Energy Follies

Carbon Kingpins: The Changing Face of the Greenhouse Gas Industries

Natural Resources Defense Council, Union of Concerned Scientists and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

In 1997, the world fossil fuel industry produced 5.2 billion tons of coal, 26.4 billion barrels of petroleum and 81.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The combustion of these carbon-based fuels resulted in the emission of 6.2 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere. These emissions constitute a leading contributing cause of global warming.

Government agencies, academic institutions and private think tanks usually report this record amount as carbon dioxide emissions by country or by sector (electric utility, industrial, commercial, transportation and residential). In other words, when reporting carbon dioxide emissions, governments, international agencies and other institutions generally portray the problem solely in terms of consumption (the combustion of fossil fuels) rather than the production of those fuels. But there are equally good reasons to analyze and report carbon emissions in terms of producers. Such a list highlights perpetrators and draws attention to the size and political power of the Carbon Kings. MORE >>

Falling for AES's Plan? Uganda Debates Damming the Nile

by Stephen Linaweaver

Uganda is a lush, land-locked country tucked between the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the expansive, dry plains of Kenya and Tanzania. More than 20 percent of the country's surface is covered in water. Uganda is home to the world's second largest lake, Lake Victoria, as well as the source of the world's longest river, the Nile. In its more than 4,000 mile journey to Cairo and the Mediterranean, the Nile drops more than 4,000 feet. Over half of that descent occurs in Uganda, a fact which has hydropower developers eager to set up shop.

But the dam lobby faces several obstacles in its efforts to convince Uganda to invest in dam construction -- not the  least of which is the fact that the country appears not to need the new power which the dams would provide. MORE >>

The More Things Change ... The World Bank, Cameroon and the Politics of "Governance"

by Korinna Horta

"Governance" is the new buzzword at the World Bank, with the Bank now describing governance as critical to the success of development efforts.  This approach sounds promising, since it should shine light on how decisions are made and on basic power relations.

 But, does the governance concern signal a break from the Bank's past when coddling dictators of various stripes was unquestioned because "political considerations" were excluded from the development equation? Or is "governance" just the latest fad to help the Bank distance itself from past failures without changes in the institution's underlying approach? MORE >>

Corporate Goliaths: Sizing Up Corporations and Governments

by Charles Gray

Corporations are now bigger than countries and governments. Thanks to the work of Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh of the Institute for Policy Studies [see "Corporate Empires," Multinational Monitor, December 1996], the factoid that 51 that of the 100 largest economic entities in the world are corporations is now commonplace.

But this statistic, which compares the revenues of corporations with the gross domestic product of countries, exaggerates the power of nations and minimizes the power of corporations. As a measure of economic power, comparing corporate revenues with the GDP of nations is misleading because most wealth represented by GDP remains in private or corporate hands -- not in the hands of government or any single decision-making body, and thus is not available as a counter to corporate power. MORE >>