The transition away from fossil fuels: What could, and could not, be achieved by a Green New Deal

 I gave this talk, on zoom, to Teachers Against the Climate Crisis in India.

The market takes shape: the Ukrainian gas sector to 2030

Domestic gas market reform is moving ahead in Ukraine. The cycle of disputes with Russia on transit has been broken by the deal struck at the new year; the transit business continues to decline, while the storage business is soaring and interconnections with European markets are developing. Market pricing has been adopted for the residential sector, and the largely unreformed heat sector should follow in May 2021. Over the longer term, Ukraine’s integration not only with European gas markets but with European energy policy will determine whether gas demand will fall with coal or find new openings, firstly in the power sector. My paper published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, is here.

Moscow, 1990: when Trotskyist travellers met Soviet reality

My retrospective, published by Open Democracy, on a Trotskyist meeting I helped organise in Moscow in 1990, and on Trotskyism before, during and after the collapse of the USSR.

The Silvertown tunnel is in a hole, so Stop Digging

This report, which I wrote, calls for the Silvertown tunnel project to be scrapped. It was published by the Transport Action Network, Stop the Silvertown Tunnel coalition, Speak Out Woolwich and Extinction Rebellion Greenwich. I also wrote some comments on it in The Ecologist.

European gas storage: backhaul helps open the Ukrainian safety valve

The European gas market is oversupplied, with demand down due to Covid-19. Storage facilities are filling up and Ukrainian companies are offering the country's huge storage capacity to European traders. With "virtual reverse flow" now in place, it's working well. An Oxford Energy Comment by my colleague Jack Sharples and me.

The Russia-Ukraine gas transit deal: opening a new chapter

Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy signed agreements at the end of last year covering the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine for the period 2020-24, with transit volumes of 65 bcm in 2020 and 40 bcm per year thereafter. In this Oxford Energy Insight, Jack Sharples and I analyse how the deal was reached, the terms of the deal, the likely transit flows via Ukraine during the period of the deal, and what that means for Gazprom and for Naftogaz. In a linked Insight, Implications of the Russia-Ukraine gas transit deal for alternative pipeline routes and the Ukrainian and European markets, by Simon Pirani, Jack Sharples, Katja Yafimava and Vitaly Yermakov, we look at the broader picture of Russian gas exports to Europe in the light of the deal.

The Fossil Fuelled Monster and the Climate Failure of States

"Millions of school students, by striking to protest at government inaction on climate change, have brought popular rebellion back to the centre of international politics. The “Fridays for Future” strikes could turn out to be among the roots of deeper, wider, civil society movements to avert dangerous global warming." My article on the E-International Relations site.

Socialism, capitalism and the transition away from fossil fuels

Decarbonising the economy will be impossible unless we transform our economic and social systems. This means looking to a world beyond capitalism. My article for OpenDemocracy. It is based on a talk I gave at the University of Durham's Centre for Culture and Ecology on 16 January 2020. Slide presentation from the talk here.

An initial response to Greenwich council's Carbon Neutral Plan Evidence Base

I produced these notes as part of the local campaign to take action on the climate emergency.