politics

US climate agency stops tracking costly natural disasters

  • "In alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product," a banner on the landing page said.
  • US President Donald Trump's administration will stop updating a long-running database of costly climate and weather disasters as part of its deep cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to a Thursday announcement.
  • "In alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product," a banner on the landing page said.
US President Donald Trump's administration will stop updating a long-running database of costly climate and weather disasters as part of its deep cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to a Thursday announcement.
The database, which spans the years 1980-2024, has allowed researchers, the media and the public to keep a tally of events ranging from wildfires to hurricanes that caused losses exceeding $1 billion, adjusted for inflation. 
"In alignment with evolving priorities, statutory mandates, and staffing changes, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information will no longer be updating the Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product," a banner on the landing page said. Past years will remain archived.
From 1980 to 2024, the United States experienced 403 weather and climate disasters with damages exceeding $1 billion each, adjusted to 2024 dollars. The cumulative cost of these events surpassed $2.9 trillion.
A time-series chart shows that while there is year-to-year variation, the overall number of billion-dollar disasters is rising sharply, driven by climate destabilization linked to fossil fuel emissions.
"Hiding many billions in costs is Trump's latest move to leave Americans in the dark about climate disasters," said Maya Golden-Krasner of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute.
"Trump's climate agenda is to leave people unsafe and unprepared while oil companies pocket record profits," Golden-Krasner added. "The pressure is on for leaders with integrity to keep counting the costs of climate disasters and hold polluters accountable for the damage."
Trump, who withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement on day one of his second term, has pursued aggressive rollbacks of climate-focused institutions. 
His administration appears to be following "Project 2025," a blueprint authored by right-wing think tanks that labels NOAA a key source of "climate alarmism."
NOAA has since undergone mass layoffs affecting roughly 20 percent of its workforce, and the White House is seeking to slash the agency's annual budget by $1.5 billion -- nearly a quarter of its total funding.
The move follows another major blow to federal climate science: the dismissal of more than 400 authors behind the National Climate Assessment, a report mandated by Congress and considered the government's foremost climate evaluation.
ia/mlm

conservation

Elk could return to UK after 3,000 years as plan wins funding

  • If approved, the move would bring elk and beavers together "for the first time in 3,000 years in the UK," Bennett said in a press release issued Wednesday. 
  • Elk could roam the English countryside for the first time in 3,000 years after funding was approved to explore plans for their eventual reintroduction into the wild.
  • If approved, the move would bring elk and beavers together "for the first time in 3,000 years in the UK," Bennett said in a press release issued Wednesday. 
Elk could roam the English countryside for the first time in 3,000 years after funding was approved to explore plans for their eventual reintroduction into the wild.
European elk are woodland foragers and wetland grazers, helping to promote the natural regeneration of woodland and maintain open clearings. They went extinct in the UK due to overhunting and a loss of habitat.
"This exciting project is working towards the possibility of reintroducing elk into two existing beaver enclosures in Derbyshire and Nottingham," in central England, said Rachel Bennett, deputy director of Wilder Landscapes and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, which applied for the funding alongside the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.
The Rewilding Britain charity approved the grant in the latest round of the Rewilding Innovation Fund, a twice-yearly fund supporting innovative rewilding efforts. 
If approved, the move would bring elk and beavers together "for the first time in 3,000 years in the UK," Bennett said in a press release issued Wednesday. 
"This project could demonstrate how this crucial ecosystem engineer can thrive in floodplain landscapes, shaping diverse habitats that benefit communities and support biodiversity recovery," she explained.
"It may also serve as a catalyst for engaging people in the long-term benefits of returning elk to the wild."

'Hopeful future'

The wildlife trusts must now carry out extensive research, which could take up to three years, before a final decision on whether to licence the project is made by the government, a spokesperson for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust told AFP on Thursday. 
"It's a complex process involving multiple stages of research and development, feasibility studies, impact assessments, and community consultations. By taking the time and effort to get it right, we can create a more hopeful future for everyone," said Rebecca Wrigley, chief executive of Rewilding Britain.
The plan follows a similar scheme to reintroduce bison to one of southeast England's largest areas of ancient woodland. 
Three female bison were released into the countryside near Canterbury, Kent, in July 2022. A bull bison was introduced later and two baby bison have since been born.
"The reserve is teeming with life in areas that were once in darkness, and you can feel a renewed energy in the woodland," said bison ranger Hannah Mackins.
"This project shows the incredible power of nature to heal and gives us hope for the future," she added.
jwp/jkb/sbk

livestock

Wolf protection downgrade gets green light in EU

BY MATTHIEU DEMEESTERE

  • "Downgrading wolf protection... panders to fear, not facts," he charged.
  • EU lawmakers on Thursday gave the green light to downgrading wolf protections in the bloc, which will allow hunting to resume under strict criteria.
  • "Downgrading wolf protection... panders to fear, not facts," he charged.
EU lawmakers on Thursday gave the green light to downgrading wolf protections in the bloc, which will allow hunting to resume under strict criteria.
Members of the Bern Convention, tasked with the protection of wildlife in Europe as well as some African countries, agreed in December to lower the wolf's status from "strictly protected" to "protected".
The downgrade came into force in March, and the European Commission moved immediately to revise related EU laws to reflect the change.
EU lawmakers approved the move by a majority of 371 to 162, with support from conservative, centrist and hard-right groups.
The law requires a formal rubber-stamp by EU member states -- which have already endorsed the text -- before entering into force, after which states will have 18 months to comply.
Green and left-wing parties voted against a change they denounce as politically motivated and lacking scientific basis, while the parliament's socialist grouping was split on the matter.
The European Union -- as a party to the Bern Convention -- was the driving force behind the push to lower protections, arguing that the increase in wolf numbers has led to more frequent contact with humans and livestock.
But activists fear the measure would upset the recovery made by the species over the past 10 years after it faced near extinction a century ago.
A trio of campaign groups -- Humane World for Animals Europe, Eurogroup for Animals and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) -- denounced the vote as "a worrying precedent for European nature conservation."
"There is no data justifying a lower level of protection, but the EU institutions decided to ignore science," IFAW's Europe policy director Ilaria Di Silvestre said in a joint statement.
Echoing those concerns, Sebastian Everding of the Left group in parliament said the move "ignores effective coexistence tools".
"Downgrading wolf protection... panders to fear, not facts," he charged.
Grey wolves were virtually exterminated in Europe 100 years ago, but their numbers have surged to a current population of 20,300, mostly in the Balkans, Nordic countries, Italy and Spain.

