Leeds scientists have found that 28 trillion tonnes of ice were lost between 1994 and 2017 - the equivalent to a sheet of ice 100 metres thick covering the UK.

By Rebecca Marano
Tuesday, 26th January 2021

The terrifying findings show that the rate in which ice is disappearing has increased massively in the past three decades.

In the 1990s, ice melted at a rate of 0.8 trillion tonnes a year, while it is now 1.3 trillion tonnes per year, and things are getting worse.

Ice melt across the globe raises sea levels, increases the risk of flooding to coastal communities, and threatens to wipe out natural habitats which wildlife depend on.


Despite storing only one per cent of the Earth's total ice volume, glaciers have contributed to almost a quarter of the global ice losses over the study period, with all glacier regions around the world losing ice.

The team led by researchers at the University of Leeds were the first team to carry out a survey of global ice loss using satellite data.

There has been a 65 per cent increase in the rate of ice loss over the 23-year survey. This has been mainly driven by steep rises in losses from the polar ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.

Dr Thomas Slater, a Research Fellow at Leeds' Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling , said: "Although every region we studied lost ice, losses from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have accelerated the most.

"The ice sheets are now following the worst-case climate warming scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The team led by researchers at the University of Leeds were the first team to carry out a survey of global ice loss using satellite data.

"Sea-level rise on this scale will have very serious impacts on coastal communities this century."

Dr Slater said the study was the first of its kind to examine all the ice that is disappearing on Earth, using satellite observations .

He added: "Over the past three decades there's been a huge international effort to understand what's happening to individual components in Earth's ice system, revolutionised by satellites which allow us to routinely monitor the vast and inhospitable regions where ice can be found.

"Our study is the first to combine these efforts and look at all the ice that is being lost from the entire planet."

The increase in ice loss has been triggered by warming of the atmosphere and oceans, which have warmed by 0.26°C and 0.12°C per decade since the 1980, respectively.

The majority of all ice loss was driven by atmospheric melting (68 %), with the remaining losses (32%) being driven by oceanic melting.

The survey covers 215,000 mountain glaciers spread around the planet, the polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, the ice shelves floating around Antarctica, and sea ice drifting in the Arctic and Southern Oceans.

Dr Isobel Lawrence, a Research Fellow at Leeds' Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, said: "Sea ice loss doesn't contribute directly to sea level rise but it does have an indirect influence.

"One of the key roles of Arctic sea ice is to reflect solar radiation back into space which helps keep the Arctic cool.

"As the sea ice shrinks, more solar energy is being absorbed by the oceans and atmosphere, causing the Arctic to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet.

"Not only is this speeding up sea ice melt, it's also exacerbating the melting of glaciers and ice sheets which causes sea levels to rise."

It is estimated that for every centimetre of sea level rise, approximately a million people are in danger of being displaced from low-lying homelands.

Despite storing only one per cent of the Earth's total ice volume, glaciers have contributed to almost a quarter of the global ice losses over the study period, with all glacier regions around the world losing ice.

PhD researcher Inès Otosaka, also from Leeds' Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, said: "As well as contributing to global mean sea level rise, mountain glaciers are also critical as a freshwater resource for local communities.

"The retreat of glaciers around the world is therefore of crucial importance at both local and global scales."

The study was published in European Geosciences Union's journal The Cryosphere.

 

New solar power global opportunity for the UK

Charlie McCarthy27 January 2021

Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsp

Researchers at Oxford University department of physics have developed a new world-beating solar panel using the semiconductor perovskite. Perovskite is a semiconductor that can transport electric charge when light strikes the material. Oxford PV, an Oxford University spin-off, has spent more than a decade working on improving the efficiency of solar technology.

Currently solar cells convert 15–20 percent of incoming solar energy to electricity. Oxford PV’s perovskite solar cell is described as being “20 percent more efficient than standard solar cells”. This improvement could transform solar power, reducing the payback time, and make solar energy more attractive as an essential part of the UK’s energy mix.

Renewable energy generates electricity without harmful waste gases that cause global heating, which makes it hugely important as we seek to reduce our carbon emissions to zero. The International Renewable Energy Agency reports there has been a 7.4 percent growth in renewable energy capacity in 2019, to 2,537 GW of electricity generated. Some 54 percent of the new renewable capacity was installed in Asia in 2019. However, since fossil fuels still provide over 80 percent of world energy, anything that can be done to boost further growth in renewables is obviously to be welcomed.

