India’s Huge Solar Ambitions Could Push Coal Further into Shade

04.07.2018

solar-panels — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

India says it intends to launch a tender for 100 gigawatts of solar power, 10 times the size of the current largest solar tender in the world – another Indian project scheduled to open for bids next month.

But analysts have said the country has neither the infrastructure nor the energy demand to warrant installing so much solar capacity in one go, saying the announcement reflects the scale of India’s ambition to become a renewable energy leader.

It is one of several green power promises made by Delhi this month on the back of continually falling renewables prices, with implications for coal projects including the proposed Adani Group mine in Queensland, Australia.

The Indian power minister RK Singh flagged the 100GW tender at an event in Delhi last week. While discussing a world record 10GW solar tender set to launch in July, Singh reportedly told the audience: “Now [we] will bring out a bid of one lakh megawatts which would also include solar manufacturing and storage.”

One lakh refers to 100,000 in the south Asian numbering system, equivalent to 100GW.

His office confirmed the plan to the Guardian but declined to provide further details other than that the tender would be launched “in the near future”.

The unscheduled announcement surprised some energy policy specialists who said it was unrealistic and unnecessary.

“There are many, many operational constraints to the plan in terms of land availability, transmission connections, who’s going to buy and pay for those [transmission] towers, and so forth,” said Vinay Rustagi, the managing director of Bridge to India, a renewable energy consulting firm.

“I don’t think a 100GW tender makes a lot of sense,” said Tim Buckley, a director at the pro-renewables Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, but adding he thought the plan was a “brilliant statement of intent”.

Delhi announced this month it was raising its target for the amount of renewable energy capacity it plans to install by 2022 to more than 227GW. The previous target, already considered ambitious, was 175GW.

About 70GW have been installed so far and another 40 are under construction or being put out to tender, according to government data from June.

Buckley said on current trends India was unlikely to reach the 227GW target, but said it was setting an aspirational goal to attract investment and develop the local industry. “The idea is, aim for the moon and you’ll hit the top of the tree,” he said.

There are constraints on how fast additional capacity can be added, not least the fact that India simply does not need much more power.

“India is not a hugely starved country in terms of power supply,” said Rustagi. “The growth in demand on the whole is pretty stable at 4% to 5%, and there is already enough capacity being added to the system to cater to this incremental demand.”

More than 200 million Indians still live without regular access to electricity. But Indians are among the lowest per capita users of electricity in the world, especially those being newly connected to the grid.

“These are all relatively poor rural households with very little demand for power,” said Rustagi. “Even if all the 250 million-odd people without electricity got power in the next year, our analysis says power demand would grow by about an additional 1%.”

He chalked up the government’s big energy promises to national polls looming next year. “The election is coming up in 2019 and they are facing various economic and industrial challenges,” he said. “I think it’s more a part of putting a very positive spin on messages.”

At the beginning of the decade, India had planned to power its growth almost entirely using thermal coal, with about 600GW of coal power plant projects in the pipeline in 2010. Its plan spelled disaster for global efforts to keep warming below the two-degree target set by the Paris climate accords.

But as the price of renewables has crashed, and the impact of fossil fuels on Indian air and water has become clearer, the country has sought to reinvent itself as a green energy leader.

“We have missed the first and second industrial revolutions,” Singh said at an event in Delhi on Friday. “We caught up with the digital revolution, but we need to lead this revolution towards clean energy and renewable energy.”

India has shelved or cancelled nearly 550 thermal coal projects in the past seven years, Buckley said. More projects are likely to be cancelled as the price of renewables continues to fall: a report released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance last week estimated the cost of solar and wind in India was now 50% cheaper than coal.

Singh said on Friday coal would remain a part of India’s energy mix because it was “a backbone” to the intermittent power provided by renewables.

But researchers say the proportion of energy the country derives from coal will keep falling – and that diminishing demand can easily be met by Indian mines, raising questions about the need for new projects such as the proposed Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin of Queensland, Australia.

“The incremental demand for thermal power in India is very little,” Rustagi said. “I don’t see how it makes sense to undertake a huge international project like [the Carmichael mine] … when we have enough domestic coal available.”

Source: Guardian

Neonicotinoid Pesticides Have Been Found in Wild Turkeys

04.07.2018

Neonicotinoid pesticides have commonly been linked to the plight of honeybees.

But a new study from the University of Guelph finds that honeybees aren’t the only non-pest creatures that are coming into contact with the pesticides.

Neonicotinoids, sometimes called neonics, are pesticides chemically similar to nicotine, hence their name. There are several different varieties, with the three most common being imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin. They’re exceedingly prevalent in the U.S. and were also used in Europe—at least before they were banned in the EU earlier this year.

Neonicotinoids have been repeatedly linked to honeybee colony collapse disorder, and concern for the pollinators is generally stated as a major reason for bans and restrictions. But research on other animals has not been as extensive; a study in 2014 found a correlation between the increase in neonicotinoid use and a decrease in insect-eating birds, but, as we all learned in high school, correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

This new study examined carcasses of wild turkeys in southern Ontario and found that nearly 25 percent of them had detectable levels of neonicotinoids in their livers. Wild turkeys are omnivores, eating basically anything they can catch or find, and it’s fairly common for them to eat seeds. Neonicotinoids are generally sold as seeds treated with the brightly colored pesticide, and corn and soy coated seeds were found in some of the birds’ digestive systems.