 No 'licence to kill'

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the results of the vote on Thursday.
"With growing wolf concentrations in some areas, we should give authorities more flexibility to find balanced solutions between the aim to protect biodiversity and the livestock of local farmers," she wrote.
In late 2022, von der Leyen lost her beloved pony Dolly to a wolf that crept into its enclosure on her family's rural property in northern Germany -- leading some to suggest the matter had become personal.
In practice, the EU rule change makes it easier to hunt wolves in rural and mountainous regions where their proximity to livestock and sheepdogs is deemed too threatening.
Von der Leyen's European People's Party (EPP), which spearheaded the change, has stressed that member states will remain in charge of wolf management on their soil -- but with more flexibility than before.
To date, there have been no human casualties linked to rising wolf populations -- but some lawmakers backing the change warn that it may only be a question of time.
Spain's Esther Herranz Garcia, a member of the conservative EPP, cited figures showing that wolves attacked more than 60,000 farm animals in the bloc every year.
"The people who feed our country cannot be expected to work with this fear hanging over them," said France's Valerie Deloge, a livestock farmer and lawmaker with the hard-right Patriots group, where the rule change found support.
Socialist and centrist lawmakers -- while agreeing to back the changes under a fast-track procedure -- struck a more measured tone.
"This is not a licence to kill," Pascal Canfin, a French lawmaker with the centrist Renew group, told AFP. "We are providing more leeway for local exemptions -- wolves remain a protected species."
mad-av/ec/jm

politics

EU parliament backs emissions reprieve for carmakers

  • Criticizing the move, Green EU lawmaker Saskia Bricmont said loosening emissions rules would "delay the marketing of affordable electric vehicles, which are vital" for European consumers.
  • EU lawmakers on Thursday gave the green light to a delay for European carmakers to meet new emission targets, as the bloc seeks to balance climate goals with supporting the struggling industry.
  • Criticizing the move, Green EU lawmaker Saskia Bricmont said loosening emissions rules would "delay the marketing of affordable electric vehicles, which are vital" for European consumers.
EU lawmakers on Thursday gave the green light to a delay for European carmakers to meet new emission targets, as the bloc seeks to balance climate goals with supporting the struggling industry.
Starting this year the European Union is cutting the average carbon emissions that new vehicles sold in the 27-country bloc are permitted to produce, with steep fines if carmakers fail to comply.
But the European Union has also made it a priority to bolster key sectors -- including automobile manufacturing -- in the face of fierce US and Chinese competition.
Part of that effort includes loosening rules to give companies breathing room, including the reprieve approved in Strasbourg by a 458 to 101 majority of EU lawmakers.
Under the scheme put forward in March by European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, companies will be able to comply with the new targets by averaging their emissions over three years from 2025 to 2027, rather than each individual year.
This means they will not be fined if they fail to meet the 2025 target by December 31 this year.
The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) welcomed the vote, saying the mechanism provided "much-needed flexibility in meeting CO2 targets at this important moment in our transition toward zero-emission mobility."
The parliament's biggest political grouping, the conservative EPP, hailed the vote, with lawmaker Laurent Castillo calling it "a first step to strengthen the European automobile market".
The French MEP said the next step would be to revise the EU's plans to phase out new sales of combustion engine vehicles by 2035.
The measure passed with support from the parliament's centrist and socialist groups.
Criticizing the move, Green EU lawmaker Saskia Bricmont said loosening emissions rules would "delay the marketing of affordable electric vehicles, which are vital" for European consumers.
"This is incomprehensible. It is yet another step back in the fight against climate change," Belgium's Bricmont said in a statement.
The far-right Patriots group meanwhile described the three-year flexibility as "insufficient", urging the "complete repeal" of the EU's penalty mechanism.
av-raz/ec/rl

warming

Global temperatures stuck at near-record highs in April: EU monitor

BY NICK PERRY AND BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • The extraordinary heat spell was expected to subside as warmer El Nino conditions faded last year, but temperatures have stubbornly remained at record or near-record levels well into this year.
  • Global temperatures were stuck at near-record highs in April, the EU's climate monitor said on Thursday, extending an unprecedented heat streak and raising questions about how quickly the world might be warming.
  • The extraordinary heat spell was expected to subside as warmer El Nino conditions faded last year, but temperatures have stubbornly remained at record or near-record levels well into this year.
Global temperatures were stuck at near-record highs in April, the EU's climate monitor said on Thursday, extending an unprecedented heat streak and raising questions about how quickly the world might be warming.
The extraordinary heat spell was expected to subside as warmer El Nino conditions faded last year, but temperatures have stubbornly remained at record or near-record levels well into this year.
"And then comes 2025, when we should be settling back, and instead we are remaining at this accelerated step-change in warming," said Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
"And we seem to be stuck there. What this is caused (by) -- what is explaining it -- is not entirely resolved, but it's a very worrying sign," he told AFP.
In its latest bulletin, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said that April was the second-hottest in its dataset, which draws on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations.
All but one of the last 22 months exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the warming limit enshrined in the Paris agreement, beyond which major and lasting climate and environmental changes become more likely.

Missed target 

Many scientists believe this target is no longer attainable and will be crossed in a matter of years.
A large study by dozens of pre-eminent climate scientists, which has not yet been peer reviewed, recently concluded that global warming reached 1.36C in 2024.
Copernicus puts the current figure at 1.39C and projects 1.5C could be reached in mid 2029 or sooner based on the warming trend over the last 30 years.
"Now it's in four years' time. The reality is we will exceed 1.5 degrees," said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs Copernicus.
"The critical thing is to then not latch onto two degrees, but to focus on 1.51," the climate scientist told AFP.
Julien Cattiaux, a climate scientist at the French research institute CNRS, said 1.5C "would be beaten before 2030" but that was not a reason to give up.
"It's true that the figures we're giving are alarming: the current rate of warming is high. They say every 10th of a degree counts, but right now, they're passing quickly," he told AFP.
"Despite everything, we mustn't let that hinder action."

'Exceptional'

Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming that has made extreme weather disasters more frequent and intense.
But they are less certain about what else might have contributed to this persistent heat event.
Experts think changes in global cloud patterns, airborne pollution and Earth's ability to store carbon in natural sinks like forests and oceans, could be factors also contributing to the planet overheating.
The surge pushed 2023 and then 2024 to become the hottest years on record, with 2025 tipped to be third.
"The last two years... have been exceptional," said Burgess.
"They're still within the boundary -- or the envelope -- of what climate models predicted we could be in right now. But we're at the upper end of that envelope."
She said that "the current rate of warming has accelerated but whether that's true over the long term, I'm not comfortable saying that", adding that more data was needed.
Copernicus records go back to 1940 but other sources of climate data -- such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons -- allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much further into the past.
Scientists say the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.
np-bl/bc

environment

Australian Greens chief loses his own seat

  • Bandt, 53, said he had called his Labor Party rival for the seat, Sarah Witty, to congratulate her and "wish her all the best".
  • Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt conceded the loss of his own parliamentary seat Thursday, blaming a flood of votes that swept to the triumphant Labor Party.
  • Bandt, 53, said he had called his Labor Party rival for the seat, Sarah Witty, to congratulate her and "wish her all the best".
Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt conceded the loss of his own parliamentary seat Thursday, blaming a flood of votes that swept to the triumphant Labor Party.
People who "hate" right-leaning opposition leader Peter Dutton had flocked to Labor to keep him out of power, Bandt told reporters after losing the seat of Melbourne, which he held for 15 years.
"Like me, many of them wanted him as far away from power as possible," Bandt said.
"My initial take is that some votes leapt away from us to Labor, as people saw Labor as the best option to stop Dutton," he said.
"Whilst not a massive shift in the vote, it did make a difference."
Bandt, 53, said he had called his Labor Party rival for the seat, Sarah Witty, to congratulate her and "wish her all the best".
Left-leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor Party won re-election in a landslide Saturday, with partial results putting it on course for at least 92 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives.
The Greens have secured no seats so far, though one is still considered too close to call.
They had four seats in the previous parliament.
But Bandt said the Greens may get 13 percent of the vote in the upper house Senate, giving them the balance of power there.

