Rights Group Says Israel Uses Settler Violence Against Palestinians to Take Over West Bank Land

"Settler violence is a form of government policy, permitted and aided by official state authorities with their active participation," according to a report from the Israeli group B'Tselem.


The Um Zuqa farm is one of six "farms" set up by settlers in the northern Jordan Valley in the past five years. It was built in 2016 on a site that housed the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Mzoqah, which Israel demolished after occupying the West Bank. (Photo: Eyal Hareuveni, B'Tselem)


JESSICA CORBETT

November 14, 2021

The Jerusalem-based rights group B'Tselem released a report Sunday that accuses Israel's "​​apartheid regime" of using settler-colonist violence to take control of Palestinian farmland and pastureland, focusing on nearly 11 square miles in the illegally occupied West Bank.

"The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding."

"Settler violence against Palestinians serves as a major informal tool at the hands of the state to take over more and more West Bank land," says the report. "The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly."

B'Tselem released its report—entitled State Business: Israel's misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence—amid a recent rise in anti-Palestinian attacks enabled by what Haaretz called a "hands-off" approach of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

During the first half of 2021, there were at least 416 anti-Palestinian incidents in the West Bank, more than double the figure for the same period the previous year, and more than all of the 363 known incidents from 2019, the Israeli newspaper reported last month.

The new B'Tselem report says that "state violence—official and otherwise—is part and parcel of Israel's apartheid regime, which aims to create a Jewish-only space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea."

Israel, which has illegally occupied the West Bank since 1967, "treats land as a resource designed to serve the Jewish public, and accordingly uses it almost exclusively to develop and expand existing Jewish residential communities and to build new ones," the report continues. "At the same time, the regime fragments Palestinian space, dispossesses Palestinians of their land, and relegates them to living in small, over-populated enclaves."

State Business specifically details how Israel "has misappropriated land from Palestinian shepherding and farming communities in the West Bank through systemic, ongoing violence perpetrated by settlers living near them, with the full support of state authorities." B'Tselem collected testimonies from several Palestinians and, in its report, presents five case studies.

Muhammad 'Abiyat, a 63-year-old resident of Um Safa and father of 10, told B'Tselem that "over the last two years, settlers have showed up and chased me whenever I've tried to reach my olive groves. We haven't harvested the olives and have lost two years of income."

In August 2019, settlers from the Zvi Bar Yosef farm "attacked me and ran after me, throwing stones," he said. In October 2020, "again they threw stones at me, chased me with sticks, and threatened me with firearms."

Nisrin Harini, a 37-year-old mother of seven, told the group how the establishment of the Havat Ma'on outpost "changed our lives completely," describing a "life full of fear and daily anxiety" that she called "hell."

"Over the last year, the settler attacks have intensified. A year ago, settlers attacked our sheep and ran over my brother-in-law's son, Hussein al-Harini, with an ATV. They broke his leg," Harini said. "Settlers watch our every move. It's become a routine. They attack the sheep and the shepherds, and call the military. Then the soldiers come and chase after the shepherds, and sometimes even arrest them."

"The military does not confront violent settlers. It does not prevent the attacks, and in some cases, soldiers even participate in them."

B'Tselem spokesperson Dror Sadot told The Times of Israel that the group did not contact Israeli security forces about its findings because "we understood they do nothing about our accusations." The newspaper noted that the IDF did not respond to a request for comment about the report.

In the report, B'Tselem takes direct aim at both the Israeli government and IDF, saying that settler attacks on Palestinians "are not perpetrated by 'bands of outlaws' or 'bad seeds,' nor are they simply 'violent outbursts' or 'unusual incidents."

Instead, such attacks "are a strategy employed by the Israeli apartheid regime, which seeks to advance and complete its misappropriation of more and more Palestinian land," State Business says. "As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, permitted and aided by official state authorities with their active participation."

The Israeli state, the report explains, not only "allows settlers to live, farm, and graze livestock on land from which Palestinians have been violently ejected, and to that end pays for security, paves roads, provides infrastructure, and supports financial enterprises in these outposts through various government ministries," it also "gives settlers free rein to commit violent acts against Palestinians."

"The military does not confront violent settlers," according to the report. "It does not prevent the attacks, and in some cases, soldiers even participate in them. The Israeli law enforcement system does not take action against settlers who harm Palestinians after the fact and whitewashes the few cases it is called upon to address."

Reporting on B'Tselem's findings, the Associated Press pointed out that "last month, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on the military to combat rising settler attacks against Palestinians and Israeli troops in the West Bank to react 'systematically, aggressively, and uncompromisingly' to such behavior."

The rights group's report says that "the combination of state violence and nominally unofficial violence allows Israel to have it both ways: maintain plausible deniability and blame the violence on settlers rather than on the military, the courts or the Civil Administration while advancing Palestinian dispossession."

"The facts, however, blow plausible deniability out of the water: When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence," the report adds. "The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding."
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OH THE IRONY

'All faiths deserve respect': Group rallies on Parliament Hill to support Bangladeshi minorities HINDUS

"The situation of minorities in Bangladesh is less well known … We want to create awareness about it."

Author of the article:Matthew Lapierre
Publishing date:Nov 13, 2021 • 

A group gathered on Parliament Hill on Saturday for a solidarity walk to draw attention to the situation facing minorities in Bangladesh. 

PHOTO BY ASHLEY FRASER /Postmedia

Dozens of people marched on Parliament Hill on Saturday to decry increasing communal violence in Bangladesh.

The group of more than 60 people carried signs, some English, some French, some Bengali, that read “save Bangladeshi minorities,” “Protect Hindu Temples,” and “Stop Religious Extremism.”

“All faiths deserve respect,” said Ria Paul-Chowdhury, whose aunt and cousins live in Bangladesh. Her relatives are Hindu, a minority in the predominantly Muslim country. In recent weeks, Hindus have been the target of a rising wave of violence.

“I’m really scared,” Paul-Chowdhury said. “I’m anxious for them. My aunt has been telling me that she’s scared to go out when the sun sets because they’re scared for their own safety.”

Ria Paul-Chowdhury, middle, has an aunt and cousins who live in Bangladesh. Her relatives are Hindu. PHOTO BY ASHLEY FRASER /Postmedia

The recent violence began in October, during a large Hindu religious festival called Durga Puja, when allegations spread on social media that a Quran, the Muslim holy book, was disrespected inside a Hindu temple. Local media reported that groups of Muslims attacked Hindu temples.

