Latest news with #Greenpeace
Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Greenpeace calls for 'swift action' after oil spill off UAE coast
Greenpeace on Thursday warned that an oil spill resulting from a tanker collision off the coast of the United Arab Emirates could have grave environmental consequences. On Tuesday, the UAE coastguard said it rescued 24 crew members of the Adalynn oil tanker after it collided with the Front Eagle vessel in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of the Khor Fakkan. On Wednesday, the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said the accident was " caused by a navigational misjudgment by one of the vessels". The incident took place close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran that carries one-fifth of global oil output. "Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has warned of a potential environmental disaster after two crude oil tankers collided," the group said in a statement. The environmental campaign group said satellite imagery indicated a "large plume of oil stretching up to around 1,500 hectares from the site of the crash". Khaleej Times has reached out to the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. A response is awaited. The group said the Adalynn was part of a Russian "shadow fleet", which it described as "a collection of partially obsolete tankers that operate below basic security standards and carry Russian oil". Greenpeace said the Adalynn could be carrying about 70,000 tonnes of crude oil, despite being officially listed in ballast condition, and therefore should not have been carrying cargo. The Front Eagle is owned by shipping company Frontline. Farah Al Hattab of Greenpeace urged authorities to "act swiftly to contain the spill and assess its ecological impact". "Oil spills endanger marine life, disrupt delicate ecological balances and possibly the entire food web, and carry the potential to spark widespread environmental damage," she said.
Business Recorder
10 hours ago
- General
- Business Recorder
Greenpeace warns of ‘potential disaster' after oil spill off UAE
BEIRUT: Greenpeace on Thursday warned that an oil spill resulting from a tanker collision off the coast of the United Arab Emirates could have grave environmental consequences, after authorities reported a 'small' slick. On Tuesday, the Emirati coastguard said it rescued 24 crew members of the Adalynn oil tanker after it collided with the Front Eagle vessel in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of the Khor Fakan area of the UAE.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Next Thing To Ruin The UK's Water Supply Isn't What You Think
Recently, the Environment Agency (EA) warned that unless our water is 'carefully managed, England will run out of this precious resource at the times we most need it.' But our water demands are only rising, they add, partly due to population growth but also thanks to 'the servicing of new technologies, such as the cooling of data centres powering AI.' Speaking to The Guardian, an EA source revealed that the AI boom means the body cannot accurately predict future water consumption, making it hard to plan for the future (per the publication, data centres don't have to report how much water they use to cool servers). shared that the water needed to keep data centres cool is as much as 360,000L in large centres. A study suggests AI-specific water demands could reach 6.6 billion cubic metres by 2027, 'which is more than the total annual water withdrawal of 4-6 Denmark or half of the United Kingdom.' The news comes after our warmest spring on record and the driest in over 50 years. The EA warned that if nothing changes, we could be short of 5 billion litres a day by 2055 in the UK. This is not only due to AI use. But some think the boom will have an outsized impact on the risk and make it harder to plan for emergencies. Speaking to HuffPost UK, Jonathan Niesel, AI Advisor for Greenpeace, said: 'AI's environmental footprint goes beyond energy. Cooling data centres require large quantities of water – according to our projections, data centres worldwide consumed 175 billion litres of water in 2023. 'Consumption is forecast to more than triple by 2030, with this trend mainly driven by AI-specific data centres,' he continued, pointing to a report compiled for Greenpeace by the Öko-Institut. 'As extended droughts are becoming more frequent, AI developers must take responsibility for their supply chains, minimise their water consumption and ensure that local communities do not suffer shortages as a consequence of their thirst.' This year, Prime Minister Kier Starmer and Labour announced plans to 'unleash' more AI into the private sector, fast-tracking the planning of 'thirsty' data centres in 'growth zones' across the UK. The EA also said that water companies should halve the amount of water lost through leaks. It wants to increase the number of reservoirs in the UK, build desalination plants (which make seawater drinkable), and get water from the wettest parts of the UK to the driest. EA chairman, Alan Lovell, said: 'The nation's water resources are under huge and steadily increasing pressure. This deficit threatens not only the water from your tap but also economic growth and food production. 'Taking water unsustainably from the environment will have a disastrous impact on our rivers and wildlife. 'We need to tackle these challenges head-on and strengthen work on coordinated action to preserve this precious resource and our current way of life.' Let's Settle It: Is Faux Leather Better Or Worse For The Environment? The Sewage Crisis Isn't Just A Threat To Our Environment, It's Impacting Our Mental Health Too What Happens If… We Actually Exceed 1.5°C In Global Warming?