What this study does not examine is the effects of consuming neonicotinoids on wild turkeys (or any other animal). Last year, the EPA released an assessment finding that seed-eating birds can be harmed by consuming neonic-coated seeds; likely effects include reduced reproductive activity and migratory abilities.

Source: Eco Watch

Against All Odds, Mountain Gorilla Numbers Are on the Rise

03.07.2018

monkey-3508378_960_720 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

The news coming out of East Africa’s Virunga Mountains these days would have made the late (and legendary) conservationist Dian Fossey very happy. According to the most recent census, the mountain gorillas introduced to the world in Gorillas in the Mist, Fossey’s book and the film about her work, have grown their ranks from 480 animals in 2010 to 604 as of June 2016. Add another couple hundred apes living in scattered habitats to the south, and their population as a whole totals more than 1,000. Believe it or not, this makes the mountain gorilla subspecies the only great apes known to be increasing in number.

At first glance, 1,000 gorillas might not seem like a big deal. The International Union for Conservation of Nature still classifies the subspecies as critically endangered. Poaching and habitat destruction still threaten these giant primates with expressive faces and, as Fossey found, close-knit families. But to truly appreciate their population today, you have to go back more than half a century.

Mountain gorilla numbers were in veritable free fall during the 1960s, when Fossey began to study them closely. While she was working tirelessly to habituate the apes to her presence, livestock grazers were driving their herds ever farther into gorilla habitat. Humans were also clearing forests for charcoal and agriculture and setting snares to catch antelope and buffalo—snares that would also doom any great apes they inadvertently snagged. Meanwhile, poachers were increasingly targeting gorillas and their young for meat, trophies, and even the exotic pet trade.

The mountain gorilla population hit its nadir in 1981 when trackers counted just 242 individuals. At the time, Fossey said she didn’t expect the subspecies to survive long enough to see the new millennium. Tragically, it was Fossey who didn’t make it to the end of the century. In 1985 the world-renowned primatologist was murdered at her Rwandan research camp, Karisoke. The circumstances surrounding her death remain mysterious to this day.

Studying and protecting mountain gorillas has often meant great personal sacrifice. Over the past 20 years, more than 170 rangers have lost their lives while protecting the animals and their habitat. Just this past April, five rangers and their driver were ambushed and gunned down in Virunga National Park in the deadliest attack in the park’s history; a local militia is thought to have been responsible.

The charcoal industry and the ever-present threat of homemade wire snares still endanger the gorillas, but those threats are seen as a consequence of people trying to survive in a region without many economic opportunities. “The local communities who live next to the gorillas are often extremely poor and reliant on the natural resources found in the national parks,” writes Tara Stoinski, president and CEO of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.

Stoinski said this is why it’s important to loop locals into mountain gorilla recovery efforts. The Fossey Fund works to provide better access to food, water, and security, as well as education and job training, “so people are directly benefiting from the gorillas,” she said. And in Rwanda, 10 percent of the park’s entrance fees go directly toward improving the lives of local communities.

Furthermore, the slow but steady gains in mountain gorilla numbers show that quite a lot of people care about these beleaguered animals and are willing to work together to protect them. The census required cooperation from three separate governments (Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo), as well as numerous conservation organizations and locals living near the park.

Trackers spent 12 hours each day traversing ravines, climbing mountains, and generally trying to survive in the jungle, all while looking for piles of the animals’ dung. The researchers sampled the dung for DNA, allowing them to determine just how many of these primates are out there. The DNA also provided clues about individual gorillas that had been known since birth but had disappeared in the past dozen years. The census found 13 such “lost” gorillas, which the scientists see as proof that despite a small population size, the apes are still capable of dispersing, mixing with other groups, and keeping their gene pool as robust as possible. “There is hope,” said Stoinski. “The gorillas are improving despite incredible odds.”

Stoinski said the gorillas’ perseverance may inspire still more conservation efforts by showing people that they can make a difference, even when the outlook is grim. After all, the mountain gorillas never gave up—and neither have the men and women risking their lives to save them.

Source: Eco Watch

Tesla Reportedly Hits Model 3 Manufacturing Goal Hours after Its Deadline

03.07.2018

1024px-Tesla_Model_3_parked,_front_driver_side — Photo: Carlquinn

Tesla just barely missed its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 electric cars a week, according to Reuters, which says that the company reached the mark “several hours after the midnight goal,” while Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter that the company manufactured 7,000 vehicles in a week.

Reuters spoke with two factory workers who say that the final vehicle completed its “final quality checks” around 5AM PT Sunday morning, just shy of the midnight deadline that Musk set in early June. According to Electrek, a Tesla employee posted a celebratory picture on Twitter after the final car was completed. Tesla is expected to officially release its numbers for its second quarter in the coming week.

