GREEN CAPITALI$M

Adani Credit Facilities Send a Chill Through ESG Markets


Greg Ritchie
Mon, February 20, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Financing arrangements across the Adani Group conglomerate have sent a fresh chill through ESG markets as investors wake up to a new risk.

Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, recently dumped its entire holding of shares in Adani Green Energy Ltd., the renewables part of the empire, amid concerns that it might inadvertently have helped finance some of the world’s most polluting activities via the stake. A Feb. 10 public filing has since made clear that Adani is using stock from its Green companies as collateral in a credit facility that’s helping to finance the Carmichael coal mine in Australia, via Adani Enterprises Ltd.

KLP has blacklisted coal from its portfolio, so any indirect financing of the Carmichael project would represent a “breach of our commitments,” Kiran Aziz, KLP’s head of responsible investing, said in an interview.

Since short-seller Hindenburg Research published its critical report on Jan. 24, investors have responded to its allegations of fraud and market manipulation by selling Adani shares. But for investors with environmental, social and governance mandates, there’s an added layer of pain as they realize their green dollars were indirectly supporting the dirtiest of fossil fuels.

“Investments in other parts of the Adani Group are leaking into the funding of Carmichael,” said Ulf Erlandsson, chief executive of Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, which has been tracking the Adani Group since mid-2020. “Investors who have restrictions on funding greenfield thermal coal mining should revisit potential exposures across the whole of Adani Group.”

More than 500 funds registered in the European Union as “promoting” ESG goals hold Adani stocks, either directly or indirectly, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

An Adani spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment. The conglomerate has repeatedly denied the allegations in the Hindenburg report and threatened legal action.

Erlandsson at AFII said an equity investor pledging stock as collateral doesn’t necessarily contaminate other shareholders. But the “high concentration of stock ownership and other interrelationships” in the Adani conglomerate represent an extra layer of risk, he said. A higher price on Adani Green’s stock increases the value of the collateral, lowering the credit risk for SBI’s financing of the coal project, which then “hypothetically, materializes in the bank being able to offer a lower interest rate for Carmichael,” he said.

Adani Green’s stock price has fallen almost 70% this year, while its debt has also slumped. The company said on Feb. 7 it had won the backing of investors after reporting third-quarter net income that more than doubled from a year earlier. Adani Green CEO Vneet S. Jaain said the results proved the company has a “robust capital management program with leverage well aligned with the business model.”

On Feb 16, it emerged that the conglomerate is in talks with potential investors to raise as much as $1.5 billion through note sales by Adani Green, Adani Transmission Ltd. and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., according to the people familiar with the process.

Read More: Who Is Adani and What Are Hindenburg’s Allegations?: QuickTake

The Hindenburg report found that “Adani Group companies are intricately and distinctly linked and dependent upon one another. None of the listed entities are isolated from the performance, or failure, of the other group companies.” Since the report’s publication almost a month ago, the Adani empire has lost over $135 billion in market value.

The Carmichael coal mine, located inland from Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, has become a lightning rod for climate activists over the environmental destruction the facility represents. Pushback has also come from banks, insurers and investors, amid alarm at the mine’s carbon footprint.

MSCI Inc. gives Adani Green a rating of A, and the entity is included in several of its ESG and Climate indexes. S&P Global Inc. said this month it was removing Adani Enterprises from its Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. Sustainalytics has downgraded the ESG scores of several Adani companies.

MSCI signaled that any updates would take place in connection with regular reviews.

“In general, MSCI ESG and Climate indexes apply screens on MSCI ESG Controversies on a quarterly basis,” an MSCI spokesperson said. “Therefore, for such indexes, any changes to ESG Controversies published by MSCI ESG Research are taken into account at the next regularly scheduled quarterly index review.”

Norway’s KLP, which manages around 765 billion Norwegian kroner ($75 billion), divested its position in Adani Green on Jan. 30, adding to five other Adani companies it had previously excluded from its investment universe.

“Adani’s corporate structure created an unacceptably high risk that ‘clean’ investment could be siphoned off towards coal mining,” Aziz said.

The largest external holder of Adani Green is TotalEnergies SE, which acquired a 20% stake in 2021. The French energy giant confirmed its withdrawal from coal production and marketing in 2015. CEO Patrick Pouyanne said earlier this month that Adani Green and Adani Total Gas Ltd., in which it has also invested, are “healthy” companies.

“The shares TotalEnergies owns in AGEL are not pledged nor used as collateral for any financing or any other project,” a company spokesperson said. “TotalEnergies has no involvement in the use of the shares held by other shareholders of AGEL for collateral or other purposes.”

--With assistance from Gina Turner, P R Sanjai and Saikat Das.

(Adds latest estimate of Adani lost market value in 11th paragraph, fresh comment from MSCI in 14th.)

India Invokes Maximum Energy Output Law from Coal Plants

Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, February 20, 202

With India gearing up for massive power usage in the second quarter, the government will utilize an emergency law that will demand maximum output from power plants running on imported coal, Reuters reports, citing the Indian power ministry.

The emergency law reflects a situation in which power plants running on more expensive imported coal are having a difficult time competing cost-effectively with plants that can operate on cheaper domestic coal.

Beginning on March 16 and ending on June 15, all power plants will have to be running at maximum capacity and selling to buyers on exchanges, regardless of their coal sources or coal prices, Reuters cited an internal ministry memo as saying.

India is expecting a record power usage this summer, with peak demand in April of 229 gigawatts.

India still relies on coal for some 70% of its electricity generation.

Those power plants that import more expensive coal have been hit by even higher prices since the EU banned Russian coal imports last August, causing coal prices to surge globally.

