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Martin Watters

@martinwatters.bsky.social
846 followers 407 following 25 posts

Strategic Comms for @redwaterinsights.bsky.social - data driven research and analysis of risks posed by oil and gas decommissioning liabilities | @adfreecities.bsky.social‬ trustee | he/him | Opinions mine

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Reposted by Martin Watters
Redwater Insights @redwaterinsights.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We're publishing a collection of case studies where the worst-case scenario for oil & gas decommissioning has materialised. These are stories of divestments, defaults, and of billions in clean-up costs passed from companies to governments and to taxpayers. www.redwaterinsights.org/research/dec...
redwaterinsights.org
Decommissioning Defaults: The risks of late-life oil and gas assets — Redwater Insights
International case studies of systemic failure in how oil and gas decommissioning liabilities are allocated and enforced. They evidence the need for robust financial assurance frameworks that ensure o...
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This is great public policy from Bristol. Cities are better when they're not covered in advertising promoting fossil fuels, SUVs, fast-fashion, vapes, and junk foods. Well done to everyone involved in making this happen, especially @adfreecities.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Bristol becomes first UK city to ban Black Friday adverts
New rules prohibits the promotion of flights, cars and travel agents on council-owned billboards.
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John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The toxic legacy of unplugged and abandoned wells, one of the less publicized costs of our oil and gas dependency. And no, just like the costs of its carbon pollution, the industry has no intention of paying for this.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Very weird to be living for weeks through what has so far been the worst UK drought since records began and for the Prime Minister to have still said absolutely nothing about it
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Shell's estimates of how much it will cost to clean up its old oil & gas infrastructure have exploded in recent years. This is down to Shell voluntarily disclosing extra info about its decommissioning liabilities. This thread outlines why this should ring alarm bells for auditors & regulators.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 25/06/2026
NEW: This is the story of how one of the most influential climate papers in history came to exist thanks to one of the companies most responsible for causing the climate crisis — and one with a financial stake in the technologies described in the paper. w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social
propublica.org
Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study
BP sponsored an elite Princeton research center to address the climate problem without getting off fossil fuels. Its key work, a paper known as “Wedges,” guided climate discourse for a generation.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Atmospheric CO₂ of 340 ppm
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Debate around North Sea oil and the workers and communities that rely on it are missing this key point. 500 wells are already overdue for decommissioning, another 1700 will be by 2032. Urgent action to fix those wells will create 25k jobs & benefit the communities hit hardest by North Sea decline
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Adam Barnett @adambarnett.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
PSA: Here's how the anti-net zero sausage gets made: 1. Oil companies fund climate denial groups 2. which incubate fake experts 3. who write policy papers for 'think tanks' 4. which get blurbed by politicians 5. & reported uncritically by right-wing media. Voila! www.desmog.com/2026/01/28/c...
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
On the flipside to this, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that lists of the UK's nicest places to live all seem to show vibrant walkable town centres with not a car in sight? archive.ph/3pSug
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 07/01/2026
Great @olliemilman.bsky.social + @dharna.bsky.social piece feat @patrickgaley.bsky.social and others “So long as governments continue to rely on fossil fuels in energy systems, their constituents will be hostage to the whims of autocrats" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump taking ‘drill, baby, drill’ plan to Venezuela ‘terrible’ for climate, experts warn
‘Everybody loses’ if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics say
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Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Something I see a lot of folks missing in discussions about what's happening Venezuela, particularly around oil, is the role U.S. oil majors' interest in Guyana—and the threat Venezuela posed to it—has in all of it. Explainer here: drilled.media/news/guyana-...
drilled.media
The U.S.-Venezuela-Guyana Oil Triangle
The U.S. interest in Venezuela isn’t just about the oil there, but also about the oil next door in Guyana, and the U.S. oil companies that have staked their future on it.
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CAAD_Coalition @caadcoalition.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
