(ICN) THE COAL POWER COME BACK

There is renewed talk of a coal power comeback in the United States, inspired by Donald Trump’s return to the presidency and forecasts of soaring electricity demand.

The evidence so far only shows that some plants are getting small extensions on their retirement dates. This means a slowdown in coal’s rate of decline, which is bad for the environment, but it does little to change the long-term trajectory for the domestic coal industry.

In October, I wrote about how five of the country’s 10 largest coal-fired power plants had retirement dates. Today, I’m revisiting the list, providing some updates and then taking a few steps back to look at U.S. coal plants as a whole. Consider this the “before” picture that can be judged against the “after” in four years.

Some coal plant owners have already pushed back retirement timetables. The largest example, this one from just before the election, is the Gibson plant in Indiana, the second-largest coal plant in the country. It’s set to close in 2038 instead of 2035, following an announcement in October from the owner, Duke Energy. More of this article (Inside Climate News) - link - more like this (Donald Trump) - link - more like this (America) - link - more like this (Indiana) - link

(EUN) ANNE LOVES BRAD

Fraudsters have scammed a French woman out of €830,000 by making her believe she was dating Brad Pitt. The victim has faced an onslaught of online harassment – revealing quite to what extent empathy and human decency is in short supply when it comes to people falling for AI scams.

An AI-generated con featuring Brad Pitt is causing quite the stir in France. A French interior designer, known as Anne, was scammed out of €830,000 after she was duped into thinking that she was in a relationship with the Hollywood actor and that he needed money for cancer treatment.

The 53-year-old's story was broadcast on the French TV show Sept à Huit on TF1, where she disclosed being scammed by individuals pretending to be Brad Pitt. They used fake social media and artificial intelligence image-creating technology to craft an elaborate and heartbreaking swindle.

In the episode, Anne shared how she received a message from someone purporting to be Jane Etta Pitt, the actor’s mother, telling her she was exactly the woman her son needed.

Soon afterwards, she started to receive messages from what she didn’t know was an AI imitation of Brad Pitt. Anne was going through a divorce with a millionaire entrepreneur at the time, and over the course of a year, her ‘lover’ would send declarations of love and even asked her to marry him.

“At first I said to myself that it was fake, that it’s ridiculous,” Anne explained on Sept à Huit. “But I’m not used to social media and I didn’t really understand what was happening to me.”

“There are few men who write to you like that,” she told French media. “I loved the man I was talking to. He knew how to talk to women and it was very well put together.” more of this article (Euro News) - link - more like this (France) - link - more like this (scams) - link

(RCH) DI BLIGH DEFACES CHARLES DARWIN'S GRAVE

Two women have been charged with criminal damage after chalk paint was sprayed on Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey.

The words “1.5 is dead” were written in orange on the 19th century biologist’s grave on Monday, referring to attempts to limit global warming to 1.5C and reduce the impact of climate change.

Environmental campaign group Just Stop Oil said Alyson Lee, 66, a retired teaching assistant from Derby, and Di Bligh, a 77-year-old former chief executive of Reading Council from Frome in Somerset, were at the Abbey on Monday.

They have both been charged with criminal damage and bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on separate dates next month – Lee on February 11 and Bligh on February 12.

A spokesperson for the church said they do not anticipate there will be any permanent damage caused by the protest.

On Monday, Lee told the PA news agency: “We are trying to get the Government to act on climate change. They are not doing enough.”

Bligh added: “We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really. More of this article (Reading Chronicle) - link - more like this (protest) - link - more like this (just stopping oil) - link

(THF) DONALD TRUMP'S ENERGY PLAN

President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would declare a national energy emergency on his first day in office, ending President Joe Biden’s restrictions on energy production, doing away with the electric vehicle mandate, ending incentives for renewable energy, and cancelling Biden’s natural gas export ban.

This is welcome news. America faces a national energy emergency because the Biden administration has created a serious and dangerous energy situation so damaging to ordinary people and our country that it requires immediate action.

