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UNIT 3

THE SECONDARY

SECTOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 THE SECONDARY SECTOR ................................................................................................................2

2 MINING RESOURCES IN THE WORLD AND SPAIN .............................................................2

3 ENERGY PRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 3 3.2 Alternative sources of energy ............................................................................................................................................................ 4

4 INDUSTRY: EVOLUTION, CURRENT INDUSTRY AND INDUSTRIAL AREAS .......... 4 4.1 Historical development: the Industrial Revolutions ......................................................................................................... 4

4.2 Types of contemporary industry ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

4.3 Industrial areas and landscapes ................................................................................................................................................... 5

4.4 The world’s industrial areas today................................................................................................................................................. 6

5 THE SECONDARY SECTOR IN SPAIN .......................................................................................... 7 5.1 Mining ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

5.2 Energy production ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

5.3 Industry ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

5.4 Construction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

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The secondary sector is the sector of economy which includes the activities concerned with the

transformation of raw materials into products that enable human needs to me met. The main activities of the secondary sector are mining, industry, energy production and construction. Industry is the most significant of the activities, so we are going to focus on its history and evolution and its spaces (industrial spaces).

Mining is the economic activity concerned with locating, extracting and refining rocks and minerals

found in the Earth’s crust (on its surface [open pit mining] or beneath its surface [mine site or mine shaft]), and used later in industrial processes or in energy production. We do not link mining with the primary sector because they never produce natural resources which can be directly used for consumption.

Mineral sources can be classified as follows: - Industrial rocks:

1) Energy rocks or fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), used to produce energy. 2) Useful rocks (limestone, marble, clay, salt…), used mainly in construction. 3) Precious stones (diamonds, emerald, ruby, sapphire…), used in jewellery.

- Minerals: 1) Useful minerals (iron, copper, lead…), used mainly in construction, armament and technological products. 2) Precious metals (gold, silver, platinum…), used mainly in jewellery. 3) Strategic minerals (uranium, coltan, cobalt...), used mainly in energy production, armament and technological products.

Because of the uneven distribution of natural resources in the world, some of the products obtained in mining determine the economic profile and possibilities of certain countries, either by their presence or by their absence (dependency).

The most relevant examples are the sources of energy, such as coal, oil and natural gas, but precious metals and strategic minerals are also very important.

The countries with the most mineral resources are: 1) China: coal, gold and iron. 2) United States: natural gas, coal and iron. 3) Australia: gold, iron and lead.

Mines can cause a variety of problems for the people who work in them and also because of their location:

- Changes to the land, on the surface and underground. Currently, the system called fracking (hydraulic fracturing), used for oil extraction, is one of the most aggressive.

- Atmospheric and water pollution. It is created due to the harmful chemicals that are used to extract the minerals and also because the burning of gas and oil during the extraction process (air pollution). Also, the refining process pollutes greatly the atmosphere and the waters, as we will see further in the unit.

- Destruction of natural space, causing a great impact on the vegetation and wildlife. - Conflicts due to the exploitation of the resources: from the Coltan War in Congo; the so-called

‘Blood Diamond’ in countries such as Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia; the expulsion of natives from their lands in Ecuador; to conflicts fuelled by oil in the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, etc.).

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Energy production transforms energy sources into heat and electricity, which allows all economic

processes to be undertaken, from industrial production to technology consumption. Energy sources are those that can produce light, heat and power to move different types of machinery, and can be classified depending on their capacity to be naturally renewed and their degree of development.

- Depending on their natural capacity for renovation: o Renewable: they are inexhaustible. The most important are solar energy, wind power,

geothermal, tidal and wave, hydroelectric or biomass. o Non-renewable: they become exhausted through constant use, or it takes a very long time

to be renewed. The main forms of non-renewable are thermal (coal, oil and natural gas) and nuclear (atomic fission and atomic fusion).

- Depending on their degree of development: o Traditional: well-established and widely used. It includes coal, oil, natural gas, hydroelectric

and nuclear fission power. o Alternative: they have been developed as alternative of the traditional sources of energy.

The general idea is the advance towards cleaner, more renewable, less pollutant and less waste-generating energy production. Also, their impulse has been determined by the uneven distribution of traditional resources, reducing dependency from other countries. However, their use is conditioned by technological limitations or by their price. It includes solar energy, wind power, geothermal, tidal and wave, biomass and nuclear fusion power.