Perovskite solar technology is a new research field, which has only emerged in the last decade. Claims for the panels due on the market in late 2021, are extremely encouraging. These include a 20 percent improved efficiency rate over conventional solar panels, utilisation of the blue as well as the red part of the electromagnetic spectrum, bringing a double whammy of advantages in the form of cheaper electricity bills and a reduction in their carbon footprints. The electromagnetic spectrum is the term used by scientists to describe the entire range of light that exists. From radio waves to gamma rays, most of the light in the universe is, in fact, invisible to us.

Solar energy is a renewable energy source: there are no waste products, and it does not contribute to climate change. Oxford PV’s ultra-efficient perovskite will be incorporated into solar panels for installation on residential roofs. These new panels will be available for installation from 2022 in the UK and Europe.

Oxford PV’s chief executive, Frank Averdung, describes the breakthrough as:

“Achieving another world record is a fantastic milestone for our perovskite based solar cell, as it demonstrates that we are one step closer to the provision of highly powerful and lower cost solar energy.”

Averdung believes that perovskite technology will enable solar power to dominate the solar generated electricity market:

“Conventional silicon cells have reached their practical limit. The combination of a silicon cell and perovskite is the only way to drive fast adoption of solar PV in the world.”

Making solar energy more efficient will have a dramatic impact on the amount of renewable energy generated in the UK. Currently, solar power contributes just 0.6 percent of the UK’s electricity consumption over the period 2000–2019 according to government figures. A 1 percent efficiency improvement in the current installed UK base of solar power could provide the electricity needs of 150,000 homes.

Innovations such as this show how, globally, UK science punches above its weight. Our national record is good. In a wide-ranging article which examined our scientific research-to-innovation performance in detail, David Gann and Nick Jennings of the Guardian found that:

“In fact, if we adjust for the size of our economies, the UK now exceeds the United States in numbers of spinouts formed, disclosures of discoveries, patents and licences. In emerging fields such as low-carbon, the UK is forming twice as many spinouts per trillion dollars of GDP as the US. Employment growth by digital technology companies in the UK is five times faster than for the rest of the economy.”

They go on in their article to point out that in terms of invention, disclosures per £100m the UK (74) outperforms the US (58). Some 98 Britons are now on the list of Nobel Prize winners, a tally second only to the (much larger) USA; so it appears that in terms of scientific ideas, we are at the forefront. However, when it comes to what we do with them, that is where, traditionally, we have not been as successful as we might have been.

British universities are very aware of this poor record and many now have enterprise companies closely linked to their research interests, with senior staff bridging the gap with roles in both camps. This is a step forward and major commercial success is anticipated to follow on the back of this approach. What we now need is a pool of commercial leaders who have experience in leading the commercial scaling up of new science start-ups to enable them to achieve their potential under, hopefully, British ownership.

Deepmind is a good example of a successful AI company that was founded in London by a group of classmates and who are now world leaders in the field of AI innovation, and part of the Google group since 2014.  

The perovskite solar cell development gives us an ideal opportunity to show a watching world that we can take good science, understand implicitly how it has the potential to change the world for the better, scale it up to a world leading manufacturing business and still keep it under British control. Such an outcome would mark progress in our attempt to marry our science and industry sectors to create a billion-pound industry on the back of British science. It would herald a new age of what Prime Minister Johnson hopes will be ‘Global Britain.’  

The international market (China, India, USA, Africa, Europe) is potentially huge. Domestically, Oxford PV has provided a research idea that can help the government to hit its low carbon, sustainability target, which, as stated by Boris Johnson in anticipation of the Cop26 climate change summit in November is “to cut emissions (of greenhouse gases) by at least 68 percent by 2030 and to end the support for the fossil fuel sector overseas as soon as possible”.

Oxford PV have, to use cricketing terms, hit the ball up in the air. It should be an easy catch for a cricket-loving PM.

Let’s hope he doesn’t fluff it.

UN Forest Project ‘Does More Harm Than Good’

A UN forest project is fuelling conflict over land, threatening local people and failing to slow deforestation, researchers say.

January 27, 2021 by Climate News Network


By Alex Kirby

The harm a UN forest project in Africa is doing to local people is greater than the good it is managing to achieve for them, researchers say.

They say they have found significant flaws in conservation projects in a densely-forested region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where a decision on future investment by the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is imminent.

The DRC province of Mai-Ndombe, with an estimated 73,000 indigenous people, has 10 million hectares of forest and the world’s largest wetland of international importance. It is a testing ground for international climate schemes designed to halt forest destruction, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reward indigenous and other local people who care for the forests.

But a study by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), which works to support community land rights, says the UN’s global forest conservation scheme, REDD+, risks harming its intended beneficiaries in Mai-Ndombe, while failing to stop deforestation.

‘Terrible precedent’

“Our findings show that the DRC is not yet ready for REDD+ investment”, said Andy White, RRI’s coordinator. “The evidence from other countries shows that REDD+ and similar payment schemes will work only if governments recognise and support community land rights.”

The study’s authors say there is weak recognition of community land rights in the province, as well as corruption and poor governance, and that channelling more investment into the area for REDD+ programmes would only worsen conflict while failing to protect the forests.

The countries funding the FCPF are due to decide within the next year on an agreement that would add millions of dollars to REDD+ programmes in the DRC, which contains the larger part of the world’s second biggest tropical rainforest.

“If the programme in Mai-Ndombe is approved without ensuring that local peoples’ rights are respected, it would set a terrible precedent for REDD+ and make a bad situation worse”, said Alain Frechette, researcher and director of strategic analysis at RRI.

Wrong recipients

“Strong indigenous and community land rights and a clear understanding of who owns forest carbon are vital prerequisites for climate finance to succeed.”

The report says some projects already under way have not adequately included communities in their governance or made plans to benefit forest peoples.

Instead, it says, the lack of legal safeguards and accountability in the current system could channel benefits from REDD+ to the private sector and to others with little incentive to champion forests or local peoples.

A second paper by RRI analyses the legal systems of 24 of the 50 developing countries preparing to participate in the global carbon market, and says only five have established national legal frameworks to regulate their trade in carbon.

“To succeed, the projects must include the communities that have managed these forests for generations”

So far, none of the 24 has set up a system for sharing the benefits earned on the carbon market with local forest communities, despite evidence that they are the forests’ best guardians

Alain Frechette said it was crucial to protect and enforce forest peoples’ rights, to avoid the risk of displacing thousands of people and fuelling the violence and deforestation usually associated with the expansion of agro-industry and mining.

The Mai-Ndombe study is the first to analyse the 20 climate finance projects planned or under way in the province. Chouchouna Losale, of the Coalition of Women for the Environment and Sustainable Development in DRC, said: “These projects were developed in Kinshasa before being shared with communities. To succeed, the projects must include the communities that have managed these forests for generations.”

No meeting

Despite plans that include transforming former logging zones into conservation areas and paying local people to plant acacia trees on degraded savannah, the DRC projects currently under way suffer from conflict and mismanagement, the report says, blaming weak public governance and inadequate adherence to international standards. The national REDD+ steering committee has not met since it was formed in 2012.

“The people of Mai-Ndombe – whose median income is only US$0.24 per day [for each member of an average-sized family of five] – are largely to thank for keeping the world’s second largest tropical forest intact. But their success has made the province a magnet for carbon profiteers as well as timber and oil companies”, said Solange Bandiaky-Badji of RRI.

Mai-Ndombe, in the west of the DRC, became a province in 2015, a year after the implementation of the country’s Forest Code. The Code recognises the legal right of indigenous peoples and local communities to ownership of forest areas of up to 50,000 hectares. In Mai-Ndombe the Mushie and Bolobo communities have asked for formal title to 65,308 hectares of land, but only 3,900 hectares have been legally recognised.

Massive contribution

Scientists estimate that, globally, forests and other “natural climate solutions” could by 2030 contribute about one third of what is needed to keep the global temperature increase below 2°C – the more modest of the two targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Increasingly, forests and the people who live in them are being recognised as vital to addressing climate change, as scientists continue to report a dearth of affordable carbon capture technologies that can safely be scaled up.

“In the DRC and worldwide, conflicts over agriculture, logging, livestock, mining and conservation are mounting”, says RRI’s Andy White. “Instead of empowering indigenous peoples, communities, and women in the forest communities, the REDD+ programmes in Mai-Ndombe are not adequately respecting the rights of local peoples and are failing to protect forests.”

“But all is not lost. It is not too late. Recognising community land rights and engaging local communities would ensure that this grand experiment under way in the world’s remote rainforests can succeed, unlocking all of the benefits that come with strong forests and forest protectors.” – Climate News Network

—

This post was previously published on Climatenewsnetwork.net with Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 4.0.

Why Are Farmers Protesting in India?

Thousands of protesters, many driving tractors, took to the streets of New Delhi on Tuesday. Who are they, and what do they want?


Indian farmers taking part in a tractor rally in New Delhi on Tuesday against the central government’s new agricultural laws.

Credit...Money Sharma/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images



By Mujib Mashal, Emily Schmall and Russell Goldman
Jan. 27, 2021 NEW YORK TIMES


At least one protester was killed and 300 police officers were injured after tens of thousands of farmers, many driving tractors, took to the streets of New Delhi on Tuesday to call for the repeal of contentious new agriculture laws.

After months of sustained but peaceful demonstrations on the city’s outskirts, the farmers upstaged the city’s national Republic Day holiday, clashing with the police, destroying barricades and storming the Red Fort, a 400-year-old landmark. In addition to the police officers, many protesters were injured as well.

On Wednesday, the day after the chaos, the farmers returned to their camps on the city’s edge, pledging to continue their movement but canceling plans for a march on foot to India’s Parliament that had been set for Monday.


Protesting farmers have camped outside New Delhi since November.

Credit...Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times

Who are the protesters?

Many of the protesting farmers are members of the Sikh religious minority and come from the states of Punjab and Haryana. Farmers in other parts of the country have held rallies in solidarity.

Since November, thousands of farmers have encamped outside New Delhi, the capital, keeping vigil in sprawling tent cities and threatening to enter if the farm laws were not repealed.

The protest has laid bare the dire reality of inequality across much of the country.

More than 60 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, though the sector accounts for only about 15 percent of the country’s economic output. Their reliance has only increased after the coronavirus pandemic badly struck the urban economy and sent millions of laborers back to their villages. For years, debts and bankruptcies have been driving farmers to high rates of suicide.



The grain market in the Indian city of Khanna, the largest in Asia, last year.

Credit...Karan Deep Singh/The New York Times

What do they want?

The protesters are challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his efforts to reshape farming in India.

The demonstrators are demanding that Mr. Modi repeal recent farming laws that would minimize the government’s role in agriculture and open more space for private investors. The government says the new laws would unshackle farmers and private investment, bringing growth. But farmers are skeptical, fearing that the removal of state protections that they already consider insufficient would leave them at the mercy of greedy corporations.

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Government support for farmers, which included guaranteed minimum prices for certain essential crops, helped India move past the hunger crisis of the 1960s. But with India liberalizing its economy in recent decades, Mr. Modi — who wants the country’s economy to nearly double by 2024 — sees such a large role for the government as no longer sustainable.

Farmers, however, contend that they are struggling even with the existing protections. They say that market-friendly laws will eventually eliminate regulatory support and leave them bereft, with the weakened economy offering little chance of a different livelihood.

Farmers trying to dismantle barricades during the Republic Day protest on Tuesday

.Credit...Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

How did the violence erupt?

Thousands of protesting farmers poured into New Delhi on Tuesday in what had been expected to be a peaceful protest during holiday celebrations and a military parade overseen by the prime minister.

Some farmers broke with the main march and used tractors to dismantle police barricades. Many farmers carried long swords, tridents, sharp daggers and battle axes — functional if largely ceremonial weapons. Most protesters did not seem to be wearing masks despite the Covid-19 outbreak in India.

Police commanders deployed officers carrying assault rifles. They stood in the middle of main roads, tear gas swirling around them with their rifles aimed at the crowds. In some areas, video footage showed, the police beat protesters with their batons to push them back.


The farmers claim the violence was stoked by the government and outside elements in an effort to derail their months of peaceful protest.

The farmers waved flags and taunted officers. They also breached the Red Fort, the iconic palace that once served as the residence of the Mughal rulers of India, and hoisted atop the ramparts a flag that is often flown on Sikh temples.

Local television channels showed farmers placing the body of a protester in the middle of a road. They claimed the man had been shot, but the police said he had died when his tractor overturned.

The Indian government temporarily suspended internet services across the areas that have been hubs of protest for months, an official at the Home Affairs Ministry confirmed.



A farmer inside a tractor trolley amid the march into the capital on Tuesday.

Credit...Altaf Qadri/Associated Press

BEHIND PAYWALL
Indian Farmers’ Protest

As Angry Farmers Take to New Delhi’s Streets, Protests Turn Violent
Jan. 25, 2021

In the Cold and Rain, India’s Farmers Press Their Stand Against Modi
Jan. 9, 2021

Indian Farmers’ Protests Spread, in Challenge to Modi
Dec. 4, 2020

Angry Farmers Choke India’s Capital in Giant Demonstrations
Nov. 30, 2020

Mujib Mashal is The New York Times correspondent for South Asia. Born in Kabul, he wrote for magazines such as The Atlantic, Harper’s, Time and others before joining The Times. @MujMash

Emily Schmall is a South Asia correspondent based in New Delhi. @emilyschmall

Russell Goldman is a senior editor on the International Desk of The New York Times, focusing on digital storytelling and breaking news and based in Hong Kong. He is a winner of the Society of Publishers in Asia Awards for Excellence. @goldmanrussell

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 28, 2021, Section A, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: Laying Bare The History Of Inequality Across India.