Trump can ensure that America does not walk down the same yellow brick road of Europe’s energy and climate policies.

The danger of climate change measures is already hurting Europe. Europe’s manufacturing sector is closing down due to climate change regulations. Germany used to be renowned for its industry, but German industry expects a 3% fall in production in 2024, the third year of decline, with no uptick in 2025.

German workers are losing their jobs because of climate regulations, with auto industry layoffs due to inexpensive Chinese EV imports.

Biden’s climate change rules need to be changed to commonsense measures to prevent strengthening Chinese workers at the expense of Americans.

His regulations have caused prices of electricity and transportation to rise, raising inflation. Higher electricity prices drive up inflation, disproportionately hurting poor people, small businesses and farmers.

The worst is that these poorly considered climate regulations impoverish Americans and make China rich without lowering global emissions or temperatures. Four more years of Democrat green energy policies will indebt the nation through subsidies and high energy costs while only reducing global temperatures by a fraction of a degree by 2100. 

More of this article (The Heritage Foundation) - link - more like this (Donald Trump) - link - more like this (America) - link

(RES) THAILAND TIRES OF IMPORTING THE WORLD’S CRAP

As of January 1 2025, Thailand has officially banned the import of plastic waste. Introduced by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, the ban was approved by Thailand’s Cabinet on December 3 2024, and published in the Royal Gazette later that month.

The ban includes amendments to Thailand’s Tariff Schedule, which covers the import of waste, pairings, and plastic scraps. As a result, a complete ban of all imports of plastic waste has been enacted from January 2025 onwards.

Thailand has been one of several Southeast Asian nations commonly paid to receive plastic waste imports from Europe, the US, the UK and Japan, with 50,000 tonnes of waste exported from Japan to Thailand in 2023.

Thailand became the leading destination for these imports after China’s ban in 2018. Statistics from the Customs Department suggest that the amount of imported plastic waste jumped to more than 500,000 tonnes in 2018 - a tenfold increase from the average amount before 2015.

Illegal waste trafficking has been an area of particular concern and is another target of the ban. A 2024 report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) highlights that Southeast Asia remains a key destination for illicit waste shipments.

In August, environmental campaigners such as the Basel Action Network (BAN) raised the alarm about two Maersk-chartered ships suspected of carrying hazardous waste from Albania to Thailand.

Thailand’s plastic plan

Discussions on the ban began in 2020, and a plan to phase out the imports has been in place since 2023. Since then, only 14 Thai factories in tariff-free zones have been allowed to import and utilise these items for export purposes.

The ban is part of a broader effort to reduce plastic waste in Thailand under the Roadmap on Plastic Waste Management for 2020-2030 released in 2019. Goals include a ban of several types of single-use plastics and a 100 per cent recycling rate for domestic plastic waste.

The ban may also be a response to the recent failure of the international community to reach a binding, global agreement on plastic pollution at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meetings in November. More of this quality journal (resource.co) - link - more like this (Thailand) - link - more like this (plastic) - link

(REW) NO NEW WINDMILLS FOR AMERICA

The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, under construction as part of Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 project. Courtesy: Equinor

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his stance against the offshore wind industry, promising Tuesday that “no new windmills” would be built during his second term in office.

Trump made the remarks amidst a lengthy, disorganized hodgepodge of passing thoughts and unsettled grievances billed as a press conference at Mar-a-Lago that was very much reminiscent of the political theatre we all grew accustomed to during his first presidency. But unlike his suggestion to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” or his sudden desire to annex Canada and buy Greenland, Trump’s vendetta against turbines and the clean power they produce is long-running, well-established, and appears to have some teeth.

“We are going to have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump said, adding that they “litter our country” like “garbage in a field.”

On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised to sign an executive order on the first day of his presidency halting offshore wind development.

“Nobody wants them and they are very expensive,” the President-elect asserted Tuesday, likening the Biden Administration’s spending on clean energy to throwing money “out the window.”