India’s government expects coal-fired power plants to use 8% more coal in the next financial year between March 2023 and March 2024, as demand is set to continue rising thanks to growing economic activity and unpredictable weather.

Late last year, India’s coal minister said that the country had no intention of ditching coal from its energy mix any time soon with Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi projecting that the fossil fuel would continue to play an important role in India until at least 2040.

The invocation of the emergency law comes at a tough time for Adani Group, the massive Indian conglomerate controlling coal mines, ports and other industry sectors in India, which has seen its stocks plummet in the wake of a short-seller report alleging fraud and manipulation.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

TALIBAN WAR ON PAKISTAN
Traders troubled after Taliban shut Afghan-Pakistan crossing


A Pakistani paramilitary soldier, left, and Taliban fighters stand guard on their respective sides, at a border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in Torkham, in Khyber district, Pakistan, on Sept. 5, 2021. The main crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border remained shut Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, for the third straight day, officials said, after Afghanistan's Taliban rulers earlier this week closed the key trade route and exchanged fire with Pakistani border guards. 

(AP Photo/Qazi Rauf, File)

RIAZ KHAN
Tue, February 21, 2023 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The main crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border remained shut Tuesday for the third straight day, officials said, after Afghanistan's Taliban rulers earlier this week closed the key trade route and exchanged fire with Pakistani border guards.

The closure has added to increasing tensions between the two neighboring countries and concerns for traders, for whom the Torkham crossing is a key commercial artery. Trucks carrying various items also travel to Central Asian countries from Pakistan, through Torkham crossing point and Afghanistan.

On the Pakistani side of the border, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, many merchants watched their trucks on Tuesday, loaded with fresh produce that could soon spoil, and waited for the crossing to reopen.

The Taliban closed Torkham on Sunday, angered by Pakistan’s alleged refusal to allow Afghan patients and their caretakers to enter Pakistan for medical care without travel documents. On Monday, Taliban fighters and Pakistani guards exchanged fire. There was no word on casualties on either side.

According to Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director at the Pakistan-Afghanistan joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, nearly 7,00 trucks carrying various goods — including perishable fruit and vegetables — were stuck and lined up, waiting at the Pakistani side.

Hundreds of Pakistanis with valid travel documents were also waiting near Torkham for the crossing to reopen, he added. “It is causing problems for traders on both sides.”

There were also vehicles waiting on the other side of the border, in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, but the Taliban have not commented on the issue.

Siddiqullah Quraishi, the Taliban’s appointed official at the Nangahar’s information and culture department, said Pakistan has not been abiding by its “commitments, so the crossing point was shut down.” He did not elaborate but advised Afghans to avoid traveling to the crossing until further notice.

Closures, cross-border fire and shootouts are common along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Each side has in the past closed Torkham, and also the Chaman crossing in southwestern Pakistan, over various reasons.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were withdrawing from the country after 20 years of war. Like the rest of the world, Pakistan has so far not recognized Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The international community has been wary of the Taliban’s harsh measures, imposed since their takeover, especially in restricting the rights of women and minorities.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed to this story.

LGBT blacklist leads to 'atmosphere of fear' in Israel

James Rothwell
Tue, February 21, 2023 

Israelis hold pride and national flags at a protest outside the Knesset on the day Netanyahu's new right-wing government was sworn in in December '22. - AMMAR AWAD/Reuters

Israel's status as a gay-friendly beacon in the Middle East has been tainted by the revelation that a party in its new government once drew up a blacklist of high-profile LGBT figures.

The list of 50 names, which was compiled by the far-Right Noam party and recently exposed by an investigative journalist, has shocked the gay community in Israel.

Avi Maoz, the leader of Noam, has been appointed to the Israeli government by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and given some influence over education policy.

According to the exposé by Nadav Eyal, a correspondent for Ynet, the list was drawn up by the ultra-conservative Noam party in an attempt to preserve "Jewish identity".

Some knew of the list's existence back when it was compiled in 2019, having been alerted at the time, but they dismissed it at the time because Noam was then a tiny fringe group in Israeli politics.

"Someone sent it to me and I was pretty surprised... I didn't think it was very serious," a 35-year-old Israeli who is on the list, and who asked not to be identified, told the Sunday Telegraph.

"But now this party is part of the government it's different," he said.

The list also features the names of high-profile Israelis with outspoken left-wing or feminist views who were also considered harmful to Israel.

Most of the LGBT people named on the blacklist work in the TV entertainment and news industries. Ynet's report did not disclose the identities of the gay citizens on the list, though it is understood that most of them are openly gay.

Israel prides itself on being considered the most gay-friendly country in the Middle East, holding annual Pride parades in West Jerusalem and liberal Tel Aviv, where gay couples holding hands and kissing in public is a familiar sight.

A gay pride rally in Tel Aviv in June 2020. - Oded Balilty/AP

Gay Israelis can openly serve in the military and adopt children, and same-sex marriage ceremonies conducted abroad are recognised by the state.

While Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has insisted that there will be no changes to the current LGBT laws, his government is propped up by a number of religious ultranationalists who are staunchly anti-gay.

Among them is Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, who once said that while he would not "stone gays" he did consider himself to be a "fascist homophobe."

Mr Maoz, the Noam leader, has been given a role in the education ministry which, the Israeli opposition has claimed, will allow him to "instil the dark, homophobic, nationalist and violent teachings of his party into the schools of every child in Israel."

He is also lobbying to cancel Jerusalem's LGBT pride parade, a move that Mr Netanyahu has already ruled out.

It was unclear what the exact purpose of the 2019-era blacklist was, other than backing up the Noam party's belief that LGBT people wielded undue power over public life in Israel.