20 hours ago
- General
Greenpeace warns of potential environmental disaster as oil tankers collide near Strait of Hormuz
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A collision between two oil tankers just east of the world's most critical oil choke point, the Strait of Hormuz, could bring about a potential environmental disaster, Greenpeace said on Thursday. The two giant tankers, ADALYNN and Front Eagle, crashed Tuesday in the Gulf of Oman and caught fire before the Emirati national guard intervened to evacuate crew members. No injuries were reported, according to Emirati authorities. Satellite data from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System showed heat signatures in the area early Tuesday morning. Greenpeace said it had reviewed satellite imagery that showed a plume of oil stretching up to about 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) from the crash site. The 23-year-old tanker ADALYNN belonged to a so-called Russian 'shadow fleet' – known to operate older ships below basic security standards – and may have been carrying around 70,000 tons of crude oil, the group said. 'This is just one of many dangerous incidents to take place in the past years,' said Farah Al Hattab of Greenpeace's Middle East and North Africa division, adding that such oil spills "endanger marine life.' The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure did not respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear what caused Tuesday's incident. British maritime security firm Ambrey said it was unrelated to fighting between Israel and nearby Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, near where the collision took place, is the strategic maritime entryway to the Persian Gulf and sees about a fifth of the world's oil pass through it, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2024, an average of 20 million barrels of oil traveled through it daily. After Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on June 13, oil prices surged as worry mounted over whether the Islamic Republic might block the waterway. Maritime ship experts say shipowners are increasingly wary of using the waterway, with some ships having tightened security and others canceling routes there. As the Israel-Iran conflict intensified over the weekend, hundreds of ships in the strait saw spotty navigation signals and had to rely more on radar. The Financial Times reported on June 13 that the world's largest publicly listed oil tanker company, Frontline – which owns the Front Eagle oil tanker involved in Tuesday's crash – said it would turn down new contracts to sail into the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Independent
21 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
New environmental guidance published for halted North Sea oil and gas projects
Major North Sea oil and gas projects halted by a Supreme Court ruling will be able to reapply for consent after the Government published new environmental guidance. The Supreme Court ruled last year that emissions created by burning fossil fuels should be considered when granting planning permission for new drilling sites, in a case that focused on an oil well in Surrey but reverberated through the energy sector. A challenge brought by environmental campaigners in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, over approval for the Rosebank oil field north-west of Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen, was upheld at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in January. Greenpeace and Uplift had argued the UK Government and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) had acted unlawfully when granting consent to the projects, as environmental impact assessments did not take into account downstream emissions resulting from the burning of the extracted fuels. The Government has now published new guidance on how the environmental impacts of oil and gas – including their downstream 'scope three' emissions created when the fossil fuels are burned – are included in assessments. Officials said offshore developers will now be able to submit applications for consent to extract fossil fuels in oil and gas fields that are already licensed, which includes Rosebank and Jackdaw. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will 'consider the significance of a project's environmental impact, while taking into account and balancing relevant factors on a case-by-case basis – such as the potential economic impact and other implications of the project', the Government said. Labour has previously ruled out issuing new oil and gas licences for the North Sea, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the fuels will be needed for decades to come and indicated he would not 'interfere' with existing licences. But the green groups behind the legal challenge to the Rosebank and Jackdaw schemes said they were incompatible with the UK's climate commitments to curb the greenhouse gas emissions driving rising temperatures and dangerous weather extremes. The International Energy Agency has previously said no new fossil fuel projects should be developed beyond existing fields if the world is to stay below 1.5C of global warming, beyond which increasingly dangerous and irreversible impacts of climate change will be felt. Energy minister Michael Shanks said: 'This new guidance offers clarity on the way forward for the North Sea oil and gas industry, following last year's Supreme Court ruling. 'It marks a step forward in ensuring the full implications of oil and gas extraction are considered for potential projects and that we ensure a managed, prosperous, and orderly transition to the North Sea's clean energy future, in line with the science. 'We are working with industry, trade unions, local communities and environmental groups to ensure the North Sea and its workers are at the heart of Britain's clean energy future for decades to come – supporting well-paid, skilled jobs, driving growth and boosting our energy security.' The Government pointed to £200 million in funding for a project to capture and store carbon in Aberdeenshire and a pilot in Aberdeen, along with Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Pembrokeshire, to help workers access jobs in new clean energy industries. Tessa Khan, executive director of Uplift, said: 'The new rules mean that oil and gas companies will finally be forced to come clean over the enormous harm they are causing to the climate.' She argued Rosebank would not lower fuel bills or boost energy independence as most of the oil would be exported, and tax breaks would mean the public would cover most of the costs of development. She also said the extreme weather the UK is experiencing 'must be a wake-up call for this Government to stand up to the oil and gas firms'. Greenpeace UK head of climate Mel Evans said: 'It's only right for the Government to take into account the emissions from burning oil and gas when deciding whether to approve fossil fuel projects currently pending. 'Since Rosebank and other drilling sites will pump out a lot of carbon while providing little benefit to the economy and no help to bill payers, they should fail the criteria ministers have just set out. She said approving the projects would be a 'political sleight of hand' that would benefit oil giants while leaving the UK hooked on fossil fuels. 'Real energy security and future-proofed jobs for energy workers can only come through homegrown, cheap renewable energy, and that's what ministers should focus on,' she urged.