Transparency International: 

Wide corruption gap between low and high performing countries in Europe
Friday, 29 January 2021


Corruption Index 2020, credit: Transparency International

Transparency International published this week its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) covering 180 countries. A majority of countries are showing little to no improvement in 2020 in tackling corruption.

Last year, just before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, the organisation underlined that corruption is more pervasive in countries where big money can flow freely into electoral campaigns and where governments listen only to the voices of wealthy or well-connected individuals. This time, Transparency International (TI) focuses on the impact of corruption on the fight against COVID-19.

Persistent corruption is undermining health care systems and contributing to democratic backsliding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries that perform well on the index invest more in health care, are better able to provide universal health coverage and are less likely to violate democratic norms and institutions or the rule of law.

”The pandemic has tested the limits of Europe’s emergency response, and in many cases, countries have fallen short of full transparency and accountability,” a spokesperson of TI’s EU office told The Brussels Times. Based in Berlin, TI aims at fighting corruption globally and has branches all around the world.

“In Hungary for example, which is one of the lowest scoring countries in the EU, the government has been repeatedly called out for attempting ‘power grabs’ during the crisis. These ‘emergency measures’ were also a big concern for civil society in Hungary.”

Among the Visegrád countries, Hungary’s anti-corruption performance has deteriorated the most since 2012. You are still expected to pay under the table for medical care but this form of petty corruption might disappear with newly announced salary increases for physicians, one of the few positive notes.

The index ranks the countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people. It uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. A score under 50 indicates a serious problem.

Denmark and New Zealand top the index, with 88 points. War-torn countries and countries suffering prolonged political-economic crises, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Venezuela come last, with points ranging from 12 to 21.

Nearly half of countries have been stagnant on the index for almost a decade, indicating stalled government efforts to tackle the root causes of corruption. More than two-thirds score below 50.

Are the countries with a CPI below 50 corrupt or just countries with more corruption than those above 50? “The CPI does not categorise countries as ‘corrupt’ or ‘clean’ but rather puts them on a scale,” a spokesperson of the TI office in Berlin replied.

With an average score of 64 (a decrease by two points compared to 2019), the European Union (EU) is among the highest performing regions on the CPI, but is under enormous strain due to COVID-19 and rule of law crises. Denmark (88) is hitting the top spot, followed by Finland (85), and Sweden (85). Conversely, the lowest performers from the region are Romania (44), Hungary (44) and Bulgaria (44).

The best performing country among the member states that joined the EU in 2004 is Estonia with a score of 75 points, well before older member states such as Greece (50), Italy (53), Portugal (61) and Spain (62).

Countries at the top and the bottom

Countries with the highest scores in the ranking are not immune to corruption. Some of them have been rocked by money laundering scandals and other private sector corruption in trade with third countries.

“There are major gaps in the oversight of the financial industry in top-scoring countries,” according to TI. “Scandals from recent years have shown that banks in Denmark, Norway and Sweden have become easy targets of corrupt actors from around the world.”

The money-laundering scandal involved the Estonia branch of Danske Bank, the biggest lender in Denmark. New evidence that came to light last year has also revealed glaring gaps in oversight over Nordic banks, including in Sweden.

The shortcomings in supervision of the financial sector is a problem many top-performing countries face. In Germany, following the Wirecard scandal, for example, the authorities could not decide who should have been responsible for supervising the fintech company. “No country is safe from corruption, and we must keep up the fight against it to avoid backsliding.”

As regards the candidate countries, Turkey and the Western Balkans, the situation is even worse. Besides Montenegro (45) and Turkey (40), all of them have scores below 40. Worrying are the low scores in Albania (36) and North Macedonia (35) that soon are expected to start accession negotiations with the EU.

Has the fight against corruption been neglected during the pandemic?

”With an average score of 36, Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the second-lowest performing region on the CPI and vulnerable to corruption compounded by COVID-19,” the EU office of TI replied.” With a score of 38, Serbi earned its lowest score since 2012. The country’s biggest corruption challenges include serious rule-of-law issues, continued democratic erosion and efforts to silence critical voices.”

One interesting thing to note is that some countries in this region score better than EU member states. Georgia (56), Armenia (49) and Belarus (47), all have higher scores than Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania (44).

It is true that the validity of the ranking for a certain year and country can be put into question. However, the lack of improvement over time, despite EU support, does give rise to a useful debate on underlying casual factors and actual corruption cases.

The perception index cannot easily be dismissed as subjective. The index is based on several assessments made by banks and rating institutes. Perception matters. If a government or public administration is perceived as corrupt, citizens will have less trust in them and foreign investors may stay away.

M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times

Rich countries monopolise coronavirus vaccines, South African president warns

Tuesday, 26 January 2021


Credit: Belga

Rich countries are monopolising the coronavirus vaccines, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned on Tuesday at the Davos World Economic Forum.

“We are saying: release the excess vaccines that you’ve ordered and hoarded,” he said in a video message to the summit, which is taking place in a virtual format this year.

Poor countries are being sidelined by those who can afford up to four times what their people need, he added.

The call echoes repeated warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) against so-called “vaccine nationalism.”

WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had called on rich countries not to “cut the queue” and to make their surplus doses available to poor countries through the Covax mechanism for equitable access to vaccines.

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No vaccine before 2022 for one-fifth of the world

This WHO mechanism should make it possible to vaccinate 10% of the population of the African continent during the course of the year.

Other vaccines are also to be supplied through the African Union (AU), which has pledged to provide 270 million doses to countries on the continent. But according to Ramaphosa, who himself launched the initiative when he was chairman of the AU, the initiative has so far had only “marginal success.”

Officially the most affected country on the continent, South Africa will pay 2.5 times more than European Union countries for its first vaccines, acquired through direct negotiations between the government and AstraZeneca.

The EU recently explained that it had supported the development of this vaccine financially from the outset, even before there was any guarantee that it would be effective.

Relatively spared by the first wave of the pandemic, most African countries are now undergoing a second, more aggressive wave.

The emergence of new variants of the virus, including the one discovered in South Africa and reputed to be more contagious, has also accelerated the rush for vaccines.

It is estimated that Africa will need 1.5 billion vaccines to immunise 60% of its 1.3 billion people, at a cost of between €5.8 and €8.2 billion.

The Brussels Times

FUNNY JARED SAID THAT TOO

AstraZeneca denies taking vaccines from EU to sell elsewhere
Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Credit: Belga

British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which has been challenged in Europe over delays in deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine, is “certainly not taking vaccines from Europeans to sell them elsewhere at a profit,” according to its CEO Pascal Soriot.

“That would make no sense,” Soriot said in an interview with Le Figaro published Tuesday, adding that the laboratory in partnership with Oxford University, has pledged not to make a profit on the sale of vaccines during the pandemic.

Brussels raised its voice on Monday against AstraZeneca, judging “unacceptable” the delays in the delivery of its Covid-19 vaccine, and now demands “transparency” on the export outside the EU of the doses produced there.

Soriot says there were also start-up problems in the UK supply chain, but “the UK contract was signed three months before the European contract. So, with the UK, we had another three months to solve the problems we encountered”.

While the EU regulatory approval for the vaccine is expected on Friday, the UK laboratory announced last week that deliveries would be lower than expected in the first quarter due to a reduced yield at a European manufacturing site.

This alarmed EU countries, already on edge after difficulties in delivering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and increased pressure on the European Commission, which negotiated pre-order contracts on behalf of the EU-27.

The contracts cover up to 400 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, which has the advantage of being cheaper to produce than its rivals, as well as easier to store and transport.

“I think people in Europe are extremely stressed and tired from this year-long pandemic. Governments are under pressure,” Soriot said in the interview, adding that Europe, “which represents 5% of the world’s population, will get 17% of our production in February.

The Brussels Times

Russia offers Sputnik vaccine to make up for EU shortages

Friday, 29 January 2021
Credit: Belga

Russia has offered the European Union doses of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, against a backdrop of shortages of other coronavirus vaccines.

In the second quarter of 2021, Russia could deliver 100 million doses of Sputnik V to the EU, the public investment fund that co-finances and sells the vaccine said on Friday.

The doses could be used to vaccinate 50 million people, as two doses are needed for immunity.

In Russia, some 1.5 million people have already received the two doses, reports the Belga news agency.

However, Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine could only be used in the EU if it is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is currently analysing it.

According to its manufacturer, the Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in 15 countries around the world, including Hungary, which became the first EU member to approve it last week.

In August, Russia was the first country in the world to register a vaccine using Sputnik V. No results of independent studies on the vaccine have been published.

The Brussels Times

Moderna vaccine fully neutralizes new SARS-CoV-2 variants, study shows

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By Sally Robertson, B.Sc. Jan 26 2021

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing that Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine neutralizes all circulating variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tested to date.

The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that has now caused more than 2.14 million deaths worldwide.

Clinical trial findings have previously shown that Moderna’s mRNA-1273 elicits potent neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 and is highly effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and severe disease.

However, concerns have arisen that the recently emerged SARS-CoV-2 variants in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7 lineage) and the South African (B.1.351 lineage) could avoid targeting by neutralizing antibodies elicited by natural infection or vaccination.

Now, a study conducted by researchers from Moderna Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, has demonstrated the efficacy of mRNA-1273 against all known circulating strains of the virus.

Nevertheless, active viral surveillance and testing of vaccines against emerging variants must continue so that strain-matched vaccines can be developed if warranted, says Darin Edwards and colleagues.

A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the bioRxiv server, while the article undergoes peer review.

Study: mRNA-1273 vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies against spike mutants from global SARS-CoV-2 variants. Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock

The vaccine received Emergency Use Authorization in December 2020

Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration on the 18th December last year (2020) after a phase 3 trial demonstrated efficacy of around 94%.

However, the increased transmission rates and higher viral loads associated with the recently emerged B.1.1.7 (UK) and B.1.351 (South Africa) variants have raised concerns that these strains may potentially circumvent immunity conferred by natural infection or vaccination.

The genome of the B.1.1.7 variant contains seventeen mutations. Eight of these mutations are located on a protein called spike – the main structure the virus uses to bind to and infect host cells.

Ability of mRNA-1273 immune sera from NHPs and humans to neutralize SARSCoV-2 pseudoviruses representing early variants. (A) Rhesus macaques (NHPs) were immunized with 30 µg mRNA-1273 on a prime-boost schedule, and sera were collected 4 weeks post-boost. (B) Phase 1 trial participants were immunized with 100 µg mRNA-1273 on a prime-boost schedule, and sera were collected 1 week post-boost. Neutralization was measured by a recombinant VSV-based SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus neutralization assay incorporating full-length spike protein of the Wuhan isolate (D614) or the indicated spike variants (D614G, A222V-D614G, S477N-D614G, N439K-D614G, mink cluster 5 variant). Min to max box plots, with the box from 25-75% and the median value denoted by the line. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ=40). G=D614G.

A 2021 study has already shown that one of these mutations – the 69-70 deletion – is associated with reduced sensitivity to neutralization by convalescent serum from previously infected individuals.

The spike protein of the B.1.351 variant contains even more mutations than B.1.1.7. Three of these are located on the spike’s receptor-binding domain (RBD), the region that binds to host cells as the initial stage of infection.

“As the RBD is the predominant target for neutralizing antibodies, these mutations could impact the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies already approved and in advanced development as well as of polyclonal antibody elicited by infection or vaccination in neutralizing the virus,” says Edwards and the team.

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Data from another 2021 study suggested that a key mutation in the B.1.351 variant –E484K – also confers resistance to SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies.
What did the researchers do?

The researchers assessed the neutralization capacity of sera from eight Phase 1 clinical trial participants and from non-human primates (NHPs) that had received the mRNA-1273 vaccine.

Neutralization was measured against the original SARS-CoV-2 isolate from Wuhan, China; the D614G variant that then became dominant; the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants, and other variants that have previously emerged (20E, 20A.EU2, D614G-N439K, and mink cluster 5 variant).

What did they find?

All samples from both the clinical trial participants and NHPs fully neutralized all of the SARS-CoV-2 strains tested.

No significant impact on neutralization capacity against the B.1.1.7 variant was observed whether antibody titers were measured against the full set of mutations or the 69-70 deletion only.


“Although these mutations have been reported to lessen neutralization from convalescent sera, sera from the Phase 1 participants and NHPs immunized with mRNA-1273 were able to neutralize the B.1.1.7 variant to the same level as the D614G virus,” writes the team.

Of all the variants tested, the only one that reduced levels of neutralizing antibodies was B.1.351. Sera from the clinical trial participants showed a 2.7-fold reduction in neutralization when the three mutations (K417N, E484K, N501Y) found in the spike RBD were included.

Importantly, when the full set of B.1.351 mutations were included, a 6.4-fold reduction in neutralization was observed.
All samples still neutralized the B.1.351 variant

However, neutralizing titers remained above the levels previously found to confer protection in NHPs and all samples from both the clinical trial participants and NHPs fully neutralized the B.1.351 variant. Viral escape was not detected in any of the samples tested.


“These data demonstrate reduced but still significant neutralization against the full B.1.351 variant following mRNA-1273 vaccination,” writes the team.

