oil

Yesterday morning, staff at Greenpeace Germany received an important-looking letter from Shell - well, Shell’s Legal Services department. Over the next 24 hours or so, identical letters arrived at other Greenpeace offices, including Mexico, UK, France, Hungary, Nordic, Japan, Mediterranean, Poland, Greece, Czech Republic, Belgium, Canada and even Greenpeace’s Science Unit. I think it’s fair to say Shell had something they wanted to say to us.

With fuel prices at record levels and predicted to keep rising, you’d think that new European proposals to stem drivers’ costs and reduce emissions would be welcomed by all. But major car companies like VW are opposing these laws – so today we released a new report detailing how increasing efficiency will benefit both the public and the climate.

The second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is upon us - and looking at the lessons the oil industry got from it, you’d think it never happened. Here are the most important points governments and oil companies didn’t learn.

Last week, Lloyd’s of London - the world’s leading insurer which sets the global standard for risk assessment - released a report warning investors not to rush in and invest in Arctic drilling. Looking at the industrial onslaught that is likely to hit the Arctic as the sea ice melts, the report covers the environmental impacts and financial risks of industrial fishing, shipping and mining. But it's most scathing on oil drilling, and in particular of the ability of oil companies to clean up after a major spill.

For several months, our intrepid active supporters Jedis have been out in force, persuading thousands of members of the public to sign VW Darkside cards - which we've been sending through to the top brass at the VW's headquarters in Milton Keynes, and to their biggest dealerships.