'Climate denialist'

"Fighting the climate crisis is the reason that I got into politics, and I want to thank everyone in Melbourne for helping us make a difference," he said.
"If the government doesn't use its big majority to start actually cutting climate pollution and tackling Australia's massive inequality crisis, watch for a big swing at the next election."
Dutton, who was leader of the opposition Liberal-National coalition, lost his own seat as well as leading his party to crushing defeat in the general election.
He had touted a US$200-billion plan to introduce nuclear power to Australia by building sevenlarge-scale nuclear plants by 2050 -- doing away with the need to ramp up renewables.
Albanese has poured public money into the renewables sector, which he says will supply 82 percent of Australia's electricity by 2030. But he has still approved fossil fuel projects.
"The government has been lucky to have a climate denialist, Peter Dutton, for many years as their foil, because it made them look good," Bandt said.
"As the political debate became about renewables versus nuclear, we tried really hard to get people to pay attention to coal and gas and the over 30 new coal and gas projects that have been adopted," he said.
"Please, please start taking the climate crisis seriously and holding this government and any future government to account."
Bandt, who is married with two daughters, became Greens leader in 2020.
He worked as an industrial lawyer representing workers against corporations, including defending the rights of coal workers in privatised power stations.
djw/lec/stu

snail

What the shell: scientists marvel as NZ snail lays egg from neck

  • A conservation ranger said she was gobsmacked to witness a captive snail laying an egg from its neck -- a reproductive act well documented in other land snails but never filmed for this species. 
  • A rare New Zealand snail has been filmed for the first time squeezing an egg from its neck, delighting scientists trying to save the critically endangered meat-eating mollusc.
  • A conservation ranger said she was gobsmacked to witness a captive snail laying an egg from its neck -- a reproductive act well documented in other land snails but never filmed for this species. 
A rare New Zealand snail has been filmed for the first time squeezing an egg from its neck, delighting scientists trying to save the critically endangered meat-eating mollusc.
Threatened by coal mining in New Zealand's South Island, a small population of the Mount Augustus snail was transplanted from its forest habitat almost 20 years ago to live in chilled containers tended by humans.
Little is known about the reproduction of the shellbound critters, which can grow so large that New Zealand's conservation department calls them "giants of the snail world".
A conservation ranger said she was gobsmacked to witness a captive snail laying an egg from its neck -- a reproductive act well documented in other land snails but never filmed for this species. 
"It's remarkable that in all the time we've spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we've seen one lay an egg," conservation ranger Lisa Flanagan said this week.
"We caught the action when we were weighing the snail. We turned it over to be weighed and saw the egg just starting to emerge from the snail."
Conservation department scientist Kath Walker said hard shells made it difficult to mate -- so some snails instead evolved a special "genital pore" under their head.
The Mount Augustus snail "only needs to peek out of its shell to do the business," she said.
The long-lived snails can grow to the size of a golf ball and their eggs can take more than a year to hatch. 
They eat earthworms, according to New Zealand's conservation department, which they slurp up "like we eat spaghetti".
Conservation efforts suffered a drastic setback in 2011, when a faulty temperature gauge froze 800 Mount Augustus snails to death inside their climate-controlled containers.
Fewer than 2,000 snails currently live in captivity, while small populations have been re-established in the New Zealand wild.
sft/djw/dhw

income

World's richest 10% caused two thirds of global warming: study

BY MARLOWE HOOD

  • Emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent in China and the United States -- which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution -- each led to a two-to-threefold rise in heat extremes. 
  • The world's wealthiest 10 percent of individuals are responsible for two thirds of global warming since 1990, researchers said on Wednesday.
  • Emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent in China and the United States -- which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution -- each led to a two-to-threefold rise in heat extremes. 
The world's wealthiest 10 percent of individuals are responsible for two thirds of global warming since 1990, researchers said on Wednesday.
How the rich consume and invest has substantially increased the risk of deadly heatwaves and drought, they reported in the first study to quantify the impact of concentrated private wealth on extreme climate events. 
"We link the carbon footprints of the wealthiest individuals directly to real-world climate impacts," lead author Sarah Schoengart, a scientist at ETH Zurich, told AFP.
"It's a shift from carbon accounting toward climate accountability."
Compared to the global average, for example, the richest one percent contributed 26 times more to once-a-century heatwaves, and 17 times more to droughts in the Amazon, according to the findings, published in Nature Climate Change.
Emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent in China and the United States -- which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution -- each led to a two-to-threefold rise in heat extremes. 
Burning fossil fuels and deforestation have heated Earth's average surface by 1.3 degrees Celsius, mostly during the last 30 years. 
Schoengart and colleagues combined economic data and climate simulations to trace emissions from different global income groups and assess their impact on specific types of climate-enhance extreme weather.
The researchers also emphasised the role of emissions embedded in financial investment rather than just lifestyle and personal consumption.
"Climate action that doesn't address the outsized responsibilities of the wealthiest members of society risk missing one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce future harm," said senior author Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, head of the Integrated Climate Impacts Research Group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis near Vienna. 

Billionaires tax

Owners of capital, he noted, could be held accountable for climate impacts through progressive taxes on wealth and carbon-intensive investments. 
Earlier research has shown that taxing asset-related emissions is more equitable than broad carbon taxes, which tend to burden those on lower incomes.
Recent initiatives to increase taxes on the super-rich and multinationals have mostly stalled, especially since Donald Trump regained the White House.
Last year, Brazil -- as host of the G20 -- pushed for a two-percent tax on the net worth of individuals with more than $1 billion in assets.
Although G20 leaders agreed to "engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed," there has been no follow-up to date.
In 2021, nearly 140 countries agreed on work toward a global corporate tax for multinational companies, with nearly half endorsing a minimum rate of 15 percent, but those talks have stalled as well. 
Almost a third of the world's billionaires are from the United States -- more than China, India and Germany combined, according to Forbes magazine.
According to anti-poverty NGO Oxfam, the richest 1 percent have accumulated $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade.
It says the richest one percent have more wealth than the lowest 95 percent combined.
mh/klm/phz/bc

environment

Kenya court fines teens for trying to smuggle protected ants

  • The haul included the rare Messor cephalotes species, a single queen ant that currently sells for at least $99 each, according to the court report.
  • A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four people, including two Belgian teenagers, more than $7,000 for attempting to smuggle thousands of live ants out of the country.
  • The haul included the rare Messor cephalotes species, a single queen ant that currently sells for at least $99 each, according to the court report.
A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four people, including two Belgian teenagers, more than $7,000 for attempting to smuggle thousands of live ants out of the country.
The case has received considerable attention after the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) accused the four of engaging in "bio-piracy".
David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 18 of Belgium, Duh Hung Nguyen of Vietnam, and Dennis Nganga of Kenya all pleaded guilty to possession of the ants, but denied seeking to traffic them.
Lornoy and Lodewijckx were arrested in possession of 5,000 queen ants packed in 2,244 tubes in Nakuru County, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the capital Nairobi.
Duh and Nganga were found with ants stored in 140 syringes packed with cotton wool and two containers, according to a charge sheet seen by AFP.
The senior magistrate, Njeri Thuku, made a reference to the slave trade while passing judgement.
"Imagine being violently removed from your home and packed into a container with many others like you. Then imagine being isolated and squeezed into a tiny space where the only source of nourishment for the foreseeable future is glucose water," she wrote.
"It almost sounds as if the reference above is to slave trade. Yet, it is not slave trade, but it is illegal wildlife trade."

'Not typical poachers'

Lornoy was described as an "ant enthusiast" who kept colonies at home in Belgium and was member of a Facebook group called "Ants and Ant Keeping", according to the sentencing report.
He told investigators he was not aware that transporting the ants was illegal.
Police had put the value of the ants taken by the Belgians at one million shillings ($7,740).
The haul included the rare Messor cephalotes species, a single queen ant that currently sells for at least $99 each, according to the court report.
Possession of any wildlife specimen or trophy without a permit is a criminal offence in Kenya, with suspects normally subject to a fine of up to $10,000 and five years or more in prison.
The court ultimately sentenced all four to a fine of one million shillings ($7,740), or a year in prison if they failed to pay.
The court said Lornoy and Lodewijckx "do not come across as typical poachers" and were ignorant of the law.
But it said the case reflected a script "that has been played out before in centuries gone by... of Africa having resources that are plundered by the West and now the East".
The KWS said their action was not only a "wildlife crime but also constitutes bio-piracy".
The suspects "intended to smuggle the ants to high-value exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, where demand for rare insect species is rising", it said in a statement.
str-er/rbu/sbk

environment

Hong Kong loosens rules for harbour reclamation

  • The bill will "enhance harbourfront areas for public enjoyment", the development bureau said, adding that the government had no plans for large-scale reclamation in Victoria Harbour.
  • Hong Kong passed a law on Wednesday that made it easier for the government to create new land through reclamation in the city's famed Victoria Harbour despite objections from environmental activists.
  • The bill will "enhance harbourfront areas for public enjoyment", the development bureau said, adding that the government had no plans for large-scale reclamation in Victoria Harbour.
Hong Kong passed a law on Wednesday that made it easier for the government to create new land through reclamation in the city's famed Victoria Harbour despite objections from environmental activists.
Land reclamation was central to the Chinese city's economic growth for decades but shifting public opinion since the 1990s led to stringent legal rules that required projects to establish an "overriding public need".
Officials called those rules "restrictive" and proposed a bill last year to fast-track smaller projects, while also giving the city's leader more power over large-scale ones.
The bill will "enhance harbourfront areas for public enjoyment", the development bureau said, adding that the government had no plans for large-scale reclamation in Victoria Harbour.
Environmentalists had warned that the bill would allow the city's leader -- not the courts -- to have the final say over whether a project satisfied the "public need" test.
Speaking after the bill was passed on Wednesday, harbour protection advocate Paul Zimmerman said concerns over the city leader's expanded role have "not been really resolved".
"The protection of the harbour is not... embedded in the law as it was before," Zimmerman told AFP.
"It's a pity that the level of protection has been reduced."
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Bill Tang said during Wednesday's legislative session that attempts to "discredit the amendments" are "spreading false narratives".
Andrew Lam, another lawmaker, said: "As long as the public has reasonable grounds (to oppose reclamation), they can apply for judicial review at any time."
Harbour protection was one of Hong Kong's major activist causes in the decade following the former British colony's handover to China in 1997.
The city's top court ruled in a landmark case in 2004 that the harbour was "a special public asset and a natural heritage of Hong Kong people" that must be protected and preserved.
Beijing has cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub in 2019, and opposition lawmakers have quit or been ousted.
The Society for Protection of the Harbour, a 30-year-old advocacy group, is expected to convene soon to decide whether to continue its work, according to Zimmerman.
"Now that the government has... reduced the safeguards that (the law) provides, the Society is considering (hanging) up its coat," he said.
twa-hol/tc

wind

Danish firm Orsted halts huge UK offshore wind farm project

  • But Orsted said in a statement that the project "has seen several adverse developments", including rising supply chain costs, higher interest rates and an increased risk in building it on the planned timeline.
  • Danish renewables firm Orsted said Wednesday it was shelving plans to build a massive wind farm off the UK coast due to rising costs, dealing a setback to Britain's clean energy goals.
  • But Orsted said in a statement that the project "has seen several adverse developments", including rising supply chain costs, higher interest rates and an increased risk in building it on the planned timeline.
Danish renewables firm Orsted said Wednesday it was shelving plans to build a massive wind farm off the UK coast due to rising costs, dealing a setback to Britain's clean energy goals.
The 2,400-megawatt Hornsea 4 project would have complemented two existing Orsted wind farms and a third under construction.
But Orsted said in a statement that the project "has seen several adverse developments", including rising supply chain costs, higher interest rates and an increased risk in building it on the planned timeline.
"We've decided to discontinue the development of the Hornsea 4 project in its current form," Orsted chief executive Rasmus Errboe said.
"The adverse macroeconomic developments, continued supply chain challenges, and increased execution, market and operational risks have eroded the value creation," he added.
The existing Hornsea 1 and 2 wind farms and the Hornsea 3 project will have a combined capacity exceeding five gigawatts.
Orsted said shelving the Hornsea 4 project would cost the company between 3.5 billion and 4.5 billion kroner ($533 million and $685 million).
"I'd like to emphasise that Orsted continues to firmly believe in the long-term fundamentals of and value perspectives for offshore wind in the UK," Errboe said.
"We'll keep the project rights for the Hornsea 4 project in our development portfolio, and we'll seek to develop the project later in a way that is more value-creating for us and our shareholders."
The British government said it would work with Orsted to revive the project.
"We recognise the effect that globally high inflation and supply chain constraints are having on industry across Europe," said a spokesperson for Britain's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
"We will work with Orsted to get Hornsea 4 back on track," the spokesperson said.
Orsted was already dealt a $4 billion blow in 2023 when it cancelled wind farm projects in the United States, a crucial market for the group.
Now the entire sector faces a major challenge in the United States after President Donald Trump froze federal permitting and loans for all offshore and onshore wind projects.
Orsted also reported first-quarter results on Wednesday showing sales rose eight percent to 20.7 billion kroner, lower than the 21.7 billion kroner forecast by analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet.
Its net profit, however, nearly doubled to 4.8 billion kroner.
cbw/lth/yad

IEA

World energy methane emissions near record high in 2024: IEA

  • The IEA said that Europe's Sentinel 5 satellite, which just sees the very largest leaks, showed that "super-emitting methane events" at oil and gas facilities rose to a record high in 2024. 
  • Record fossil fuel production kept planet-heating methane emissions near historic highs last year, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, warning of a surge in massive leaks from oil and gas facilities.
  • The IEA said that Europe's Sentinel 5 satellite, which just sees the very largest leaks, showed that "super-emitting methane events" at oil and gas facilities rose to a record high in 2024. 
Record fossil fuel production kept planet-heating methane emissions near historic highs last year, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, warning of a surge in massive leaks from oil and gas facilities.
Slashing emissions of methane -- second only to carbon dioxide for its contribution to global warming -- is essential to meeting international targets on climate change and one of the fastest ways to curb temperature rise. 
But the IEA warned that countries are considerably underestimating their energy sector methane pollution, estimating that emissions are around 80 percent higher than the total reported by governments to the United Nations.
The energy sector is responsible for around a third of the methane emitted by human activities.
It leaks from gas pipelines and other energy infrastructure, and is also deliberately released during equipment maintenance.
Tackling this is considered one of the easiest ways to lower emissions because plugging leaks can often be done at little or no cost.
"However, the latest data indicates that implementation on methane has continued to fall short of ambitions," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. 

'Super-emitters'

The IEA's Global Methane Tracker report said over 120 million tonnes was released from the fossil fuel sector in 2024, close to the record high in 2019.
China has the largest energy methane emissions globally, mainly from its coal sector.
The United States follows in second, driven by its oil and gas sector, with Russia third.  
The IEA said its figures are based on measured data where possible, compared to emissions reported by governments, which can be outdated or estimated using information from the energy sector.
Global methane emissions are becoming easier to monitor from space, with more than 25 satellites tracking gas plumes from fossil fuel facilities and other sources.  
The IEA said that Europe's Sentinel 5 satellite, which just sees the very largest leaks, showed that "super-emitting methane events" at oil and gas facilities rose to a record high in 2024. 
These huge leaks were observed all over the world, but particularly in the United States, Turkmenistan and Russia.
Abandoned oil and gas wells, and coal mines are also significant sources of methane leaking into the atmosphere, the IEA said in new analysis for this year's report.  
When taken together they would be the "world's fourth-largest emitter of fossil fuel methane", accounting for some eight million tonnes last year. 

'Tremendous impact'

Some 40 percent of methane emissions come from natural sources, mainly wetlands.
The rest are from human activities, particularly agriculture and the energy sector. 
Because methane is potent but relatively short-lived it is a key target for countries wanting to slash emissions quickly.
More than 150 countries have promised a 30 percent reduction by 2030.
Oil and gas firms have meanwhile pledged to slash methane emissions by 2050.
The IEA estimated that cutting methane released by the fossil fuel sector would significantly slow global warming, preventing a roughly 0.1 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures by 2050.
"This would have a tremendous impact -– comparable to eliminating all CO2 emissions from the world's heavy industry in one stroke," the report said.  
Around 70 percent of annual methane emissions from the energy sector could be avoided with existing technologies.
But only five percent of global oil and gas meets "near-zero" emissions standards, the IEA said.
Energy think tank Ember said the fossil fuel industry needs to reduce methane emissions by 75 percent by 2030 if the world is to meet the target of reducing overall emissions to net zero by the middle of this century. 
In particular, methane from coal was "still being ignored," said Ember analyst Sabina Assan. 
"There are cost-effective technologies available today, so this is a low-hanging fruit of tackling methane. We can't let coal mines off the hook any longer."
klm-nal/np/rl

Kashmir

Indian PM vows to stop waters key to rival Pakistan

  • - 'Not natural' - Earlier on Tuesday, Islamabad accused India of altering the flow of the Chenab River, one of three rivers placed under Pakistan's control according to the now suspended treaty.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that water from India that once flowed across borders will be stopped, days after suspending a key water treaty with arch-rival Pakistan.
  • - 'Not natural' - Earlier on Tuesday, Islamabad accused India of altering the flow of the Chenab River, one of three rivers placed under Pakistan's control according to the now suspended treaty.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that water from India that once flowed across borders will be stopped, days after suspending a key water treaty with arch-rival Pakistan.
New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of contested Kashmir last month, sparking a series of heated threats and diplomatic tit-for-tat measures.
Pakistan rejects the accusations, and the nuclear-armed neighbours have exchanged nightly gunfire since April 24 along the de facto border in Kashmir, the militarised Line of Control, according to the Indian army.
Modi did not mention Islamabad specifically, but his speech comes after New Delhi suspended its part of the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, which governs water critical to Pakistan for consumption and agriculture.
"India's water used to go outside, now it will flow for India," Modi said in a speech in New Delhi.
"India's water will be stopped for India's interests, and it will be utilised for India."
Pakistan has warned that tampering with its rivers would be considered "an act of war".
But experts also pointed out that India's existing dams do not have the capacity to block or divert water, and can only regulate timings of when it releases flows.
International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad, who have fought several wars over Kashmir.
"We continue to urge Pakistan and India to work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia," US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.

'Not natural'

Earlier on Tuesday, Islamabad accused India of altering the flow of the Chenab River, one of three rivers placed under Pakistan's control according to the now suspended treaty.
"We have witnessed changes in the river (Chenab) which are not natural at all," Kazim Pirzada, irrigation minister for Pakistan's Punjab province, told AFP.
Punjab, bordering India and home to nearly half of Pakistan's 240 million citizens, is the country's agricultural heartland, and "the majority impact will be felt in areas which have fewer alternate water routes," Pirzada warned.
"One day the river had normal inflow and the next day it was greatly reduced," Pirzada added.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, large quantities of water from India were reportedly released on April 26, according to the Jinnah Institute, a think tank led by a former Pakistani climate change minister.
"This is being done so that we don't get to utilise the water," Pirzada added.
The Indus River is one of Asia's longest, cutting through ultra-sensitive demarcation lines between India and Pakistan in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir -- a Himalayan territory both countries claim in full.

Air raid drills

Modi has said India will "identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer" who carried out the attack at Pahalgam last month in which 26 mainly Hindu men were shot dead.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three suspects -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- who they say belong to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.
The Pakistani military has said it has launched two missile tests in recent days, including of a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 kilometres (280 miles) -- about the distance from the Pakistan border to New Delhi.
India is set to hold several civil defence drills Wednesday preparing people to "protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected in New Delhi on Wednesday, two days after talks in Islamabad with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Tehran has offered to mediate between the two nuclear-armed nations, and Araghchi will be first senior foreign diplomat to visit both countries since the April 22 attack sent relations plunging.
Rebels in Indian-run Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.
India regularly blames its neighbour for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.
Modi had already threatened to use water as a weapon in 2016.
"Blood and water cannot flow together," he said at the time.
burs-pjm/mlm/st

environment

Mennonite communities raise hackles in Peruvian Amazon

BY HECTOR VELASCO

  • Braun said he was sitting with other men outside a barn when a group of Shipibo-Konibo appeared out of nowhere.
  • When they saw men with arrows and machetes bearing down on them, Daniel Braun and other Mennonites living in the Peruvian Amazon fled across rice paddies, some of their barns ablaze behind them.
  • Braun said he was sitting with other men outside a barn when a group of Shipibo-Konibo appeared out of nowhere.
When they saw men with arrows and machetes bearing down on them, Daniel Braun and other Mennonites living in the Peruvian Amazon fled across rice paddies, some of their barns ablaze behind them.
In Masisea, a remote settlement near Peru's border with Brazil accessible only by boat along a tributary of the Amazon or over dirt paths, members of the austere Protestant sect are under siege.
Here, as in several other South American countries, the reclusive Christians, who have roots in 16th-century Europe and who eschew modernity, are accused of destroying forests as they expand their agricultural imprint on the continent.
In 2024, Peruvian prosecutors charged 44 men from the Masisea Mennonite colony with destroying 894 hectares (2,209 acres) of virgin forest and requested that each be sentenced to between eight and 10 years in prison.
The trial would be the first of a Mennonite colony in Latin America for environmental crimes.
The men's lawyer, Carlos Sifuentes, argues that the land was "already cleared" when the community bought it.

Rich versus poor

A 2021 study carried out by researchers at Canada's McGill University counted 214 Mennonite colonies in Latin America occupying some 3.9 million hectares, an area bigger than the Netherlands.
In Peru, Mennonites have established five thriving colonies in the Amazon in the past decade.
Their presence is a thorn in the side of the 780-strong Shipibo-Konibo Indigenous community, which lives on the shores of Lake Imiria about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Masisea.
The Shipibo-Konibo live in wooden huts of palm or zinc roofs with no electricity or running water, surviving off fishing and subsistence farming.
They accuse the wealthier Mennonites, whom they call "forest termites," of illegally occupying around 600 hectares of their 5,000-hectare territory.
"The Mennonites build ranches on communal land... They engage in deforestation. What they are doing is a crime against the environment," Indigenous leader Abner Ancon, 54, told AFP.

Horse-drawn carriages

The Mennonites arrived in Peru from neighboring Bolivia.
David Klassen, a 45-year-old father of five children ranging in age from seven to 20, said they were driven to emigrate because of a shortage of farmland and because of Bolivia's "radical left" policies.
Today, the self-sufficient enclave is comprised of some 63 families who raise cattle and pigs and grow rice and soybeans on 3,200 hectares while using diesel generators for power.
The men and boys wear checked shirts, suspenders and hats or caps, The women and girls wear long dresses, with their hair pulled back in tight braids or buns.
The community, which speaks a German dialect but whose leaders speak passable Spanish, has little contact with the outside world, relying on tractors and horse-drawn carriages as its main modes of transport.
After 10 years of peaceful coexistence with their Indigenous neighbors, the settlement came under attack last July.
Braun said he was sitting with other men outside a barn when a group of Shipibo-Konibo appeared out of nowhere.
"They came with arrows and machetes. They said you have one or two hours to leave," the 39-year-old recalled, adding that they set fire to property.
No one was injured in the standoff but the charred remains of a shed and a barn and zinc roofs were visible through the long grass.
Ancon admitted that his community's Indigenous guard had chased the Mennonites but "without resorting to violence."

