UK businesses face delays of up to 15 years for solar installations

Helena Horton
Fri, 5 May 2023 


Businesses in the UK are facing waits of up to 15 years for solar installations on their homes due to a lack of grid connectivity, MPs have found.

The environmental audit committee, which looks at green policies in government, has said there is a “dark cloud of delays” hindering the country from reaching its potential when it comes to renewable energy.

An inquiry by the MPs into solar energy has found that the government’s ambition to install 70GW of solar by 2035 may not happen if these delays continue. It found that in some cases, customers were having to wait 10 to 15 years to secure a connection for solar installations.

MPs said there were three key areas where the current approach on grid connection was delaying progress: a lack of physical infrastructure such as cables and transformers; poor availability of data on solar photovoltaic generation, particularly for small-scale installations; and a “queueing system” of applications where developers are applying for grid connections without the project having planning permission.

Though the committee said solar energy did not need subsidies due to how cheap it was to generate, it did find that the costs of installation could be prohibitive.

MPs recommended the government should consider consulting on how it could facilitate affordable loans for households, and to give a VAT discount to household battery storage.

The committee is launching another inquiry into the lack of connectivity in the UK, looking at barriers hindering low-carbon technologies from connecting to the grid. It will also consider the potential for a smarter and more flexible grid that enables dynamic demand management and peer-to-peer electricity trading and storing.

The chair of the committee, Philip Dunne, said the delays could stop the UK from reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

He said: “There is potential for solar energy to have a bright future in the UK, but a dark cloud of delays for the industry hinders the ability to meet its full potential. Evidence to our committee made clear that the UK has the potential to fulfil the UK’s ambition of 70GW of generating capacity from solar. But sticking points for households around access to finance and VAT being slapped on batteries remain.

“The ability for low-carbon energy sources, including solar, to be able to connect to the grid could seriously jeopardise net zero Britain. Our solar inquiry found that some developers wait up to 15 years for a grid connection: this simply isn’t good enough. We must make sure that concerns around infrastructure and planning are addressed swiftly.

“Given our committee’s mounting concerns over grid connections for low-carbon energy projects, we are today launching a new inquiry that will consider this in greater detail. I encourage anyone with views on these issues to submit evidence.”

UK STUDY APPLIES EVERYWHERE
Ministers missed chances to prepare social care for a pandemic, review finds


Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent
Thu, 4 May 2023 

Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Distress and heartbreak for millions could have been avoided if the government had not missed opportunities to prepare social care for a pandemic, according to a big investigation into how the first wave of Covid hit care homes.

A review of events in spring 2020, when almost 20,000 care home residents died with Covid in England and Wales, found it was the result of “letting one of our most important public services languish in constant crisis for years”.

A two-year study by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank and the London School of Economics found successive governments failed to respond to risks already exposed by cross-government pandemic planning exercises, didn’t have enough civil servants working on social care, and failed to appreciate the sector’s fragility when sending patients into ill-prepared care homes.

The study is the latest independent assessment to undermine the claim by the former health secretary, Matt Hancock, to have thrown “a protective ring around social care”. It comes before the Covid-19 public inquiry’s investigation into the care sector, the timing of which has yet to be announced.

Related: Minister rejects claim Matt Hancock ignored advice on Covid testing

One social care representative told the study about a meeting hosted by the then prime minister Boris Johnson and Hancock in February 2020 at which “[we] … could not get air time for social care’s issues” unless it was about the NHS’s requirements.

Natasha Curry, deputy director of policy at the Nuffield Trust, said: “Those early months exposed … weaknesses within social care that impacted the shape, speed and effectiveness of the response. Many of these difficult challenges could have been eased had warnings been heeded. Governments of all hues have failed to make social care and those who need it a priority.”

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group said the report showed “our loved ones might still be with us if care homes had been properly prepared for and protected during the pandemic”.

The study found:

The government excluded social care from pandemic-planning exercises such as Exercise Alice and after problems were identified by Exercise Cygnus, which did include the sector, action was not taken.


Social care leaders felt invisible at the start of the pandemic because there had been no dedicated director general for social care in government since 2016.


No adult social care representatives sat on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and people leading the UK pandemic response lacked “deep understanding” of social care.

“Had the sector had the tools it needed then some of the confusion and delays that led to so much distress and heartbreak that millions of people faced could have been avoided,” said Curry. “Despite the pain endured during the pandemic, we now have the ominous sight of reforms being yet again delayed.”

