As leaders from twenty of the world’s major economies meet this weekend in China, for the G20 summit, two major global crises are demanding their attention: Tax havens and climate change. Fortunately, there’s an opportunity for one to be used as a solution for the other.

A new report by Friends of the Earth International calculates that government revenue lost to tax havens over a 15-year period could power half the world – Africa, Latin America and much of Asia – with 100% renewable energy.

The G20 have been talking about climate change for a long time. The 2009 summit’s official communiqué said, “We reaffirm our commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate change, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.” However, for just as long, they have done very little.

It is a similar story on tax justice: all talk, no action. At the G20 tax meeting in July they called for a “tax policy overhaul“ – yet follow through remains elusive.

Tax havens and ‘stateless’ profits

We know the world’s richest multinational corporations and individuals hide their wealth in secret overseas jurisdictions. Earlier this year, the Panama Papers leak exposed the size and scale of tax dodging via these hidden tax havens.

And Apple, we discovered this week, went a step further and placed its assets under no jurisdiction at all! As the Financial Times reported on Tuesday this week, “all profit was allocated to a ‘head office’ which had no employees or premises and existed only on paper … The particular advantage of the structure was that the head office was considered ‘stateless’ for tax purposes, with no tax to be paid anywhere on profits attributed to it.”

This arrangement allowed Apple to pay Ireland tax of just €10m on profits of $16 billion. As the FT remarked, “The tax rate on the €16bn profit was in effect 0.05 per cent in 2011 and the rate in effect declined to 0.005 per cent in 2014 even as profits grew.”

International Monetary Fund researchers estimate that globally every year up to $600 billion dollars of government tax revenue is lost through tax avoidance, alone. It is shameful that the richest 1% do not pay their fair share of tax, and deny governments vast sums of money that could be used for the benefit of all. Yet this injustice continues.

Similarly, climate change is an injustice that continues. It is disproportionately caused by the world’s wealthiest, and disproportionately harms the world’s poor – many of whom still lack energy access. The technology exists to address this injustice.

Yet every day we are told by big polluters with vested interests that climate change is too hard to solve and renewable energy is too expensive. Our new report, An Energy Revolution is Possible, refutes this often repeated lie.

The money is hidden in tax havens

We compared tax revenue lost through tax avoidance, evasion and havens (using the International Monetary Fund’s estimate), to our own calculation of investment required to reliably generate 100% of electricity from renewables in regions of the developing world most affected by, and least responsible for, climate change.

What we found is that there’s enough money in ‘missing’ tax revenues to pay for half the world’s population to enjoy 100% renewable power by 2030 – bringing clean, local energy to billions of the world’s poorest people while protecting the environment from dirty climate-killing fossil fuels.

That’s before accounting for any revenue from the sales of electricity, and the potential to re-invest it in building additional capacity. It’s also based on the IEA’s rather conservative renewable energy cost projections to 2030. In fact, costs are likely to drop considerably faster, all the more so as the colossal rate of build-out we envisage would further accelerate technology price falls.

Solving climate change is not a technical problem or financial problem. The money to bring about an Energy Revolution exists, but the political will to drive the transformation is shockingly absent.

We live in a world of unacceptable and growing inequality where nearly 1.2 billion people – or a fifth of the world’s population – lack access to electricity, and more than 2 billion people lack access to clean cooking fuels. Yet, major corporations and the richest 1% dodge paying their fair share of tax and pollute without limit.

Time for the G20 to get serious!

The G20 and other governments must get serious in their fight against tax havens and other abusive tax evasion mechanisms, by regulating at both national and international levels. One initial measure is to make public the country-by-country reporting of multinationals’ economic activity and tax paid. So that the scale of avoidance by channelling profits into tax havens is laid bare for all.

Another measure demanded by the tax justice movement is to set up public registers of the true owners of companies and other vehicles, along with an international information exchange to end bank secrecy. This must be backed up with strong binding laws and enforcement both nationally and globally.

Increased revenue flowing into government coffers once tax haven secrecy is ended gives an opportunity for increased spending on public services, including investments in renewable energy. And there’s no shortage of incredible social and community renewable energy project across the world that currently lack financing.

For example, Friends of the Earth South Korea is working with the students and teachers to build ‘Solar Cooperatives’ on the roofs of class rooms, with the electricity generated used to power these new ‘solar schools’ (see photo).