A fraction of the damage

A lawyer for the Shipibo-Konibo, Linda Vigo, accused the settlers of hiring contractors to clear forest, "and when it's all cleared, the Mennonites come in with their tractors, flatten everything, and then you go in afterwards and find it all cultivated."
Pedro Favaron, a specialist on Indigenous peoples at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, acknowledged that the Mennonite farming model failed to meet "environmental expectations."
But he argued that the land they bought from mixed-race settlers in Masisea "was already degraded."
The independent Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program, which tracks deforestation and fires, estimates the area cleared by Mennonites in Peru since 2017 at 8,660 hectares.
It's a tiny fraction of the 3 million hectares of forest lost over the past three decades in the Andean country, mainly due to fires, illegal mining and deforestation by other groups.
Standing in the middle of a verdant rice field, Klassen assured: "We love the countryside... We don't want to destroy everything."
vel/cb/bfm

environment

Pricing birdsong: EU mulls nature credits to help biodiversity

BY ADRIEN DE CALAN

  • "You can make good money by razing a forest to the ground, but not by planting a new one and letting it grow old," the EU's environment commissioner Jessika Roswall told a "Global Solutions" conference in Berlin on Monday, adding the bloc wanted to change that. 
  • Could farmers get money for protecting birds or plants? 
  • "You can make good money by razing a forest to the ground, but not by planting a new one and letting it grow old," the EU's environment commissioner Jessika Roswall told a "Global Solutions" conference in Berlin on Monday, adding the bloc wanted to change that. 
Could farmers get money for protecting birds or plants? That's the hope of the European Union, which is seeking to monetise biodiversity by creating a market for "nature credits".
The European Commission last month launched a series of talks with financial, farming and green groups to ponder the idea, which has some environmentalists worried.
"You can make good money by razing a forest to the ground, but not by planting a new one and letting it grow old," the EU's environment commissioner Jessika Roswall told a "Global Solutions" conference in Berlin on Monday, adding the bloc wanted to change that. 
The plan is still in its infancy and no concrete details have been put forward yet.
But the idea is to replicate the financial success of carbon credits, which launched two decades ago to help finance efforts to tackle global warming and have developed into an almost trillion-dollar global market.
Carbon credits allow a polluter to "offset" their emissions by paying for "avoided" emissions elsewhere. 
Nature credits on the other hand would see businesses brush up their green credentials by paying for initiatives that restore or protect nature -- something Roswall said cannot be financed by public coffers alone.
At a UN biodiversity summit in 2022, world nations agreed to a target of protecting 30 percent of the planet's lands and oceans by 2030 and to provide $200 billion a year in finance. 

Pricing nature

Under the EU plan, activities that protect or restore nature would be certified and the related certificate traded in a dedicated financial market. 
But things get more complicated in practice. 
"Putting a price tag on nature" is a "more complex" affair than pricing carbon emissions, said an EU official. 
How much CO2 is released into the atmosphere or sequestered by a specific activity is easily measurable, the official said. 
The same can not be said of biodiversity, which is by definition diverse, with many varieties of animal and plants making it tricky to measure and identify value. 
"Waking up to the song of birds, drinking water from a mountain spring, staring at the endless blue of the sea and of the ocean. How could you possibly put a price tag on any of this?" Roswall asked in Berlin. 
"We do put a price tag on nature, every second, every day, but only by taking resources away from their natural environment," she added. 
In Europe, several pilot projects have been launched to test the concept, including in Finland, France and Estonia, where an initiative is seeking to reward forest owners for sustainably managing their plots.
The 27-nation EU is hoping these and other projects will provide farmers and foresters with an additional source of income.

'No coincidence'

It is not alone. Similar schemes were discussed at the UN COP16 nature talks in Colombia last year, and more than a dozen countries, including the United States and Germany already have a nascent market or a project underway.
Yet, striking a cautious note, pan-European farmers group Copa-Cogeca said it wanted to see a concrete proposal before commenting. 
Environmental groups on the other hand are worried about a possible repeat of the many scandals that have dogged carbon credit markets, from tax fraud to the certification of projects that did nothing for the environment.
Nature credits could offer firms another opportunity for "greenwashing" -- pretending they are greener than they really are -- and authorities an excuse to cut back public funding for biodiversity, some warn.
"Not even the commission knows what they want to do," Ioannis Agapakis, a lawyer with ClientEarth, an environmental group, said of the European Commission.
Yet, it was "no coincidence" -- and "a concern" -- that the idea was being floated as the EU's executive body prepared to negotiate the future European budget, he added.
adc/ub/ec/rmb

US

France, EU take aim at Trump's assault on science, seek to lure US researchers

BY PIERRE CELERIER AND JURGEN HECKER

  • Without mentioning Trump directly, von der Leyen told the "Choose Europe for Science" conference that the role of science was being put in question "in today's world" and condemned such views as "a gigantic miscalculation".
  • French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen took aim at Donald Trump's policies on science on Monday, as the European Union seeks to encourage disgruntled US researchers to relocate to Europe.
  • Without mentioning Trump directly, von der Leyen told the "Choose Europe for Science" conference that the role of science was being put in question "in today's world" and condemned such views as "a gigantic miscalculation".
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen took aim at Donald Trump's policies on science on Monday, as the European Union seeks to encourage disgruntled US researchers to relocate to Europe.
Von der Leyen told a conference at Paris's Sorbonne university that the EU would launch a new incentives package worth 500 million euros ($567 million) to make the 27-nation bloc "a magnet for researchers".
"We have to offer the right incentives," she said.
Without mentioning Trump directly, von der Leyen told the "Choose Europe for Science" conference that the role of science was being put in question "in today's world" and condemned such views as "a gigantic miscalculation".
Universities and research facilities in the United States have come under increasing political and financial pressure under Trump, including with threats of massive federal funding cuts.
"Nobody could have imagined that this great global democracy, whose economic model depends so heavily on free science,.. was going to commit such an error," Macron said.
He added: "We refuse a diktat consisting of any government being able to say you cannot research this or that."

'A sanctuary'

In the context of "threats" against independent research and "global apprehension", Macron said, "Europe must become a sanctuary."
In the United States, research programmes face closure, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired and foreign students fear possible deportation for their political views.
European commissioners, scientists, academics and ministers for research from EU member countries took part in Monday's conference, as did representatives from non-EU members Norway, Britain and Switzerland.
The French president has already appealed to foreign, notably US, researchers to "choose France".
Last month he unveiled plans for a funding programme to help universities and other research bodies cover the cost of bringing foreign scientists to the country.
Aix Marseille University in the south of France announced in March it would open its doors to US scientists threatened by cuts.
It says its "Safe Place for Science" scheme has already received a flood of applicants.
Last week, France's flagship scientific research centre, the CNRS, launched another initiative aimed at attracting foreign researchers whose work is threatened.