The analysis was part-funded by the UK government, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. No officials at the Department of Health and Social Care agreed to be interviewed.

“The social care sector was underresourced for years and … my mum, who had worked her whole life, needed help but was left with a system woefully unprepared to protect her,” said Deborah Doyle, a spokesperson for the Covid bereaved families group whose mother, Sylvia Griffiths, died in a care home in April 2020. “We cannot allow horrific scenes like this to happen again, and we don’t have time to wait.”

Adelina Comas-Herrera, an academic at the LSE and a report co-author, said: “The evidence suggests that some countries were able to cope better than others. We are seeing how countries such as Ireland, Finland and Spain are using lessons from the pandemic to reform their care systems. Our research shows that social care in England needs a system-wide reform.”

The care minister, Helen Whately said: “During the pandemic we supported social care with £2.9bn in specific Covid funding, sent out more than 230m Covid tests to care homes and prioritised social care for Covid vaccinations. We are committed to learning lessons from the pandemic and are investing up to £7.5bn over the next two years to put social care on a stronger financial footing, help reduce waiting lists and alleviate workforce pressures.”

Filipino activists appeal to British banks over region devastated by oil spill

Patrick Greenfield
Fri, 5 May 2023 

Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

Campaigners from the Philippines have urged British banks not to fund the expansion of fossil fuel use in their country. It follows a huge oil spill that threatened a globally important marine biodiversity hotspot.

Filipino environmentalists have travelled to the UK to meet representatives from Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC as part of efforts to stop the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants and terminals in and around the Verde Island Passage, a global marine biodiversity hotspot known for its whale sharks, corals, turtles and rich fisheries, which was badly affected by the oil spill this year.

In February, the Princess Empress oil tanker sank off the east coast of Mindoro island and released 800,000 litres of heavy industrial oil into the sea. The 75-mile slick devastated hundreds of fishing communities on Mindoro, leaving local people requiring medical treatment.

The passage, which connects the South China Sea with busy shipping routes through the archipelago, is the site of increasing LNG activity, with investments from Shell and the San Miguel Corporation, a Philippine conglomerate best known for its beer, in new power plants and LNG terminals.

Filipino activists have urged HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered to restrict financing for LNG projects, which they say will only further damage marine life in the area with increased marine traffic.

Fr Edwin “Edu” Gariguez, who won the Goldman environmental prize in 2012 for his fight to stop a proposed open-cast nickel mine opening on Mindoro, said: “In the Philippines, Standard Chartered is supporting San Miguel Corporation’s gas plant, which is devastating the Verde Island Passage and wreaking ecological chaos.

“Local communities and fisherfolk worry that these projects will be at the expense of [the passage’s] richness and their own livelihoods. We will continue to resist these projects and protect the Verde Island Passage.

“Banks would do well to remember that their financing decisions are not made in a vacuum. They have consequences for local communities, who don’t want fossil-fuel gas operations polluting their environment,” he added.

Recent data shows that banks and finance institutions are still investing heavily in fossil fuels despite signing up to net-zero pledges.

According to the 2023 Banking on Climate Change report, produced by environmental NGOs analysing financial data, Standard Chartered was a leading financier for San Miguel Corporation over the past five years. HSBC and Barclays provided finance to Shell.

Avril De Torres, an environmental lawyer who spoke at Standard Chartered’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, said the recent oil spill was an indication of the damage to the area likely to come from more fossil fuels.

“We should expect an onslaught of LNG tankers in this area. The government has been grossly inept at containing the oil spill. It still hasn’t been siphoned out. It’s pretty easy to connect the dots,” she said.

Related: From living water to toxic sludge: the Philippine island devastated by an oil spill – a photo essay

“We’ve been watching an ecological nightmare unfold. Overnight, we’ve had tens of thousands of fishermen suddenly without livelihoods, banned from setting sail and catching fish, which has been their livelihoods for generations.

“There are pictures of communities cleaning up the shores themselves without protective equipment and then experiencing health symptoms. The latest report says 190,000 people have been affected, including 20,000 families. Not a single company has been held accountable,” she said.

De Torres will travel to the European mainland after the HSBC AGM on Friday to meet other financiers as part of the campaign.