Why doesn’t Trump like wind power?

Trump’s beef with wind turbines appears to trace back to (unsuccessfully) lobbying against the construction of one built in the backdrop of one of his Scottish golf courses. Since then, he has proliferated a series of false claims including that wind farms are harmful to the environment, they’re somehow linked to cancer, and that they kill birds and whales, “obviously driving them crazy.”

It’s worth noting that Trump is recognized as friendly to fossil fuel interests. He has pledged to massively increase oil production, a plan that could be stymied slightly by President Biden’s new prohibition on oil and gas lease sales in 625 million acres of federal waters, although the United States is already the world’s biggest oil producer and more production may not be a priority at the moment. The President-elect campaigned on drastically decreasing energy costs for Americans and pledged to achieve global “energy dominance.” More of this article (Renewable Energy World) - link - more like this (US wind power) - link - more like this (Donald Trump) - link

(EUN) FRESHWATER EXTINCTION

Nearly a quarter of animals living in rivers, lakes and other freshwater sources are threatened with extinction, according to new research.

“Huge rivers like the Amazon can appear mighty, but at the same time freshwater environments are very fragile,” said study co-author Patricia Charvet, a biologist at Brazil's Federal University of Ceará.

Freshwater habitats – including rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, bogs and wetlands – cover less than 1 per cent of the planet’s surface, but support 10 per cent of its animal species, said Catherine Sayer, a zoologist at the International Union for Conservation of Nature in England.

The researchers examined around 23,500 species of dragonflies, fish, crabs and other animals that depend exclusively on freshwater ecosystems. More of this article (Euro News Green) - link - more like this (nature under threat) - link - more like this (Amazon) - link

(DRI) ZERO DRS/X

Article by Nigel Morris - The Driven

The DSR/X is the latest generation in a long line of dual sport bikes from Californian electric motorcycle stalwart Zero Motorcycles who have a growing presence in Australia. I’ve owned two previous models, a 2010 DS and a 2014 DS, so it was a great chance to see how they’ve evolved over a decade.

I’ll say from the outset that there are plenty of reviews of Zero’s latest range of bikes targeted at ICE bike owners, so my review has a slightly different focus. Primarily, I’m going to focus on what it’s like as an EV, but let’s get a few things out of the way first.

Australian motorcyclists love dual sport bikes because we have lots of crappy roads, plenty of dirt and a sense of adventure. Although long distance and round the world trips been proven to be possible on an electric motorcycle, if you want to regularly tour remote backroads or do huge rides of 500-1000km it remains a big challenge for most people.

However, if you are like the majority of dual sport owners and mostly do commuting with the occasional adventury weekend ride or, you live in a regional area the DSR/X is definitely worth a serious look and has a big bunch of ownership benefits.

You will pay a premium for being an early electric motorcycle adopter and the DSR/X will set you back $47k plus. However, you’ll save thousands each year in maintenance and fuel costs (I save around $3k per year). In any case, motorcycles are rarely purchased on economic, or any other type of rationale logic, so stop thinking so hard and just test ride one if you think making the switch is on your radar.

It’s worth talking briefly about Zero Motorcycles and the market given the challenges that premium electric motorcycle manufacturers have faced recently.

Livewire are struggling to sell bikes, and Energica are in liquidation ,despite both being fantastic machines. In short, it’s a very tough market because the premium segment is very low volume and that has implications if you are considering purchasing a bike like the DSR/X because it’s clearly in this segment.

Zero were founded in 2006, making them one of the oldest and most successful electric motorcycle companies. Their investors continue to show huge enthusiasm, injecting more capital on a regular basis and they are without question selling more electric motorcycles in this premium segment than pretty much anyone else.

They’ve had some ups and downs but recently announced a new foray into the much smaller and lower power segment with their new XB & XE models (think Surron and Talaria).

