The progressive think tank International Forum on Globalization (IFG) released a report today investigating how Koch Industries and its subsidiaries stand to make as much as $100 billion in profits if the Keystone XL pipeline is built. The report, Billionaires' Carbon Bomb: The Koch Keystone XL Pipeline, finds that the Kochs hold up to 2 million acres in Alberta and have spent upwards of $50 million on Congress and think tanks that heavily push for the pipeline.
The Kochs have long been one of the largest players in the tar sands region of Alberta, Canada, according to a IFG press release. The report connects the Kochs’ 50 year history and large footprint in the Canadian tar sands to the current debate about the Keystone XL pipeline.
“The Kochs have repeatedly claimed that they have no interest in the Keystone XL pipeline, this report shows that is false,” said Victor Menotti, executive director of IFG.
“We noticed Koch Funded Tea Party members and think tanks pushing for the pipeline. We dug deeper and found $100 billion in profits, $50 million sent to organizations supporting the pipeline, and perhaps 2 million acres of land. That sounds like an interest.”
Other findings in the report include:
- The Kochs will earn 1 million times more than the average worker of the pipeline.
- The Kochs alone own more than 19 billion metric tons of carbon emissions in their tar sands holdings.
- Think tanks funded by the Kochs have released nearly 1,000 pro-Keystone XL reports or statements.
- Kochs have already made billions from insider trading and stand to do that again with tar sands.
- Koch Industries has a history of violence against people and the environment.
- The Koch Brothers seek to alter the public debate and control the policy debates in Washington.
"The past two weeks of the government shutdown brought to light the irresponsible influence of Koch-funded groups," said Jane Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska.
"Rewarding the Koch Brothers with Keystone XL, who at every turn fund campaigns to mislead Americans on everything from climate to gas prices, is like the President advocating for Sen. Cruz to be the Majority Leader. It makes no sense. Farmers and ranchers in Nebraska are depending on President Obama to see our national interest is not served with a pipeline that lines the pockets of climate deniers and foreign oil."
"Now that we are spending more time at home, we are noticing the large number of delivery vans and lorries driving through cities," said Netherlands environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven, announcing plans to ban all but zero-emission deliveries in 14 cities.
"The agreements we are setting down will ensure that it will be a matter of course that within a few years, supermarket shelves will be stocked, waste will be collected, and packages will arrive on time, yet without any exhaust fumes and CO2 emissions," she added.
She expects 30 cities to announce zero emission urban logistics by this summer. City councils must give four years' notice before imposing bans as part of government plans for emission-free road traffic by 2050. The city bans aim to save 1 megaton of CO2 each year by 2030.
Help to Change
To encourage transport organizations to go carbon-free, the government is offering grants of more than US$5,900 to help businesses buy or lease electric vehicles. There will be additional measures to help small businesses make the change.
The Netherlands claims it is the first country in the world to give its cities the freedom to implement zero-emission zones. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already have "milieuzones" where some types of vehicles are banned.
Tilburg, one of the first wave of cities imposing the Dutch ban, will not allow fossil-fuelled vehicles on streets within its outer ring road and plans to roll out a network of city-wide electric vehicle charging stations before the ban comes into effect in 2025.
"Such initiatives are imperative to improve air quality. The transport of the future must be emission-free, sustainable, and clean," said Tilburg city alderman Oscar Dusschooten.
Europe Takes Action
Research by Renault shows that many other European cities are heading in the same direction as the Netherlands, starting with Low Emission Zones of which Germany's "Umweltzone" were pioneers. More than 100 communes in Italy have introduced "Zonas a traffico limitato."
Madrid's "zona de baja emisión" bans diesel vehicles built before 2006 and petrol vehicles from before 2000 from central areas of the city. Barcelona has similar restrictions and the law will require all towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants to follow suit.
Perhaps the most stringent restrictions apply in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges trucks and large vehicles up to US$137 a day to enter the central area if they do not comply with Euro 6 emissions standards. From October, the ULEZ is being expanded.
Cities are responsible for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global final energy use, according to the green thinktank REN21 - and much of these come from transport. Globally, transport accounts for 24% of world CO2 emissions.
The Rise of Online Shopping
Part of the reason for traffic in urban areas is the increase in delivery vehicles, as online shopping continues to grow. Retailer ecommerce sales are expected to pass $5billion in 2022, according to eMarketer.
The World Economic Forum's report The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem, published in January 2020, estimates that e-commerce will increase the number of delivery vehicles on the roads of the world's 100 largest cities by 36% by 2030.
If all those vehicles burn fossil fuels, the report says emissions will increase by 32%. But switching to all-electric delivery vehicles would cut emissions by 30% from current levels as well as reducing costs by 25%, the report says.
Other solutions explored in the report include introducing goods trams to handle deliveries alongside their passenger-carrying counterparts and increased use of parcel lockers to reduce the number of doorstep deliveries.
Reposted with permission from the World Economic Forum.