A new investigation from @globalwitness.org finds that AI chatbots’ personalised answers risk inflaming climate conspiracy and misinformation, with disinformation and known denialists recommended to users modelled as conspiratorial user personas.
buff.ly
AI chatbots share climate disinformation to susceptible users
AI chatbots' personalised answers risk inflaming conspiracy and misinformation, as investigation shows climate disinformation shared to sceptic user personas
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Huw C. Davies @huwcdavies.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
British multi millionaire émigrés to an Islamic authoritarian petrochemical state funding a propaganda channel that tells its audience Britain is becoming an authoritarian Islamic state and petrol cars shouldn’t be banned. 🤔
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Just a reminder the media org that has been trumpeting that it cares about kids and their futures and wants social media banned is the same that worldwide has been running climate change disinformation and lies, ensuring the kids will live in a worse world
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Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
"According to data from Media Radar, The New York Times took in more than $20 million in advertising revenue from fossil fuel companies from Oct 2020 to Oct 2023, twice what any other outlet earned from the industry" - @amywestervelt.bsky.social, Matthew Green & @joeygrostern.bsky.social #NYT
desmog.com
Reuters, New York Times Top List of Fossil Fuel Industry’s Media Enablers
Darren Woods, the CEO of Exxon, celebrates the potential of carbon capture to dramatically reduce global emissions. According to Saudi Aramco’s podcast, the fossil fuel industry is innovating new clim...
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
This really needs emphasizing. The entirety of the UK media ecosystem is utterly fixated on a 100% fabricated "crisis".
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Noah Gordon @noahjgordon.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
No oil peak until 2035, even under stated policies (pink line). No gas peak in sight. Grim stuff
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
"A fire-sale of the world's rainforests, with big banks profiting from the ashes." Banks and asset managers have made $26 billion in income from financing deforesting companies since the Paris Agreement: new @globalwitness.org investigation reveals. Full report out today 👇
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
This should be a fairly simple political concept to understand. But it's one UK Labour seems intent on ignoring until it's too late.
The second main problem is that it merely legitimises the arguments of their opponents. By refusing to ever criticise the anti-migrant politics of Reform and the Conservatives, while repeatedly flirting with such politics themselves, Starmer and his party are essentially conceding the argument to their opponents. A strategy of saying ‘Farage is basically right, but he’s not as competent as us’ is always going to be a losing one. Voters attracted to the anti-migrant politics of Farage are not likely to be won over by appeals for a weaker but more competent alternative.
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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Re the new Reform pledge, a sports writer has already got to the heart of the matter better than the politics commentators www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
What is the endgame in this toxic immigration debate: is it friends and neighbours thrown out of the country? | Jonthan Liew
The notion of remigration was abstract, but the right is dragging it towards respectability. If the goal is homogeneous whiteness, they should say it, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
The clearest take yet on why relatively small, top-down organised protests against immigration are currently dominating UK political discourse right now.
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
There is now 50% more plastic in all of our brains than was there 8 years ago, thanks largely to Big Oil. With demand for oil slowing the industry is betting big on creating more plastic, everywhere. www.cnbc.com/2025/08/20/m...
cnbc.com
Microplastics are everywhere. Here's why that matters to big oil
New research into how microplastics are affecting us is concerning scientists, but the oil and gas industry is relying on plastics for growth.
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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza were civilians as of May, according to Israel's own military intelligence. "In Gaza we are talking about a campaign of targeted assassinations, really, rather than battles, and they are carried out with no concern for civilians.”
theguardian.com
Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war
Figures from classified IDF database listed 8,900 named fighters as dead or probably dead in May, as overall death toll reached 53,000
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
The people dominating our political landscape, culture, and economy are just so stupid and full of shit it's almost impossible to describe
A transcription of a conversation between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and podcast host Theo Von on Von's podcast, in an excerpt from the Atlantic article "AI is a mass-delusion event" by Charlie Warzel: 