Since the list was exposed, Mr Maoz has said he has "nothing against" gay people in general but added that he feels "pain for those who live and act contrary to the Torah."

"They had an agenda that basically claims that gay people are in many cases...very influential in the Israeli media. And the point behind this list is to prove it," said the Israeli journalist whose name was on the list.

He said it was too early to tell whether the presence of Noam in the government would have a negative impact, though he acknowledged that it had contributed to an uneasy feeling amongst the gay community.

"The atmosphere is of fear because we had great changes [to LGBT legislation] in the last two decades, many of these changes were made by the supreme court and not the parliament. The general atmosphere is fear of us going back," he said.

OFFICIALLY A FASCIST STATE
Israel president urges consensus after judicial changes pass



ILAN BEN ZION
Tue, February 21, 2023 at 3:38 AM MST·5 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's president Tuesday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to seek dialogue and compromise after it pushed ahead with a controversial judicial overhaul in a turbulent parliamentary session overnight.

Isaac Herzog said it was a “difficult morning” following the late-night parliamentary vote that saw two contentious pieces of legislation pass a preliminary hurdle.

The legislation is part of sweeping changes proposed by the government that have prompted vocal criticism in Israel and abroad, drawn tens of thousands of protesters to the streets and spooked investors and financial markets.

On Tuesday, the dollar gained over 2% against the shekel, continuing a monthlong slide that has seen the Israeli currency lose over 5% of its value against the dollar. Several Israeli companies have said they are withdrawing money from the country, while Israeli newspapers have reported even larger withdrawals of cash as investors have grown jittery about the business climate.

Critics say the judicial overhaul underway will concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and erode the democratic system of checks and balances.

Netanyahu and his allies insist the changes will better curb an overly powerful Supreme Court.

"Many citizens across Israeli society, many people who voted for the coalition, are fearful for national unity,” Herzog said at a conference organized by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. He urged Netanyahu and his allies to enable dialogue to reach a consensus on judiciary reform.

Late on Tuesday, Netanyahu issued an appeal for dialogue, saying he believed that the gaps could be reduced or closed. “Let's talk, here and now, without preconditions or excuses, so together we can achieve a broad agreement for the good of all citizens of Israel,” he said.

His critics have called on Netanyahu to freeze the legislation and start negotiations. Opposition leader Yair Lapid mocked the premier's appeal.

“Citizens of Israel, I have no pleasant way to say this: Prime Minister Netanyahu is lying,” Lapid said in a statement. “We have been trying to hold talks with them for many weeks.”

Herzog's remarks came the morning after tens of thousands of Israelis protested outside the parliament ahead of the vote, the second mass demonstration in Jerusalem in recent weeks.

Israeli Palestinians, a minority that may have the most to lose by the overhaul, have mostly stayed on the sidelines, due to discrimination they face at home and Israel’s ongoing 55-year occupation of their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank.

After more than seven hours of debate that dragged on after midnight, Netanyahu and his allies passed two clauses in the package of proposed changes that seek to weaken the country's Supreme Court and further empower ruling parliamentary coalitions.

With a 63-47 vote, the Knesset approved measures that give the governing coalition control over judicial appointments and curtail the Supreme Court’s ability to review the legality of major legislation known as “Basic Laws.” The bills still require two additional readings in parliament to pass into law.

Also planned are proposals that would give the parliament the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings and control the appointment of government legal advisers. The advisers currently are professional civil servants and critics say the new system would politicize government ministries.

The United States has called for restraint, and on Tuesday, the United Nations human rights chief called on Israel “to pause the proposed legislative changes and open them up for wider debate and reflection.”

"Such issues at the heart of rule of law deserve the fullest consideration in order to ensure that any changes promote, rather than diminish, the ability of the judiciary — and other branches of Government — to protect the rights of all people in Israel,” Volker Türk, the U.N.'s high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement.

German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann appeared to express concerns about the Israeli plan after a two-day visit that included a meeting with the overhaul’s architect, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and two of the people targeted by the changes, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Supreme Court President Esther Hayut.

It is “clear for me that we must fundamentally protect and strengthen the institutions of our liberal democracies,” Bushmann said in a statement, “because fundamental rights are, by their nature, minority rights and the majority must never have the last word.”

According to a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute think tank published Tuesday, 66% of respondents think the Supreme Court should have the authority to strike down laws incompatible with the Basic Laws, and 63% think the current system for picking judges — a panel made up of politicians, judges and attorneys — should be maintained.

Almost three-quarters of the 756 respondents — 72% — said there should be compromise between the opposing political camps about proposed judicial changes.

Herzog, who serves as the largely symbolic head of state, has tried to broker dialogue between the increasingly polarized camps and has called on Netanyahu and his allies to delay the contentious judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu's governing coalition is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties and took office in late December, after the country's fifth parliamentary elections in less than four years. The political deadlock was largely over the long-time leader's fitness to serve as prime minister while on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, charges Netanyahu has denied.

___

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

SEE

 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-carl-schmitt-reform-israeli.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/02/israelis-continue-weekend-protests.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/02/israeli-judicial-reform-legislation.html

Israeli government advances judicial overhaul despite uproar


2 / 22

Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the judicial system, near the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Israel's government is pressing ahead with its contentious plan to overhaul the country's legal system. A vote in parliament on Monday is due despite an unprecedented uproar that has included mass demonstrations, warnings from military and business leaders and calls for restraint from the U.S. 

(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)


LAURIE KELLMAN and ILAN BEN ZION
Sun, February 19, 2023


JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Tuesday for the first time advanced a plan to overhaul the country’s legal system, defying a mass uproar among Israelis and calls for restraint from the United States.