For premium electric purists, this might seem disappointing but from a business longevity perspective I think it’s smart – because around 10 million light weight two wheelers are sold each year (and almost 2 million outside China).

If Zero can grab just 1% of that market it would roughly quadruple their sales based on publicly available numbers. So, I think it helps position them well for survival. More of this article (The Driven) - link - more like this (electric motorcycles) - link- more like this (Australia) - link

(NAT) IN-FLIGHT FOOD (WASTE)

There are generally two reactions when an in-flight meal is served: delight or dread. Some happily work through every course, while others pick at the food, leaving the bulk of their tray untouched. But what happens to that leftover food?

Last year, an International Air Transport Association report found the average airline passenger generates about 1.43kg of waste per flight, 20 per cent of which consists of untouched food and drinks.

This isn't only a blow to the industry's bottom line, but also to the environment, as airlines are burning fuel to carry meals that passengers might not eat, as well as source ingredients, store and prepare meals, only to incinerate unconsumed food later.

With recycling or reusing cabin waste, airlines face complex regulations, especially on international routes. Catering waste is subject to special handling and disposal requirements, including incineration and sterilisation, which makes reusing and recycling difficult.

Although meals are prepared under global hygiene controls, countries have individual regulations and restrictions on the disposal of catering waste based on biosecurity concerns.

However, many airlines are devising increasingly innovative ways to manage the issue.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways has been using artificial intelligence to track food waste. The airline teamed up with Lumitics in 2020 to track unconsumed economy-class meals, with the collated data used to highlight food consumption and wastage patterns across the network.

In its most recent sustainability report, Singapore Airlines revealed it uses the same start-up as Etihad. The company created a product called Insight, a smart bin that measures, tracks and identifies food waste thrown into it. Using AI, Insight makes recommendations to reduce waste based on passengers’ consumption habits, allowing Singapore Airlines to make informed decisions about quantities brought on board and tweaking menus based on leftovers.

Another way airlines are tackling the problem is by inviting passengers to opt out of receiving a meal before boarding. In 2020, Japan Airlines trialled a "meal skip" option on a flight to Bangkok and it was deemed a success. In December 2022, the airline expanded the option to all of its international routes, across all classes.

Up to 25 hours before departure, passengers flying with the airline can select the "no meal" option online. This cancels any main meal being packed onto the plane for them, although beverages and snacks are available on request.

The option has been well-received, says the airline, especially on late-night flights when some travellers prefer to sleep. For every cancelled meal, the airline donates funds to the Table for Two non-profit, which is tackling global hunger with school lunch projects for children in developing countries.

America's Delta Air Lines made a similar move for its business class passengers in 2022, allowing customers to skip their first meal. The option is available during the preflight selection process on Delta One services for long-haul domestic flights and certain international routes.

During the first three months of the programme, roughly 1,000 to 1,500 meals were voluntarily declined each month, a Delta representative told CNN. More of this article (The National) - link - more like this (aviation) - link - more like this (food waste) - link

(ASC) MOTTAINAI

In a world increasingly burdened by waste, Japan offers an inspiring philosophy to counteract overconsumption and environmental degradation: Mottainai. Rooted in Buddhist principles, this term translates to “what a waste” or “don’t waste what is valuable.” 

More than just a call to reduce waste, Mottainai embodies respect for resources, gratitude for nature’s gifts, and mindful consumption. At its heart, it encourages a harmonious way of living that benefits the planet and promotes individual well-being.

One shining example of Mottainai in action is Kamikatsu, a small town in Tokushima Prefecture that declared itself Japan’s first zero-waste town in 2003. Facing challenges with incineration and limited landfill space, the community took bold steps to implement an ambitious waste management system.

Instead of relying on conventional methods, Kamikatsu residents sort their trash into 45 categories—everything from metals and plastics to clothing and cooking oil. This meticulous sorting ensures that as much material as possible can be recycled or repurposed. Remarkably, over 80% of the town’s waste is recycled, with only a small fraction sent to landfills.