"Sam Altman: I do guess that a lot of the world gets covered in data centers over time.

Theo Von: Do you really?

Altman: But I don’t know, because maybe we put them in space. Like, maybe we build a big Dyson sphere around the solar system and say, “Hey, it actually makes no sense to put these on Earth.”

Von: Yeah.

Altman: I wish I had, like, more concrete answers for you, but, like, we’re stumbling through this."
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Yan Qin @yanqin.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
(Bloomberg Green): Hedge funds are betting against oil stocks and winding back shorts on solar in a reversal of positions that dominated their energy strategies over the past four years. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
My least popular (and most correct) view is that cars should be automatically limited to the local speed limit. Put the pedal to the floor and you still can't go over 25mph in a residential area. (15 in Manhattan btw)
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
War crimes, genocide, forced famine, displacement and now ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Keir Starmer - who once called himself a human rights lawyer - should know that platitudes aren't enough when the UK is still exporting weapons helping cause these horrors. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City in further escalation
Proposal that needs to be approved by full cabinet would mean sending Israeli ground troops into remaining territory
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
The US oil industry is facing huge liabilities for environmental damage and that bill keeps getting higher as we learn more about the damage they are doing (e.g PFAS, radioactivity, leaking injection wells, etc) Add more to the list.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 22/07/2025
shame on me for missing the 10yr anniversary of the best climate social posts ever By @scottwesterfeld.bsky.social -->

Scott Westerfeld
@ScottWesterfeld
Plot idea: 97% of the world's scientists contrive an environmental crisis, but are exposed by a plucky band of billionaires & oil companies.
11:27 AM · Mar 21, 2014
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
“We have long criticised UK terrorism law for being excessively broad and vaguely worded and a threat to freedom of expression. This video documents one aspect of exactly the kind of thing we were warning about.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
theguardian.com
Armed police threatened to arrest Kent protester for holding Palestinian flag
Officers accused Laura Murton who also had a sign saying ‘Free Gaza’ of supporting a proscribed organisation
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Paris Marx on why tech feels increasingly at the center of geopolitical fights: "Now more than ever, we need to challenge the domination of US tech and the power it gives an increasingly belligerent United States."
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Stephen Frost @sfrost.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Looking at progress in emissions reductions from 2023 to 24, the aviation sector is setting off alarm bells: "... aviation now contributes a greater share of total UK emissions than the entire electricity supply sector. Continued emissions growth in this sector could put future targets at risk."
Change in UK emissions for key sectors (2023-2024)

Shows aviation had the largest increase in emissions at +9% with surface transport on -2%
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
"If killing 23 civilians at an aid distribution site is not terrorism, how can we possibly be expected to accept that spray-painting a plane is?" Sally Rooney on the absurdity of UK Labour reserving its fiercest sanctions for those speaking out against genocide, rather than those most responsible.
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
"Old fashioned print media is in decline everywhere but in the mind of the nation’s political class. The result is that our leaders are getting a very warped sense of what the average voter thinks, reads and cares about."
newstatesman.com
The public doesn’t like Brexit. Has anyone told the media?
From the broadsheets to the tabloids, journalism is increasingly out of touch with public opinion.
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
A German court has dismissed a case brought by a Peruvian farmer and mountain guide against the fossil fuel giant RWE. Amid the dismissal, the court confirmed something momentous: private companies can be held liable for their share in causing climate damages. theconversation.com/one-lawsuit-...
theconversation.com
One lawsuit just helped melt the fossil fuel industry’s defence against being held accountable for climate change
Legal action by a Peruvian farmer has signalled a shift in the global conversation.
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Something that's been clear to me for some time is that a lot of progressive advocacy and politics has overindexed on finding just the right combination of words to say while ignoring the fact that no media ecosystem exists where people might actually hear you say them. New from @mmfa.bsky.social
Media Matters compiled a list of 418 popular online shows — podcasts, streams, and other long-form audio and video content regularly posted online — that were active during 2024, assessed ideological alignment, and found 320 online shows with an ideological bent (191 right-leaning and 129 left-leaning) that covered news and politics and/or hosted related guests.

Nine of the 10 online shows from our study with the largest total following across platforms were right-leaning, accounting for at least 197 million total followers and subscribers. These are the online shows of:

Joe Rogan: 39.9 million
Ben Shapiro: 25 million
Jordan Peterson: 23 million
Russell Brand: 22.5 million
Theo Von: 22.3 million
Charlie Kirk: 18.6 million
Nelk Boys’ Full Send Podcast: 16.7 million
Candace Owens: 15 million
Dr. Phil: 14.2 millionAcross streaming platforms including YouTube, Rumble, Twitch, Kick, and Spotify, the left-leaning online shows had at least 55.9 million total followers and subscribers — a figure which is dwarfed by the right-leaning online shows with at least 255.5 million.