The government reacted with a paramilitary response and the police clashed with mobs in several cities. The clashes left at least seven people dead and more than 100 wounded, according to reports in The Washington Post and The New York Times.

But the roots of the conflict go back much further, according to Hasan Mahmud Tipu, a researcher who has studied the situation in Bangladesh and who attended Saturday’s march in Ottawa. He said the conflict had its roots in the 1980s, when a military government took power in Bangladesh and changed the country’s secular constitution, establishing Islam as the state religion

.

Hasan Mahmud Tipu, a researcher who attended Saturday’s march in Ottawa says the conflict in Bangladesh has its roots in the 1980s, when a military government took power and changed the country’s secular constitution, establishing Islam as the state religion. PHOTO BY ASHLEY FRASER /Postmedia

“Religion in the constitution — the state religion being Islam — is implying power to the majority,” Mahmud Tipu said. He attended the demonstration even though his family in Bangladesh are Muslim and are largely unaffected by the violence. “Everyone has the same rights,” he said. “There should not be any discrimination regarding religion, regarding customs, regarding anything.”

There are nearly 13 million Hindus in Bangladesh, a country with a total population of more than 164 million people. They make up approximately eight per cent of the population, but that number used to be higher.

“Over the years, it has gone down,” Paul-Chowdhury said. “Almost 200,000 Hindus migrate out of Bangladesh every year because of unsettlement or because of being too scared to stay.”

Saturday’s demonstration in Ottawa followed others in cities across Canada, including Toronto, Calgary, and Winnipeg. The purpose of these marches, according to a man named Subrata, who came to Parliament Hill, but preferred to only be identified by his first name because he feared professional reprisals for speaking out on a sensitive topic, was to raise awareness about the situation in Bangladesh.

“If you think of the condition of minorities, you see a lot of coverage of minorities in many places,” he said. “The situation of minorities in Bangladesh is less well known … We want to create awareness about it.”

A group gathered on Parliament Hill on Saturday for a solidarity walk to draw attention to the situation facing minorities in Bangladesh. PHOTO BY ASHLEY FRASER /Postmedia

It was not only Hindus who needed support in Bangladesh, Subrata said. The signs he and his fellow demonstrators carried highlighted how Buddhists and other minorities, including some smaller Muslim sects, had long faced discrimination and violence.

“It’s a question of making an alliance of secularists everywhere and standing up for the minorities,” he said. “The most important thing is that 20 million people (Bangladeshi minorities) will feel at home. They won’t feel like second-class citizens in their own homeland.”

The support of the global community could go a long way towards helping Hindus and other minorities inside Bangladesh, according to Sanjay Dash, a demonstrator who also has family in Bangladesh.

“Canada has a big partnership with Bangladesh,” he said. “We want Canada to be vocal about this. Then they can demand justice and security for these minorities.”

IN HINDU DOMINATED INDIA MUSLIMS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS MINORITIES ARE PERSECUTED FOR THAT SAME REASON INDIA EXPROPRIATED MUSLIM KASHMIR AND PASSED AN ANTI MUSLIM RELIGIOUS MINORITIES LAW

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM IS FASCISM 

FORTEAN PHENOMENA

As Climate Emergency Worsens, Freak Storm Sends Snow, Scorpion Plague on Egypt's Aswan

Egyptian climate scientists have no doubt that the Aswan storm was a manifestation of human-driven climate change, and they say that the old Egypt people grew up with is being altered.

In November 2021, high winds blew the deadly Egyptian black, fat-tailed scorpions from the surrounding desert into the city of Aswan. The scorpions killed three persons with their venom and left hundreds sickened. (Photo: Speedphi/Wikimedia Commons/cc)


JUAN COLE

November 14, 2021

 by Informed Comment

How freakish and biblical our climate emergency could become was illustrated this week in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan, which was struck in November by rolling lightning storms, downpours, snow, and a plague of scorpions. High winds blew the deadly Egyptian black, fat-tailed scorpions from the surrounding desert into the city and into people’s homes. The scorpions killed three persons with their venom and left hundreds sickened, as Egyptian rescue crews tried to distribute the antidote.

Egypt is going to be one of the countries worst hit by the freakish changes in climate we are causing.

The Egyptian fat-tailed or black scorpion is one of the deadliest of its species.

Snow and scorpions and downpours. In November. In Upper Egypt.

The average high in November in Egypt is 86°F. with an average low of 61°F. Not really what you would call snow weather. The average rainfall in November in Aswan is 0.0 millimeters. That is, none, zero, zilch, nada.

I lived in Egypt for about four years of my life in total. I was rained on very briefly about three times. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt the "gift of the Nile" for this reason. It is just a big desert and only the Nile River running through it from southeastern African down to the Mediterranean allows the country to have its present population of over 100 million (equal to 2.5 Californias).

Egypt is going to be one of the countries worst hit by the freakish changes in climate we are causing by heating and providing electricity to our homes with coal and by driving gasoline-powered automobiles. Egypt has been becoming hotter and drier on average, but also more vulnerable to abrupt downpours that cause flash flooding. You really wouldn't want Upper Egypt to be hotter than it is in the summer, when it already reaches 120°F. And as noted above, you wouldn't want it to be drier. Scientific projections show that Egypt will in fact become hotter and drier while at the same time suffering more severe, if brief, storms with the capacity to cause flash floods.

Egyptian climate scientists have no doubt that the Aswan storm was a manifestation of human-driven climate change, and they say that the old Egypt people grew up with is being altered.

Aswan has seen freak storms before, as in January 2010, when according to Egyptian scientists: "A severe hurricane thrashed the province of Aswan on the evening of 17th January, 2010, and was followed by half an hour of a continuous torrential downpour. The storm resulted in bringing down 50 high voltage electricity pylons, cutting power to Aswan province. After that, rains which had accumulated in the mountains turned into a torrent and swept away houses and people, leaving behind hundreds of destroyed properties."

This sort of thing is rare but perhaps becoming more common. They add that the "deluge was accompanied by dust storms, thunderstorm, cyclonic rain, and frequent floods in the years 1980, 1987, 2005, and 2010."

The Encyclopedia Britannica observes that Aswan
faces the island of Elephantine (modern Jazīrat Aswān), on which stand the ruins of the ancient city of Yeb. Aswān was the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt. Its local quarries supplied granite for many ancient Egyptian monuments and are still operated. On the Nile's eastern bank was the site of the ancient city of Swen (ancient Egyptian: "the Mart"), whence came the Greek Syene and the Arabic Aswān. Aswān later served as a frontier garrison post for the Romans, the Turks, and the British.

The city's current population is about 1.5 million, i.e., about the size of Philadelphia inside city limits.

This tragedy underlines the ways in which climate change-driven superstorms and other severe weather drive wild creatures into human spaces, where they can spread exotic viruses or simply attack.

© 2021 Juan Cole


Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. His newest book, "Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires" was published in 2020. He is also the author of "The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation Is Changing the Middle East" (2015) and "Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East" (2008). He has appeared widely on television, radio, and on op-ed pages as a commentator on Middle East affairs, and has a regular column at Salon.com. He has written, edited, or translated 14 books and has authored 60 journal articles.

Completion of Khmelnitsky 3 'begins' in Ukraine

09 November 2021

Work has already started to complete Ukraine's Khmelnitsky 3 using AP1000 technology. Engineers from Westinghouse are at the site, taking stock and considering how to complete the unique project, according to plant owner Energoatom.

Energoatom head Petro Kotin (centre) leads the inspection of Khmelnitsky 3 (Image: Energoatom)

"The purpose of the visit is a detailed inspection of the third power unit of the station to determine the possibilities and measures for its further completion," said Energoatom. The engineering mission was headed by Westinghouse's First Vice President of Commercial Activities Elias Gideon and vice president of the company for construction of new nuclear power plant Joel Iker.

"We have done a lot of work to prepare the documentation, now two teams of our engineers from the US and Europe have arrived, who will work hard with Energoatom next week, explore the site and exchange the necessary information," said Gideon.

Westinghouse inspected the site on 7 November and will "conduct a gap analysis" that leads to suggestions on ways to successfully implement the construction.

Khmelnitsky 3 was originally intended to be a VVER-1000 but construction stalled in 1990 at around 75% completion. The foundation and much of the containment structure are present, as is some heavy equipment in storage on site. At the same time, Energoatom and Westinghouse have an opportunity to use AP1000 components and modules intended for the cancelled Summer project in the USA and kept in storage there.

On 8 November, a meeting between the two companies heard their preliminary conclusions and assessment of the site. "Today we begin practical work on the construction of new nuclear facilities," said Energoatom head Petro Kotin.

Ukraine has wanted to complete Khmelnitsky units 3 and 4 for many years. Kotin noted that procedures under the Espoo Convention have already been completed, there has been a positive conclusion by the Ministry of Environment, and "a bill on completion of Khmelnitsky 3 and 4 has been submitted to the government, and we expect its approval and submission to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine in the near future."

Gideon said, "In parallel, we are working with financial institutions to finance the project, in particular with the US EXIM Bank. We hope to sign a number of agreements in the near future."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

CHINA EXPORTS NUKE TECH INSTEAD OF COAL

Hot functional tests completed at Karachi 3

11 November 2021

Hot functional testing of Karachi 3 in Pakistan was completed ahead of schedule on 4 November, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today. This means the second overseas Hualong One unit has entered the "fuel loading stage", the company said.

The Karachi site (Image: CNNC)

Hot functional tests simulate the temperatures and pressures that the reactor systems will be subjected to during normal operation and are carried out before loading nuclear fuel. They involve increasing the temperature of the reactor coolant system and carrying out comprehensive tests to ensure that coolant circuits and safety systems are operating as they should. China Zhongyuan Engineering Corporation - CNNC's general contractor for Karachi 2 and 3 - previously announced that the tests at Karachi 3 began on 13 September.

Like Karachi 2, which entered commercial operation in May, Karachi 3 is a 1100 MW Hualong One unit supplied by CNNC. The two units are the first exports of the Hualong One, which is also promoted on the international market as HPR1000. The first example of the Hualong One - Fuqing 5 in China's Fujian province - was commissioned at the beginning of this year. Eight nuclear power units using Hualong One technology are under construction or in operation at home and abroad, CNNC said.

The construction of the Karachi units has boosted the development of Pakistan's economy by providing over 10,000 direct jobs for Pakistan citizens, and a further 40,000 indirect jobs through the value chain, it added.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Fuel loading under way at Fuqing 6

08 November 2021

The process of loading the 177 fuel assemblies into the core of unit 6 at the Fuqing nuclear power plant began on 6 November, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced. The unit - the second of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site in China's Fujian province - is scheduled to begin operations by the end of this year.

Fuel loading operations at Fuqing 6 (Image: CNNC)

"The first fuel loading has officially started, marking the unit has entered the nuclear commissioning stage of the main system, and has taken an important step towards completion and commissioning," CNNC said today.

China's State Council gave final approval for construction of Fuqing units 5 and 6 in April 2015. The pouring of first concrete for Fuqing 5 began in May 2015, marking the official start of construction of the unit. Construction of unit 6 began in December the same year. Unit 5 was connected to the grid on 27 November last year, having achieved first criticality on 21 October, and entered commercial operation on 30 January this year.

Construction of two demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) units is also under way at China General Nuclear's Fangchenggang plant in the Guangxi Autonomous Region. Those units are expected to start up in 2022. CNNC has also started construction of two Hualong One units at the Zhangzhou plant in Fujian province, plus the first of two units at Taipingling in Guangdong.

Two HPR1000 units are under construction at Pakistan's Karachi nuclear power plant. Construction began on Karachi unit 2 in 2015 and unit 3 in 2016; the units are planned to enter commercial operation in this year and next, respectively. Karachi 2 was connected to the grid in March after the completion of commissioning tests.

"At present, two Hualong One units have been put into commercial operation, and a total of eight nuclear power units using China National Nuclear Corporation's Hualong One technology are under construction and operation at home and abroad," CNNC said.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Deforestation Harms Vulnerable Communities

Temperature rise driven by climate breakdown and deforestation increasing heat-related deaths in rural communities in Indonesia.

An illegal Amazon logging operation on land belonging to the Pirititi Indigenous people in Roraima state, Brazil, seen in an aerial photograph taken on May 8, 2018.

 (Photo: Felipe Werneck/flickr/cc)

CATHERINE EARLY

November 13, 2021 by The Ecologist

Heat-related deaths in a vulnerable community in Indonesia have been linked directly to nearby deforestation by new research published in The Lancet.

The research by US-based The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and scientists from the University of Washington and Indonesia’s Mulawaran University focused on the Berau region of East Kalimantan in Indonesia, where 4375 km² of forested land was cleared between 2002 and 2018, the equivalent of 17 percent of the whole area.

The researchers used data from satellite monitoring of forest cover, temperature, and population, alongside intelligence from The Lancet’s Global Burden of Disease reports to estimate the impacts of deforestation and climate change on deaths due to heat exposure, and the effects of deforestation and climate change on unsafe work conditions.

Labourers

Local deforestation, combined with climate change, had already caused mean daily maximum temperatures to increase by 0.95°C, they found, which in turn had led to an eight percent increase in mortality between 2002 and 2018.

Researchers projected that the region could ultimately experience an estimated 17-20 percent increase in deaths, and up to five hours a day where temperatures are unsafe to work in by 2100, compared with 2018, if temperatures rise by 3°C compared with pre-industrial levels.

A 2019 study in the same region found that outdoor labourers worked, on average, 6.5 hours a day, and are already shifting work schedules to avoid the hottest times of the day.

Vulnerable

The study is significant because it is believed to be one of the first-ever studies to reveal how temperature rises driven by climate change and local deforestation are already increasing heat-related deaths among rural communities in a tropical country.

A growing body of research indicates that in tropical countries, both climate change and deforestation are increasing temperatures and heat exposure, but the combined risks of these changes have so far been underappreciated, according to the study.

The wider implications for human health and livelihoods are worrying and definitely justify further research to find solutions.
For example, forest clearing in tropical countries can cause immediate increases in local temperatures of up to 8°C and exacerbate daytime temperature variation. Studies have also shown that the amount of warming increases when deforested patches are greater than 100 km², and that the effects of warming can extend up to 50km beyond deforested sites.

Worrying

However, little is known about how warming associated with deforestation affects human health at geographical scales of more than 10,000 km²), or how these risks are likely to change in the future.

Deforestation is driven largely by outdoor labour-intensive industries, such as mining, farming, and palm oil production, leaving many people in the area with no choice but to work outdoors.

The temperature rise experienced in just 16 years in Berau was equivalent to that seen in the wider world in 150, lead author Dr Nicholas Wolff of The Nature Conservancy pointed out.

“The wider implications for human health and livelihoods are worrying and definitely justify further research to find solutions,” he said.
© 2021 The Ecologist

CATHERINE EARLY  is chief reporter for The Ecologist and a freelance environmental journalist. She tweets at @Cat_Early76

Litigation from fossil fuel companies threatens climate action

BY FRENCH PRESS AGENCY - AFP GLASGOW, SCOTLAND ENERGY
NOV 12, 2021

A protester holds a placard displaying a "Stop Climate Crime" slogan during a climate change demonstration outside of the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland on Nov. 12, 2021. (AFP)


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Governments seeking to cut emissions could face trillion-dollar lawsuits from fossil fuel companies looking to regain stranded assets or lost revenue, a hidden cost of climate action that threatens to "make a mockery" of commitments made at the recent COP26 summit.

Energy experts predict that more ambitious climate action from world leaders will significantly increase companies' use of a tribunal mechanism that has already awarded billions to heavy industry.

Trade agreements such as the Energy Charter Treaty and NAFTA contain investor arbitration clauses, known as investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), that allow foreign companies to sue governments over actions they say hit profits or investments.

Campaigners say that energy companies are increasingly turning to this type of arbitration to recoup investments as governments accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels.

Jean Blaylock, trade campaigner at Global Justice Now, tells Agence France-Presse (AFP) these corporate courts – "the global trade system's dirty little secret" – could "make a mockery" of commitments generated at the COP26 summit.

"We're seeing the fossil fuel sector use investor-state dispute settlement to hold climate action to ransom," she says.

"These companies have made unfathomable profits from fueling the climate crisis, we cannot let them demand even bigger pay-outs."

AFP has obtained excerpts from a presentation given at a September trade event by consultancy firm Berkeley Research Group (BRG), which predicted that climate legislation would lead to a rise in private lawsuits.

"Increased climate policy ambition (e.g. CAT Ratings) will drive the policies behind climate-related disputes," said an excerpt.

CAT refers to Climate Action Tracker, which ranks national emissions plans on their compatibility with the Paris climate deal.

The presentation suggested that the "scale of energy transition policy" could "unleash a wave of international investment and/or commercial arbitration to adjudicate claims."

Responding to a request to comment, Christopher Goncalves, chair of BRG's Energy and Climate practice, told AFP that dispute resolution was "likely to remain a critical component of the energy transition process."

"It is not possible to make any generic conclusion as to whether such legal disputes accelerate or impede the energy transition," he added.
History of awards

The BRG presentation said if governments legislate to limit heating to 2C by 2050, $3.3-6.5 trillion in upstream fossil fuel assets would be at risk, as well as $650-700 billion in coal power assets and $900 billion in oil reserve write-offs in a 1.5C scenario.

Blaylock said $9 trillion in upstream fossil fuel and oil reserve write-offs are at risk of litigation – a little over a tenth of the global economy.

Energy and mining firms have a long history in winning large settlements. In 2006, Occidental Energy sued the government of Ecuador for terminating an oil contract. It was awarded $1.77 billion, which was later reduced to $1bn.

In 2012 Tethyan Copper sued the government of Pakistan over a gold mine, and in 2019 was awarded $5.9 billion – roughly 2% of the country's GDP.

ISDS decisions are internationally binding and courts have in the past ordered the seizure of state assets when countries have refused to pay.

Five current cases, brought by energy firms identified by Global Justice Now, are seeking $18 billion from governments.

These include a dispute involving the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline in North America, where the complainant, TC Energy, is seeking a reported $15 billion in lost revenue.

A TC Energy spokesperson told AFP that it would "not comment on speculative claims."

German energy firm Uniper is one of two companies reportedly seeking more than $1 billion from the Netherlands after it decided to phase out coal.

A Uniper spokesperson did not comment on the amount in question but said government policy had cut 15 years off the lifespan of its MPP3 power plant near Rotterdam, "however understandable that change in itself may be."
'Ordinary people will pay'

British company Rockhopper is suing Italy for a reported $324 million over a ban on offshore oil drilling close to the country's coast. Italy signed the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) but then withdrew in 2016.

Companies can resort to ISDS for 20 years after a country leaves the ECT.

A spokesperson for Rockhopper rejected the idea that the suit was linked to climate change.

"The Italian government issued licenses and encouraged significant investment in oil and gas exploration, based on this platform. Clearly it is not equitable to change the rules halfway through," she told AFP.

Most of the governments wrapping up COP26 plan to slash their emissions to net-zero by 2050.

That will cost the global economy as much as $100 trillion, according to International Energy Agency estimates.

Nations are also pledging billions to help countries adapt to climate-driven extreme weather and crop failures.

Campaigners say that litigation represents a looming, hidden cost of climate action.

"The science is clear. The vast majority of fossil fuels must stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic global heating," Leah Sullivan, trade campaigner at the War on Want pressure group, told AFP.

Since ISDS awards are taken from public money, "It's ordinary people who will have to pay for this," she said.

Auto industry’s challenges hold up net-zero progress despite growing EV sales

Bloomberg News 

Stock image.

Picture James Bond strapped to a doomsday device while a countdown clock ticks toward zero. That’s the situation the Earth faces when it comes to climate change, according to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.


“The tragedy is that this is not a movie and the doomsday device is real,” Johnson said Monday in Glasgow at the 26th COP climate conference, the annual meeting that’s supposed to set out plans to rein in global warming.

The transport sector is a big part of the problem. It accounts for about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and will face special scrutiny at COP26 because of how much it pollutes. The European Union in July proposed that member states stop selling combustion cars no later than 2035 as the region tries to cut transport emissions that have climbed by a third since 1990.

The auto industry may well be phasing out the internal combustion engine and EV sales are taking off, but that doesn’t mean the path to zero-emission driving will be easy. There are a few key roadblocks holding up progress that are likely to come up at the conference over the coming days:

Dirty production

Building an EV emits significantly more carbon dioxide than producing combustion models, researchers have found. That’s mainly because EVs are made with a resource-intensive battery and greater amounts of aluminum. Battery metals including lithium, cobalt and nickel are mined in Australia, South America and Africa and then shipped around the world for refining, resulting in massive carbon emissions. Carmakers are acutely aware of the issue’s potential to cause PR problems and have started exploring alternative sourcing methods, but the projects are still in their infancy.

Clean electricity

While EVs are dirtier than regular cars coming out of the factory, they’re supposed to make up for that big time during their driving years because they have no tailpipe emissions. Another factor in this equation, though, is the juice that powers the battery. The problem is that the world still produces electricity mostly from fossil-fired sources, with coal and natural gas accounting for almost 60% of the global power mix in 2020, according to International Energy Agency data. In China, where EV sales are surging, coal — the dirtiest fossil fuel — remains the dominant electricity source by far.

Charger anxiety

Numerous people I know are open to buying an EV but are put off by what they perceive as sub-par charging convenience. A Sky News colleague driving an electric SUV from London to the COP venue in Glasgow struggled with some patchy charging infrastructure along the way. Carmakers and politicians have identified a lack of charging spots as a key hurdle to wider EV adoption. In China, where EV adoption is outpacing infrastructure upgrades, the issues may well fuel buyer’s remorse after drivers there had to queue for hours to recharge their vehicle during last month’s Golden Week holiday. Europe has billions of euros earmarked for more charging spots, but especially in larger cities — where people tend to live in apartment buildings instead of free-standing homes — coming up with convenient charging options will remain a challenge.

Transitioning trucks

While passenger cars are fairly well on their way toward electrification, trucks are still far off from meeting the EU’s net-zero climate target for 2050, according to a new report from Transport & Environment. The Brussels-based NGO says the EU’s CO2 emission standards for trucks, introduced in 2019, should be tightened because they lack the ambition to spur real change. Almost 98% of the roughly 170,000 trucks and vans registered in Europe between July 2019 and June 2020 had a diesel engine, according to the report.

“The European Commission is addressing car emissions with plans to phase out petrol and diesel cars, yet it is still miles away from bringing trucking in line with its Green Deal ambition,” said Lucien Mathieu, acting director for freight at T&E. “With trade rebounding, now is the time to raise the ambition for truck emissions targets.”

(By Stefan Nicola)

Toyota, Yamaha, Mazda, Subaru to develop alternate fuels for combustion engines

FILE PHOTO: A Toyota logo is displayed at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland. (REUTERS)

 Updated: 14 Nov 2021, 10:10 AM ISTHT Auto Desk

Toyota currently has plans to develop 15 EV models by 2025 and is investing $13.5 billion over the next decade to expand battery production capacity.
Meanwhile, it is also working on developing vehicles powered by hydrogen.

Toyota Motor Corp has announced that will partner with four other Japanese vehicle makers to explore the feasibility of developing alternative green motor fuels for internal combustion engine such as hydrogen fuel and synthetic fuels derived from biomass.

The companies that Toyota is partnering with include Mazda, Subaru, Yamaha Motor and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

All the five companies made the announcement of partnership at a race track in Okayama, western Japan.

Toyota is of the belief that though transforming internal combustion engines to green fuels such as hydrogen is technologically difficult, but achieving this goal would allow the companies to support ages-old existing supply chain systems. These include hundreds of thousands of workers who may otherwise have to leave their jobs as the industry switches to producing electric vehicles (EV).

(Also read | Toyota CEO defends combustion engines, says the enemy is carbon)

As countries around the world tighten environmental regulations in order to cut down carbon emissions, various automakers including Toyota are working on ramping up the production of EVs. Toyota is also under pressure as the Japan government has said that it aims to be a carbon neutral nation by 2050 and is also promoting the use of hydrogen fuel.

Toyota currently has plans to develop 15 EV models by 2025 and is investing $13.5 billion over the next decade to expand battery production capacity. Meanwhile, it is also working on developing vehicles powered by hydrogen.

(Also read | Toyota ranked one of worst major automakers for emissions efforts)

Toyota president Akio Toyoda spent the weekend swerving around the racetrack in western Japan in a Toyota Corolla. The version he drove was equipped with in-house hydrogen engine, which propels the vehicle by burning the fuel much like traditional engines use gasoline.

The company also showcased other vehicles running on carbon-neutral propellants in a three-hour road race, along with Mazda. "The enemy is carbon, not internal combustion engines," Toyoda said.

(with inputs from Reuters)

Global carmakers now target $515 billion for EVs, batteries

Reuters | November 10, 2021 

Stock image.

Global automakers are planning to spend more than half a trillion dollars on electric vehicles and batteries through 2030, according to a Reuters analysis, amping up investments aimed at weaning car buyers away from fossil fuels and meeting increasingly tough decarbonization targets.


Less than three years ago, a similar analysis by Reuters found car companies planned to spend $300 billion on EVs and related technologies. But looming zero-carbon mandates in cities such as London and Paris and countries from Norway to China have lent additional urgency to the industry’s EV-related investment commitments.

The most recent analysis shows carmakers planning to spend an estimated $515 billion over the next five to 10 years to develop and build new battery-powered vehicles and shift away from combustion engines.

Source: Reuters

But industry executives and forecasters remain concerned that consumer demand for EVs could fall well short of aggressive targets without substantial additional incentives and even greater spending on charging infrastructure and grid capacity.

Brian Maxim, head of global powertrain forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, likens the growing investment commitments in vehicle electrification to the Cold War: “Once a few manufacturers announced EV programs, everyone else had to announce their own or be viewed as being left behind.”

However, he added, “this leaves a lot of vehicle manufacturers planning significant volumes for a vehicle category that has unknown consumer acceptance, and will have minimal to no profit” for years.

Reuters compiled the investment data from company statements, investor presentations and regulatory filings.

Other surveys have come up with different spending projections. In June, consulting firm AlixPartners said auto industry investments in electric vehicles would reach $330 billion by 2025. In 2020, all global automakers combined spent nearly $225 billion on capital expenditures and research and development, according to AlixPartners.

Tesla Inc, the world’s largest EV manufacturer, appears to be the one company that is selling virtually every vehicle it can build and is readying new multibillion-dollar “gigafactories” near Berlin and Austin that will significantly boost its annual production capacity. In early November, the company was valued at $1.2 trillion, more than twice the combined value of Volkswagen AG, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co.

Meanwhile, political and regulatory pressure is building on the world’s carmakers to begin phasing out production of fossil-fueled vehicles, including gasoline-electric hybrids, over the next 10-15 years, while ramping up output of full electric models.

A number of countries, from Singapore to Sweden, have said they will ban sales of new combustion engine vehicles by 2030. U.S. President Joseph Biden has said he wants 40% to 50% of sales to be electric vehicles by 2030.

Germany’s VW Group, which is still recovering financially from the 2016 Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal, continues to lead the rest of the industry, with more than $110 billion in EV and battery investment commitments through 2030. Those commitments, which represent more than 20% of the industry total, underpin VW’s aggressive rollout plans for millions of EVs in Europe, China and North America over the next decade.

VW’s investments, like those of many of its rivals, are aimed at improving the range and performance of batteries and lowering the cost of EVs, as well as expanding battery and EV production across the globe, according to public data released by the companies.

VW and fellow German automakers Daimler AG and BMW AG are planning to spend a combined $185 billion through 2030, while U.S. automakers GM and Ford expect to spend nearly $60 billion through 2025.

Chinese automakers, led by VW and GM local partner SAIC Motor, have announced well over $100 billion in investment targets over the next decade. Japanese automakers lag far behind, with Honda Motor, Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor so far publicly committing less than $40 billion combined.

These investments do not include the tens of billions of dollars being invested in additional production capacity by the world’s largest battery companies, many in cooperation with their automaker partners.

(By Paul Lienert and Tina Bellon; Editing by Dan Grebler)

The race to produce higher performing batteries

Bloomberg News | November 9, 2021 

Credit: Solid Power

Last week battery startup SES announced it had developed the world’s largest lithium metal cell. The cell itself is still a prototype, but the company expects to be producing them commercially for use in EVs by 2025. Off the back of this announcement, I want to talk about batteries using lithium metal anodes, and the differences between SES and its peers QuantumScape and Solid Power.


Lithium metal anodes are sought after in the battery industry, because they promise to create lightweight cells enabling EVs with longer driving ranges. Not only are companies trying to improve performance, they also are trying to make batteries safer and with a lower price tag. But they are taking different approaches to achieve this, the benefits and drawbacks of which can be understandably difficult to pick apart.

There are three key components in a lithium battery: two electrodes — the anode and the cathode — which are separated by an electrolyte. The batteries in your cell phone or EV today use a graphite for the anode and a liquid electrolyte. These are the components that most startups are working to improve, as they haven’t really changed in 30 years. Cathode development is less of a focus, as these materials have experienced steady but gradual improvements over the last decade.

Taking a step back, SES’s announcement is big news because it’s the first demonstration of a battery that could be used in an EV using a lithium metal anode with a liquid electrolyte. Using a liquid electrolyte with a lithium metal is exciting because it could almost be a ‘drop-in’ process that utilizes existing manufacturing facilities. This could lead to quick scale up and a high market penetration, while also preserving the billions of dollars of investment in current manufacturing plants.

In the past it hasn’t been possible to use lithium metal anodes with liquid electrolytes because it leads to a low-cycle life – the number of times the battery can be charged and discharged – and can cause failures leading to battery fires. SES’s secret sauce is in getting these two critical components to work together. It has achieved this by adding so much salt to its electrolyte that the properties of the liquids change, from flammable to a substance that won’t catch fire. By using a liquid SES creates good contact between all of the layers in the battery – this is essential to having a battery that can perform lots of cycles.

By sticking to a liquid-based electrolyte, SES’ approach differs from its peers Solid Power and QuantumScape. In contrast, Solid Power and QuantumScape have been targeting the use of lithium metal anodes in combination with a solid electrolytes, in place of liquids, to create solid-state batteries. Solid electrolytes have been the main focus of companies developing cells that use lithium metal anodes as it is easier to control the reactions between the two components, and removes the liquid electrolyte as a possible accelerant in the event of a fire.

Solid Power uses an electrolyte material called lithium sulfide, which promises to be relatively easy to integrate with existing manufacturing processes. As its cells only use solid components it is important to make sure all of the layers have good contact to ensure high performance over the lifetime of the system. Before it commercializes batteries with lithium metal anodes, Solid Power is also aiming to develop a cell with a silicon anode. But we’ll leave silicon anodes for a future column.

QuantumScape on the other hand will use a ceramic material for its cells. These will require the company to develop new manufacturing processes and equipment. However, its technology has the advantage of not using lithium metal, which is difficult to handle, during the manufacturing process. Instead, QuantumScape forms its lithium metal anode in-situ in the manufactured cell. It also adds a little gel electrolyte to help maintain contact between the cathode material and the solid electrolyte.

The eventual performance of each company’s cells promises to be fairly similar, all should be safer and with a higher energy density, but the routes to getting there are markedly different. Each company has its own unique set of challenges when it comes to scaling the production of the technology, but nothing that appears insurmountable. From an industry perspective, the more routes we have to achieving high performing cells the better, as it creates more resiliency and makes me confident safer high performance batteries are just around the corner.

(By James Frith)

Gemfields finds largest emerald ever at Zambia mine

Cecilia Jamasmie | November 8, 2021

The 7,525-carat emerald named Chipembele, which means “rhino” in the local dialect of Bemba. (Image courtesy of Gemfields.)

Africa-focused Gemfields (LON: GEM) (JSE: GML) has found the largest emerald ever mined at its Kagem mine in Zambia — a 7,525-carat (1,505g) gemstone named Chipembele, which means “rhino” in the local dialect of Bemba.


While no official record exists, it is extremely unusual to encounter a gemstone weighing more than 1,000 carats and only a couple of dozen unique enough to deserve their own name.

The last time a comparable emerald was found was in 2018, when Gemfields unearthed the 5,655-carat Inkalamu, meaning “lion”. Prior to that, the company had dug up a 6,225-carat emerald in 2010, which was named Insofu – Bemba for “elephant”.

The company said the three gemstones were formed within relatively close proximity at the Kagem mine, which is the world’s single largest producing emerald mine – owned by Gemfields in partnership with the Zambian government’s Industrial Development Corporation.

Chipembele was discovered in July by geologists Manas Banerjee and Richard Kapeta, who exclaimed “look at this rhino horn!” when they first saw the emerald, Gemstone said.

The gemstone is due to be sold at the company’s next emerald auction, with viewing expected to begin in the next few days.

The company’s last sales event, in August, generated $23.1 million in revenue – an all-time record for commercial-quality emerald sold at auctions.

Eyes on Asia

Gemfields, which has operations in both Mozambique and Zambia, has stepped up efforts to market its emeralds and rubies in China after a report highlighted the “huge potential” for ethically sourced gems in that market.

Top diamond miners are already stepping up efforts in that direction. The Natural Diamond Council (NDC), which groups the world’s seven leading producers, launched in May its first advertising campaign targeting the Asian and US markets.

NDC also inked a deal with China’s top jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook to boost demand for mined rocks.

Coal mines seen belching worst Australia methane cloud this year

Bloomberg News | November 11, 2021 | 

Most of Australia’s coal mines are in the Hunter Valley (pictured), Bowen Basin and Surat Basin regions. (Image: Max Phillips (Jeremy Buckingham MLC) | Flickr.)

The most severe cloud of methane detected in Australia in more than a year was spotted last month by satellite over one of the country’s top coal producing regions.

The Oct. 17 plume was observed over the Bowen Basin in Queensland state and had an estimated emissions rate of 76 metric tons of methane an hour, according to Kayrros SAS, which analyzed observations from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite. The geoanalytics company said that given the high concentration of mines in the plume’s vicinity and its shape, it could have originated from multiple sources.

“Intermittent methane releases from underground mines, such as the ones mentioned, are a part of normal operations,’’ Australia’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources said in an emailed response to questions. The agency is implementing a methane accounting system using Sentinel data “to assess the implications of methane releases, such as the one observed in the picture provided,’’ to help track emissions.

The nation is facing growing global criticism from climate activists who say it isn’t doing enough to cut emissions. Australia won’t join a global effort led by the U.S. and European Union to curb methane emissions, Energy Minister Angus Taylor said before the start of the COP26 global climate conference now underway in Glasgow. The initiative, which includes 100 nations, aims to curb methane emissions at least 30% from 2020 levels by the end of the decade.


Methane has more than 80 times the warming impact of carbon dioxide over the short term. Halting intentional releases and accidental leaks could do more to slow climate change than almost any other single measure. Cheap technologies to mitigate coal mine emissions are widely available, according to climate research group Ember, while oil and gas companies can often profit from emissions reductions by selling the corralled methane as natural gas.

Higher methane emissions can result in part due to a region’s geography, and older and deeper coal seams typically emit more gas.

For every ton of coal produced in the Bowen Basin region, an average of 7.5 kilograms of methane is released, a Kayrros analysis found earlier this year. That’s 47% higher than the average global methane intensity estimated by the International Energy Agency, the company said at the time.

“The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources accepts that the Sentinel satellite data is a useful source of information that needs careful consideration,” the Australian agency said in its statement. But the department said that it believes “it is premature to use the satellite data to quantify emissions in a reliable way. ”

If the October release lasted an hour at the rate estimated by Kayrros, it would have the same short-term climate impact as the annual average emissions from more than 3,700 U.K. cars. The plume was the most severe in Australia since a release detected in August last year, that was about 170 kilometers (106 miles) to the north, according to the Kayrros analysis of ESA data.

Scientists are just beginning to pinpoint the biggest sources of methane and existing satellite observations aren’t globally comprehensive. Cloud cover, precipitation and varying light can impact observations and the orbitals also have difficulty tracking releases over water.

(By Aaron Clark)

Investors pushed mining giants to quit coal. Now it’s backfiring
Bloomberg News | November 9, 2021 

Anglo spinned off its South Africa coal mines into South Africa’s Thungela Resources. (Image: Isibonelo Colliery by Philip Mostert. ©Anglo American 2019)

It was supposed to be a big win for climate activists: another of the world’s most powerful mining companies had caved to investor demands that it stop digging up coal.


Instead, Anglo American Plc’s strategy reversal has become a case study for unintended consequences. Its exit has transformed mines that were scheduled for eventual closure into the engine room for a growth-hungry coal business.

And while it’s a particularly stark example, it’s not the only one. When rival BHP Group was struggling to sell an Australian colliery this year, the company surprised investors by applying to extend mining at the site by another two decades — an apparent attempt to sweeten its appeal to potential buyers.