The vote marked only preliminary approval for the plan. But it raised the stakes in a political battle that drew tens of thousands of protesters into the streets, sparked criticism from influential sectors of society and widened the rifts in an already polarized country.

The 63-47 vote after midnight gave initial approval to a plan that would give Netanyahu’s coalition more power over who becomes a judge. It is part of a broader package of changes that seeks to weaken the country’s Supreme Court and transfer more power to the ruling coalition.

Netanyahu’s ultrareligious and ultranationalist allies say these changes are needed to rein in the powers of an unelected judiciary. Critics fear that judges will be appointed based on their loyalty to the government or prime minister — and say that Netanyahu, who faces trial on corruption charges, has a conflict of interest in the legislation.

The showdown has plunged Israel into one of its most bitter domestic crises, with both sides insisting that the future of democracy is at stake in their Middle Eastern country. Israeli Palestinians, a minority that may have the most to lose by the overhaul, have mostly stayed on the sidelines, due to discrimination they face at home and Israel’s ongoing 55-year occupation of their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank.

The legislators cast their votes after a vitrolic debate that dragged on past midnight. During the session, opposition lawmakers chanted, “shame,” and wrapped themselves in the Israeli flag — and some were ejected from the hall.

Thousands were rallying outside the Knesset, waving Israeli flags and holding signs reading “saving democracy!” Earlier in the day, protesters launched a sit-down demonstration at the entrance of the homes of some coalition lawmakers and briefly halted traffic on Tel Aviv’s main highway.

Netanyahu accused the demonstrators of violence and said they were ignoring the will of the people who voted his coalition into power last November.

“The people exercised their right to vote in the elections and the people’s representatives will exercise their right to vote here in Israel’s Knesset. It’s called democracy,” Netanyahu said, though he left the door open for dialogue on the planned changes.

The vote on part of the legislation is just the first of three readings required for parliamentary approval, a process that is expected to take months.

Nonetheless, the opposition, including tens of thousands of protesters in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, saw Monday’s vote as the coalition’s determination to barrel ahead.

“We are fighting for our children’s future, for our country’s future. We don’t intend to give up,” said opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Israel’s figurehead president has urged the government to freeze the legislation and seek a compromise with the opposition, a position supported by most polls.

Leaders in the booming tech sector have warned that weakening the judiciary could drive away investors.

The overhaul has prompted otherwise stoic former security chiefs to speak out, and even warn of civil war. The plan has even sparked rare warnings from the U.S., Israel’s chief international ally.

U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides told a podcast over the weekend that Israel should “pump the brakes” on the legislation and seek a consensus on reform that would protect Israel’s democratic institutions.

His comments drew angry responses from Netanyahu allies, telling Nides to stay out of Israel’s internal affairs.

The debate raged Monday from the floor of the Knesset to flag-waving demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Simcha Rothman, a far-right lawmaker leading the legislative initiative, presented the proposal to the parliament. Overhead in the viewing gallery, a spectator banged on the protective glass and was carried away by guards.

A fellow Religious Zionism party politician posted a photo on Twitter with Rothman ahead of the vote, celebrating with whisky and sushi.

Last week, some 100,000 people demonstrated outside the Knesset as a committee granted initial approval to the plan. On Monday, the crowds returned, waved Israeli flags, blew horns, and held signs reading “saving democracy.”

“All the steps that are going to take place now in the Knesset will change us to a pure dictatorship,” said Itan Gur Aryeh, a 74-year-old retiree. “All the power will be with the government, with the head of the government and we’ll all be without rights.”

Earlier in the day, protesters launched a sit-down demonstration at the entrance of the homes of some coalition lawmakers and briefly halted traffic on Tel Aviv’s main highway. Hundreds waved Israeli flags in the seaside city and further up the coast in Haifa, holding signs reading “resistance is mandatory.”

While Israel has long boasted of its democratic credentials, critics say that claim is tainted by the country’s West Bank occupation and the treatment of its own Palestinian minority.

Israel’s Palestinian citizens, who make up about 20% of the population, have the right to vote but continue to suffer discrimination in areas like the job and housing markets. In the West Bank, Jewish settlers can vote in Israeli elections and are generally protected by Israeli laws, while Palestinians in the same territory are subject to military rule and cannot vote.

The parliamentary votes seek to grant the ruling coalition more power over who becomes a judge. Today, a selection committee is made up of politicians, judges and lawyers — a system that proponents say promotes consensus.

The new system would give coalition lawmakers control over the appointments. Critics fear that judges will be appointed based on their loyalty to the government or prime minister.

A second change approved Monday would bar the Supreme Court from overturning what are known as “Basic Laws,” pieces of legislation that stand in for a constitution, which Israel does not have. Critics say that legislators will be able to dub any law a Basic Law, removing judicial oversight over controversial legislation.

Also planned are proposals that would give parliament the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings and control the appointment of government legal advisers. The advisers currently are professional civil servants, and critics say the new system would politicize government ministries.

Critics also fear the overhaul will grant Netanyahu an escape route from his legal woes. Netanyahu has been on trial for nearly three years for charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. He denies wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a biased judicial system on a witch hunt against him.

Israel’s attorney general has barred Netanyahu from any involvement in the overhaul, saying his legal troubles create a conflict of interest. Instead, his justice minister, a close confidant, is leading the charge.

On Sunday, Netanyahu called the restrictions on him “patently ridiculous.”

___

Kellman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

As Miami high-rises loom over financial district, local resident digs in



An archeological dig site in a lot for a planned residential tower complex in the Brickell neighborhood in Miami

Tue, February 21, 2023 
By Maria Alejandra Cardona

MIAMI (Reuters) -As developers seek to build up Miami's skyline, long-time resident Ishmael Bermudez is digging in - literally.

