HOT AIR: New Zealand's evolution to climate denial and inaction

This 2015 documentary, sadly is the last to be made by director Alister Barry because the funding for making such movies has dried up.

The film chronicles the years since the late 1980’s when the science was generally accepted and how industry lobbying and climate change denialist think tanks undermined successive government efforts to take action on reducing emssions.

It is,overall a story of backsliding and missed opportunities.

It shows clearly how things have evolved,since the election of the present government in 2008,  to the point where New Zealand is today.

Here is the concluding words of the film:

National scrapped the moratorium on building new fossil fuel power stations. Over time agriculture’s inclusion in the emission trading scheme was postponed indefinitely; corporations were freed to increase emissions without limit; New Zealand abandoned its commitment to the Kyoto protocol process

Between 1990 and 2013 New Zealand’s burning of fossil fuels doubled, overall emssions tripled. The rate of increase was amongst the highest in the developed world.

Now, all that the government has to say on climate change is, in its official documents, to excuse its inacton and argue for doing nothing.

Meanwhile we have moved to rapid climate change and 50 non-reversible, positive feedbacks have been triggered, and with 400+ ppm of CO2 further warming is guaranteed - and so too humanity’s fate

Hot Air

The politics of climate change in New Zealand

The politics of climate change in New Zealand. In precise, documented detail we see how, over twenty years, National and Labour government ministers, supported by advisers and scientists, presented their Cabinet colleagues with proposals for nation-wide action. With similar clarity, we see how big business recruited climate change deniers and spin doctors to manipulate public opinion, frighten politicians and remove climate change from voters’ attention and governments’ agendas. As the film takes us behind the scenes we begin to see exactly why and how we are allowing corporations and their executives to subvert democracy.

Finally here is Alister Barry’s 1996 film, Someone Else’s Country, which is about the neo-liberal take-over of this country that has determined NZ’s fate since 1984,

Corruption scamdal: A message to Germans from Greece

MESSAGE TO GERMANS FROM GREECE FEBRUARY 2015

MESSAGE TO THE GERMANS. PLEASE SHARE THIS VIDEO, REUPLOAD IT, IF YOU WANT OR TRANSLATE IT IN YOUR LANGUAGE. I GIVE THE TEXT BELOW.

LINKS FOR SOME FACTS PRESENTED IN THE VIDEO

Siemens scandal: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11...

Video Portugal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSjSp...

Siemens suicide : http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/0...
FRANKFURT Fri Feb 6, 2015 8:44am EST Heinz-Joachim Neubuerger, a former Siemens finance chief, has committed suicide, a friend told Reuters, two months after agreeing a settlement with the company over his role in one of Germany's biggest corporate bribery scandals.

VAROUFAKIS SCHAEUBLE: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fb828c8c-ad...

GERMAN BANKS PROFITS: http://www.spiegel.de/international/e...


TEXT
GREECE, 7TH OF FEBRUARY 2015

GERMANS,

THERE ARE SOME THINGS ABOUT YOUR GOVERNMENT THAT YOU DON’T KNOW. I’LL START BRIEFLY.

YOU JUST NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING

1. ON 5TH OF FEBRUARY 2015 YOUR FINANCE MINISTER MR. SCHAEUBLE MET WITH THE GREEK FINANCE MINISTER MR. VAROUFAKIS

2. MR. VAROUFAKIS TOLD YOUR MINISTER ABOUT GERMAN CORRUPTION, INDICATING THE SCANDAL OF SIEMENS IN WHICH GERMANS WERE INVOLVED AS WELL

3. ONE DAY LATER HEINZ-JOACHIM NEUBUERGER, A FORMER SIEMENS FINANCE CHIEF, COMMITTED SUICIDE.

NOW YOU JUST HAVE TO THINK WHY THIS MAN COMMITED SUICIDE AND THINK A LOT ABOUT THE MOMENT HE DID IT. JUST ONE DAY AFTER SOMEONE DARED FOR THE FIRST TIME TO TALK ABOUT GERMAN CORRUPTION.

YOU CAN FIND LINKS PROVING THE TRUTH OF ALL THIS IN THE INFORMATION BOX BELOW.

