02 Jun 2021 17:45Z   
     Surveillance cameras in villages show the herd of 15 elephants strolling   
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   Pentagon's UFO report exposes split in US Dept of Defense, claims UFO   
   investigator   
   Daily Express, 02 Jun 2021 15:04Z   
   PENTAGON'S looming report on UFO phenomena has exposed a rift between the US   
   military and the country's intelligence agencies ...   
      
   One of Australia's biggest live export companies goes into administration   
   ABC Rural, 02 Jun 2021 07:14Z   
   North Australian Cattle Company, which was founded in 1980, is in financial   
   strife in a sign of how much pressure the industry is under.   
      
   Photo reveals 'catastrophic' damage to Callide Power Station that blacked   
   out Queensland   
   ABC News, 02 Jun 2021 10:11Z   
   A 300-kilogram piece of shrapnel is removed from the roof of the Callide   
   Power Station in central Queensland after a recent explosion that blacked   
   out more than 470,000 homes and business across the state.   
      
   [Invalid Self Reference!]   
   Revolutionary Self-Aware Materials Build the Foundation for Living Structures   
   SciTechDaily, 02 Jun 2021 04:22Z   
   New research in Nano Energy introduces revolutionary scalable material that   
   senses and powers itself. From the biggest bridges to the smallest medical ...   
      
   Iran's largest warship catches fire, sinks in Gulf of Oman   
   The Associated Press, 02 Jun 2021 07:55Z   
   Tehran, Iran. The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later   
   sank Wed in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, ...   
      
   Amid Historic Drought, a New Water War in the West   
   The New York Times, 02 Jun 2021 03:15Z   
   A drought crisis has erupted in the Klamath Basin along the California-   
   Oregon border, with fish dying en masse and farmers infuriated that they   
   have been cut off ...   
      
   G7 nations committing bns more to fossil fuel than green energy   
   The Guardian, 02 Jun 2021 05:15Z   
   In spite of green rhetoric, money has piled into aviation and car industries   
   since start of pandemic, report finds.   
      
   Dodo and iPrimus fined $2.5m for misleading consumers about NBN speeds   
   ABC News, 02 Jun 2021 02:23Z   
   Dodo and iPrimus are the latest internet providers to get fined for making   
   misleading claims about the typical speeds of their NBN broadband plans.   
      
   Relief as WA's class action over Indigenous stolen wages goes to mediation   
   ABC Kimberley, 02 Jun 2021 03:21Z   
      
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