The 70-year-old artist and amateur archeologist lives in a single-family home in Brickell, a rare property in Miami's financial district. Bermudez, alongside community groups and professional archeologists, is pushing for more preservation in Miami as new developments unearth historical relics.

"It's up to us, the people, to make sure that this don't get destroyed," said Bermudez. Developers cannot "come here and intimidate us with their money - they have to work with us," he said.

Bermudez's home in Brickell, just south of downtown Miami, is painted with a multicolored seascape of fish and underwater plants. Tropical birds sing in his garden, an uncommon sound in the fast-growing neighborhood dominated by the floor-to-ceiling glass of high-rise developments.

After excavating under his home, Bermudez discovered fossils - and even human remains, which were given to local authorities.

Earlier this month, community members called for building work to be postponed at 444 Brickell Avenue so that archeologists could preserve prehistoric artifacts found there, including bones, pottery and tools.

Related Group, the real estate developer, did not respond to requests for comment. The City of Miami's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board did not respond to a request for comment.

Modern-day Brickell, which sits near the mouth of the Miami River, was once the site of a vibrant settlement called Tequesta, according to William Pestle, an archeology professor at the University of Miami. Spanish explorers encountered Tequesta in the 16th century, yet its history is not widely known.

"Something old by Miami standards is from the 1970s or the 1960s - you don't see the history of the city presented" as it is in Boston, New York or Philadelphia, Pestle said. "As a consequence of that, we come to think that there is no history."

(Reporting by Maria Alejandra Cardona in Miami; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Kenneth Maxwell)

NC carbon plan is an opportunity to lead on climate change mitigation | Opinion


Charlotte Observer file photo

John Gaertner
Tue, February 21, 2023 at 3:30 AM MST·3 min read

In December 2022, the N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC) issued its first Carbon Plan largely as proposed by Duke Energy. It was a responsible decision, not only for Duke Energy but for ratepayers, N.C. businesses that advocate for affordable energy, citizens who demand reliable electricity, climate and environment advocates, and for disadvantaged communities.

I testified to the NCUC in favor of the plan submitted by Duke Energy, with some reasonable but important enhancements, because it is the best opportunity to meet or exceed carbon reduction goals for 2030 and 2050. Here’s my position:

Since 2017 each iteration of Duke plans has increased the commitment to reduce carbon emissions from 2005 levels. Also, the plans are increasingly more detailed, the analytics more rigorous, the staff more knowledgeable, and the process for plan evolution and execution more complete. I expect this trend can continue.

The approved plan addresses the specific technical requirements in the 39 NCUC Orders, including:

▪ optimizing build-out of renewable generation,

▪ accelerating closure of coal plants,

▪ limiting new fossil-gas plants with transition plans to carbon-free fuel,

▪ advancing energy storage — batteries and pumped storage hydro,

▪ extending life of zero-carbon nuclear plants and building new, more versatile ones,

▪ expanding energy efficiency programs and innovative grid technology, and

▪ improving timeliness of transmission system upgrades.

Equally important for a successful energy transition to zero-carbon, the plan and its execution process employ a state-of-the-art decision-making method. It’s impressive that NCUC and Duke Energy have embraced this forward-thinking approach.

The process is important because it has been specifically designed for and applied to complex systems such as the N.C. electric power system, which have high technical and cost uncertainty, competing objectives and divergent stakeholder priorities. It is also designed to continuously improve as issues are encountered and resolved.

Rejecting the plan will not make these issues go away, but will cause delays and more disagreements. Accepting the plan enables immediate progress through collaboration, oversight, and dynamic response to emergent events.

The plan has the best chance for an optimum outcome on carbon reduction, cost, schedule and societal impact.

It has been criticized for including four alternative scenarios with different generation options selected, schedules and costs — instead of one. Consideration of alternative future scenarios is integral to the planning and execution process and is a strength of the Duke Energy plan.

To ensure success, Duke must establish a cadence of near-term actions, monitoring performance and compliance with the NCUC order, and updates of the plan. The NCUC must provide continuous oversight, and other stakeholders must assure their interests continue to get proper consideration.

The N.C. carbon plan is an impressive collaborative achievement that included the legislature, Gov. Cooper’s administration, the NCUC, Duke Energy, and hundreds of other stakeholders. No one got everything they wanted, but we should be proud and determined to accomplish this existentially important objective to mitigate climate change.

John Gaertner spent his career in power generation as a licensed engineer, atmospheric scientist and risk analyst. He is retired from the Electric Power Research Institute and lives in Charlotte.

KULTURKAMPF

Texas Governor: Universities Cannot Use Diversity, Equity or Inclusion in Hiring

Daniel Perez
Mon, February 20, 2023


Inclusive and equitable institutions that use diversity, equity and inclusion in their hiring benefit everyone, and a recent directive from the Texas governor saying otherwise is “grossly misconstruing” federal anti-discrimination law, a higher education diversity official said.

Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, came out strongly against a Feb. 4 directive from the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that called it illegal for state agencies and public universities to use diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in hiring decisions.

In a directive, Abbott’s office stated that DEI has been used in recent years to favor some demographic groups “to the detriment of others.” The directive states that employment decisions should be based on merit without additional DEI consideration.

“The memo and its claims are ridiculous and beyond an attempt for state government overreach,” said Granberry Russell, a licensed attorney who served as senior adviser for diversity to the president of Michigan State University before her retirement in 2020.

DEI initiatives have been used in the United States since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Their goals are to create discrimination- and harassment-free workplaces for people from different backgrounds, and to give them opportunities for professional development.

Granberry Russell said that inclusive and equitable institutions benefit everyone, and that the recent memo from Abbott’s office is twisting federal anti-discrimination laws to fit his and his administration’s political agenda and to silence efforts to advance equity in the U.S., which has struggled with its founding promise of justice and liberty for all.

“They are just one more step in a broader assault on the basic underpinnings of diversity, equity and inclusion, terms that some have sought to turn into dog whistles because they have not bothered to understand the basic history of America and the principles that can set it on a brighter path forward,” she said.

Granberry Russell said the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to include Title VI and Title VII, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, and federal regulations that interpret these laws, prohibit discrimination, including discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, disability and veteran status.

A sign welcomes UTEP students back to campus for the spring semester. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

Officials at the University of Texas at El Paso issued a brief statement in response to an El Paso Matters request for comment about how this DEI issue will affect the campus. Several of its websites speak to the institution’s commitment to DEI because of how it benefits students.

“The university is currently reviewing the matters addressed in the letter,” the email read.

As of Feb. 10, 41 of the 44 faculty and executive employment opportunities asked applicants to include statements of contributions to, commitment to or promotion of DEI and sometimes access or accessibility.

An entry for an assistant professor in social work asks candidates to describe how they promote DEI and accessibility through their service, instruction and research/scholarship, and how the candidates would begin or continue to implement such relevant practices at UTEP and the Department of Social Work.

In a request for applicants for an assistant professor of chemistry position, the entry reads “To sustain and enhance our commitment (to a culture of inclusive excellence), UTEP hires and invests in faculty who value our culture of care and the success of students from diverse backgrounds. As such, we request a “Broadening Participation” statement of how you would approach contributing to that culture of Inclusive Excellence.”

UTEP had the highest percentage of Hispanic tenured faculty among the country’s largest research universities, according to fall 2021 data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. IPEDS showed that 31% of UTEP’s tenured professors were Hispanic, which was more than double the next closest institutions surveyed. Several universities had at least 10% of their faculty identify as Hispanic.

As for other institutions in the state, Texas Tech University officials ordered last week the elimination of DEI consideration in their hiring practices after a conservative group questioned how the institution’s biology department rated candidates on their commitment to DEI as part of the hiring process.

Discussion of DEI became part of a Texas Senate Finance Committee meeting on Feb. 8. Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, the committee chair, said several committee members were concerned with the number of state university systems that used DEI initiatives as part of the hiring process. According to a story in the Austin American-Statesman, she expected legislators to continue discussions on how to stop that practice, and ensure that hiring at the state’s institutions of higher education are based only on merit.

“My point of bringing this up today and having the beginning of a discussion is to let the universities know the budget writers are paying attention,” Huffman said.

However, Black and Latino lawmakers and members of the state’s chapter of the NAACP on Tuesday denounced the recent directive and some called for the leadership of the country’s major sports organizations, to include the NCAA, to not host any of their championship games in the state until Abbott rescinds his DEI order to state agencies and universities.

This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Nigeria Faces Stunted Generation, Is No. 2 for Malnourished Kids

Antony Sguazzin
Mon, February 20, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria faces the risk of a generation of stunted adults as climate change and conflict have resulted in the country having the second-largest number of malnourished children globally after India.

Of the 36 million Nigerians under five years of age, 15 million are stunted, 2.8 million are severely wasted and 3O million are anemic, according to figures provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund, or Unicef. Saving these children would cost about $120 each, mostly in the form of therapeutic food, according to the agency.

“The numbers are frightening,” said Nemat Hajeebhoy, head of nutrition for Unicef in Nigeria. “Essentially after the age of five or so, it’s irreversible.” Without intervention “a child who is stunted will be a stunted adult,” she said.

Much of Nigeria, which has a population of more than 200 million, was hit last year by devastating floods, which damaged crops at a time when the country was still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, the northern half of the country is wracked by violence from both jihadist groups and bandits. The insecurity and natural disasters hamper organizations such as Unicef from dispensing aid, cripple food production and interrupt immunization campaigns.

“When you look at the impacts of conflict on the population, it’s going to affect all forms of malnutrition,” Hajeebhoy said. “It compromises a child’s long-term growth and development” and more immediately, hungry children can be hit by wasting, she said.

By the end of December, 17 million people were without adequate food and that number is expected to rise to 25.3 million between June and August, the so-called lean season, according to Unicef. That compares with just over 4 million in December 2019.

The most difficult states to access because of violence are Borno and Yobe in the northeast and Zamfara in the northwest. But stunting, wasting and inadequate nutrition are problems across the country, including in the commercial capital, Lagos.

Wasted children, characterized by thin limbs and bloated bellies, are in danger of dying. Stunting can also affect cognitive development.

The warning about the expected increase in numbers of hungry people “has come early enough for us to act,” Hajeebhoy said. “There’s food assistance, there’s cash assistance, there’s also preparedness for ensuring that if the numbers increase, we have the best capacity to treat mothers and children from a nutrition lens with lifesaving nutrition services.”

That, of course, costs money.

There are “two big things,” she said. “It’s the planning and ensuring the resources, financial and human, are available to respond.”

--With assistance from Rene Vollgraaff.

Russia and China Have a Stranglehold on the World’s Food Security

Alan Crawford, Frank Jomo, Elizabeth Elkin and Matthew Bristow
Sun, February 19, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- The cargo trapped for months at the Dutch port of Rotterdam was so precious that the United Nations intervened to mediate its release. The World Food Programme chartered a ship to transport it to Mozambique, from where it’s being taken by truck through the interior to its end destination, Malawi.

It’s not grain or maize, but 20,000 metric tons of Russian fertilizer, and it can’t come soon enough.

About 20% of Malawi’s population is projected to face acute food insecurity during the “lean season” through March, making the use of fertilizers to grow crops all the more vital. It’s one of 48 nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America identified by the International Monetary Fund as most at risk from the shock to food and fertilizer costs fanned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One year on, the upheaval caused to world fertilizer markets is seen by the UN as a key risk to food availability in 2023.

Yet alongside humanitarian considerations, it’s the realization that much of the world relies on just a few nations for most of its fertilizers — notably Russia, its ally Belarus and China — that’s ringing alarm bells in global capitals. Just as semiconductors have become a lightning rod for geopolitical friction, so the race for fertilizers has alerted the US and its allies to a strategic dependency for an agricultural input that is a key determinant of food security.

That’s pushed fertilizers — and who controls them — to the forefront of the political agenda around the world: The US State Department is beefing up its expertise on fertilizers, presidents are tweeting about them, they’re featuring in election campaigns, and becoming the focus of tensions between countries as well as an unlikely currency of diplomacy. They’re also being pulled into the contest of narratives over who’s to blame for the fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“The role of fertilizer is as important as the role of seed in the country’s food security,” said Udai Shanker Awasthi, managing director and chief executive officer of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative, the country’s largest producer. “If your stomach is full then you can defend your house, you can defend your borders, you can defend your economy.”

Last year’s jolt to the $250 billion global fertilizer industry highlighted the role of Russia and Belarus as exporters of almost a quarter of all world crop nutrients. While Russia’s agricultural products including the three main types of fertilizer — potash, phosphate and nitrogen — are not targeted by sanctions, exports remain curtailed through a combination of disruptions to ports, shipping, banking and insurance.

Russian fertilizer billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, the founder of EuroChem Group AG, argues the European Union’s sanctions regime has clogged up trade to such an extent that it’ll have caused a total curtailment of fertilizer shipments by some 13 million tons by the one-year mark of the war on Feb. 24. Melnichenko is himself subject to sanctions.

It was Russian fertilizer caught in limbo in the Netherlands that was freed as part of a wider UN deal to allow grain transports via the Black Sea. The batch that began arriving in Malawi earlier in February was the first of several proposed shipments of fertilizer stranded in ports from the Baltic Sea to Belgium and “donated” by Russia’s Uralchem-Urakali Group. Uralchem is planning a handover ceremony with Malawi’s government to be attended by the Russian ambassador on March 6.

The market disruption triggered a spike in prices last summer that led to stockpiling by those able to afford fertilizers, and while costs have since come down significantly, they remain above pre-pandemic levels. Supplies are constrained in poorer areas. The situation is exacerbated by sanctions on potash giant Belarus alongside the decision by China, a major producer of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, to impose restrictions on exports to protect domestic supply, curbs that analysts don’t see being lifted until the middle of 2023 at the earliest.

The result has been an all-too familiar divide: Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Alexis Maxwell says that even though prices have fallen more than 50% from last year’s peak, farmers in Southeast Asia and Africa remain more exposed than their counterparts in North America, China or India. The African Development Bank has warned that curtailed use is likely to mean a 20% drop in food production, while the WFP sees smallholders in the developing world at risk of “a major food availability crisis as the fertilizer crunch, climate shocks and conflict upend food production.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo warned at the Group of 20 summit he hosted in November of “a more dismal year” ahead without immediate steps to ensure availability of affordable nutrients. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who now holds the G-20 chair, pledged to focus efforts to “depoliticize” global fertilizer supply, “so that geopolitical tensions do not lead to humanitarian crises,” he wrote in the Times of India in December.

The geopolitical fallout is being felt as far away from Ukraine as Canada, the world’s biggest potash producer (Russia and Belarus are No. 2 and No. 3 respectively). Brazil’s agriculture minister traveled there immediately after the war’s outbreak to secure more shipments for the food-exporting superpower, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has said it’s looking at increasing exports to Europe of “strategic commodities” including potash.

Nutrien Ltd., the world’s largest fertilizer company and the biggest private employer in its home base of Saskatoon in Canada, is expanding production at its potash mines, helping fuel the city’s spread out into the great prairie lands of central Saskatchewan. BHP Group Ltd gave the green light to build its own massive potash mine in Saskatchewan about 18 months ago; it’s already looking at options to accelerate an expansion that would see total output double.

Nutrien mines potash from a 400 million-year-old rock known as the Prairie Evaporite Formation at a depth of some 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). This far down, the heat is a stark contrast with the sub-zero temperatures outside in the Saskatchewan winter. The air has an ocean tang that comes from the high concentration of salt in the potash. Huge boring machines cut tunnels to extract the ore, which is moved by conveyors to underground storage areas, then taken to the surface and on-site mills.

The Saskatoon-based company is targeting a 40% increase in production from 2020 levels by 2026. “We think the world’s going to need it,” says Ken Seitz, Nutrien’s chief executive officer. He cites the “knock-on effect of all this geopolitical uncertainty,” adding: “It’s going to be bumpy.”

The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization set up a trade tracker last year showing that many net importers in Latin America, eastern Europe and Central Asia depend on Russia for more than 30% of all three main fertilizer ingredients.

And in Ukraine, regarded for years as Europe’s breadbasket, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi warned in January that this summer’s grain harvest will be affected, since fewer nutrients were purchased and applied in the fall.

The race for fertilizer supplies has spawned efforts to encourage self-sufficiency. In an echo of the Chips Act that made $50 billion available for US semiconductor production, President Joe Biden’s administration has announced $500 million in grants to increase “American-made fertilizer production” and “bring production and jobs back to the United States.”

The US both produces fertilizer and is a major importer, and for now its farmers still have access to plenty of nutrients. That can’t be said of some of its neighbors. Latin America depends on imports for 83% of fertilizers applied, mostly from Russia, China and Belarus, according to the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute.

That’s looking like a liability for Peru and its burgeoning agricultural industry. The Andean nation, perennially convulsed by political upheaval, has recorded a rare success story in its fruit and vegetable sector in recent years. It’s now the world’s No. 1 exporter of blueberries and a key supplier of avocados, asparagus, artichokes and mangoes in an industry predicted to be worth some $10 billion to the country this year.

But further growth and efforts to integrate smallholders into modernized industry practices have been cast in doubt as Peru struggled to access fertilizer. The previous government announced subsidies for the smallest farmers, but implementation was patchy, said Valeria Pineiro, IFPRI’s acting head for Latin America.

On several occasions the government tried and failed to secure imports. In the absence of alternatives, it began supporting a program to increase use of organic fertilizers from seabird excrement, known as guano. But that doesn’t nearly cover what’s needed, said Gabriel Amaro, head of Peru’s agricultural export association AGAP. “The small farmer hasn’t necessarily been able to apply fertilizer, or has applied very little,” meaning loss of productivity and even damage to plants, he said.

Peru “is being hit hard,” said Pineiro. It’s faced with some big problems, and “they’re all political.”

If Peru is a loser of the fertilizer crisis, then Morocco is one of its winners, and it’s deploying that new-found clout to political ends.

Thanks to geological good fortune, Morocco is home to 70% of the world’s known reserves of phosphate, the natural source of phosphorous, a core nutrient used in fertilizer. That makes Morocco and state-owned OCP Group, which is responsible for mining, processing, manufacturing, and exporting phosphorous, pivotal to food security in a world that’s being reshaped by Russia’s war.

The North African country has made little secret of using fertilizer donations and subsidized sales to promote its aspirations to regional leadership. “Rabat has used OCP’s exports as a foreign policy instrument, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” Michael Tanchum, a professor of political economy, wrote in a blog for the Middle East Institute, citing its sales, local investment and development outreach.

OCP is state-owned but with a separate and distinct identity from the government, Executive Vice-President Nada El Majdoub said in an emailed response to questions. “Having said that, clearly the interests of the government and of OCP frequently align, and particularly in respect of OCP’s mission to strengthen sustainable agricultural practices and productivity across Africa,” she said.

OCP has committed to double its supply of fertilizer to Africa in 2023 to about four million tons, on top of donating and supplying discounted fertilizer of more than 500,000 tons last year. While that is a humanitarian gesture welcomed by USAID among others, some see a benefit for Morocco, too.

Morocco is embroiled in a dispute with neighboring Algeria over the status of the Western Sahara, and fertilizer plays a role. Relations have deteriorated since a three-decade cease-fire collapsed in 2020, reigniting low-key hostilities between Morocco and Algeria-based Saharawis seeking independence. Where authorities in Rabat see militant secessionists, some in Latin America and Africa see a liberation movement and recognize the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as an independent state.

In September, Kenya’s new president, William Ruto, took a call from Morocco conveying King Mohammed’s congratulations, after which Ruto announced to his 5.6 million Twitter followers that Kenya was rescinding its recognition of the Saharawi region. Morocco’s Foreign Ministry hailed the move and announced the countries were deepening trade relations, including in the field of “food security (fertilizer importation).” Bags of nutrients began arriving shortly after, even though Ruto subsequently deleted his tweet.

Peru took the opposite tack, announcing it was renewing diplomatic ties with the Saharawis, and appears to have suffered the consequences. The Morocco World News reported that a planned shipment of some 150,000 tons of fertilizer bound for Peru had been canceled after the change in stance.

President Vladimir Putin blames sanctions for the disruption in fertilizer supply from Russia, saying in late November that more than 400,000 tons were frozen in European ports. A portion of that amount has since been unfrozen and donated. The UN says the core problem lies with shipping insurers unwilling to cover Russian cargoes, and with key agriculture banks being unable to make financial transactions since they are disconnected from SWIFT. The EU and US issued a joint statement in November clarifying that “banks, insurers, shippers, and other actors can continue to bring Russian food and fertilizer to the world.”

Sufficient affordable supplies are still not getting through to Malawi, which is dependent upon fertilizer donations. The first low-income nation to receive financing from the IMF last year under a new tool intended to help countries cope with global food price shocks, Malawi was already struggling with debt, a currency devaluation and drought. In October, it transpired that a UK company the government had paid 750 million kwacha ($710,000) for fertilizer was in fact a butcher and unable to fulfill the contract.

President Lazarus Chakwera acknowledged the “challenges to access fertilizers” during a November ceremony for a subsidy program for poor households, and promised the government was doing everything to recoup the money.

That’s not much comfort to Moses Mikayeli, a farmer from Chikusa Village just outside Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, who said in late November that he saw “no hope” of receiving the subsidized fertilizer promised by the government. Bags were available, but at 70,000 Kwacha apiece – almost five times the price pledged by the president and 14 times the price in 2021 — they were beyond the reach of most. So he was resorting to a mix of garbage, soil and pig dung to spread on his maize.

“Our soils are used to fertilizer, so without applying fertilizer we can’t harvest anything,” he said. “Our situation remains dire.”

--With assistance from Pratik Parija, Dominic Carey, Souhail Karam, Courtney McBride, Jinglu Gu, Aine Quinn, Thomas Biesheuvel and Katarina Hoije.