Royce Kurmelovs
@roycerk2.bsky.social
Journalist. Author of The Death of Holden (2016), Just Money (2020) and others.
Buy Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil (2024) now: https://www.slickthebook.com.au/
For more me: https://www.roycekurmelovs.com/
Buy Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil (2024) now: https://www.slickthebook.com.au/
For more me: https://www.roycekurmelovs.com/
Pinned
Royce Kurmelovs
@roycerk2.bsky.social
· Jun 6
Slick has been given a reprint --now with a fancy sticker on the cover. If you want to understand Why We Are Like This on climate change, or read about things like that one time the oil and gas industry spied on the son of a prime minister, and you haven't picked up a copy, now's your chance!
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Also check out the series @roycerk2.bsky.social and I did on the obscure UN org through which the fossil fuel industry hijacks COP and IPCC. They'll be there again this year...and so will Royce and I!
drilled.media/news/IPIECA1
drilled.media/news/Ipieca2
drilled.media/news/Ipieca3
drilled.media/news/IPIECA1
drilled.media/news/Ipieca2
drilled.media/news/Ipieca3
The Great COP Co-opting: New Documents Show Big Oil Has Been There All Along
As global leaders call for overhauling the COP process, new documents show it’s been flawed from the start.
drilled.media
November 11, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Also check out the series @roycerk2.bsky.social and I did on the obscure UN org through which the fossil fuel industry hijacks COP and IPCC. They'll be there again this year...and so will Royce and I!
drilled.media/news/IPIECA1
drilled.media/news/Ipieca2
drilled.media/news/Ipieca3
drilled.media/news/IPIECA1
drilled.media/news/Ipieca2
drilled.media/news/Ipieca3
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
As #COP30 officially starts today, a look at how various actors try to obstruct UN climate processes, with @cssn.org's Kari de Pryck and Eduardo Viola drilled.media/podcasts/dri...
S14, Ep10 | The Corruption of COP
Investigating the obstacles to action on climate change.
drilled.media
November 11, 2025 at 1:57 AM
As #COP30 officially starts today, a look at how various actors try to obstruct UN climate processes, with @cssn.org's Kari de Pryck and Eduardo Viola drilled.media/podcasts/dri...
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
"For philanthropists focused on #climate & #biodiversity, supporting #journalism may seem peripheral" compared w/ the main goals.
"In practice, it is a high-leverage investment that strengthens & multiplies the effectiveness of all the above."
Good thinking via @npquarterly.bsky.social here:
"In practice, it is a high-leverage investment that strengthens & multiplies the effectiveness of all the above."
Good thinking via @npquarterly.bsky.social here:
Journalism Is a Catalyst for Change—and a Critical Investment - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
For philanthropists focused on climate and biodiversity, journalism is a high-leverage investment that strengthens all other interventions.
nonprofitquarterly.org
November 10, 2025 at 2:33 PM
"For philanthropists focused on #climate & #biodiversity, supporting #journalism may seem peripheral" compared w/ the main goals.
"In practice, it is a high-leverage investment that strengthens & multiplies the effectiveness of all the above."
Good thinking via @npquarterly.bsky.social here:
"In practice, it is a high-leverage investment that strengthens & multiplies the effectiveness of all the above."
Good thinking via @npquarterly.bsky.social here:
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Solar’s price drop is astonishing: panels are now 98% cheaper than when I first analyzed them in 2004.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Today, building a fence with solar can be cheaper than using wood.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
"Far from a peak, China's gasoline demand is estimated to have fallen 9% in October on the year to 12.5 million tons, with average daily use roughly flat with September..."
China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
EVs put an end to China's usual holiday surge in gasoline use
Tianyu Jiang took a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) road trip this month during China's national holiday week, driving in his electric vehicle from the southwestern Sichuan basin to Beijing for the first time.
www.reuters.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:18 PM
"Far from a peak, China's gasoline demand is estimated to have fallen 9% in October on the year to 12.5 million tons, with average daily use roughly flat with September..."
China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
China's oil demand is entering structural decline.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Ahead of COP 30 I’ve been thinking about the irony that the critics of our 1.5 IPCC report are many of the people now saying it’s too late to act because we’ve going past 1.5 & we must focus on instead on technological fixes to address overshoot - here’s why I think these arguments are distractions
November 10, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Ahead of COP 30 I’ve been thinking about the irony that the critics of our 1.5 IPCC report are many of the people now saying it’s too late to act because we’ve going past 1.5 & we must focus on instead on technological fixes to address overshoot - here’s why I think these arguments are distractions
"No matter how unhinged the position you’ve taken, or paid someone marginally credentialed to sketch out on your behalf [...] that opinion will, by virtue of such provenance, possess all needed evidentiary gravity for the Times. And then some."