Now, after years of lobbying blue-chip companies to stop mining the most-polluting fuel, there’s a growing unease among climate activists and some investors that the policy many of them championed could lead to more coal being produced for longer. Senior mining executives say the message from their shareholders is evolving to acknowledge that risk, and they’re no longer pushing as hard for blanket withdrawals.

BHP may end up holding on to the Australian mine it was battling to sell, Bloomberg reported last week. Earlier this year, Glencore Plc sounded out a major climate investor group before announcing it would increase its ownership of a big Colombian coal mine, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Everyone in the industry is starting to be more sophisticated, more nuanced and more careful on the way they think these issues through,” said Nick Stansbury, head of climate solutions at Legal & General Group Plc.

THE PEOPLE OWN THE RESOURCES EXPROPRIATE

Who should own the world’s coal mines is a question that resources giants and their investors may be grappling with for years to come. At the global climate talks in Glasgow, world leaders have fallen short on the U.K. host’s ambition to “consign coal to history.” It continues to dominate the world’s electricity mix and energy shortages in Europe and China this year have only reinforced the message that the world remains deeply dependent on coal.

The campaign to force coal out of the hands of the biggest diversified miners kicked off about a decade ago, with limited success. That changed after some of the world’s most powerful investors, including Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund and BlackRock Inc., began introducing policies to limit their exposure to coal.

By early 2020, pressure was mounting on Anglo American boss Mark Cutifani. He’d already watched rival Rio Tinto Group sell its last coal mines. BHP was looking at options to get out and even Glencore, coal’s biggest champion, had agreed to cap its production.

Cutifani’s original plan had been simple: it was increasingly unlikely that Anglo would invest more in its seven South African mines — which accounted for a fraction of its overall profits — and the company would ultimately close them when they ran out of coal over the next decade or so.

But for some investors that wasn’t soon enough.

The solution Anglo came up with was a spinoff company — Thungela Resources Ltd. — to be run by a senior Anglo executive, and handed over to its own shareholders.

The plan meant Anglo could get out of coal without having to cut any jobs in a country facing massive unemployment, and leave the mines in trusted hands until they were depleted. Anglo investors could decide for themselves whether to hold or sell the shares they received.

Yet within days, Chief Executive Officer July Ndlovu was laying out big ambitions for the company and its mines. Thungela was looking to grow, not shrink coal production, he said.

“I didn’t take up this role to close these mines, to close this business,” Ndlovu told Bloomberg at the time.

The company’s Zibulo, Mafube and Khwezela mines have the potential for extension to add at least another decade of mining and perhaps much longer, producing more than 10 million tons of coal a year.

Thungela’s creation has come at a time of great flux for the industry. As the global economy recovers from the pandemic, demand for electricity and the fuels used to produce it surged around the world, sending thermal coal prices to the highest on record.

That’s meant windfall profits for producers and their investors, making it more lucrative to keep digging as much as possible. Thungela’s shares have soared since its June initial public offering, although they’ve pulled back recently as coal prices eased.

With billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake, the question has always been who — f not the publicly traded mining companies — should be running their collieries?

Companies like Anglo and BHP have long argued they are the most responsible operators, with deep pockets and sophisticated approaches to climate, the environmental impact of their operations and worker welfare. There is no guarantee new owners will act in the same way, or have the financial muscle to ride our volatile swings in commodity prices.

“Selling the problem to a third party has unintended consequences,” said Ashley Hamilton Claxton, the head of responsible investment at Royal London Asset Management, who argues that mining companies should hold onto fossil fuel assets and manage their decline. “We need to shift the debate in the investment industry about being more sophisticated around these things.”

It’s a theme that has played out elsewhere. Some observers of the oil industry say campaigns by activists to have oil majors divest from fossil fuels could end up accelerating a shift to government owners who operate with less transparency and, occasionally, worse environmental records.

In an attempt to fill the gap, other ventures have sprung up. Citigroup Inc. and Trafigura Group were one, pitching a coal-focused company to investors early this year, with the idea that it could snap up cheap mines and run them for cash — not growth — before eventually closing them.

But there’s also growing evidence that investors are changing their approach.

When BHP and Anglo wanted to sell their stakes in a big Colombian coal mine earlier this year, the third partner, Glencore, was the obvious buyer. In the past, a move to increase its exposure to coal might have drawn criticism from climate-focused investors. The company already agreed in 2019 to cap its coal production, under pressure from Climate Action 100+, an investor group with 545 members managing a combined $52 trillion of assets.

As Anglo and BHP pushed to sell the mine, Climate Action became a surprising behind-the-scenes sounding board for Glencore, according to people familiar with the matter. The group saw the transaction as a way of preventing any mine extensions or the asset being passed to a less responsible owner. Glencore agreed to further tighten its emissions-reduction goals as part of the deal.

While Climate Action has not spoken out publicly, the Colombian purchase was seen by many in the industry as further proof that investors’ positions have fundamentally changed.

Meanwhile, BHP, which has been planning an exit from thermal coal since at least mid-2019, has rejected multiple approaches for its Mt Arthur mine in Australia. The sale has dragged on as the pool of potential buyers dwindled and the offers it got were either too low or rejected because the company didn’t consider them responsible new owners.

Earlier this year, it emerged that BHP had applied to extend the mine’s life by almost 20 years. It didn’t take long for concerned investors to start asking why the company was preparing the mine to keep digging coal for longer.

Since then, pressure has mounted on BHP to u-turn on its exit strategy. Market Forces, which coordinates groups of shareholders on climate issues, has called on the company to abandon plans to sell out of fossil fuels, and instead responsibly close down the operations.

“The big push from investors is around ensuring that any divestment that occurs is to parties that are responsible,” BHP CEO Mike Henry said at the company’s shareholder meeting in October.

Now, the sale process appears to have stalled and the company could end up keeping Mr Arthur, after coal’s rally made the asset more valuable, and it’s no longer under as much pressure from some investors to sell, people familiar with the matter said.

Glencore, meanwhile, has promised to run its coal business to closure by 2050, which received overwhelming support from its shareholders, but it’s also prepared contingency plans to exit should investors force it. The developments of the past six months suggest that’s looking less likely.

“Divestment is convenient and easy to communicate,” said Hamilton Claxton. “Helping companies manage decline is difficult to do from an investment perspective and showing our customers that we’ve been effective is difficult to do.”

(By Thomas Biesheuvel, with assistance from David Stringer and Felix Njini)