Greenwashing governments and oil companies turned COP27 into a climate disaster

The international climate talks in Egypt have become a dystopian nightmare: Oil companies, dictators and greenwashers captured the process more effectively than ever. But there is hope: Alliances are taking shape — between civil society, scientists and labor — that aim to break the fossil fuel companies’ deathly grip on climate policy. Read the full story on Truthout.

The limits of western economic war with Russia and the failure of climate policy

In this long-read analytical article on the New Politics web site, I argue that the western powers’ economic war on Russia is limited, because capital values its fossil fuel exports & kleptocrats' dollars pouring into offshore zones. Western policy always aimed to integrate Russia into the world economy; only the Kremlin's imperial adventure this year forced a change. The invasion of Ukraine has aggravated rising prices, but the labour movement and social movements should reject "energy security" narratives being used to justify fossil fuel investments that trash climate policy. The roots of climate crisis and of war are entangled; responses by labour and social movements can be linked, too. 

Ukraine: bogus 'anti imperialism' serves the Kremlin

Based on a talk at an on line event, arranged by the Future of the Left group, at which I debated how the UK labour movement should respond to the war in Ukraine, with Richard Sakwa

Cut motor traffic. Live better lives. Tackle climate change

 A submission to the borough of Greenwich consultation on its transport strategy.

Europe Is Trying to Solve Its Energy Crisis With Fossil Fuel Projects in Africa

In response to the Russian gas supply squeeze and rising food and fuel prices, European governments are paving the way to massive investments in fossil fuels from non-Russian sources that imperil efforts to tackle climate change. Published by Truthout

The EU's plan for Ukraine hydrogen exports is colonialist greenwash

Plan to pipe huge amounts of resource-intensive “green” hydrogen to Europe would undermine Ukraine’s recovery. A comment article in OpenDemocracy

Durham and Ukraine miners: historic links of friendship

Durham miners have sent aid to Ukrainian mining communities near the front lines. Their friendship goes back to the early 1990s, and built on links made over decades before that. A feature article published in the programme for the Durham Miners Gala on Saturday 9 July.

Why is Ukrainian resistance invisible to you?

An appeal to supporters of the Stop the War Coalition. These are notes I made for a meeting I was invited to, to discuss UK labour movement attitude to the war in Ukraine. 

Goodbye Russian gas, hello rapid decarbonisation

A European embargo on imports of Russian fossil fuels could, combined with the right energy conservation policies, also help to tackle dangerous climate change. Open Democracy,  20 May.

Supporting the Ukrainian resistance: six questions

My attempt to analyse the character of the Ukrainian resistance, of the Russian state it is standing up to, and of the meaning of national liberation in the 21st century (19 April).

Putin has sacrificed Russia's economy for this war on Ukraine's people

With the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has also wrecked the Russian economy for years to come, by provoking unprecedented economic sanctions. My article in Truthout (21 March)

Ukraine: the sources of danger of a wider war

A blog post (21 March) in which I argued against the focus on NATO expansion, since politically it deflects from Kremlin's responsibility, and analytically, it obscures interrelated crises of capital system and neoliberalism that have brought us to war

The Russian statelets in the Donbas are no "people's republics"

The Kremlin-controlled territories are dominated by military rule and the repression of organised labour and civil society. Published by Jacobin, 3 March

Russia sacrifices economic goals for military aggression

Germany’s decision to halt the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline may cause long-term damage to Russia – but Putin doesn’t care. From Open Democracy, 25 February

Roads to an energy commons

 A discussion between Larry Lohmann, David Schwartzman and me on the role of fossil fuels in capitalist society, and the meaning of “energy” and related concepts. The discussion covered issues about the transition away from fossil fuels, and away from capitalism. From the People & Nature blog.

Ukraine's energy policy and prospects for the gas sector

An Energy Insight, published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, that surveys the energy sector and prospects for the energy transition