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:29 AM
"No matter how unhinged the position you’ve taken, or paid someone marginally credentialed to sketch out on your behalf [...] that opinion will, by virtue of such provenance, possess all needed evidentiary gravity for the Times. And then some."
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Researchers warn that the alga Karenia cristata, which has killed around a million animals in Australian waters in one of the biggest algal blooms ever seen, could harm marine life elsewhere
Toxic algae blighting South Australia could pose a global threat
Researchers warn that the alga Karenia cristata, which has killed around a million animals in Australian waters in one of the biggest algal blooms ever seen, could harm marine life elsewhere
www.newscientist.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Researchers warn that the alga Karenia cristata, which has killed around a million animals in Australian waters in one of the biggest algal blooms ever seen, could harm marine life elsewhere
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
Although we're not where we should be, we're on a significantly better trajectory than we were 10 years ago.
10 Years After the Paris Climate Agreement, Here's Where We Are (Gift Article)
Has anything really changed in the decade since the Paris Agreement was reached? Actually, quite a lot.
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Although we're not where we should be, we're on a significantly better trajectory than we were 10 years ago.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
"On July 20, the Tehran Water Authority reported that the capital’s reservoirs had reached their lowest point in a century, and last week, the authority’s head warned that dam reserves could sustain the city for only two more weeks if the dry spell continued."
🚨 "If it doesn’t rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in #Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city"
The president described the situation as "alarming"
#Iran 🇮🇷
#ClimateEmergency
The president described the situation as "alarming"
#Iran 🇮🇷
#ClimateEmergency
Evacuation warning for Iran's capital city
President Masoud Pezeshkian warns Tehran faces a historic water crisis with shortages and possible evacuations.
www.newsweek.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:02 AM
"On July 20, the Tehran Water Authority reported that the capital’s reservoirs had reached their lowest point in a century, and last week, the authority’s head warned that dam reserves could sustain the city for only two more weeks if the dry spell continued."
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
A friend and I talk a lot about how the beauty of money (small m) is that it allows you to buy your way out of problems. Car broke down? You can afford to fix it.
But it seems with very rich people, the inability for money to "fix" a situation - like mortality - to their liking is THE problem.
But it seems with very rich people, the inability for money to "fix" a situation - like mortality - to their liking is THE problem.
November 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
A friend and I talk a lot about how the beauty of money (small m) is that it allows you to buy your way out of problems. Car broke down? You can afford to fix it.
But it seems with very rich people, the inability for money to "fix" a situation - like mortality - to their liking is THE problem.
But it seems with very rich people, the inability for money to "fix" a situation - like mortality - to their liking is THE problem.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
🚨Breaking🚨
🕴️Just a few days ahead of #COP30, today, the #KickBigPollutersOut coalition uncovered that there are more than 5000 fossil fuel lobbyists attending the climate talks over the past four years.
It's high time to #KickBigPollutersOut: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
A 🧵
🕴️Just a few days ahead of #COP30, today, the #KickBigPollutersOut coalition uncovered that there are more than 5000 fossil fuel lobbyists attending the climate talks over the past four years.
It's high time to #KickBigPollutersOut: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
A 🧵
How thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists got access to UN climate talks – and then kept drilling
Exclusive: Research shows oil, gas and coal firms’ unprecedented access to Cop26-29, blocking urgent climate action
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
🚨Breaking🚨
🕴️Just a few days ahead of #COP30, today, the #KickBigPollutersOut coalition uncovered that there are more than 5000 fossil fuel lobbyists attending the climate talks over the past four years.
It's high time to #KickBigPollutersOut: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
A 🧵
🕴️Just a few days ahead of #COP30, today, the #KickBigPollutersOut coalition uncovered that there are more than 5000 fossil fuel lobbyists attending the climate talks over the past four years.
It's high time to #KickBigPollutersOut: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
A 🧵
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
It’s already been bad with this Luxon government already on so many issues, but it got even worse now.
Gutting of Zero Carbon Act crashes bipartisan climate consensus
It took more than a year of painstaking cross-partisan negotiation to land the Zero Carbon Act. Now, the Govt is gutting it unilaterally, Marc Daalder reports
newsroom.co.nz
November 7, 2025 at 10:08 AM
It’s already been bad with this Luxon government already on so many issues, but it got even worse now.