Bridging the pay gap

It is also seeking to tempt back French researchers working abroad, some of whom "don't want to live and raise their children in Trump's United States", according to CNRS President Antoine Petit.
An official in Macron's office said Monday's conference came "at a time when academic freedoms are retreating and under threat in a number of cases".
One obstacle, experts say, is the fact that while EU countries can offer competitive research infrastructure and a high quality of life, research funding and researchers' remuneration both lag far behind US levels.
But the CNRS's Petit said last week he hoped the pay gap would seem less significant once the lower cost of education and health, and more generous social benefits were taken into account. 
Macron's office said France and the European Union were targeting researchers in a number of specific sectors, including health, climate, biodiversity, artificial intelligence and space.
Macron said his government would earmark "an additional" 100 million euros to help attract foreign talent.
The French government could finance up to 50 percent of selected research projects, an official in the presidential office said, while assistance could also be offered in the form of tax incentives.
burs-jh/ekf/gil

France

Spain's blackout highlights renewables' grid challenge

BY NATHALIE ALONSO

  • - No sun or wind -  Just before the massive blackout on April 28, wind and solar power provided 70 percent of Spain's electricity output.
  • The cause of last week's massive power outage in Spain and Portugal remains unclear but it has shone a spotlight on solar and wind energy, which critics accuse of straining electricity grids.
  • - No sun or wind -  Just before the massive blackout on April 28, wind and solar power provided 70 percent of Spain's electricity output.
The cause of last week's massive power outage in Spain and Portugal remains unclear but it has shone a spotlight on solar and wind energy, which critics accuse of straining electricity grids.
The rise of renewables presents a challenge for power grids, which must evolve to adapt as countries move away from fossil fuels.

Maintaining stability

Grid operators must ensure that electricity is constantly balanced between demand and supply.
A metric of this balance is the frequency of the electricity flowing through the grid, set at 50 hertz (Hz) in Europe and 60 Hz in the United States. If that number drifts too far off, it can jeopardise the grid.
Historically, the electricity system has relied on conventional power plants -- gas, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric -- that use spinning turbines to generate electricity.
These machines keep the frequency stable.
With their gigantic rotors spinning at high speed, they provide inertia to the system. 
If a power plant fails or if electricity demand increases too quickly, they help stabilise the grid by releasing the kinetic energy stored in the rotors.
Instead of spinning machines, solar and wind farms use electronic systems that feed power into the grid, making it harder to maintain that delicate balance.
Renewable energy will have to do more than provide carbon-free electricity in the future, said Jose Luis Dominguez-Garcia, an electrical systems expert at the Catalonia Energy Research Institute (IREC).
They will have to "assist the system with additional controls to support the grid, particularly in inertia terms", he said.
Marc Petit, professor of electrical systems at top French engineering school CentraleSupelec, argued that moving away from fossil fuels would make hydroelectric and nuclear power plants "even more essential for stabilising the system" as they use rotating machines.

Flywheels

A range of technical solutions already exist to compensate for renewables' lack of inertia and hence to support grid stability.
These include gravity storage, cryogenic liquid air, compressed air and concentrated solar power.
As it undergoes a transition away from coal, Britain is banking on flywheels, a tried and tested system.
Surplus power from solar and wind farms is used to make the large wheels turn, creating kinetic energy.
This stored energy can then be converted to provide electricity to the grid if needed.
- No sun or wind - 
Just before the massive blackout on April 28, wind and solar power provided 70 percent of Spain's electricity output. But renewables are intermittent sources of energy as they rely on nature.
When the wind stops blowing or the sun is hiding, other sources have to step in within minutes, or there need to be adequate systems for storing -- and then releasing -- renewables in place.
Depending on the country, backup supply currently comes from mainly thermal power plants (gas or coal), nuclear reactors or hydroelectricity.
To handle the ups and downs of renewable power, countries must ramp up storage capacity.
The most widespread method is pumped storage hydropower from water reservoirs.
But large stationary batteries, akin to shipping containers, are increasingly being deployed alongside wind and solar farms -- a segment dominated by China.
To meet the global goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030, storage capacity will have to increase sixfold, with batteries doing 90 percent of the work, according to the International Energy Agency.
Another way to ease pressure on the system would be to shift electricity use -- for example when you charge your car battery -- to the middle of the day, when solar power is at its peak.
- Rescale the network - 
Widespread blackouts "have virtually always been triggered by transmission network failures, not by generation, renewables or otherwise", said Mike Hogan, advisor with the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), an NGO whose stated goal is to achieve a clean, reliable, equitable and cost-efficient energy future.
Tens of billions of euros, perhaps hundreds of billions, will be needed to renovate ageing power lines and replace them with new ones that are more powerful.
The need to modernise or expand the lines is pressing as energy-hungry data centres are growing and factories are increasingly consuming electricity.
Countries also need to strengthen interconnections between their power systems.
Such cross-border links helped to restore power to Spain as France stepped in to share electricity during the blackout.
By 2028, exchange capacity between the two neighbours is expected to increase from 2.8 to 5.0 gigawatts, reducing the peninsula's relative electrical isolation.
nal/abb/skh/cw/lth/gl

Canada

Rufus Wainwright's 'Dream Requiem' explores catastrophe and redemption

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • The Canadian-American Wainwright composed "Dream Requiem" as the globe was picking up the pieces after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turned to Lord Byron's poem "Darkness" which is centered on the fear and disarray that followed the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption.
  • The historic Mount Tambora volcanic eruption spewed so much ash and debris that it triggered a "year without summer" and the apocalypse seemed nigh -- an apt parallel to our own chaotic existence, says the eclectic musician Rufus Wainwright.
  • The Canadian-American Wainwright composed "Dream Requiem" as the globe was picking up the pieces after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turned to Lord Byron's poem "Darkness" which is centered on the fear and disarray that followed the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption.
The historic Mount Tambora volcanic eruption spewed so much ash and debris that it triggered a "year without summer" and the apocalypse seemed nigh -- an apt parallel to our own chaotic existence, says the eclectic musician Rufus Wainwright.
The artist's ambitious modern-day requiem, which draws inspiration from the 19th-century catastrophe as well as the Requiem Mass, will premiere stateside on Sunday in Los Angeles, with narration by the actor and activist Jane Fonda.
The Canadian-American Wainwright composed "Dream Requiem" as the globe was picking up the pieces after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turned to Lord Byron's poem "Darkness" which is centered on the fear and disarray that followed the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption.
The artist, best known for his distinct theatrical pop, has focused more on opera in recent years and said the poem is all the more prescient given the looming threat of climate cataclysm, as well as our tumultuous contemporary politics.
"In this day and age, it's a similar kind of intense sense of doom," Wainwright told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles show.
"I think we're a little less misguided than they were back then, but who knows what the future holds?"
Wainwright's global premiere of "Dream Requiem" was at the Auditorium de Radio France in Paris last summer, with Meryl Streep narrating and featuring soprano Anna Prohaska.
A recording of the work is available from Warner Classics.
Wainwright said Fonda's participation in the upcoming performance with the Los Angeles Master Chorale lends additional intensity to the piece, given her long history of activism and her special emphasis in recent years on climate change.
"She's one of the great heroines," he said of the storied 87-year-old film star. "Certainly with what America has been through in the last couple of months, I think it'll be very powerful."
And that the show's US premiere comes mere months after deadly wildfires ravaged parts of Los Angeles adds yet another layer, he said.