“Not only did we factory gate over 5000 Model 3’s, but we also achieved the S & X production target for a combined 7000 vehicle week!,” said Musk, in an email to all employees obtained by Bloomberg. “What’s more, with the widespread productivity gains throughout Tesla and the new production lines spooling up, we are on track to reach 6K/week for Model 3 next month,” the email continues. “I think we just became a real car company.”

Tesla has a lot riding on its Model 3. The electric car company hopes the cheaper vehicle be widely adopted by consumers, and thus help bring the company to profitability and realizing Musk’s dream of wide-spread adoption of electric vehicles. It hasn’t been a smooth road for the company, however: it missed its intended goal of 5,000 vehicles per week at the end of 2017, and its first quarter goal of 2,500 vehicles a week, even after ramping up production earlier this year. Part of the problem was Tesla’s over-reliance on automation in its Fremont, California factory, which caused production bottlenecks and delays.

However, while Tesla didn’t quite reach its second quarter goal, it came closer than it has before — in April, it was only producing 2,000 of the 2,500 cars it had hoped to produce. This is due in part to huge production ramp-up that included the construction of a third assembly line outside of the plant, and continual tinkering with the vehicle’s design to optimize the vehicle’s construction.

The question now is whether or not the company can sustain and grow this pace to meet demand for its cars.

Source: The Verge

US Forest Service Allows Nestlé to Continue Taking Water from California National Forest

02.07.2018

mountain-lake-416199_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The U.S. Forest Service has offered Nestlé Waters North America a three-year permit on water rights in the San Bernardino National Forest, allowing the company to continue to take millions of gallons of water from the site. Under the proposed agreement, Nestlé would draw from the Strawberry Creek watershed “when there is water available consistent with the forest’s Land Management Plan” for its various bottled water brands, including Arrowhead. If California returns to severe drought conditions, the Forest Service could further limit natural resource access.

The Forest Service says it will work with the Swiss company to study the watershed and determine future management plans. The watershed is currently rated as Class Three “Impaired Function,” the worst watershed functionality class. An “impaired” watershed exceeds “physical, hydrological or biological thresholds,” with major changes needed to restore the watershed to functioning status.

“[The decision ensures] the water withdrawal and conveyance infrastructure is under a current permit,” U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Joe Rechsteiner explained to the Associated Press. “And it provides for protection of forest resources.”

In 2015, the Center for Biological Diversity in Oakland, Calif. sued the Forest Service to block Nestlé from using the watershed, arguing the conglomerate was operating without a valid permit. A federal judge allowed continued water collection for bottling, while regulators considered a new permit. In its permit renewal application, the company cited 70 environmental studies to support its continued watershed usage.

Arrowhead’s use of the Strawberry Creek watershed dates back to 1909, when the Arrowhead Springs Company was formed. Nestlé must accept the agreement within 60 days. In a statement to the AP, Nestlé noted they would “carefully review the specifics of the decision.”

Source: Inhabitat

World’s First Beluga Whale Sanctuary Will Welcome New Arrivals

02.07.2018

delfin-77595_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

In 2019, two beluga whales, named Little Grey and Little White, will be transported from the Changfeng Ocean World aquarium in Shanghai to the world’s first whale sanctuary in a protected bay in Iceland. Established by the SEA LIFE Trust in collaboration with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, the 32,000-square-meter Beluga Whale Sanctuary site was chosen for its sub-arctic climate and seclusion. “It’s really important for Little White and Little Grey, providing them with a more natural home in which to live out the rest of their lives,” head of the SEA LIFE Trust Andy Bool told Reuters. The whales are already being prepped for their journey and the colder waters of their new home through exercises designed to increase their strength and their ability to hold their breath underwater.

With its stores of blubber and echolocation refined for finding holes in the sea ice through which to breathe, the beluga whale is well adapted to Arctic waters. The beluga is also a very social animal, typically living in groups of up to 10, though gatherings of hundreds or thousands of whales can occur in summer. While the species as a whole is not considered threatened, populations in certain regions, such as the Cook Inlet in Alaska, are endangered.

In addition to their exercise regimen, Little Grey and Little White, both 12-year-old females, will be fed increased calories and gradually eased into using a stretcher, with which they will be restrained for part of their journey to their new home. Those who have made this sanctuary possible hope that it will set an example for other wildlife entertainment parks to release their animals into the wild. Whale and Dolphin Conservation captivity campaign manager Cathy Williamson told Reuters, “We believe this will inspire other facilities to move their belugas and other whales and dolphins to sanctuaries in other parts of the world.”

Source: Pixabay

Wineries Around the World Grapple With Climate Change

02.07.2018

In our rapidly changing climate—where weather patterns are less predictable, and drought and heatwaves have become longer and more intense—the world’s wine producers can be particularly hit hard.

Vintners in South Africa, France, Australia, California and more find themselves grappling with the effects of climate change, the Associated Press reported, as a tiny swing in temperatures can change the sugar, acid and tannin content for some grape varieties, making it difficult for wineries to replicate batches produced in the past.

Spanish brand Familia Torres, which owns wineries in California and Chile, has seen how a mere rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit over 40 years has resulted in harvests that are now about 10 days earlier than 20 years ago, company president Miguel A. Torres told the Associated Press.