At the International level the Green Climate Fund was established to be the world’s premier climate fund for financing adaptation and mitigation activities in developing countries, with a promise of $100 billion a year of financing by 2020. Yet developed countries are not keeping their promise and have so far not committed the necessary funding. Increased government revenue from tax havens could fill this shortfall and more. It could pave the way for socially and democratically controlled renewable energy for all.

Climate change and tax avoidance are symptoms of a broken system. The transformation needed is not just switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, but also challenging the corporate power, tax dodging and greed that has led to this crisis.

The economic system and the global environment are on a devastating collision course. Yet an Energy Revolution is Possible, we just have to take on the 1% to achieve it.

The report: An Energy Revolution is Possible is published by Friends of the Earth international.

Dipti Bhatnagar is Climate Justice & Energy Co-coordinator for Friends of the Earth International, based in Maputo. Twitter: @diptimoz

Sam Cossar-Gilbert is the Economic Justice Resisting Neoliberalism Program Coordinator for Friends of the Earth International based in Paris. Twitter: @samcossa

With his Harnessing the Wind portfolio of images that have just been added to Nevada Museum’s Center for Art and Environment, fine art photographer Reynolds has meticulously documented the construction of three wind farms in Nevada, California and Texas and captured the beauty of something some of us acknowledge and others abhor.

“I want to open viewers’ eyes to the importance of renewable energy, how beautiful it can be and make a positive difference to how people respond to new sources of energy generation,” he says.

This photographer’s sublime imagery highlights the elegance and apparent simplicity of the structures that soar to 350ft and yet seem dwarfed by the openness of the landscape in which they stand. And he admits to his own feelings of amazement at the engineering feat behind these machines: “I have mixed feelings regarding them being built in pristine untouched landscapes. But the reality of how many people are on this planet and the voracious appetite we all have for energy, made me rethink those utopian ideals. To me, it makes sense to have lots of wilderness areas, but also have land that works for us.”

Most wind farms are built on land that has been either tilled, grazed or mined over the years, so humans have already made their mark on the location. For Reynolds’ trio, the construction brief was to use the smallest footprint around for each site, and restore the area to its natural state so as to have as little impact as possible on the fragile desert ecosystem.

“I was impressed with the care given during building. Now it looks as though the wind turbines were dropped from the sky with no evidence of disturbing the land,”he adds.

“My photography intentionally makes these places look pristine, but there are mining operations all around. Opponents of wind energy have pointed out that one turbine site is visible from Great Basin National Park and argued that it detracts from the pristine views. I have hiked to many of the peaks in the park and have seen the wind farm from these locations. What the opponents don’t point out is that the most obvious thing you see are mining operations that have a devastating impact on the view.”

As an assistant to his photographer father, Reynolds travelled in a VW campervan through most of America’s open spaces. These road trips ingrained his lifelong appreciation of the natural world. “I love to be immersed in an open pristine landscape – it always make me feel happy!”

This love of the world’s wilder corners led Reynolds and his wife Trish to set up home in Eureka, a small remote community 6,500ft in the mountains of the Great Basin Desert. It has one the lowest population densities in the US with just one person for every three square miles.

To produce images that reflect the different moods of the landscapes thought the day and the extraordinary contrasts in weather conditions annually (temperatures range from an icy -18C up to a baking 48C), the couple would often arrive at a site an hour before sunrise to capture the best light and Reynolds would continue shooting until sunset. He then edited the pictures back at Eureka “I usually spend as much time on the computer as I do in the field shooting. Computers are boring, whereas for me, being outdoors in any weather is pure entertainment.”

One of the main arguments against wind turbines is the detrimental effect they can have on local wildlife. To counter this, NV Energy and Pattern Energy – the companies behind the turbines which commissioned Reynolds for the project – has installed an observation tower and two doppler radar units to monitor bird and bat movements. They automatically shut down the wind farms if birds or bats are detected.

“Obviously, I would like to see a zero mortality rate. Loss of birds through turbine strikes is low compared to the loss of their numbers by habitat damage in oil fields. I understand avian mortality rates for wind farms are dropping and are far lower than the public perceives due to misinformation,”he says.