THAT WAS MY BRIEF MESSAGE. IF ARE PATIENT ENOUGH, WATCH SOME MORE TO LEARN SOME THINGS ABOUT YOUR GOVERNMENT(S)

THE LAST 5 YEARS THEY KEEP TELLING YOU THAT GREECE IS A COUNTRY OF LAZY PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH YOUR OWN MONEY

THE TRUTH IS THAT

1. ALL THIS SITUATION WAS CREATED THANKS TO TRAITORS (POLITICIANS) IN ORDER TO PUT A COUNTRY INTO DEBT AND MAKE BANKS RICHER
2. THE LENT MONEY DO NOT GO TO GREEK PEOPLE. THEY GO TO BANK COMMISSIONS
3. THE ONE WHO EARNS MONEY, YOUR MONEY, IS GERMANY. THIS IS ALSO SAID IN A GERMAN SITE, SPIEGEL.DE. ACCORDING TO AN ARTICLE, CRISIS HAS SAVED GERMANY 40 BILLION EUROS. SEE LINK BELOW AS WELL


YOU USE TO THINK THAT YOU ARE HARD WORKING AND THAT THIS IS WHY YOUR ECONOMY IS HIGH.

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW IS THAT YOUR ECONOMY IS HIGH THANKS TO CORRUPTION. YOUR PAST GOVERNMENTS BRIBED OTHER COUNTRIES’ POLITICIANS AND BUSINESSMEN INTO BUYING YOUR PRODUCTS.

YOUR PRODUCTS ARE NOT THE BEST. THEY WERE SIMPLY PROMOTED ILLEGALLY BECAUSE YOUR POLITICIANS GAVE HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO OTHER COUNTRIES.


THIS HAPPENED FOR ONE REASON: THIS WAY GERMANY COULD BE AT THE HEAD OF EE. THIS IS THE REASON WHY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT A NAZISTIC GERMANY AND NAZISTIC EE. MR VAROUFAKIS CHARACTERIZED EE NAZISTIC AS WELL.

BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR COUNTRY ALSO SOLD TO MINE SUBMARINES WHICH DIDN’T WORK PROPERLY? THEY SAY THEY LEANED. FOR THIS REASON ALSO ONE POLITICIAN OF OURS IS IN JAIL. SEARCH FOR AKIS TSOHATZOPOULOS.

IN THE PAST, I USED TO THINK THAT THIS HAPPENED ONLY IN GREECE. BUT I WAS WRONG. A PORTUGUESE MAN SAID THAT IT HAPPENED IN HIS COUNTRY AS WELL.

TO MY SURPRISE, I DISCOVERED THAT GERMANY BRIBED ALSO RUSSIA, LIBYA AND EVEN COUNTRIES OF AFRICA! HUFFINGTONPOST TALKS ABOUT THIS. SEE THE LINK

WITH ALL THIS I DON’T WANT TO BLAME YOU

YOU ARE VICTIMS AS WELL. VICTIMS OF YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT.

THE PROPAGANDA IS HUGE AND THEY MADE YOU HATE OTHER PEOPLE OR BLAME INNOCENT PEOPLE, LIKE US.

OPEN YOUR MIND. JUST THINK THAT, IF THEY BEAT US, ONE DAY THEY WILL MAKE SLAVES YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN AS WELL.

THE PLAN IS TO MAKE PEOPLE WORK FOR VERY LOW SALARIES. YOUR COUNTRY IS THE ONE WHICH INVENTED “MINI JOBS” AND THIS IS A VIOLATION OF THE HUMAN DIGNITY.

DO YOU WANT THIS?

YOU MUST GO AGAINST YOUR GOVERNMENT, TURN OFF TELEVISION AND START PROTESTING AND SUPPORTING GREECE, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, FRANCE, AS THE FRENCH AND OTHER PEOPLE DO.

OPEN YOUR MIND.

DON’T TRUST YOUR GOVERNMENT

THINK

HEINZ-JOACHIM NEUBUERGER, A FORMER SIEMENS FINANCE CHIEF, COMMITTED SUICIDE ONE DAY AFTER MR VAROUFAKIS MENTIONED TO MR SCHAUBLE GERMAN CORRUPTION. WHY?


More on this - 

More Details Behind 

Siemen's Bribery Scandal 

Revealed

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/16/more-details-behind-sieme_n_72990.html

Scandal-scarred Siemens AG paid millions of euros in bribes to cabinet ministers and dozens of other officials in Nigeria, Russia and Libya as it sought to win lucrative contracts for telecommunications equipment, according to a court ruling that depicts a pattern of bribery by one manager.