South Africa, the world’s seventh-largest producer of wine, has been hurt by drought and a water crisis and will likely see wine production dip more than 20 percent this year, according to AFP.

On the flip side, the effects of climate change have been good news for some Oregon vineyards, where increasingly milder temperatures have become more suitable to grow grapes for pinot noir.

Now, “we’re in the sweet spot,” Greg Jones, a climate change and wine expert based in McMinnville, Oregon, told the Associated Press. However, if climate trends continue, Oregon’s wine could also fall victim to the same consequences faced by other wineries around the world.

Last year’s Global Wine Index found that some of the world’s finest grapes are unlikely to survive due to natural disasters, rising temperatures and other climate change factors. The Mendoza region—Argentina’s Malbec wine country—was ranked as the most at-risk. It was followed by the Kakheti and Racha regions in Georgia, the southern Cahul region in Moldova, northwestern Slovenia in fourth place, and tied for fifth are the Yaraqui Valley in Ecuador and Nagano, Japan.

Source: Eco Watch

A Massive Five-Ton Plastic Waste Whale Rises Up from the Bruges Canals (VIDEO)

01.07.2018

Near the statue of Jan Van Eyck, Skyscraper (the Bruges Whale) rises up from the Bruges canals. The gigantic sculpture is more than just a representation of a whale; the animal is made of waste, collected from the plastic soup that floats on the seas and oceans of the world.

Working with volunteers from the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and the Surfrider Foundation, StudioKCA combed the beaches of Hawaii to gather up the waste. The installation was built out of those finds. StudioKCA seeks this way to draw attention to the universal problem of pollution that affects us all, and to make viewers aware that individual action is necessary.

StudioKCA is an innovative architecture and design agency led by Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang, based in Brooklyn, New York. Their projects range in size and complexity from lighting and interiors to public facilities, sculptures and buildings in New York, Vermont, Nevada, Wisconsin, Brazil, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.

See more in the video following the link: https://vimeo.com/269683136.

Source: Triennale Brugge

Ford Hits Manufacturing Emissions Target Eight Years Early

30.06.2018

Ford Motor Company said it has achieved its manufacturing emissions reduction target eight years ahead of schedule.

The car manufacturer has set a goal to cut emissions by 30% per vehicle produced by 2025 but has already reduced it by around 3.4 million metric tons from 2010 to 2017 – equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from more than 728,000 vehicles a year.

That was achieved through energy efficiency and conservation changes at Ford’s manufacturing facilities such as installing more than 100,000 LED light fixtures and updating paint operations.

Andy Hobbs, Director, Environmental Quality Office said: “Painting operations use a large amount of energy. Introducing technology that allows wet-on-wet paint application and eliminates a drying oven in more plants has significantly decreased energy use while maintaining quality.”

Ford is investing $11 billion (£8bn) to roll out 40 hybrid and electric vehicle models by 2022.

Source: Energy Live News

‘Extinct’ San Quintín Kangaroo Rat Still Exists

30.06.2018

kangaroo-rat-3201906_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

At dusk, San Diego Natural History Museum mammalogist Scott Tremor set up a few live traps in some abandoned agricultural fields in Baja California, Mexico. With Sula Vanderplank, a botanist and research associate at the museum, and several graduate students in tow, he was there to conduct a broad survey of the flora and fauna in the area. He was also quietly hoping to catch a rarity: the San Quintín kangaroo rat, a small mammal that hadn’t been seen alive in over 30 years, considered extinct. “I’ve always wanted to look for this animal that people told me was extinct,” Tremor said. “I never believe that when people say it.”

Before dawn the next morning, Tremor checked on the traps and found pay dirt: a San Quintín kangaroo rat munching away on some dried oatmeal. “Without a doubt, it was very large. It was shocking.”

The San Quintín kangaroo rat was last seen in 1986 and was listed as endangered by the Mexican government in 1994. It is currently on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List for critically endangered species.

The animal is larger than its kangaroo rat cousins, with large eyes and a tail longer than the length of its body plus a tuft of hair on the end. It is slightly feistier as well. Kangaroo rats are generally seen as gentle and calm creatures, but the ones Tremor and Vanderplank found are able to kick their way out of their hands. “They are very different in the rodent world than what many people would consider a rat,” Tremor said.

The species was once seen as an example of modern extinction due to agricultural conversion, according to a news release by the museum on the initial finding. In the past few decades, San Quintín, 118 miles south of Ensenada, has become a major agricultural hub, converting huge areas of native habitat into fields and hot houses for tomatoes and strawberries.

Tremor’s Fourth of July find was the first of several individual rats spotted in the area, and the prospects of a growing population are looking up—partly due to the conservation efforts of Terra Peninsular, a nonprofit land trust that owns and manages the Valle Tranquilo Nature Reserve and the Monte Ceniza Natural Reserve in San Quintín Bay, where the first sightings took place. They are deserted spaces, which were heavily impacted by agriculture and subsequently abandoned after salt water leaked into the field irrigation systems. “It’s a strange juxtaposition,” Vanderplank said. “This rare species is reclaiming historical territory in what is seen as wasteland.”