To further reduce waste, Kamikatsu encourages residents to practice reuse and upcycling, supported by its "Kuru Kuru" shops. These free exchange stores allow people to share and reuse items, fostering a spirit of community and collaboration. The town also hosts workshops on repairing and repurposing items, ensuring fewer resources are wasted and fewer products are unnecessarily purchased.

Key Practices of Zero-Waste Living in Japan

The Kuru Kuru Philosophy

At its core, Kuru Kuru (which means “circular” in Japanese) embraces the idea of reusing and recycling items within the community. This extends beyond physical goods; it’s about maintaining a mindset of resourcefulness. Kuru Kuru shops, repair cafés, and community sharing initiatives exemplify how individuals can exchange goods instead of discarding them.

Minimalist Lifestyles

Many Japanese households adopt minimalist principles that align with Mottainai. By prioritizing essential, high-quality items and eliminating unnecessary possessions, individuals create less waste and cultivate a sense of clarity and mindfulness in their living spaces.

Composting and Circular Food Practices

Food waste is addressed through composting and creative reuse of leftovers. Kamikatsu, for example, encourages residents to compost organic waste, returning nutrients to the soil and supporting local agriculture.

Crafting and Repair Culture

Traditional Japanese crafts like kintsugi (repairing broken pottery with gold) emphasize the value of imperfection and renewal. Such practices align with Mottainai by encouraging people to treasure and restore, rather than discard, damaged goods. More of this article (A Sustainable Closet) - link - more like this (municipal waste) - link - more like this (Japan) - link - more like this (zero waste) - link

(EUR) EU/MERCOSUR - HOW TO PLEASE NOBODY

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement reveals Europe's counterproductive attitude towards other powers and public "scepticism" over its credibility, a leading agriculture and geopolitics scholar told Euractiv.

The finalisation of the trade agreement with the South American bloc on 6 December in Montevideo has ignited strong opposition within the EU farming and food community. This division is evident not only among member states – France and Poland have outright rejected the deal – but also within countries themselves, with factions in Belgium, Italy, and even the usually trade-focused Netherlands expressing concerns.

As made clear by the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, finalising the trade deal 25 years after negotiations began is as much about geopolitics as it is about the economy, in a region where China is gaining influence. However, the EU may have missed the boat, Sebastien Abis, the author and researcher on food geopolitics, told Euractiv.

“We are missing the big picture, which for agriculture and food trade concerns Brazil and China. Compared to that, the [Mercosur] agreement with Europe is small,” Abis said. In the “weaponisation of trade,” he added, agriculture and food are “strategic assets”.

“So we are not the only partners for South American countries. And the EU should consider the world as it is now, and not as what as it was 25 years ago”.

A world, according to the French researcher, where the global powers move as hippos: fast, aggressive, and polygamous.

Dancing with the hippos

Hippos, like Brazil, China, and likely Trump's USA, "maintain a network of partnerships and can sever ties abruptly or forge new ones," Abis explained.

In this environment, he believes Europeans often display naivety and discomfort with such fluid relationships, putting them at risk of being “eaten” in the competitive landscape. This is despite the EU's agri-food trade surplus making it a supposed powerhouse – something neither China nor the USA can claim.

This should give Europe a strategic advantage in agri-food exports – one which has been bolstered by the diversity and volume of agricultural products resulting from the EU’s enlargement process. “If we could approach Ukraine with the same mindset,” he added, “we’d recognize its significant potential.”

But the EU's lack of unity in external relations means it is "losing markets" in the face of "the hippopotamus strategy of the competitors," Abis said.

This is exacerbated by waning credibility on the domestic front, with Abis noting that the Mercosur treaty itself symbolizes a growing distrust among citizens towards EU elites. “Some stakeholders are presenting exaggerated claims about the treaty’s impact, reflecting a broader lack of confidence at home,” he said.

“This scepticism is understandable, given the EU’s shifting strategies. If we continually change our approach, we risk eroding our credibility both domestically and internationally.”