The document, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, offers the most detailed picture to date of the scandal that has ensnared one of the world's biggest conglomerates in investigations across the globe.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal

Ex-Siemens CFO Neubuerger 

commits suicide

Reuters,

6 February, 2015

Heinz-Joachim Neubuerger, a former Siemens finance chief, has committed suicide, a friend told Reuters, two months after agreeing a settlement with the company over his role in one of Germany's biggest corporate bribery scandals.

Neubuerger, who was 62, was CFO of the German industrial group from 1998 until 2006, during which time Siemens was later exposed as having run an elaborate bribery network, paying more than $1 billion in kickbacks to win contracts worldwide.

He was questioned during the investigation, which engulfed the company for more than two years and cost the jobs of its top executives and chairman, as well as more than $1.3 billion in payments to settle lawsuits.

"This seven-year ordeal broke him," the friend said. "He simply couldn't go on any longer."

Neubuerger denied involvement in the affair but never found another job at the same level as his role at Siemens. He went on to be managing director of KKR Guernsey for two years before quitting to become an independent management consultant.

In December, he finally reached an agreement to pay Siemens 2.5 million euros ($2.9 million) to settle a civil suit over his role in the bribery scandal. Siemens had initially demanded 15 million.

Deutsche Boerse, where Neubuerger was on the supervisory board, said in a statement: "We are deeply shocked at the news of the death of our supervisory board member Heinz-Joachim Neubuerger."

"We will miss him as a person and as a board member."

($1 = 0.8728 euros) ($1 = 0.8740 euros) (Reporting by Sabine Wollrab; writing by Georgina Prodhan; editing by David Clarke)

End of Holden

End of an era for Australasians

Holden to stop manufacturing in Australia

Nearly 3000 Holden workers are set to lose their jobs over the next four years as the car maker winds down its Australian operations

Radio NZ,

11 December, 2013

General Motors Holden has announced the company will stop making vehicles by the end of 2017 - ending 65 years of building cars in Australia.

The decision means 2900 people will lose their jobs - 1600 from the manufacturing plant in South Australia and 1300 in Victoria, the ABC reports.

Holden cited the high Australian dollar as a main reason for the closure. It said at the peak of the dollar's exchange rate, manufacturing things in Australia was 65% more expensive compared with a decade earlier.

Holden general manager Mike Devereaux delivered the news to workers in Adelaide's Elizabeth plant on Wednesday.

"This is an incredibly difficult day for everybody at Holden, given our long and proud history of building cars in Australia. But make no mistake, we have looked at every possible option to build our next generation cars here in this country to replace our existing models."

The company will retain sales division, parts distribution, and a global design studio. Some 33,000 people employed in the automotive components sector are likely to also be affected.

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said the federal government regrets the fact that Holden's parent company General Motors is to phase down its operations

Global CO2 emissions increase

"We're in the midst of a worldwide great depression, and yet …

2008 set a record, which was broken in 2009

the record from 2010 was broken in 2011

the record from 2011 was broken in 2012

I think I see a pattern. Only complete collapse prevents

runaway greenhouse. And it's probably already too late for

our species."

--Guy McPherson

Carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2012, IEA report says

Global emissions of carbon dioxide from energy use rose 1.4 percent to 31.6 gigatons in 2012, setting a record and putting the planet on course for temperature increases well above international climate goals, the International Energy Agency said in a report scheduled to be issued Monday.

Washington Post

10 June, 2013

.

The agency said continuing that pace could mean a temperature increase over pre-industrial times of as much as 5.3 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), which IEA chief economist Fatih Birol warned “would be a disaster for all countries.”

“This puts us on a difficult and dangerous trajectory,” Birol said. “If we don’t do anything between now and 2020, it will be very difficult because there will be a lot of carbon already in the atmosphere and the energy infrastructure will be locked in.”

The energy sector accounts for more than two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions, so “energy has a crucial role to play in tackling climate change,” the IEA said. Its report urged nations to take four steps, including aggressive energy-efficiency measures, by 2015 to keep alive any hope of limiting climate change to 2 degrees Celsius.