The agricultural fields were abandoned between 20 and 30 years ago, Tremor said, and it takes about 10 years of a field to lay fallow before a species like the San Quintín kangaroo rat will return. The rats thrive in the current conditions. “It looked like a moonscape,” Tremor said. “There was not one bit of vegetation left.”

The San Quintín kangaroo rat doesn’t need it, unlike other small mammals that use shrubbery to hide. The rats need open space, where they create an intricate burrowing system underground and maintain “runways,” patches of flattened dirt near the entrances that the rats rarely venture off from.

Tremor, Vanderplank, and Dr. Eric Mellink, a senior researcher at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada, who is also involved in the conservation of the San Quintín kangaroo rat, are confident that rat numbers are on the rise. They remain concerned, however, about the future of the rat’s habitat that isn’t under Terra Peninsular’s protection. Vanderplank said that rats are now being spotted north of their historical range.

The pending construction of desalination plants will bring crops back to fields that have lay fallow for over a decade; that may be great for the regional Mexican economy, but it would splinter conservation and monitoring efforts.

Tremor is looking toward sustainable populations in other ways. “The goal is to find and conserve more land in the area that is connected, so we don’t have a genetic bottleneck,” he said. “We are still in the infancy with this animal. There is a lot we have to learn.”

Source: Eco Watch

‘Atlantification’ of Arctic Ocean Speeds Up

29.06.2018

arctic-139393_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The Arctic Ocean is warming so rapidly that it may soon transform into an upper arm of the Atlantic Ocean, researchers say.

A study published this week in Nature Climate Change shows how the Barents Sea in Scandinavia, where Atlantic waters enter the Arctic basin, has become a warming “hot spot,” with temperatures spiking 2.7 degrees F since 2000.

The changes and accompanying loss of sea ice have caused the sea to exhibit qualities more in common with the Atlantic ocean, including most notably a sharp upward tick in salinity. “Model simulations have indicated Atlantic-type conditions in the northern Barents Sea by the end of the century, but according to our results, this is likely to happen much faster,” researchers wrote.

As reported by Earther:

What that means for the region and the Arctic as a whole is an open question. We’re already witnessing weird happenings in the Arctic every year at this point, from bizarre winter sea ice disappearances to heat waves at the North Pole to massive storms. Scientists are racing to understand these changes. What saltier, warmer seas mean for the ocean creatures that inhabit the region, the fisheries that have relied on them, and the future of ice are just a few more questions that need urgent attention.

Source: Eco Watch

IKEA Will Take Back Your Old Furniture, Resell It and Give You the Money

29.06.2018

ikea-2714998_960_720 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

In some ways there is nothing new about buying second-hand furniture – antique stores have done it for centuries.

And yet the idea that a leading modern furniture shop – IKEA in Sydney, to be precise – will re-sell old furniture seems radical.

This demonstrates how much work still needs to be done in order to shift the attitude of both consumers and companies towards embracing a circular economy, rather than a linear one.

The circular economy is based on the principle that nothing useful should go to waste, whereas the linear model disposes of things when they are no longer needed.

IKEA is an example of a company which is prioritising the move to a circular economy, winning this year’s Accenture Strategy Award for Circular Economy, part of the major new awards developed by the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders.

And the new initiative in Sydney is part of this.

Vouchers for broken goods

More than half of Australians have thrown out furniture in the last 12 months, with coffee tables, sofas and chairs topping the list of things which have ended up in landfill.

IKEA estimates that 13.5 million pieces of furniture could have been recycled, reused or repaired and given new life, according to its People & Planet positive 2018 report.

The biggest cause of furniture being thrown away was that it was broken, with one in four Australians saying they don’t know how to repair goods.

However, 34% of Australians said they would be happy to buy second hand furniture.

The led IKEA to see the market for repairing and re-selling their own furniture.

How it works

Customers email photos of their old IKEA furniture so that it can be assessed for recyclability. They can then drop off their used or broken IKEA furniture at the store, without even taking it apart, receiving a voucher for the value of the old furniture in return.

In a similar scheme in Japan, more than 3,500 items were sold back to IKEA within the first year.

Precious resources

The take-back scheme means that the lifecycle of IKEA furniture will be moving in a loop rather rather than in a straight line that ends in landfill.

As the world’s population grows, re-using resources will become ever more critical.

And although the move away from a throw-away culture is gaining momentum, there is still a long way to go. Only 9% of the world’s plastics are being recycled and reused, for example.

“If the last decades were about mass consumerism, now we are getting towards mass circularity,” said IKEA’s Chief Executive Jesper Brodin at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in 2018.

A furniture retailer choosing to re-sell and re-use its own waste products is one step along that journey.

Source: World Economic Forum

US and Russia ‘to Dominate Global Pipeline Expenditure to 2022’

28.06.2018

oil-pump-jacks-1425456_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The US and Russia will dominate global capital expenditure on planned oil and gas pipelines up until 2022.

That’s according to data and analytics company GlobalData, which says the nations are set to spend an estimated $88.4 billion (£66.9bn) and $78.8 billion (£60bn) respectively on new build pipelines over the next four years.

It says Canada, China and Nigeria will also spend significant amounts on new oil and gas distribution infrastructure by 2022.