The bloc also seems to ignore the need to fill gaps on three “important vulnerabilities,” said Abis: fertilisers, seafood – of which the EU is a net importer – and biomass. More of this article (Euractiv) - link - why Donald Trump has a point - link - more like this (EU farming) - link - more like this (China) - link

(GUA) ESSEX SENDS 95% OF RESIDUAL WASTE TO LANDFILL

New government data published on Monday showed that 95% of non-recycled waste in Essex is sent to landfill, as ministers launched their plans for a circular economy.

The data revealed that seven local authorities in England reported sending more than 40% of their residual waste to landfill in 2022 to 2023, with Essex county council at the top of the list.

Next came Cambridgeshire county council, (87% of waste sent to landfill), Southend borough council (74%), Darlington borough council (61%), Lancashire county council (59%), Leicester city council (57%) and Newcastle upon Tyne city council (56%).

At present, non-recyclable waste is either incinerated for energy or sent to landfill.

But as the population grows, the way packaging is used and made needs to change in order to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. This includes making it more recyclable and using less of it.

Ministers have announced a suite of plans to encourage a circular economy, including simpler recycling in England, so that less waste is sent to landfill or incinerated.

Other plans include a deposit returns scheme for plastic bottles, and charging manufacturers for producing too much waste using a “polluter pays” principle. This would incentivise producers to sell products in recycled and recyclable packaging.

In July, government targets were set which would require local authorities to send, on average, no more than 10% of municipal waste to landfill by 2035.

On Monday, as part of the circular economy strategy, a plan was announced to crack down on new incinerators and incentivise recycling instead. Almost half of all waste (49%) collected by local authorities in 2022-23 was incinerated, with just 40% recycled. More of this article (The Guardian) - link - more like this (The Guardian) - link - which is better - landfill or incineration? - link - more like this (landfill) - link - more like this (Essex) - link

(IEN) THE SELF EXTINGUISHING EV BATTERY

Researchers at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea have developed a triple-layer solid polymer electrolyte containing a lithium-ion battery that can extinguish itself if it catches fire and is resistant to explosion. The battery also shows better lifespan than conventional lithium-ion batteries, a press release said.

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are a critical component of the clean energy transition that we have undertaken, replacing fossil fuels with renewable and carbon-free energy. Made from abundantly available lithium, these batteries offer the most energy-dense storage option available to us to date and can power everything from a smartphone to electric vehicles and beyond.

However, Li-ion batteries use liquid electrolytes with organic materials that are at risk of catching fire. The separators used to separate the electrodes are also prone to damage and can lead to short circuits, causing explosions. This has raised concerns about using Li-ion battery packs in large-scale energy storage solutions.

This is where alternate battery technologies can help.

Researchers have been working on solid-polymer-based electrolyte systems that are resistant to fire and explosion, but commercializing this technology has proven tough.

Solid-state batteries perform relatively poorly than their liquid polymer counterparts since achieving complete contact between the electrodes and electrolytes is difficult. As a battery undergoes charging and discharging during its usage, lithium-ions form sharp metallic dendrites or tree-like structures.

Not only do these dendrites cause a loss of battery performance, but they also increase the risk of fire and explosion. A research team led by Kim Jae-hyun, a researcher at the Division of Energy & Environmental Technology at DGIST, overcame this hurdle by switching to a three-layer system that makes up the solid polymer electrolyte.

Each layer of the electrolyte performs a specific function. A robust middle layer made from zeolite provides strength to the structure. In contrast, the softer outer layers deliver electrode contact and improve battery performance and efficiency.

On one side is decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), which prevents fires and can also extinguish one if it occurs, while high concentration salt of lithium bis (trifluoromethane sulfonyl) imide) (LiTFSI) allows faster movement of lithium ions. This helps improve energy transfer rates and prevent dendrites’ formation in the electrolyte. More of this article (Interesting Engineering) - link - more like this (ev batteries) - link - more like this (Interesting Engineering) - link - more like this (South Korea) - link

(EUN) 2024 CLIMATE CHANGE - STATS

The world experienced an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024 due to human-caused warming, new analysis has found.

The report by World Weather Attribution (WWA) and Climate Central reviews a year of extreme weather and warns that every country needs to prepare for rising climate risks to minimise deaths and damages in 2025 and beyond.

It also highlights that a much faster transition away from fossil fuels is needed to “avoid a future of relentless heatwaves, drought, wildfires, storms and floods”. The report also found that climate change intensified 26 of the 29 weather events studied that killed at least 3,700 people and displaced millions.

"The impacts of fossil fuel warming have never been clearer or more devastating than in 2024,” says Dr Friederike Otto, lead of WWA and Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at Imperial College London. "We know exactly what we need to do to stop things from getting worse: stop burning fossil fuels. The top resolution for 2025 must be transitioning away from fossil fuels, which will make the world a safer and more stable place.”

This year is set to be the hottest on record - the first six months saw record-breaking temperatures, extending the streak that started in 2023 to 13 months, with the world’s hottest day in history recorded on July 22.

Globally, there were 41 extra days of dangerous heat in 2024 due to human-caused warming, the scientists found. These days represent the top 10 per cent of warmest temperatures from 1991-2020 for locations around the world. The result highlights how climate change is exposing millions more people to dangerous temperatures for longer periods of the year as fossil fuel emissions heat the climate.

“Extreme weather killed thousands of people, forced millions from their homes this year and caused unrelenting suffering,” says Otto.

If the world does not rapidly transition away from oil, gas and coal, the number of dangerous heat days will continue to increase each year and threaten public health, the scientists say. The heat also fueled heatwaves, droughts, fire weather, storms and heavy rainfall, causing floods throughout the year. In total, 219 events met World Weather Attribution’s trigger criteria used to identify the most impactful weather events.

The team of scientists studied 29 of these events and found clear evidence of climate change in 26. The floods in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad were the deadliest event studied by the group, with at least 2,000 people killed and millions displaced.

If warming reaches 2°C, which could happen as early as the 2040s or 2050s, the regions could experience similar periods of heavy rainfall every year, the study found, highlighting how climate change is making some events a ‘new normal’. More of this article (Euro News Green) - link - more like this (climate change) - link - more like this (the brilliant Friederike Otto - WWA) - link -  more like this (flooding) - link

(RES) DEFRA TO CAP UK INCINERATION CAPACITY

Government analysis reveals complex interplay between infrastructure capacity, policy reforms, and regional needs as England approaches critical decisions on waste management investment.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced significant changes to waste infrastructure planning, backed by new evidence showing England will have more incineration capacity than needed by 2035.

Published in its Residual Waste Infrastructure Capacity Note, the analysis reveals that energy recovery capacity will reach 18.8 million tonnes (Mt) by 2035, against projected municipal residual waste of 19.4Mt. When combined with other treatment methods, total residual waste capacity will hit 24.9Mt, including allowance for landfill to manage 10 per cent of municipal solid waste.

The findings have prompted Defra to implement stricter conditions for new waste incinerator approvals, requiring developers to demonstrate both heat utilisation capability and carbon capture readiness once regulations come into force, predicated on the expectation that effective carbon sequestration projects will also be operational.

"For far too long, the nation has seen its recycling rates stagnate and relied on burning household waste, rather than supporting communities to keep resources in use for longer," said Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh. "That ends today, with clear conditions for new energy from waste plants."

Current data shows 50 operational energy recovery facilities in England with a capacity of 14.3Mt, alongside 12 facilities under construction adding 3.9Mt, and 35 consented facilities potentially contributing another 9.5Mt. This consented capacity consists "almost entirely of proposed merchant facilities that have no underlying local authority contract," according to the analysis. More of this article (resource.co) - link - more like this (incineration) - link - more like this (2035) - link