'Glimmer of life'

Wainwright has written two classical operas, set Shakespearean sonnets to song and produced a tribute concert to Judy Garland in addition to releasing a string of pop albums.
He has a particular penchant for Giuseppe Verdi: "When I was 13, I listened to Verdi's Requiem from top to tail, and it was like I'd been infected by a virus," he said.
Musical settings of the Catholic Requiem Mass are themselves known as requiems; Verdi's tells of the death-fearing living who seek deliverance.
"I've always been more at ease, you know, communicating dread and foreboding," the 51-year-old Wainwright said.
But it's not all gloom, he added: "A few weeks after I premiered it, and I had some distance from it, I realized, oh no, there is hope. There is sort of this little glimmer of life."
"Redemption and forgiveness" go hand in hand with the dread, and "I like to maintain some modicum of hope," Wainwright said. 
"Hopefully this is sort of like a resurrection, shall we say, of both that feeling of dread -- but also that need to face the music and deal with the problem at hand."
mdo/jgc

climate

US solar tariffs could drive Asia transition boom

BY SARA HUSSEIN

  • Earlier this month, Washington announced plans for hefty duties on solar panels made in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
  • Massive planned US duties on solar panels made in Southeast Asia could be a chance for the region to ramp up its own long-stalled energy transition, experts say.
  • Earlier this month, Washington announced plans for hefty duties on solar panels made in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
Massive planned US duties on solar panels made in Southeast Asia could be a chance for the region to ramp up its own long-stalled energy transition, experts say.
Earlier this month, Washington announced plans for hefty duties on solar panels made in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
The levies follow an investigation, launched before US President Donald Trump took office, into "unfair practices" in the countries, particularly by Chinese-headquartered firms.
If approved next month, they will pile upon tariffs already imposed by the Trump administration, including blanket 10-percent levies for most countries, and 145 percent on Chinese-made goods.
For the US market, the consequences are likely to be severe. China makes eight out of every 10 solar panels globally, and controls 80 percent of every stage of the manufacturing process.
The new tariffs "will practically make solar exports to US impossible commercially", said Putra Adhiguna, managing director at the Energy Shift Institute think tank.
Southeast Asia accounted for nearly 80 percent of US solar panel imports in 2024.
And while investment in solar production has ramped up in the United States in recent years, the market still relies heavily on imported components.
For Chinese manufacturers, already dealing with a saturated domestic market, the raft of tariffs is potentially very bad news.
Many shifted operations to Southeast Asia hoping to avoid punitive measures imposed by Washington and the European Union as they try to protect and nurture domestic solar industries.
The proposed new duties range from around 40 percent for some Malaysian exports to an eye-watering 3,521 percent for some Cambodia-based manufacturers.

Tariffs 'accelerate' transition

But there may be a silver lining for the region, explained Ben McCarron, managing director at Asia Research & Engagement.
"The tariffs and trade war are likely to accelerate the energy transition in Southeast Asia," he said.
China will "supercharge efforts" in regional markets and push for policy and implementation plans to "enable fast adoption of green energy across the region", driven by its exporters.
Analysts have long warned that countries in the region are moving too slowly to transition from planet-warming fossil fuels like coal.
"At the current pace, it (Southeast Asia) risks missing out on the opportunities provided by the declining costs of wind and solar, now cheaper than fossil fuels," said energy think tank Ember in a report last year.
For example, Malaysia relied on fossil fuels for over 80 percent of its electricity generation last year. 
It aims to generate 24 percent from renewables by 2030, a target that has been criticised as out of step with global climate goals.
The tariff regime represents a double opportunity for the region, explained Muyi Yang, senior energy analyst at Ember.
So far, the local solar industry has been "largely opportunistic, focused on leveraging domestic resources or labour advantages for export gains", he told AFP.
Cut off from the US market, it could instead focus on local energy transitions, speeding green energy uptake locally and driving a new market that "could serve as a natural hedge against external volatility".
Still, replacing the US market will not be easy, given its size and the relatively nascent state of renewables in the region.
"Success hinges on turning this export-led momentum into a homegrown cleantech revolution," said Yang.
"Clearance prices" may be attractive to some, but countries in the region and beyond may also be cautious about a flood of solar, said Adhiguna.
Major markets like Indonesia and India already have measures in place intended to favour domestic solar production.
"Many will hesitate to import massively, prioritising trade balance and aims to create local green jobs," he said.
sah/hmn/rsc

SpaceX

Easy vote turns Musk's dreams for Starbase city in Texas into reality

BY MOISéS ÁVILA

  • A Texas House State Affairs committee rejected a bill this week by Republican lawmakers that would have given coastal cities with spaceports control over beach access.
  • Tech billionaire Elon Musk's dream of gaining city status for his SpaceX spaceport in the southern US state of Texas became a reality on Saturday, when voters overwhelmingly backed turning his Starbase into a new municipality.
  • A Texas House State Affairs committee rejected a bill this week by Republican lawmakers that would have given coastal cities with spaceports control over beach access.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk's dream of gaining city status for his SpaceX spaceport in the southern US state of Texas became a reality on Saturday, when voters overwhelmingly backed turning his Starbase into a new municipality.
The ballot, which also named a senior SpaceX representative as its mayor with 100 percent of the early vote, was never really in doubt.
Most of the 283 eligible voters were SpaceX employees at the site on Boca Chica Bay bordering Mexico, or had connections to the company, whose billionaire chief has long eyed a human mission to Mars.
"Starbase, Texas," Musk wrote on his social media platform X, "Is now a real city!"
His post came after polls closed and unofficial results published by Cameron County showed an unambiguous 97.7 percent backing the project.
Musk himself is registered to vote, Cameron County Election Coordinator Remi Garza told AFP, but the South African-born embattled 53-year-old had yet to cast his ballot when the early voting period closed on April 29.
Official documents show that nearly 500 people live around the base in Cameron County, on land mostly owned by SpaceX or its employees.
The change allows Starbase to control building and permitting and avoid other regulatory hurdles, while collecting taxes and writing local law. 
The vote came at a difficult time for Musk, who is expected to reduce his role as the unofficial head of US President Donald Trump's cost-cutting "Department of Government Efficiency" to instead focus more on his troubled car company, Tesla.
The early voting also confirmed as mayor Bobby Peden, who is vice president of testing and launches at SpaceX, according to LinkedIn. He was the only name on the ballot.
The Texas base launched in 2019 and is a key testing site for the company's rocket launches.
Not everyone had been upbeat about the prospect of a SpaceX town.
Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, earlier voiced concern over the environmental impact, warning of more "destruction."
"They would attempt more illegal dumping, they would build up their dangerous rocket operations and cause more seismic activity, cause our homes to shake, and that they would destroy more of the wildlife habitat in the region," she told AFP before election day.

Environmental concerns

It was Musk himself who proposed the name Starbase in a social media post during a visit to the facility four years ago.
Then, last December, general manager of SpaceX Kathryn Lueders appealed to local authorities to grant the site city status.
Lueders argued in her letter that SpaceX already maintained infrastructure there like roads, education services and medical care.
She promised the creation of the new city would not undermine SpaceX efforts to mitigate the base's environmental impact.
SpaceX did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
The hub overlooks the Gulf of Mexico -- renamed the Gulf of America by Trump -- and there is controversy over access to Boca Chica Beach.
A Texas House State Affairs committee rejected a bill this week by Republican lawmakers that would have given coastal cities with spaceports control over beach access.
Hinojosa, the activist, said SpaceX has limited access to Boca Chica Beach for many years and told AFP she worried the vote could cut access entirely to a beach "our families have been going to for generations."
The Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, descendants of an Indigenous tribe in the area, has also complained.
In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency and Texas authorities found that SpaceX was responsible for repeated spills and releasing pollutants into Texas waterways.
In response to reports that its rockets had caused damage to wild bird nests, Musk quipped on social media: "To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week."
mav-jbr/jgc