Standard Chartered said it could not comment on client relationships but pointed to its net zero roadmap, which includes a phase down of oil and gas financing. Shell did not comment on any involvement in LNG terminals in the area but underscored they had nothing to do with the recent oil spill.

Barclays, HSBC and San Miguel did not provide a comment.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

EUROPE/MENA

April heatwave would have been ‘impossible’ without climate change – scientists

Danny Halpin, PA Environment Correspondent
Fri, 5 May 2023 at 7:51 am GMT-6·3-min read

The April heatwave that broke temperature records in Spain and Portugal was made at least 100 times more likely because of climate change and would have been almost impossible without it, scientists have said.

South-western Europe and North Africa experienced extreme temperatures last month that only usually occur in July and August.

The April record for Europe was set in Cordoba at 38.8C while Portugal saw its national record broken with a temperature of 36.9C.

Several records were also broken across Morocco with various cities experiencing more than 41C while temperatures exceeded 40C in Algeria.

Scientists from the UK, France, Morocco, the Netherlands and the US, who are part of the World Weather Attribution group and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, analysed to what extent human-induced climate change influenced the likelihood and intensity of this spring heatwave.

They found it to be an unusual event even with the added warming and concluded that it would have been practically impossible without climate change.

The Earth’s temperature has warmed by 1.2C compared to pre-industrial times and is continuing to heat up as more greenhouse gasses are emitted.

Without climate change, the heatwave would have been between 2C and 3.5C cooler, the researchers said.

They also forecasted that had the heatwave occurred with global temperatures at 2C, as is predicted to happen within the next few decades, local temperatures would have been another 1C hotter, at a “very conservative” estimate.

Dr Friederike Otto, a climatologist at Imperial College London, said: “There’s good news and that is there is no lock-in effect for extreme temperatures.

“So when we stop burning fossil fuels and when we stop emitting greenhouse gases, then extreme temperatures will stop rising.

“But, of course, until that time, we see a very, very strong increase in extreme heat and that means that as long as we continue burning fossil fuels, we will see every year the chances of record temperatures getting higher and higher and we will see ever higher temperatures.”

Extreme heat killed several thousand people in Spain and Portugal last year while hundreds die each year in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia (Yui Mok/PA)

The southern Mediterranean is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its susceptibility to drought, sea level rise and heatwaves.

Last year, saw record summer temperatures across Southern Europe as well as destructive wildfires and a severe drought that is continuing through 2023.

More than 4,000 people died in heatwaves in Spain last year and more than 1,000 in Portugal, while every year an average of 262, 250, and 116 people die from heat-related illness in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, respectively.

Dr Fatima Driouech of the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic in Morocco, said: “Illnesses and heatwaves tend to be particularly deadly because of a lack of acclimatisation of the population and also the lower preparedness for heat.

“These record temperatures come on top of a historical multi-year drought in those regions and then worsened in terms of the impacts of the heat on agriculture which is already threatened by an increase in water scarcity from the combined effects of climate change but also water use.

“Reservoirs are already up to 50% below average levels in Spain and in Morocco, although sometimes they are well filled, the average dam storage in the country was about 33% at the end of April.”

Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “When Brits hear record temperatures in Spain and Portugal, we may picture sun, sand and sangria.

“But as we know from last summer, here at home the reality is more dangerous: 1,500 additional deaths in England on just the two hottest days.

“We also import some £4 billion worth of food and drink from Spain and Portugal – half of which we simply can’t grow in the UK.

“This includes over £400 million worth of citrus fruits and juices, more than a third of the sweet peppers and a quarter of the tomatoes we import. Not to mention more than £350m in wines and port.”

Voices: Write on! Why we should support the Hollywood writers’ guild strike

David Barnett
Fri, 5 May 2023 


Writers in America have put down their pens and picked up their placards. Well, who isn’t on strike these days? And writers aren’t exactly doctors, teachers, train drivers, or paramedics, are they? It’s not as if what they do is actually that important.

Obviously, being a writer, I’m going to argue against that. Because, on some level, perhaps writers are all those things. Their work heals. It educates. A book or movie or TV show can transport you to another world, or just away from this one. And writers can, through their work, sometimes actually save lives.

The Writers Guild of America has embarked upon its strike action after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers refused to meet with them to discuss new contractual terms.

The landscape, particularly in television, has changed considerably over the last few years. The WGA wants new pay structures to take into account the rise of streaming services, guaranteed periods of work for staff writers, and discussions about the threat of Artificial Intelligence.

But does anyone outside of TV, or Hollywood, or publishing really care about writers? As someone once said to me when I bemoaned some fact or other about the writer’s life: well, at least you’re not digging ditches for a living, are you?

To be fair, neither was he. But I take his point. We see the ditch-digger, toiling at his work. We see the paramedics, racing down the street. We see the doctors, and the train drivers, and all those other professions that, quite rightly, demand and deserve more pay and better conditions.

Writers are invisible creatures, and save for those whose books top the bestseller lists, or are our particular favourites, we barely know their names. Who wrote the last movie you enjoyed? Who writes the Netflix show you binged? Who wrote Dennis the Menace in this week’s Beano? Who wrote the song that’s at the top of the charts or the video game that was on everyone’s Christmas gift list?

Almost everything we enjoy begins with a writer. If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage, as the old theatre adage goes. Being a writer is a sought-after profession; in theory, at least. Everyone has a book in them, we are told, and most of them think it should be published.

And yet, though we are surrounded by the end-product of the writer’s work – though almost everything we read or watch or listen to has, at its genesis, been written – we seem to vastly undervalue it.

The average annual earnings of a professional author in the UK are, according to the last survey commissioned by the UK Authors Licensing and Collecting Society, around £7,000.

Last month the publishing trade magazine The Bookseller published a report in which new authors felt abandoned and betrayed by publishers who they say failed to put any support or marketing behind new books.

Many readers will not even countenance buying a new novel unless it is reduced to 99p in one of Amazon’s Kindle e-book promotions. A distressingly large number (going off the websites I see my own books advertised on) are more than happy to download them free from pirate sites, with no recompense to author or publisher.

Events and festivals invite writers along to appear on panels or moderate discussions with little or no payment, feeling that the exposure is good enough, no matter how many times they are shamed on social media and told that exposure doesn’t pay mortgages or put food on the table.

Writers rarely complain, at least not in public, because for most of us it has been a long hard, ascent to being paid for what they love doing. And it is a precarious position – one book with poor sales away from tumbling back down, one TV show cancelled because it didn’t get requisite views in its first month on streaming away from starting the whole process again.

And the industry itself does not care, because any writer who does achieve those dizzy heights only needs to look down and see the endless stream of writers crawling up behind, eager for work.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, along comes AI. Executives who pay writers are, in all seriousness, asking why they need humans at all, when a few choice instructions to ChatGPT might get them the next box office hit rom-com.

Which, of course, it won’t, because technology cannot replicate the mysterious spark of creativity that bursts like a supernova in the writer’s brain and births something shiny and new, forged with humanity and heart. At least, not yet.

So more power to the striking writers of the WGA. They don’t do this lightly; the last time there was industrial action by America’s film and TV writers was 2007, when it went on for 14 weeks.

And if you think it won’t affect you directly, watch how quickly the US topical talk shows go off-air, then just hope that the producers of your favourite TV series have their scripts already in the bag for shooting over summer, or you might find that next season you’re looking forward to binging is a little later than planned.

TV, like nature, abhors a vacuum. They’ll fill the schedules with something while the writers are on strike. The last action 15 years ago led directly to the rise of reality TV as networks scrambled to fill airtime with entertainment that didn’t need to be professionally scripted.

So, be warned. The writer’s work might not really be a matter of life and death, but it surely enhances our lives in ways most of us often don’t consider. Value writing, and pay writers, what they’re worth. Which, when you really stop and think about it, is their weight in gold.

'Enough is enough': Australian PM urges US to drop Julian Assange pursuit

Sudesh Baniya
Fri, 5 May 2023

 Julian Assange 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed frustration at the United States's sustained pursuit of Julian Assange and the lack of diplomatic resolution to the issue.

Albanese said he is concerned about Assange's mental health, as the Australian national has been held in a high-security prison in the UK for four years.

“I just say that enough is enough,” Albanese told Australian public broadcaster ABC on Friday. “There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration.”


Assange, now 51, is fighting against the UK's approval of his extradition to the US after being forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2019.

The UK approved his extradition last June, saying courts had found nothing that "would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process”.

Assange was initially arrested in London following accusations of sexual assault in Sweden – a charge that was eventually dropped.

However, the US's pursuit of the Australian continues for 18 espionage and computer hacking charges concerning the release of confidential US military records and diplomatic cable.

Albanese on Friday condemned the longing effort, saying he has advocated for Assange's release in meetings with US President Joe Biden's officials.

"I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is and the US administration is certainly very aware of what the Australian government’s position is,” he added.

Julian Assange: US lawyers sue CIA for allegedly spying on WikiLeaks founder

Watch: London 'carnival' in support of Wikileaks founder Assange

Family of Julian Assange vow to fight UK extradition order to US

While the Australian Prime Minister acknowledged concerns raised in the US over the consequences of leaks, he said the punishment has been disproportionate on Assange's part.

"I think that when Australians look at the circumstances, look at the fact that the person who released the information (Chelsea Manning) is walking freely now, having served some time in incarceration but is now released for a long period of time, then they'll see that there is a disconnect there," he said.

Albanese said he will continue to engage in diplomatically to achieve an outcome, yet refused to say whether that will be discussed when he hosts the US leader on 24 May.

Assange's case should be decided in terms of whether the time he had "effectively served" in Belmarsh prison was "reasonable" if the allegations against him were proven, Albanese insisted.

Failing to do so might have taken a toll on Assange, he said, referring to a ruling in the UK that ruled against deportation over "risks of suicide".

“There was a court decision here in the United Kingdom that was overturned on appeal that went to Mr Assange’s health as well and I am concerned for him,” he added.

AUSTRALIA

Tanya Plibersek rejects two Queensland coalmines over failure to provide detail on environmental impact


Lisa Cox
Fri, 5 May 2023 

Photograph: PR IMAGE

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has struck off two proposed coal projects in Queensland after the developers failed to submit requested information about impacts on threatened species and water.

The two projects are Macmines’ China Stone coalmine in the Galilee basin and Stanmore Resources’ Range Coal project 35km south-east of Wandoan, in central Queensland.

Related: Mining dust and bird poo: how clean is the rainwater Australians drink?

Both projects had stalled after applications were submitted nine years ago by Macmines and 12 years ago by Stanmore Resources.

Activist groups welcomed the decision, with the Lock the Gate Alliance saying it ended uncertainty over “zombie” applications for projects that had not progressed but caused concern for communities.

The group also called for the minister to reject other coal projects that remain in the pipeline, such as the Isaac River coal mine.

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In 2018, the environment department sought further information from Macmines about threatened species and water. The same was done for the Stanmore Resources proposal a decade ago in 2013.

In July 2020, both developers indicated they wished to progress with the developments and would submit the information – but this did not occur.

The minister issued lapsed notices this week. The companies can reapply but would have the start the assessment process from scratch.

“I’ve been clear I will have zero tolerance for businesses who refuse to provide adequate information about the impact their projects will have on nature,” Plibersek said.

“If companies aren’t willing to show how they will protect nature, then I’m willing to cancel their projects – and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

Ellen Roberts, national coordinator at Lock the Gate, welcomed the decision.

“Zombie projects like these cause stress and uncertainty for regional communities who would be impacted while company bosses in city offices far away weigh up whether or not to proceed,” she said.

“We congratulate minister Plibersek for ending this uncertainty.”

She said the decision was another sign that increasingly there was no business case for new coal projects in a world that was decarbonising.

“But there is also a role for the Australian government to play in speeding up this decarbonisation. We call on Tanya Plibersek to reject the many other fossil fuel projects that are still in the pipeline, awaiting assessment.”

Kelly O’Shanassy, the chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, welcomed the decision.

“For too long companies have been able to ignore government requests for vital information about how their proposals will impact on water resources and wildlife – and still be able to go ahead with their nature-wrecking proposals,” she said.

Related: Queensland faces ‘significant’ wellbeing decline if it doesn’t quickly transition to renewables, report says

“It’s good to see an environment minister cancelling a coal project when a company fails to provide information about impacts on water and wildlife, but it again highlights the need for a strong, independent environmental protection agency that can make these sorts of assessments and decisions at arms’ length from executive government.”

In a statement to the ASX on Friday, Stanmore Resources confirmed the Range Coal project had been declared as lapsed.

The company’s chief executive Marcelo Matos said it was a legacy project and “while it remains in our portfolio of reserves and options, our current focus has been on developing our metallurgical coal assets”.

“Since our last discussions about the project with the Commonwealth in 2020, we have prioritised approvals and progressed development of our Isaac Downs project which was successfully brought into production in 2021,” he said.

“We have also been focused on the continuation of operations and potential incremental expansions at our newly acquired South Walker Creek and Poitrel mines.”

He said the company was open to resubmitting the project for assessment at an “appropriate time”.

Macmines was contacted for comment.

AUSTRALIA
Labor’s net zero authority wins backing after workers call for help to leave fossil fuel industry

Peter Hannam

Guardian Australia
Thu, 4 May 2023

Photograph: Roni Bintang/Getty Images

Industry groups and unions have welcomed the Albanese government’s creation of a net zero authority aimed at filling the economic hole left by the closure of fossil fuel mines and power stations.

The government on Friday confirmed reports that it would set up the authority to promote “the orderly and positive economic transformation” resulting from the shift off carbon polluting industries.

Initially, it will set up an agency to start work by 1 July that will advise the government on the final design of a national net zero authority that will be legislated.

Related: Labor warns NSW facing a ‘momentous task’ in transition to renewables

Speaking from Lake Liddell, near Muswellbrook in the Hunter region of New South Wales, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, said: “We want this authority to focus like a laser on any obstacles to job creation and investment. We want it to be a one-stop shop for those thinking of coming to regions like this to create new jobs, to create investment, to create jobs for the future.”

Bowen said the new authority would cost $23m in the first year. There will also be $400m from the Powering the Regions Fund to be administered by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. “Decarbonisation is absolutely essential, but it also takes investment”, he said.

The La Trobe Valley in Victoria and the NSW regions of Lithgow and the Hunter Valley – home to coal mines and power stations – are among the areas that have been calling for coordinated help as industries prepare for decarbonisation.

Back in March, the ACTU renewed its call for a national energy transition body to help workers exit the fossil fuel industry, with indications last week the coming federal budget would allocate funds for one.

Bowen said he had briefed the NSW energy minister, Penny Sharpe, and other energy ministers. The federal body would complement NSW’s own transition body.

Once legislated, the authority would aim to help workers retrain to find new jobs, coordinate programs across government and encourage investment in low-carbon industries to generate new employment.

“For years, [Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union] members have been campaigning for a national just transition authority,” the union’s national secretary, Steve Murphy, said.

“The move to renewables is happening, but if it’s left up to the private sector, workers will be abandoned, their communities will suffer, and thousands of good jobs will go.

“Right across the board, everyone is on the same page now – we all recognise that can’t be allowed to happen.”

The Business Council chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, said the creation of the authority was “crucial step towards a managed transition that brings communities on this journey”.

Related: Competitive market to build NSW renewables drives energy price floors to record lows

“Australia’s transition has been held up in part because communities lost confidence in our ability to make this monumental change,” Westacott said. “This is an opportunity for better jobs and better living standards, this agency will do some of the work needed to fix that.”

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors also welcomed the move.

“The transition to a low carbon economy is the most significant transformation of our economy since the Industrial Revolution,” said ACSI’s CEO, Louise Davidson, said.

“International examples illustrate that a lack of coordination leads to poor outcomes for affected communities, workers and economic activity more broadly.”

Bowen did not say who would lead the authority but said it would have “broad representation”.

“The cabinet will be considering appointments in coming weeks and we’ll make further announcements after that,” he said, adding that the government planned to legislate the authority “over the course of the next 12 months”.

Students occupy schools and universities across Europe in climate protest


Damien Gayle
Fri, 5 May 2023 

Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A wave of student occupations has shut down schools and universities across Europe as part of a renewed youth protest campaign against inaction on climate breakdown. Twenty-two schools and universities across the continent have been occupied as part of a proposed month-long campaign.

In Germany, universities were occupied in Wolfenbüttel, Magdeburg, Münster, Bielefeld, Regensburg, Bremen and Berlin. In Spain, students in occupation at the Autonomous University of Barcelona organised teach-outs on the climate crisis. In Belgium, 40 students occupied the University of Ghent. In the Czech Republic, about 100 students camped outside the ministry of trade and industry. In the UK occupations were under way at the universities of Leeds, Exeter and Falmouth.

The most radical actions were taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, where youngsters occupied seven schools and two universities. On Thursday, occupying pupils forced one high school to remain closed for a third day, while students at the University of Lisbon’s faculty of humanities barricaded themselves in the dean’s office.

Young people also stopped traffic in the Portuguese capital with street blockades in solidarity with the occupations. The radical action comes despite harsh responses from teachers at one school who called police to evict pupils who began occupations last week.

The blockades and occupations are part of an extended campaign under the banner “End Fossil: Occupy!”, which aims to build on and escalate the youth climate strike movement that was previously at its strongest during 2019’s mass climate mobilisations.

A statement by the campaign read: “End Fossil: Occupy! is radicalising the youth climate movement in tactics and demands. Occupations instead of strikes. End the fossil economy instead of ‘listen to the science’. End Fossil: Occupy! is reigniting the fire of the youth climate movement last seen in 2019.”

It is the second time the campaign has called for a wave of occupations, with 50 schools and universities occupied between September and December last year, including three that were violently evicted by riot police. Organisers claim that previous wave of protest spurred Barcelona’s university to make a module on the climate and ecological emergency mandatory for all students.

Organisers hope the latest wave will recapture and recreate the radicalism of May 1968, when anti-imperialist protests by university students in Paris were joined by striking workers and precipitated a wave of revolt across the continent.

Activists occupy a lecture hall in Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg. The banner in the auditorium of Otto-von-Guericke University reads: ‘Anti-racism in the lecture halls.’ 

Photograph: Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/DPA

“We start as students occupying schools and universities, but we need all of society to take radical action with us to end fossil [fuels],” the campaign said. “Only with as a mass movement that involves all of society taking responsibility to stop the fossil fuel era can we truly change the system.

“Anyone from any part of the world who wants to organise local school or university occupations is very welcome to do so, as long as they agree to participate to achieve our core demand and follow our three principles: youth-led occupation, climate justice framework for the demands, and occupy until you win.”

WAR CRIME

Bakhmut on fire: Russia uses phosphorus bombs en masse – SOF



Ukrainska Pravda
Fri, May 5, 2023 

On the evening of 5 May, Russian occupation forces used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast.

Source: video of the Special Operations Forces and the press service of the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of Ukraine in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "The enemy used phosphorous and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut, trying to wipe the city off the face of the Earth.

However, the soldiers of the SSO and other units of the Defence Forces continue to courageously defend the city. And in these conditions, we continue to destroy the enemy."

Background:

On 5 May, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), wrote a letter to the Russian Defence Ministry, stating that he will withdraw the Wagner PMC mercenaries from Bakhmut after 10 May.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are sceptical about the claim made by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group. According to Ukrainian military personnel and intelligence, Russians will try to put pressure on the defenders of Bakhmut until 9 May.

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Rains Incendiaries On Bakhmut

Howard Altman
Fri, May 5, 2023 

It appears that the Russians have launched a large incendiary weapons attack on the heavily embattled city in Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.

Video shot from a drone has emerged showing the tell-tale droplets of brightly glowing incendiary munitions purportedly burning all over a portion of Bakhmut.

https://twitter.com/SOF_UKR/status/1654567844053483522?s=20

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1654560109723537408?s=20

The video has been geolocated to Bakhmut by our friend Evergreen Intel.

Russian troops have previously used Grad incendiary rockets there in December and October.

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1603896021813235719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1603896021813235719%7Ctwgr%5E047edd2dc8c9d223b008d79e8b40c49208c799ee%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-situation-report-assessing-the-possibility-of-a-new-russian-offensive-on-kyiv

 https://twitter.com/LogKa11/status/1581038130089848833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1581038130089848833%7Ctwgr%5E796fff5a5196b38cab6786055e97b94ba7617e32%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-situation-report-noose-tightens-around-russian-occupied-kherson

The Russians may have also used these incendiary munitions against the defenders of the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol in May 2002 and in various other locations across the Ukrainian battlefield.

The Russians apparently used incendiary munitions against the defenders of Azovstal a year ago in Mariupol. (Twitter screencap)

By covering a wide area with very hot burning droplets, incendiaries lay waste to some structures, certain kinds of materiel, foliage, vehicles, and especially flesh.

Block-by-block fighting among the ruins of a once thriving coal-mining city has proved extremely costly to both sides. Russia increasingly the use of these horrific area weapons in Bakhmut would not come as a major surprise as their advance has stalled and a major Ukrainian counteroffensive looms.

We will keep an eye on this developing situation and update our story with any new information that comes in.

Before we head into the latest updates from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can catch up on our previous rolling coverage here.