The United States was one of the few relatively bright spots in the report. Switches from coal to shale gas accounted for about half the nation’s 3.8 percent drop in energy-related emissions, which fell for the fourth time in the past five years, dipping to a level last seen in the 1990s. The other factors were a mild winter, declining demand for gasoline and diesel, and the increasing use of renewable energy.

Emissions also fell in Europe.

But they rose 3.8 percent in China. That was one of the slowest increases in the past decade, and half of 2011’s rate of increase. The level of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity generation has fallen about 17 percent. But China remains the largest contributor of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, with about a quarter of global emissions.

Japan’s emissions jumped 5.8 percent as the country imported and burned large amounts of liquefied natural gas and coal to compensate for the loss of electricity production from nuclear plants that have been idle since a tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

Emissions also climbed in developing countries outside the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, especially in the oil-rich Middle East, where fuel prices are heavily subsidized.

“What I believe is that climate change is slipping down in the political agenda in many countries even though the scientific evidence about climate change continues to mount,” Birol said.

The IEA mapped a way for countries and companies to contain increases in global temperatures. It urged them to implement aggressive energy-efficiency measures; limit the output of inefficient coal plants and mandate that all future coal plants be highly efficient supercritical ones; reduce the release of methane (a potent greenhouse gas) in oil and gas operations; and phase out fossil-fuel subsidies.

The agency estimated that the release of natural gas, or methane, during upstream oil and gas operations accounted for about half of all methane emissions by the oil and gas industry. Large, aging pipeline networks in Europe, Russia and the United States also account for a large amount, the IEA said.

The IEA also warned that the reductions in carbon dioxide released in the United States would be hard to duplicate because natural gas prices were unusually low in 2012 and coal might regain some market share as gas prices rise.

Notwithstanding the Fukushima accident, Birol said nuclear energy remains “a very important option to fight against climate change.” The report also urged the pursuit of carbon capture and storage methods.

The Depression has started in Europe

20 Signs That The Next Great Economic Depression Has Already Started In Europe

Michael Snyder

Economic Collapse Blog,

1 May, 2013

The next Great Depression is already happening - it just hasn't reached the United States yet.  

Things in Europe just continue to get worse and worse, and yet most people in the United States still don't get it.  All the time I have people ask me when the "economic collapse" is going to happen.  Well, for ages I have been warning that the next major wave of the ongoing economic collapse would begin in Europe, and that is exactly what is happening. 

In fact, both Greece and Spain already have levels of unemployment that are greater than anything the U.S. experienced during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Pay close attention to what is happening over there, because it is coming here too.  

You see, the truth is that Europe is a lot like the United States.  

We are both drowning in unprecedented levels of debt, and we both have overleveraged banking systems that resemble a house of cards.  The reason why the U.S. does not look like Europe yet is because we have thrown all caution to the wind.  The Federal Reserve is printing money as if there is no tomorrow and the U.S. government is savagely destroying the future that our children and our grandchildren were supposed to have by stealing more than 100 million dollars from them every single hour of every single day.  

We have gone "all in" on kicking the can down the road even though it means destroying the future of America.  But the alternative scares the living daylights out of our politicians.  

When nations such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy tried to slow down the rate at which their debts were rising, the results were absolutely devastating.  

A full-blown economic depression is raging across southern Europe and it is rapidly spreading into northern Europe.  

Eventually it will spread to the rest of the globe as well.

The following are 20 signs that the next Great Depression has already started in Europe...

#1 The unemployment rate in France has surged to 10.6 percent, and the number of jobless claims in that country recently set a new all-time record.

#2 Unemployment in the eurozone as a whole is sitting at an all-time record of 12 percent.

#3 Two years ago, Portugal's unemployment rate was about 12 percent.  Today, it is about 17 percent.

#4 The unemployment rate in Spain has set a new all-time record of 27 percent.  Even during the Great Depression of the 1930s the United States never had unemployment that high.

#5 The unemployment rate among those under the age of 25 in Spain is an astounding 57.2 percent.

#6 The unemployment rate in Greece has set a new all-time record of 27.2 percent.  Even during the Great Depression of the 1930s the United States never had unemployment that high.

#7 The unemployment rate among those under the age of 25 in Greece is a whopping 59.3 percent.

#8 French car sales in March were 16 percent lower than they were one year earlier.

#9 German car sales in March were 17 percent lower than they were one year earlier.