The organisation predicts the total length of planned natural gas pipelines around the world will grow to 153,902 kilometres by 2022, with crude oil and petroleum pipelines expected to grow 36,876 kilometres and 30,840 kilometres respectively.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Booming unconventional oil and gas production is in turn driving the growth of the pipeline network in the US. More and more operators are focusing on connecting growing unconventional production with the Gulf coast for export of oil and gas.

“Russia is further expanding its massive natural gas pipelines network for exports. The country is building pipelines to transport natural gas from its production centers to demand centers such as China, Japan, India and Europe.”

Source: Energy Live News

One Football Pitch of Forest Lost every Second in 2017, Data Reveals

28.06.2018

The world lost more than one football pitch of forest every second in 2017, according to new data from a global satellite survey, adding up to an area equivalent to the whole of Italy over the year.

The scale of tree destruction, much of it done illegally, poses a grave threat to tackling both climate change and the massive global decline in wildlife. The loss in 2017 recorded by Global Forest Watch was 29.4m hectares, the second highest recorded since the monitoring began in 2001.

Global tree cover losses have doubled since 2003, while deforestation in crucial tropical rainforest has doubled since 2008. A falling trend in Brazil has been reversed amid political instability and forest destruction has soared in Colombia.

In other key nations, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s vast forests suffered record losses. However, in Indonesia, deforestation dropped 60% in 2017, helped by fewer forest fires and government action.

Forest losses are a huge contributor to the carbon emissions driving global warming, about the same as total emissions from the US, which is the world’s second biggest polluter. Deforestation destroys wildlife habitat and is a key reason for populations of wildlife having plunged by half in the last 40 years, starting a sixth mass extinction.

“The main reason tropical forests are disappearing is not a mystery – vast areas continue to be cleared for soy, beef, palm oil, timber, and other globally traded commodities,” said Frances Seymour at the World Resources Institute, which produces Global Forest Watch with its partners. “Much of this clearing is illegal and linked to corruption.”

Just 2% of the funding for climate action goes towards forest and land protection, Seymour said, despite the protection of forests having the potential to provide a third of the global emissions cuts needed by 2030. “This is truly an urgent issue that should be getting more attention,” she said. “We are trying to put out a house fire with a teaspoon.”

The new data is based on 30m resolution satellite data and records all forest loss, including that from forest fires. Human destruction causes virtually all deforestation in the tropics, a vast haven of both carbon and wildlife. Fires are dominant at higher latitudes, causing roughly two-thirds of losses in Russia and Canada, and may be becoming more common due to climate change.

New forests are being grown, in China and India for example, but the precise extent to which these offset the destruction of existing ones is not yet known, although it is clear that deforestation significantly exceeds afforestation. It is estimated that only about 15% of the forests likely to have existed before human civilisation remain intact today: a quarter have been razed and the rest fragmented or degraded.

Brazil, with its vast Amazon territory, is vital in fighting deforestation and for a decade from 2005 a government crackdown lead to falling deforestation. But tree felling is now rising fast again, as political strife distracts the authorities. “What we are seeing today is the backlash,” said Carlos Nobre at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

More than a quarter of Brazil’s tree losses in 2017 were due to fires deliberately set to clear land. “Global warming makes much hotter temperatures, making forests more vulnerable to human-set fires and natural-caused fires,” said Nobre.

Colombia is a global hotspot for biodiversity but losses soared by 46% in 2017. The Farc, its largest rebel group, previously controlled much of Colombia’s Amazon territory, blocking access. But the demobilisation of the Farc has left a power vacuum and illegal clearing for cattle, logging and cocaine production has soared.

Indonesia has seen severe deforestation but this fell sharply in 2017, as a damp year cut fire losses and government protection of peat forests took effect. “One year’s data does not make a trend, that is true,” said Putera Parthama, director general for climate change at Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. “But we believe we are starting one.”

The destruction of trees does not just harm the environment, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples: “Along with this violence against the Earth, there is growing violence against the people who defend these forests.” She said half of the 197 environmental defenders killed in 2017 were from indigenous groups.

“Indigenous people have long stewarded the world’s forests that are crucial to the fight against climate change,” said Tauli-Corpuz. “The new data finds the rate of tree cover loss is less than half in community and indigenous lands compared to elsewhere.”

Source: Guardian

Dusan Stokic: Company’s Reputation and Ethical Operation Influence its Competitiveness

27.06.2018

With talked with Dusan Stokic, Head of Department for Environmental Protection, Technical Regulations, Quality and Social Responsibility in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, about the activities of this National Center for assistance and support to companies which take place through cooperation with CCIS division associations in all sectors, as well as through representation of interests, but also in many other ways.

EP: There is an opinion that Serbian companies, in the struggle for survival, are not too interested in the principles of sustainable development, and that only large or foreign companies invest their resources in the preservation of the immediate environment and in the care of the environment in general. Is this even true?