TRADITIONAL SOURCES OF ENERGY

TYPE ORIGIN, EXTRACTION AND USES PROBLEMS PRODUCERS

CRUDE OIL

Mixture of hydrocarbons found in underground deposits formed by decomposition of animals and plants. Obtained by drilling the surface into an underground reservoir. In addition to source of energy, also used as industrial raw material (tar, paints, plastic, etc.)

Limited reserves (40 years). High level of pollution in extraction and processing.

Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA, China, Iran, Mexico, Venezuela. OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

NATURAL GAS Same origin as oil, and obtained in a similar way. Used for producing electricity, and pipped gas for heating systems and kitchens.

Limited reserves (65 years). High level of pollution in extraction and processing, but less than oil.

Russia, USA, Canada, Iran, Norway and Algeria.

COAL

Combustible mineral produced by the decomposition of plant remains buried underground. Used in power stations for producing electricity, for manufacturing iron and steel and for making chemical products.

Relatively abundant reserves. High level of pollution in extraction and processing.

China, USA, India and Australia.

HYDROELECTRIC Obtained from water contained in a reservoir (dam), which moves turbines that generate electricity in hydroelectric power stations.

Criticised for modifying the environment (changing river courses, etc.)

Canada, USA, Brazil, China and Russia.

NUCLEAR FISSION

Electricity is obtained through the separation (fission) of the atoms of radioactive heavy minerals (uranium, for instance).

It can be dangerous (nuclear accidents) and produces highly polluting waste.

USA, France and Japan.

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ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY

TYPE ORIGIN, EXTRACTION AND USES PROBLEMS PRODUCERS

SOLAR ENERGY Derived from the Sun’s light and heat. Its force is concentrated by using panels, providing heat or electricity.

Irregular supply, and impossibility of storage.

USA, Canada and Australia.

WIND ENERGY Wind moves generators which provide electricity.

Irregularity of the supply, and visual and acoustic impact of the turbines.

Germany, Spain and USA.

BIOMASS ENERGY

Organic materials (wastes from the primary sector or industrial processes) are burnt in order to provide heat and electricity.

CO2 emitted during the combustion.

USA, France and Sweden.

TIDAL AND WAVE POWER

The force of the tides and the waves move turbines which produce electricity.

High production costs. Visual impact.

France, United Kingdom and Canada.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Derives from the internal heat of the Earth, providing heat and electricity (through turbines).

Restricted to areas with seismic activity.

USA, Philippines and Mexico.

NUCLEAR FUSION ENERGY

Large amounts of energy can be obtained with the union (fusion) of low-mass atoms of Deuterium and Tritium (hydrogen isotopes obtained from sea water).

Technological limits. Very high temperatures, and control of nuclear reactions.

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Industry is the most important activity of the secondary sector, and comprises the transformation of raw materials into manufactured (semi-finished or finished) products. Industrial activities need the factors of production, that is, the inputs required to produce an output:

- Natural resources o Raw materials: biological or mineral. o Sources of energy.

- Capital: physical, financial and human. - Technology: combination of knowledge, methods and procedures. The evolution of industrial activities have changed greatly over time, and the different stages of the

Industrial Revolution(s) are going to be linked with changes in the sources of energy and the technology.

- Artisanal industry (until the 18th century): artisans worked in workshops inside the cities (grouped

into guilds, and located in the same street), and undertook industrial labour by hand using traditional tools (manual work) and low-power energy sources, such as human or animal strength and wood burning. The final products were unique, expensive and scarce, and they were to be sold in local markets. The main type of manufactures were textiles, shoes and everyday items.

- First Industrial Revolution (1770-1850): fuelled by scientific advances (most importantly, the steam engine), Great Britain saw the emergence of modern industry. Factories housed both the workers and the machinery, which was coal-powered. This new industrial mechanised labour was focused on textiles and metals (iron), and the products were homogeneous, cheaper and abundant. Industrial areas were created near energy sources (coal deposits) and ports for the

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distribution of the products to distant markets. Some problems appeared because of the poor working conditions, the concentration of workers in cities (urban growth of cities such as Manchester and Birmingham) and the pollution caused by the burning of coal. After Great Britain, countries such as France and Germany followed.

- Second Industrial Revolution (1850-1950): oil and electricity were the energy sources behind the Second Industrial Revolution. The petrochemical industry, the combustion engine and the assembly line production are the basic characteristics. Consumer goods industries focused on the automobile and electrical household appliances, and the production of chemicals, iron and steel were also very relevant. The pivotal centre was the USA, and industrial spaces were concentrated around cities, in the outskirts.