#10 In the Netherlands, consumer debt is now up to about 250 percent of available income.

#11 Industrial production in Italy has fallen by an astounding 25 percent over the past five years.

#12 The number of Spanish firms filing for bankruptcy is 45 percent higher than it was a year ago.

#13 Since 2007, the value of non-performing loans in Europe has increased by 150 percent.

#14 Bank withdrawals in Cyprus during the month of March were double what they were in February even though the banks were closed for half the month.

#15 Due to an absolutely crippling housing crash, there are approximately 3 million vacant homes in Spain today.

#16 Things have gotten so bad in Spain that entire apartment buildings are being overwhelmed by squatters...

A 285-unit apartment complex in Parla, less than half an hour’s drive from Madrid, should be an ideal target for investors seeking cheap property in Spain. Unfortunately, two thirds of the building generates zero revenue because it’s overrun by squatters.

“This is happening all over the country,” said Jose Maria Fraile, the town’s mayor, who estimates only 100 apartments in the block built for the council have rental contracts, and not all of those tenants are paying either. “People lost their jobs, they can’t pay mortgages or rent so they lost their homes and this has produced a tide of squatters.”

#17 As I wrote about the other day, child hunger has become so rampant in Greece that teachers are reporting that hungry children are begging their classmates for food.

#18 The debt to GDP ratio in Italy is now up to 136 percent.

#19 25 percent of all banking assets in the UK are in banks that are leveraged at least 40 to 1.

#20 German banking giant Deutsche Bank has more than 55 trillion euros (which is more than 72 trillion dollars) of exposure to derivatives.  But the GDP of Germany for an entire year is only about 2.7 trillion euros.

Yes, U.S. stocks have been doing great so far this year, but the truth is that the stock market has become completely and totally divorced from economic reality.  When it does catch up with the economic fundamentals, it will probably happen very rapidly like we saw back in 2008.

Our politicians can try to kick the can down the road for as long as they can, but at some point the consequences of our foolish decisions will hunt us down and overtake us.  The following is what Peter Schiff had to say about this coming crisis the other day...

"The crisis is imminent," Schiff said.  "I don't think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out. And stock market investors are oblivious to the problems."

"We're broke, Schiff added.  "We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out."

Schiff points out that the market gains experienced recently, with the Dow first topping 14,000 on its way to setting record highs, are giving investors a false sense of security.

"It's not that the stock market is gaining value... it's that our money is losing value. And so if you have a debased currency... a devalued currency, the price of everything goes up. Stocks are no exception," he said.

"The Fed knows that the U.S. economy is not recovering," he noted. "It simply is being kept from collapse by artificially low interest rates and quantitative easing. As that support goes, the economy will implode."

So please don't think that we are any different from Europe.

If the United States government started only spending the money that it brings in, we would descend into an economic depression tomorrow.

The only way that we can continue to live out the economic fantasy that we see all around us is by financially abusing our children and our grandchildren.

The U.S. economy has become a miserable junkie that is completely and totally addicted to reckless money printing and gigantic mountains of debt.

If we stop printing money and going into unprecedented amounts of debt we are finished.

If we continue printing money and going into unprecedented amounts of debt we are finished.

Either way, this is all going to end very, very badly.

China's water pollution

If You Think China’s Air Is Bad, You Should See The Water

Business Insider,

31 March, 2013

The unhealthy smog that settled over Beijing earlier this year, capturing international media attention, is not the only visible sign of China’s rapid economic growth and the resulting environmental hazards.

Countless rivers and lakes have also been contaminated by nearby factories, and sometimes, dumping by local residents.  

This March, more than 2,000 dead pigs were found floating in a Shanghai river, a main water source for the city’s 23 million residents. 

Polluted water sources have been linked to a rise in “cancer villages,” or areas where cancer rates are high among people who live along tainted waterways.  

Time’s Gu Yongqiang contends that China’s failure to address environmental problems isn’t grounded by technical or financial constraints, but rather an overwhelming lack of motivation by authorities. 

Mounting public outrage, largely aided by the power of social media, is starting to push officials to take action. 

Last week, the state-run China Daily newspaper announced the country’s plan to spend $16 billion over the next three years to deal with Beijing’s pollution, Reuters reported. 