Dusan Stokic: The principles and goals of sustainable development have a universal, global character, but when transposed to the national level, they are converted into strategies, policies, laws, regulations and other acts. All companies, whether they are micro, small, medium or large and regardless of the type of ownership, must comply with the legal obligations that apply to them. The fact is that, first of all, successful Serbian companies recognize the importance of investing their resources in environmental protection (among other things, that is why they are being recognized as successful), because not only do they want to meet their legal obligations, but also do not want to jeopardize their corporate image, reputation, and therefore their own business by acting irresponsibly. However, there are companies that operate in the “grey” area and cause environmental damage, and they are subject to the control of competent inspection services and verdicts of judicial authorities, as well as those that still do not recognize that investing in the environment is actually a profitable long‑term investment in their own sustainable business.

There are about 20 companies in Serbia, today, that report on their sustainable business operations according to the principles and standards that are internationally recognized. However, there is a whole range of small and medium-sized companies that follow them and learn from them. There are also dozens of good examples and success stories that apply some principles of the circular economy. Even start-up companies that develop eco-innovations and solutions for “smart” cities are starting to appear. These companies know that today, competitiveness is not measured only by the quality of products or services and new technologies, but it also the company’s reputation and business ethics must be taken into account.

EP: What kind of assistance can a company expect from the Centre for Environmental protection that works within the Serbian Chamber of Commerce?

Dusan Stokic: Considering the subject of work and thematic areas it deals with, and which have a horizontal and intersectoral character – environment, technical regulations and standards, quality and social responsibility – the work of this Centre is primarily focused on assistance and support to companies through cooperation with branch associations of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in industry, agriculture and services sectors as well as through the representation of interests, direct information, training, professional and advisory assistance to companies in their operations in these areas. Involving companies into a realistic view of the state of the environment in order to define optimal negotiating position for Chapter 27 (Environment and climate change), is one of the key tasks in the coming year. Companies from the sectors of industry and agriculture, public companies in the energy and water management sectors are most affected by the implementation of “difficult” cost-effective EU directives, and our Centre and the Chamber system help them prepare for that in the best way. In addition, this Department, together with the CCIS team for the CE marking, provides professional and advisory support to manufacturers and exporters of products subjected to technical regulations for safety, health and environmental protection (CE mark or Serbian sign of compliance) to prepare more quickly and more easily everything that is required for the free placement of their products on the domestic or the European single market. Also, the promotion and implementation of voluntary “green” initiatives such as the ISO 14000 series of standards, product labeling with Eco-label, EMAS registration, cleaner production, “green” public procurement, are some of the tools and business models we recommend to our members. Finally, the CCIS encourages its members to support basic values of 10 principles of the UN Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals, through the national network of the Global Compact, while the social responsibility is promoted through the traditional organization of the National Award for Corporate Social Responsibility.

EP: Within the 7th Environmental Action Programme, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union five years ago which covers the period up to 2020, the priorities are defined for the reduction of CO2 emissions as well as reductions in the environmental impact of consumption on the global level, to mention some of these goals. How would you evaluate our results and our contribution to the achievement of these global objectives?

Dusan Stokic: The fact is that climate change, according to numerous studies, is a global problem, primarily due to more visible harmful effects – droughts, floods, diseases, migration, difficulties in the food supply, conflicts due to economic problems, poverty, lack of resources – and as a result of global warming. In the EU, power engineering, transportation, agriculture and construction each individually is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. About 45 percent of all GHG emissions of the EU countries comes from 11,000 thermo-energy and industrial installations in 31 countries. These are mainly thermal power plants, heating plants, oil industry, iron and steel industries, cement industry, non-metal industry, wood processing industry, chemical and petrochemical industry, aluminum production and commercial aviation. With the new EU plan, the energy and climate goals by 2030 are: reducing CO2 emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990, the proportion of at least 27 percent of energy coming from renewable resources and the increase of energy efficiency by 27 percent. The 7th Environmental Action Programme defines key priorities set out to be met by 2020. Accord‑ ing to this Program, special attention is paid to the protec‑ tion of natural capital, the promotion of resource-efficient and low-carbon growth and innovation, and the provision of human health and well-being, – taking into account the natural limitations of the planet Earth. All these global and European trends pose serious challenges for the Republic of Serbia, which is one of the many signatory countries of the Paris Climate Agreement 2015. The Republic of Ser‑ bia is among the first countries in the region to draft the document “Intended nationally determined contributions reduce the greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale”, as well as “First biennial update report of the Republic of Ser‑ bia under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”. Along with the Climate Change Strategy and the corresponding law which are being developed, this, of course, will be a good strategic and legislative frame‑ work for the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures, as well as projects to combat climate change. The key challenge will be how to prepare the sectors of energy, industry, and agriculture for these changes and to better plan the project documentation for the financing of investments in this area.

EP: You once stated that the Serbian Global Compact Local Network of UN Global Compact is one of the most active associations in the region. Can you tell us something more about this network and what is their activity in terms of sustainable development?

Dusan Stokic: In the world, the UN Global Compact exists in 162 countries and has over 97,000 members. The Global Compact is a framework for companies to comply their activities with ten universal principles in the field of human rights, labor, environmental protection, and anti-corruption.