“Millions of dollars are spent every year lobbying in support of oil, gas and coal production. Carbon-based energy production is the single most heavily subsidized industry in the USA. Young and educated people are slowly questioning it, but, for the most part I don’t see much change in public opinion regarding climate change.

“I find I need to speak up since there is so much misinformation about all forms of renewables, but it’s hard. The people where we live are mostly big-time climate deniers. Usually when someone says something that is not true regarding wind energy, I try and share with them some factual information but they simply repeat what they said before, only louder. At that point I usually quit.”

Thankfully Reynolds’ amazing images are worth a thousand words, even when shouted very loudly. I’m not sure there’s anything he can do for Marmite, Barry and Nigel though.

The Arts Interview: Deon Reynolds

Black and white or colour?

This project, colour. But I’m a huge fan of B&W film

Digital or film?

This project, digital. However, I’m finding myself returning to film and Hasselblad cameras.

Top environmental tip?

Stop breeding.

Photo shoot clothes: multi-pocketed jacket or jeans?

Carhart work jeans with pockets. I don’t care for photo vests, I usually wear suitable outdoor hiking, camping type clothing.

Cold wind or still hea?

No such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.

Studio OCD or organized chaos?

Organized chaos. Our studio is a mix, I stack things on every horizontal surface and Trish tries to make an order, but then I can’t find anything…

Our most annoying environmental error?

Sprawl. Cities should become more condensed with green spaces. Keeping the outying areas for agriculture and nature.

Regular breaks or work through?

Work though, with a big break to follow up.

In the studio or out in the wild?

Definitely, In the wild! 

Photoshop or un-retouched?

Photoshop with minimal retouching, no manipulations, make the image as close as I can to how I perceived it in the field. In the future I’m looking forward to a traditional wet darkroom, less computer time.

The Harnessing the Wind archive can be explored on the Nevada Museum of Art’s finding aids: http://www.nevadaart.org/explore/collections/cae-archive-collections/finding-aids/

https://deonreynolds.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/harnessing-the-wind/

This Author

Gary Cook is The Ecologist’s Arts Editor

Online: cookthepainter.com

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As World Water Week currently looks at the world’s water issues in Stockholm, it’s clear that much more research is needed into conserving and protecting water on a global scale.

One particular area where more research is clearly needed is into the impact and environmental costs of wastewater produced by oil and gas companies – how it is treated and what potential future risks surround it. And with the controversy surrounding fracking there is still much to understand.

In the UK there are significant knowledge gaps about how to best dispose of wastewater from unconventional oil and gas resources, in fact there is currently no data available about how much wastewater is currently produced from UK oil and gas companies.

This is perhaps an area where we can better learn something about both the risks and solutions from the US, which produces 800 billion gallons of toxic wastewater each year.

Wastewater poses a number of environmental risks and concerns, especially in the relatively new science of fracking. Increasingly flowback and produced water is being used as hydraulic fracturing fluid in the process of fracking. Constituents within this water include barium and strontium, various pollutants and additional unknown compounds which may have both a short and longer term impact on soil, and our drinking water.

Chloelle Danforth, a postdoctoral science fellow working with the US EDF (Environmental Defense Fund) Oil and Gas team to minimize the industry’s impacts on water, states that most US wastewater is injected deep into the rock (deep well disposal) – something that isn’t permitted in the UK.

Now a growing number of US operators are looking at alternative ways of discharging water or reusing it above ground. But a key concern is that very little is known about the likely consequences of this action.

The Environmental Defense Fund in collaboration with Columbia University and the University of Colorado is now working with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, to find better ways to test for the multitude of chemicals and contaminants  that may be present in this wastewater.

Both the UK and the US see the management of wastewater as a priority for more research, something clearly demonstrated in a workshop held in November 2015 funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), organised to explore the environmental impacts of unconventional oil and gas activity and to identify and address these vast knowledge gaps.

The report in the aftermath of the workshop raised the issue of stresses on water both in quality and quantity. It highlighted that the potential risks to water include subsurface migration, leaks and failures during transfer to the surface.

It also confirmed that the truth is, the UK has very little experience with water use and contamination from unconventional oil and gas activity, although we have made significant progress in establishing environmental baseline monitoring programs.

James Bertin, of the UK’s Environment Agency said that currently no figures are available as to the amount of wastewater produced by UK oil and gas companies, adding: “The disposal method for flow-back fluid will be agreed between the operator, their contractors and us. In general the available options include:

• On-site treatment with re-use of water and disposal of remaining liquors and solids to a suitable licensed waste treatment and disposal facility or effluent discharge

• Removal off site to a suitable licensed waste treatment and disposal facility.

He added: “If the fluid, which is a waste when it returns to the surface, can be treated to the point where it performs the same function as fresh injection fluid, then it would no longer be a waste product but could be used in well stimulation. We would need to assess any proposal to reuse flow back fluid in this way.

“There are now three facilities in England with permits that would allow for the treatment of this waste: Castle Environmental in Stoke, FCC at Knostrop and Bran Sands in Middlesbrough (Northumbrian Water).

“All of the industrial plants that will treat the flowback fluid will be regulated by the Environment Agency. Operators of these sites would be required to make the data available to us if we needed it as part of our regulatory work.”

Cloelle Danforth writes in a report for EDF that existing methods of analysing wastewater are difficult, because it is often ten times saltier than the ocean and adequate testing for these solutions just doesn’t exist. Without the correct research and knowledge it’s therefore difficult to remove pollutants or understand their environmental risks.

With deep well disposal not permissible in the UK, there is a greater need for additional research for treatment and reuse of the flowback and produced water. Given the newness of fracking in the UK it is completely unknown how much wastewater would be produced and what the regulations would be surrounding it.

With World Water Week following the theme Water for Sustainable Growth, 3,000 people from over 120 countries have gathered in Stockholm to talk about what is listed by the World Economic Forum as one of the top global risks.

Opening the meeting, Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said: “Without reliable access to water, almost no Sustainable Development Goal will be achieved. To make that happen, we must ensure water’s centrality to the entire Agenda 2030. This will demonstrate the power water has as a connector.

“Water connects not only sectors, but also nations, communities and different actors. Water can be the unifying power, the enabler for progress in both Agenda 2030 and the Paris climate agreement”.

Laura Briggs is The Ecologist News Reporter

Some 100 delegates, drawn from a range of environmental, health and regeneration organisations, gathered to examine the findings of a European-funded research team, known as TURAS (Transitioning towards Urban Resilience and Sustainability) which looked specifically at the relationship between residents of Barking Riverside and their environment. It highlighted a lack of awareness of the green infrastructure and the benefits it brings within the growing new town – work which in turn has helped bring the community explore options like community gardens.   

Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, Councillor Darren Rodwell, explained: “More than 70% of EU citizens live in towns or cities, they consume 75% of global energy and emit 80% of greenhouse gases. They overheat their homes, have flooding problems and lack wildlife on the doorstep. 

 “Our conference brought together some of the most forward-thinking planners, developers and academics to discuss how we can ensure cities – particularly growth areas like Barking and Dagenham – can provide attractive, healthy and sustainable neighbourhoods.

“This isn’t simply about aesthetics; the evidence shows that this is good for the environment but most importantly, good for people’s health and wellbeing too.”

A key attraction at the conference was the stunning mobile Green Living room – a demountable garden space which has now started its seven city European tour departing from Barking. 

Bursting with scent and colour, and with flowers and herbs, kiwis and strawberries growing from the walls and vertical gardens, the aim of this unique touring green space, piloted in Germany, is to help city dwellers learn about the benefits of green spaces, especially:

• Increasing wildlife: providing wildflowers and supporting birds and insects such as bees
• Urban heat-island effect: it helps to reduce higher temperature in inner city areas
• Storm water runoff: absorbs heavy rainfall from storms to reduce local flooding
• Reduces noise pollution: provides a sound barrier to create an oasis of calm in city centres
• Absorbs carbon: plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, improving air quality.

 The conference speakers included Dusty Gedge, President of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations (EFB and founder of Livingroofs.org), Dr William Bird, a GP and Founder of Intelligent Health, academics from University of East London and University of Nottingham and Cllr Darren Rodwell, the Leader of LBBD Council.

After London the Green Living Room will begin a tour of seven European countries taking in France, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia before returning to a permanent exhibition site in Stuttgart, Germany.

It was first used in the town of Ludwigsburg, Germany where it was built in the heart of the town becoming a popular, social space for local people to meet and enjoy nature.

For more on the Green Living Room tour visit www.turas-cities.eu