A look at the current state of China’s water systems — some turned bright green by algae blooms or blood red from chemicals — suggests that this is only the very start of a massive and much-needed cleanup. 

Chemcial contamination

New Jersey residents' toenail clippings to be tested for carcinogen

Scientists plan to check toenail clippings from hundreds of people in Garfield, New Jersey, to determine if residents were exposed to a toxic metal linked to lung cancer.

Reuters,

26 March, 2013

Chromium, the metal made infamous in California by environmental activist Erin Brockovich, has leaked from the now-demolished EC Electroplating Inc. factory and polluted groundwater.

Located 12 miles west of New York City, the area is on the federal Superfund list of hazardous waste sites. Some 30,000 people live in Garfield.

"Concentrations in the groundwater, et cetera, are very high," said Judith Zelikoff, a professor of environmental medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, told Reuters on Monday.

In 1983 more than 3,600 gallons (13,600 liters) of a chemical solution containing chromium were discharged from a tank at the factory, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The solution got into the groundwater, which flows toward the Passaic River, about 2,500 feet west of the site.

The plume is about three quarters of a mile long and slightly more than an eighth of a mile wide, said Rich Puvogel, a project manager with the EPA.

Detecting chromium in groundwater, soil and homes does not necessarily mean that people were exposed, Zelikoff said.

"We hope to be able to relieve their anxiety," said Zelikoff, noting that scientists will begin recruiting volunteers for the toenail clippings within the next three weeks.

Toenails grow slowly and may help to detect chronic exposure, she said.

Very high levels of chromium were found at the factory - approximately 80,000 parts per billion, Puvogel said. Downstream from the site, the levels drop off by several orders of magnitude, he said.

New Jersey sets a limit of 70 parts per billion.

The residents' exposure would have come from inhaling or touching chromium that had seeped into their basements, especially during flooding.

"When the water dries, it also leaves a chromium dust residue," Zelikoff said.

Inhaled chromium is a carcinogen that increases the risk of lung cancer, according to the EPA.

Scientists, who became aware of the contamination last year, want to test up to 250 residents, including some who live directly above the plume and a control group living at least three miles (five km) away, Zelikoff said.

Residents who agree to submit toenail clippings will receive kits containing stainless-steel clippers and instructions. They must be between 18 and 65 and cannot have taken chromium supplements or be smokers.

Last year the EPA removed more than 753 containers and drums of industrial waste from the factory and 6,100 gallons (23,000 liters) of chromium-contaminated water. The building was demolished in October.

Next week the agency will start sampling the soil at the site to determine what sources of contamination remain.

The city's drinking water comes from a different source and is not contaminated.

Britain - political corruption

Report links a third of ministers to anti-climate industries

A new report from the World Development Movement (WDM) has warned of worrying links between government ministers and companies that contribute to dangerous climate change.

Blue and Green,

12 March, 2013

According to the study, Web of Power, a third of the UK ministers, including members of the cabinet William Hague, Vince Cable, George Osborne and Michael Gove, have ties with the big finance and fossil fuels industries that are contributing heavily to greenhouse gas emissions and driving climate change.

It reports that, for example, foreign secretary William Hague, who has previously worked for Shell, helped Tullow Oil pay a huge tax bill in Uganda, while the chancellor George Osborne is revealed to have accepted generous donations from the head of CQS, a hedge fund that finances dirty energy.

The WDM’s director Deborah Doane said, “The City of London is bankrolling climate change, and the finance-energy complex at the heart of government is shoring up the companies that are pushing the planet towards catastrophe.

“Given the dense web of personal connections between government and the finance and fossil fuel industries, we have to ask whether the government’s failure to tackle climate change is down to the influence of ministers’ friends in banks and oil companies.”

The campaign group claims that these relationships might be the reason why the country is struggling in promoting a strong carbon policy, as there have been other instances where powerful figures have played their part in frustrating the implementation of clean energy policies.

The WDM estimates the value of fossil fuel industries on the London Stock Exchange at £900 billion, and says that UK banks underwrote £170 billion in bonds and share issues for energy companies over the last two years.

“Tough regulation is absolutely essential to stop the City fuelling climate change”, Doane added.

“As a first step the government must demonstrate its commitment to combating climate change and force the finance sector to publish the carbon emissions from the fossil fuel projects it funds, rather than hiding behind the greenwash of changing light bulbs.”