In Serbia, the Network Global Compact has existed since 2007 and has 115 members, of which 50 percent are companies. Regionally observed, the Network in Serbia is one of the largest by the number of memberships. In Croatia, the network has 41 members, Macedonia – 16, Bulgaria – 49, Slovenia – 7, which is a good indicator that Serbia has a significant number of companies and organizations that operate according to the principles of social responsibility, and which at the same time identify the importance of this internationally recognized initiative. During 2017, this network was a participant or direct organizer of several events that promote the sustainable development goals. At the national level, I will single out the gathering in Nis “How sustainable development goals stimulate economic growth in the Republic of Serbia”, which was organized in cooperation with the Cabinet of Minister Djukic-Dejanovic, who is in charge of Demography and Population policy and the UNDP Office in Serbia, led by Ms. Karla Hershi, resident representative of this international organization in Serbia. In addition, there is also the event on the role of young people as part of Agenda 2030, the conference “International Cooperation and Development Support in Serbia”, within which the Network representative participated in the panel on the objectives of sustainable development, the meeting “Analysis of sustainable development goals in the Republic of Serbia: understanding connections and opportunities for achieving the objectives of sustainable development and Serbia’s commitment to the accession process “, as well as other events. On the international level, the Network representative participated in the annual meeting of European Local Networks, which was held in Rome in October. At all these events, as well as many others that have not been mentioned on this occasion, the Network representatives promoted the goals of sustainable development and encouraged organizations to become more actively involved in these processes.

Interview by: Milan Zlatanovic

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine on SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, March 2018

Bumblebees Thrive in Towns more than Countryside

27.06.2018

Bumblebee colonies fare better in villages and cities than in fields, research has revealed.

Bumblebees are important pollinators, but face threats including habitat loss, climate change, pesticide and fungicide use and parasites. Now researchers say that bumblebee colonies in urban areas not only produce more offspring than those on agricultural land, but have more food stores, fewer invasions from parasitic “cuckoo” bumblebees, and survive for longer.

“[The study] is not saying that cities are necessarily the ideal habitat for bees, it is just that they are doing better in the cities than in the countryside,” said Ash Samuelson, a doctoral student and first author of the research from Royal Holloway, University of London.

While researchers have previously found a greater variety of pollinator species in urban settings, Samuelson says the latest study goes further, revealing that it is not simply that bumblebees make a flying visit to urban locations, but that populations are stronger there.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Samuelson and colleagues describe how they collected native queen bees from Windsor Great Park in the spring and put them into nest boxes to lay their first batch of eggs.

The resulting young colonies were then placed at 38 sites between central London and Basingstoke.

The queen in a colony, notes Samuelson, can lay eggs that give rise to more worker bees, which themselves cannot reproduce, or – once the colony reaches a certain size and strength – lay eggs that hatch bees that can reproduce: either females that will go on to become queens, known as gynes, or males.

The team visited each colony once a week at night – when bees don’t fly – to count the number of worker bees, see whether the queen was alive, take stock of nectar and pollen stores and take note of – and remove – any cuckoo bumblebees.

They also counted and removed any males or gynes – mimicking their natural tendency to leave the nest – and totted up the total number during the study.

This continued until the colony petered out – a process that took a maximum of 10 weeks.

The team then examined the 38 sites, each with a 500m radius, using aerial photographs and found that they fell into one of three groups based on various criteria of urban development, with five “agricultural”, 16 “village” and 17 labelled as “city” locations.

The team’s analysis reveals that the type of land was linked to the success of the colony, with similar results for cities and villages, and worse outcomes for agricultural settings.

Among the results, the team found that city colonies were significantly more likely to give rise to males and gynes than agricultural ones, with only one in the latter setting giving rise to such “reproductive” bees. What’s more, both village and city colonies had a markedly greater number of these bees over the course of the study than agricultural colonies, as well as more worker bees at their peak.

The team’s analysis reveals that the type of land was linked to the success of the colony, with similar results for cities and villages, and worse outcomes for agricultural settings.

The team also found that agricultural colonies were more often invaded by cuckoo bumblebees – possibly, the team say, because air pollution might mask chemical signals given off by colonies

While the study reveals that the urban boon for bees is, in part, linked to fewer invasions by cuckoo bees, Samuelson said the greater availability and variety of flowers in gardens and parks could also be a driver – although the analysis did not provide clear evidence that the proportion of flower-rich habitat had an impact.

“Because bees are more likely to potentially be exposed to pesticides in the agricultural areas, maybe this is having an effect,” she added.

Dr Mick Hanley, an expert in plant-animal interactions from the University of Plymouth who was not involved in the study, said it is likely many factors contribute to bumblebees are thriving in urban settings, adding that the cultivation of flowering plants throughout the year in villages and cities could also help bumblebees, compared to fields where, if they are present at all, flowering periods are short-lived.

“We have always suspected that many pollinators, not just bees, are doing better in urban environments, but this actually gets at the nub, for one species, as to how and why they might be performing better biologically,” he said.

Jane Memmott, professor of ecology at the University of Bristol who was not involved in the study, urged individuals to give bumblebees a helping hand.

“This paper provides definitive evidence of the value of urban areas to bumblebees,” she said. “Moreover, helping urban pollinators is the sort of conservation project that everyone can help with – if you have a garden, balcony or even just a sunny doorstep, you can grow plants for both bees and people to enjoy”.

Source: Guardian

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