- Third Industrial Revolution (1950 onwards): also known as information and automation revolution. Nuclear energy first, and then alternatives sources of energy were used along coal and oil. Electronics and microelectronics, information technologies and biotechnology emerged, which means that knowledge and information (scientific research and development) have become the major industrial factor, and automatized labour has become widespread. Industries have divided their locations, and while research, innovation, design, quality control, etc. have moved to new areas such as technology parks and high-tech hubs (Silicon Valley, for example), production has been offshored to developing countries.

Industries can be classified according to the following criteria:

- According to their position in the production process: o Heavy industry: production of semi-finished products (iron and steel industries, for

instance). Highly pollutant. o Capital goods industry: transformation of semi-finished products into equipment needed

by other industries (machinery, industrial equipment, etc.) or for transport and construction.

o Consumer goods industry, intended directly for consumers. - According to the weight of the raw materials: heavy (large quantities of heavy, raw materials),

semi-heavy and light industries. - According to its technology: low technology (traditional, such as textiles), mature (that has

achieved the maximum technological development, such as metalwork and car industry) and high-tech industry (still undergoing major expansion, such as in telecommunications and biotechnology).

Traditional industry had as its objective to produce the biggest yield at the lowest cost, so they did not take into consideration the pollution that was produced or the working and living conditions of the workers. Therefore, industrial areas have had a great impact on the landscape, both natural and human. The historical evolution of the industrial processes have created certain landscapes which depend on the type of industries, the locations, etc. The modernisation of industrial activity and globalisation have together led to profound changes in location:

- Traditional factors. The most significant are: o Proximity to raw materials and energy sources o Proximity to market centres and consumption o Proximity to ports and transport routes o Abundance of low-skilled labour and source of capital.

- Current factors. Profound changes in production, the high level of technology and global

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competition are important aspects. Nowadays, the main factors are: o Accessibility to raw materials and energy sources. o Abundance of cheap labour or highly-skilled workers. o Economic policies: the willingness of government to make things easier in terms of

location, financing, innovation, regulations and pollution requirements.

The traditional industrial centres have been changing or merging with new ones, depending on the changes that have occurred in industry.

- Original industrial areas: Location was determined by the abundance of coal and iron, and the proximity to ports and navigable rivers, and cities boomed because of the amount of workforce required. We can outline as the most important areas: centre of England (Manchester or Liverpool), centre of Germany (Ruhr mining area), north of France (Lille) and the Eastern part of the USA (Detroit or Pittsburgh). After the 1970s, after they suffered a crisis (deindustrialisation and offshoring of heavy industries) they reconverted through closures or by implementing changes to production and the workforce –they went from heavy industries carried out by low-skilled to light and high-tech industries with skilled workers.

- Contemporary industrial areas: the offshoring of industries and the use of less polluting energies, among other factors, have created some industrial landscapes in the developed countries. However, some of the problems derived by the presence of heavy, high-polluting industries have been transferred to other parts of the world.

o Centres for advanced technology: in the most developed countries, with abundance of qualified workers, investment in research and development, means of transportation, etc. Silicon Valley, in the USA, is the paradigmatic example of these.

o High-tech industries: these have emerged in the last 30-40 years. They receive modern industries with advanced electric development and innovation, and consumer goods. We find them in the USA, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and especially East and Southeast Asia (China, South Korea, India, Taiwan…).

o Industrial parks or industrial estates: located outside of urban centres, they combine light industries and office buildings.

o Mature or low-technology industries: located in emerging or underdeveloped countries, as they require an abundant but relatively unqualified and low-cost labour force. These areas often provide concessions that encourage industries to move there (to offshore production), such as duty-free zones and permissive environmental legislation.

HISTORICAL INDUSTRIAL REGIONS (Triad)

o Advanced technology High-tech and innovative industry. o Loss of many industries (heavy, textiles, automotive, etc.) due to offshoring. o Abundance of qualified workers. o High-spending capacity of local markets.

EMERGING COUNTRIES (BRICS, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Mexico, etc.) o Highly developed and growing industrialisation due to the exploitation of their natural

resources and globalisation (offshoring, cheap labour, etc.).

LEAST INDUSTRIALISED o Poorest countries of the world. o Limited industrialisation due to lack of natural resources, capital for industrial

development, limited markets, poor communications, etc.

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Spain has historically been a country with one of the richest tradition of mining (gold, silver, mercury, coal…), but today the mining industry has almost completely disappeared. This is due either to the drying up of the deposit (as in other parts of Europe) and to the high extraction costs. From the 1980s, mines have closed or have reduced their activity because it is cheaper to import the resources than to produce them.

Spain’s energy production is divided into local energy supplies and imported energy supplies. The

former is mostly based on renewable energies such as hydroelectric, solar, wind and biomass. Moreover, nuclear energy is very important, and is generated at seven nuclear power stations with uranium imported from Niger. Coal extraction used to be very important, but there has been a continuous mining crisis since the 1980s because of the high extraction costs. However, some major mines are still working, mostly in Asturias, León and Palencia.

The almost complete lack of oil and natural gas imply that Spain depends on external sources, which implies a great obstacle for the trade balance (difference between imports and exports) of the country. In addition to this, energy consumption is based on these non-renewable traditional sources. Oil is imported mostly from the Middle East and Nigeria, and natural gas from Algeria (about a 55 %), other European countries (16 %), Qatar (9 %), etc.

The industrialisation of Spain begun late in the 19th century, mostly focused in Huelva (mining), Basque Country (iron and steel industries, as well as mining) and Catalonia (textiles). The degree of industrialisation was low until the 1960s, after the isolation of the early years of Franco’s dictatorship. The combination of these factors, as well as the lack of raw materials, have caused that industrialisation has developed unevenly, with some areas with very little importance of this activity.

Traditionally speaking, Spanish industries have been shipbuilding, metallurgy, textiles, leather and shoe manufactures, furniture and toys. Some of these have been suffering a serious decline from the 1980s due to higher production costs, the offshoring of industries and global competition.

The most dynamic industries in Spain are currently the automobile, chemical and food production industries, while high-tech industries are undergoing attempts of development, delayed by the dependence on foreign research and technologies and the lack of investment.

The main industrial areas of Spain are Madrid and Barcelona, both cities providing location for

offices and facilities of major national and multinational companies and industries which focus mostly on new technologies.

Then, there are some industrial axes, mostly along the Mediterranean coast from Murcia to Girona and along the river Ebro from La Rioja to Tarragona. In a second rank of importance, there are industrial axes in Castilla-La Mancha surrounding Madrid, and along the Tordesillas-Valladolid-Palencia motorway. The Cantabrian coast, on the other hand, is a traditional industrial axis with important centres such as Vigo, A Coruña, central Asturias, Torrelavega and Santander in Cantabria and the Basque Country, and it is undergoing a process of crisis and reconversion of its traditional heavy industries. The rest of the peninsula (Andalucía, Extremadura, great areas of both Castillas, etc.), the archipelagos and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla have little or very little industrial activity.

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Construction is the economic activity of the secondary sector in charge of projecting and building

different structures (housing, industrial buildings, etc.) and infrastructures. There are many branches of construction, being small renovations the majority of the activity.

Historically speaking, construction has been concentrated on the following functions: residential (houses), religious (churches, cathedrals, etc.), military (castles, military barracks, etc.) and civil works (town halls, universities, etc.). However, as the needs of industries and urban life changed, construction became more diversified, with some infrastructures such as ports, airports, highways and canals gaining importance.

The importance of this activity in Spain’s economy has been massive, both directly and indirectly. The 2008 crisis affected construction greatly, stopping temporarily the so-called ‘real estate bubble’. This led to a great economic recession, with very high unemployment figures, reduction of private and public expenditure, the increase of the country’s debt, etc.

GLOSSARY Secondary sector

Mining Energy production

Renewable sources of energy Non-renewable sources of energy

Traditional sources of energy Alternative sources of energy

Industry Artisanal industry

First Industrial Revolution

Second Industrial Revolution Third Industrial Revolution

Construction

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REVISE

1. Create a table comparing the origin, uses and problems raised by the different energy sources: oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric, nuclear fission, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and wave power.

2. Comment the following statistical table related with the production and consumption of fossil

fuels by regions of the world in 2008. Use the maps and graphs in the presentation of the unit for helping your analysis.

a. Description of the table: i. What is the table about?

ii. What is shown in the vertical axis? How is it divided? Is there anything worth mentioning?

iii. What is shown in the horizontal axis? How is it divided? b. Interpretation of the data:

i. Are there large positive differences between the ‘produced’ and ‘consumed’ amount in each of the elements? In what cases? What reasons can you find for those differences?

ii. Are there large negative differences between the ‘produced’ and ‘consumed’ amount in each of the elements? In what cases? What reasons can you find for those differences?

iii. Why do you think that the vertical axis is organised the way it is? What criteria does it follow?

iv. In the ‘world total’, how are the data of each of the categories of the horizontal axis?

c. Conclusion: why is this table relevant?

COAL OIL NATURAL GAS

PRODUCED CONSUMED PRODUCED CONSUMED PRODUCED CONSUMED

North America 638,4 606,9 619,2 1076,6 740 751,2 C. & S. America 55,5 23,3 335,6 270,3 143 128,7

Europe and Eurasia 456,4 522,7 851 955,5 978,6 1029,6 Middle East 0,5 9,4 1253,7 306,9 343 294,4

Africa 143,4 110,3 488,1 135,2 193,3 85,4 Asia 2030,7 2031,2 381,2 1183,4 370,1 436,8

WORLD TOTAL 3324,9 3303,7 3928,8 3927,9 2768 2726,1 Source: Statistical Review of World Energy, 2009.

3. Read the text and answer the questions:

“The change in international location of industrial activities […] has been the consequence of increasing economic globalisation; or in order words, of the growing foreign and domestic competition within national markets, the rapid expansion of large economies which offer important advantages for industries and, finally, the possibilities provided by computer technology with regard to structuring production processes. These three factors have led the main multinational companies to channel their investments into emerging industrial economies […] and close down operations in more developed countries. This is a phenomenon known as offshoring. As a result of this process, the national economy loses a market with regard to certain activities and areas, which are subsequently taken over by another country, and this also leads to a decrease in employment in the sector affected”

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a. What is ‘offshoring’? Look for its definition, and then explain with your own words. b. Where were industries located during the First and Second Industrial Revolutions?

What factors were taken primarily into account? c. What factors make offshoring possible? Why do companies offshore their production?

See also unit 1. d. What consequences does offshoring have for the labour force of developed areas? And

for their industrial landscapes? e. What consequences does it have for the less developed areas where industries are

offshored?

4. Compare the following industrial landscapes.

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5. Copy the table in your notebook, and complete it with the information about the historical

evolution of the industries and the Industrial revolutions.

FIRST INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION SECOND INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION THIRD INDUSTRIAL

REVOLUTION

CHRONOLOGY

TYPES OF INDUSTRIES

TRANSPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS

SOURCES OF ENERGY

LOCATION

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TEXT - BP dropped

green energy projects

worth billions to focus

on fossil fuels Oil firm invested billions of pounds in clean and low-carbon energy in the 80s and 90s but later abandoned meaningful efforts to move away from fossil fuels and locked away the research. Terry Macalister. The Guardian. 16 April 2015

BP pumped billions of pounds into low-carbon technology and green energy over a number of decades but gradually retired the programme to focus almost exclusively on its fossil fuel business, the Guardian has established. At one stage the company was spending around $450m (£300m) a year on research alone - the equivalent of $830m today. The energy efficiency programme employed 4,400 research scientists and R&D support staff at bases in Sunbury, Berkshire, and Cleveland, Ohio, among other locations, while $8bn was directly invested over five years in zero- or low-carbon energy. But almost all of the technology was sold off and much of the research locked away in a private corporate archive. The company, which once promised to go “beyond petroleum”, will come under fire both inside the Annual General Meeting and outside from some shareholders and campaigners who argue BP is playing fast and loose1 with the environment by not making meaningful moves away from fossil fuels. In 2015, BP will spend $20bn on projects worldwide but only a fraction will go into activities other than fossil fuel extraction. An investigation by the Guardian has established that the British oil company is doing far less now on developing low-carbon technologies than it was in the 1980s and early 1990s. Back then it was engaged in a massive internal research and development (R&D) programme into energy efficiency and alternative energy. The company was doing ground-breaking work into photovoltaic solar panels, wave power and domestic energy efficiency as part of a wider drive to understand how greenhouse gas emissions could be curbed. Two houses on the site at Sunbury were used in experiments. One was retrofitted with special insulation, ground source heat pumps and other systems which have now become mainstream. “All the reports that we produced were filed away and contain a huge mass of information. We had been researching alternative energies for years going back to the early 1980s,” said one senior scientist involved in the BP programme. A major cost-cutting drive in 1993 forced the end of R&D as a standalone department. It was reduced in scale, merged with the engineering department and told to concentrate on oil and chemical research. A spokesman for BP insisted that the company was now spending $660m on research, half of that in-house2 at locations such as Sunbury and he denied that any energy efficiency drive was being wound down. 20% of R&D is still said to be going towards “a low-carbon transition”. But he accepted that the company had retreated from renewable energy, saying it was up to others to do that work. Greenpeace said it was time that BP handed over all the research it had gained from its decades of work. “By keeping this wealth of research under lock and key BP is putting narrow corporate interests before humanity’s hopes to tackle one of its greatest challenges”, said a spokesman. “BP could score a PR victory by releasing this information, in the same way that Tesla released some of their energy patents to boost innovation in the sector. Not pursuing its clean energy project might have been a

1 Inconstant and unreliable. 2 Internal

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missed opportunity for BP, but the rest of us can’t afford to make the same mistake”. As recently as 2003 the then-chief executive John Browne appeared to see a bright future for a low-carbon energy group, bringing in Ogilvy & Mather to launch a $200m rebranding campaign. BP introduced its new slogan “Beyond Petroleum” and changed its 70-year-old, shield-style logo to a more upbeat and eco-friendly green and yellow sunburst. Six years earlier Browne had differentiated himself from his rivals by leaving the main industry body campaigning against carbon controls, the Global Climate Coalition, instead talking openly of the threat caused by global warming. By 2007 Browne had left the company to his successor Tony Hayward who closed down BP Solar in 2011, on the grounds that it did not make money. “The continuing global economic challenges have significantly impacted the solar industry, making it difficult to sustain long-term returns for the company, despite our best efforts,” BP said in an internal letter to staff at the time. In 2013, under an even newer chief executive, Bob Dudley, all the wind farms which at one stage were located in nine different American states and produced 2,600 megawatts were put up for sale. BP failed to find a buyer and continues to hang on to them. The company also retains a Brazilian biofuels business but has halted all work on carbon capture and storage. BP continues to invest in carbon-heavy tar sands operations as well as its traditional oil and gas fields and yet it accepts that some reserves will have to remain in the ground to beat global warming. “We agree that burning all known (fossil fuel reserves) would raise global temperature by more than 2C and that potential greenhouse gas regulation to prevent this from happening could reduce the value of some reserves and the companies that own them,” said the spokesman. But it says that 56% of its exploration and development activities are now based on gas as opposed to oil. BP also argues that it is working hard to promote and develop biofuels, has an intensive energy efficiency programme in place and factors in a carbon price of $40 to all its projects. It says it addresses potential climate impacts at the design phase. A major group of shareholders have called on the company to address climate change more robustly through a resolution to be heard at the AGM. BP management says it supports the resolution but ultimately believes that politicians must take primary responsibility for tackling global warming and hastening in a low-carbon future. “It is clear that it is the role of governments and regulators to set the boundary conditions for the policy framework which is needed to bring about this transition. BP’s role is to develop its business within that framework,” the spokesman added. Suzanne Dhaliwal from the UK Tar Sands Network said support for the AGM resolution looked hollow when the company was still engaged in carbon-heavy extraction activities. “It looks like a stalling mechanism to get large shareholders on board but from a grass roots level commitments to tackling climate change and continuing with tar sands are incompatible.” Many leading environmentalists such as Jonathan Porritt and Bill McKibben believe fossil fuel companies will never play a leading role in any move to a low-carbon economy. McKibben says: “BP’s ‘beyond petroleum’ shtick was one of the great PR3 moves of all time, but it never amounted to anything – nor will the pious purring noises they’re making now,” he argues. “If they want to lead they’ll pledge to stop looking for new hydrocarbons. I’m guessing they won’t, and that we will need to fight them every step of the way.”

1. Check the following link, and answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions#List_of_countries_by_2013_emissions_estimates

What is the importance of developed countries in CO2 emissions? 2. “Politicians must take primary responsibility for tackling global warming and hastening in a low-carbon

future” Do you agree with this statement? Why? 3. What problem did the research programme for low-carbon energy face when it was suspended? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of renewable alternative sources of energy? 5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fossil fuels as sources of energy? 6. What are the necessary conditions, in your opinion, that should be met in order to be able to change

from fossil fuels to zero or low-carbon energies?

3 Public relations