This content is further amplified on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — social media platforms where the programs or hosts post full streams, clips, and show links. Left-leaning online shows had at least 48 million followers across these platforms, while the right-leaning online shows had more than 225 million followers.

Of a cumulative 584.6 million followers and subscribers across all eight platforms, Media Matters found that right-leaning online shows accounted for roughly 82%, or 480.6 million — almost five times more than left-leaning shows’ nearly 104 million.
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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 15/05/2025
Quite possibly the biggest climate story of the year (especially when we look back on this in a few years' time) For the first time on record, China's emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, not slow power demand...
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Just basic requirements at this stage to prevent further fossil fuel capture of politics, culture + media: - Ban FF political donations - Ban FF adverts + sponsorship, introduce warning labels - Compensate community groups that cut FF sponsors - Make greenwashing illegal, penalties for false claims
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 17/03/2025
"Right-leaning newspapers in particular continue to use themes that justify calls for reducing climate action, even if no longer explicitly arguing that action is not needed or justified by the science"
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Look carefully: these are the companies that we must force governments to dismantle if our kids are going to have a mostly habitable planet.
Fossil-fuel companies with the greatest emissions in 2023:
State Owned:
Saudi Aramco
Coal India
CHN Energy
Jinneng Group
National Iranian Coal
Investor Owned:
Exxon Mobil
Chevron
Shell
Total
BP
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Declassified UK @declassifieduk.org · 03/03/2025
The world’s five largest listed oil companies – BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies – have made profits of more than $380 billion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing rise in energy bills, finds Global Witness. globalwitness.org/en/press-rel...
globalwitness.org
Big Oil is the big winner from Russia's war on Ukraine
Big oil is one of the big winners of Russia's war on Ukraine. New Global Witness analysis reveals that the five big Western oil companies - BP, Chevron, Exxon, Shell and TotalEnergies - have made over...
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
"Any company whose value is this dependent not on its balance sheet but instead on a shared popular narrative is unusually vulnerable to narrative shifts." @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social on why the insanely valued Tesla is more vulnerable than many think
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
As we witness the US further descending into plutocracy, wild to see reports UK Labour was planning to ban big foreign political donations here - such as Musk's threat of £100 million to Reform. But Labour then pulled it... after pressure from their rich donors. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Labour dropped plan to ban foreign donors after Waheed Alli intervened, book claims
Peer who gave gifts to Keir Starmer is said to have blocked ban on potential Elon Musk donations to Reform UK
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 04/02/2025
No coverage on broadcast TV news watched by boomers, either. Zero mention on the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News, and Buzzfeed homepages as well. And of course Fox and OANN and Newsmax will only spin it as positive.
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Martin Watters @martinwatters.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
“The public interest in authorities acting lawfully and the private interest of members of the public in climate change outweigh the private interest of the developers.” UK govt take note: you can't push through polluting projects at any cost, if your process for approving them is unlawful.
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Tom Prater @tomoprater.carbonbrief.org · 28/01/2025
A forest twice the size of Greater London would need to be planted in the UK to cancel out the extra emissions from the expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports. That's more than 300,000 hectares... Chart for @carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-... #dataviz
Line chart showing the increase in aviation emissions if Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports were expanded.
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Matthew Brooker @mbrooker.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Nvidia just lost $465 billion in market value, the biggest rout in US market history. Hello, China AI www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
DeepSeek Shows Silicon Valley’s Huge Blindspot on AI
OpenAI and others have coasted along believing money was their moat. It’s not.
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Damien Gayle @damiengayle.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Climate change is a class war www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
World’s richest use up their fair share of 2025 carbon budget in 10 days
Emissions caused by wealthiest 1% so far this year would take someone from poorest 50% three years to create
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