The researchers say the emergence of strain variants and the ability of the virus to partially overcome natural or vaccine-induced immunity does serve as a call to action and that active viral surveillance and testing of protection against new viral variants must continue.


“The mRNA platform allows rapid design of vaccine antigens that incorporate key mutations,” says Edwards and colleagues.

“Strain-matched vaccines can be developed in response to these variants, either to understand how we might evolve the vaccine-induced immune response through boosting, or to assess the cross-protection provided by a primary series,” concludes the team.
*Important Notice

bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Journal reference:

Edwards D, et al. mRNA-1273 vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies against spike mutants from global SARS-2 variants. bioRxiv, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.25.427948, https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.25.427948v1

Written by

Sally Robertson

Sally has a Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Sciences (B.Sc.). She is a specialist in reviewing and summarising the latest findings across all areas of medicine covered in major, high-impact, world-leading international medical journals, international press conferences and bulletins from governmental agencies and regulatory bodies. At News-Medical, Sally generates daily news features, life science articles and interview coverage.

IRELAND

Tánaiste (PM) meets with Facebook moderators over working conditions concerns

Leo Varadkar, © PA Wire/PA Images

29/01/2021 BY JAMES WARD, PA

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has met with Facebook content moderators, who have outlined serious concerns about their working conditions.

Moderators have been pushing for months to be given the same right to work from home as other Facebook employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are also concerns over the level of mental health supports available to workers, who are frequently exposed to distressing content.

They are employed through Covalen, an outsourcing firm with a major Facebook moderation contract in Ireland.

Leo Varadkar met with two moderators, Ibrahim Halawa and Paria Moshfeghi, in Dublin on Friday.

The PA News Agency understands that Mr Varadkar will write to Facebook next week to highlight the concerns raised.

Mr Halawa said he and Ms Moshfeghi were “risking our jobs” by speaking out about their concerns.

The main fear among employees is that they are forced to attend the office, where there has been positive cases of Covid-19, and return to vulnerable family members.

Mr Halawa said: “I had complained to the company and I have told them that my mom is a recovering cancer patient, and there’s only me and my sister, taking shifts on her care.

A lot of employees are really worried about their safety, about their mental health and it's not fair Ibrahim Halawa

“It’s unfair that I would have to come during these difficult times and move around the building and whatnot, then come back home.

“The response that was given really annoyed me. It was ‘try to stay away from them’. Well, how am I meant to stay away from my loved ones?

“It is not fair to work in a place in this modern time in Ireland and be in such fear to speak up just for simple improvements” he said.

“A lot of employees are really worried about their safety, about their mental health and it’s not fair.”

Ms Moshfeghi said: “I found it scary to speak up because Covalen and Facebook try to intimidate us.

“Really, it is my safety concern around Covid that led me to speak to Mr Varadkar today.

“Today I said that Mr Varadkar must use his power to make our employer protect us from Covid, in the same way Facebook staff are protected.”

Following the meeting, Mr Varadkar tweeted: “Met with internet content moderators today. They do really important work to protect all of us. Will be following up on some of issues they mentioned.”

Leo Varadkar is expected to write to Facebook next week, following a meeting with the company’s moderators (Niall Carson/PA)

Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, a solicitors’ firm representing the moderators, said they had written numerous letters to both Facebook and Covalen in the lead-up to Friday’s meeting.

He said: “Facebook, to no surprise, denied responsibility for the moderators as employees. Covalen, the employer, didn’t respond at all.

“Unfortunately, what we see is clearly a policy of hear no evil, see no evil, and certainly speak no evil.

“This shows a lack of respect for their own workers. Content moderators can today take great comfort from the Tanaiste’s statement and the fact that we stood up and asserted these people’s rights to talk about conditions, about safety about dignity, and about pay.

“Like any other playground playground bully, they went away. Today is the beginning of the end of the fear of these workers to speak out today.”

They can't tell their families that they moderate content on Facebook, they're subject to hours of toxic material without proper or meaningful mental health supportCori Crider, Foxglove Legal

The moderators have been working with Foxglove Legal, a team of lawyers, technology experts, and communications specialists seeking rights for tech workers.

Co-founder Cori Crider said: “Content moderators are a workforce of thousands all over the world and there are over 1,000 content moderators in Ireland

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IRELAND
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“Facebook as a platform simply couldn’t exist without this workforce and they’re not directly employed by Facebook, but often outsourced, underpaid and made to sign very restrictive non-disclosure agreements.

“They can’t tell their families that they moderate content on Facebook, they’re subject to hours of toxic material without proper or meaningful mental health support.”

The PA News Agency has contacted Facebook for comment.