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...
November 7, 2025 at 5:13 AM
this is the craziest thing I've read in a long time???? Meta projected that 10% of its revenue last year, $16 billion, came from scams. Meta intentionally charges the scammers MORE and knows that people who click on scams are more likely to see more of them www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
‘There is no money’: As carbon markets collapse, what happens to the forests they promised to protect?
‘There is no money’: As carbon markets collapse, what happens to the forests they promised to protect?
After it was found most offsets did not represent real carbon reductions, the money dried up. But successful schemes such as Kasigau in Kenya now face a stark future
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:02 AM
‘There is no money’: As carbon markets collapse, what happens to the forests they promised to protect?
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages
Authors and publishers, who are suing OpenAI, secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the deletion of pirated books.
futurism.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:57 AM
“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
"something I can't report on" - great #ausmedia journalism as always
October 1988: On a Royal visit to Australia, Prince Andrew tours the fleshpots of Sydney, including one "where the younger crowd was much more to randy Andy's liking" (Sun-Herald)
November 6, 2025 at 5:20 AM
"something I can't report on" - great #ausmedia journalism as always
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
@desmog.com reviewed US tax records which show Bill Gates’ charity has donated more than $3.5 million to a think tank run by Danish academic and climate crisis denier Bjørn Lomborg www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Bill Gates Gave $3.5M to Think Tank Run by Climate Crisis Denier Bjorn Lomborg
Tax records reveal that the billionaire’s foundation has donated for years to Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center.
www.desmog.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:08 AM
@desmog.com reviewed US tax records which show Bill Gates’ charity has donated more than $3.5 million to a think tank run by Danish academic and climate crisis denier Bjørn Lomborg www.desmog.com/2025/11/05/b...
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
LNG exports around the world need to be scrutinised for claims of displacement of coal. An earlier Biden admin study had also found that additional exports of LNG from the US would displace renewables; not coal drilled.media/news/DOE-LNG...
November 6, 2025 at 3:14 AM
LNG exports around the world need to be scrutinised for claims of displacement of coal. An earlier Biden admin study had also found that additional exports of LNG from the US would displace renewables; not coal drilled.media/news/DOE-LNG...
FWIW: the idea of "gas as transition fuel" is a very old industry talking point. While researching my book, Slick, I found industry figures talking about the need to treat gas as a "bridging fuel" starting around the mid-90s when the gas producers joined APPEA.
"Exports of Australian gas carry “substantial risks” of slowing the move to cleaner energy in Asian countries, according to a confidential report for the Western Australian government that undermines the government’s own narrative that the industry helps cut global emissions."
Confidential Western Australian government report warns gas exports risk slowing Asia’s move to clean energy
Report by consultants Deloitte undermines Labor’s public claims that WA’s gas exports help reduce emissions overseas
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
FWIW: the idea of "gas as transition fuel" is a very old industry talking point. While researching my book, Slick, I found industry figures talking about the need to treat gas as a "bridging fuel" starting around the mid-90s when the gas producers joined APPEA.
"Exports of Australian gas carry “substantial risks” of slowing the move to cleaner energy in Asian countries, according to a confidential report for the Western Australian government that undermines the government’s own narrative that the industry helps cut global emissions."
Confidential Western Australian government report warns gas exports risk slowing Asia’s move to clean energy
Report by consultants Deloitte undermines Labor’s public claims that WA’s gas exports help reduce emissions overseas
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:22 PM
"Exports of Australian gas carry “substantial risks” of slowing the move to cleaner energy in Asian countries, according to a confidential report for the Western Australian government that undermines the government’s own narrative that the industry helps cut global emissions."
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
A great day for the golden rule of political analysis: when the right wins it is a resounding ideological victory that humiliates the left and when the left wins it is a precarious fluke that will surely end up humiliating the left. Conservatives are power’s landlords and the left merely tenants
November 5, 2025 at 10:35 AM
A great day for the golden rule of political analysis: when the right wins it is a resounding ideological victory that humiliates the left and when the left wins it is a precarious fluke that will surely end up humiliating the left. Conservatives are power’s landlords and the left merely tenants
Reposted by Royce Kurmelovs
today's Labour party posting versus yesterday's Labour party posting:
November 5, 2025 at 9:48 AM
today's Labour party posting versus yesterday's Labour party posting: