Google to invest $2 bn in Malaysia: government

AFP
May 29, 2024


Google's investment comes after Microsoft said it would pump billions into Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia -

 Copyright AFP PAU BARRENA

M JEGATHESAN

Google will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to house the firm’s first data centre in the country, the government said Thursday, making it the latest tech titan to pump cash into the region in search of growth opportunities.

The government said the cash would support 26,500 jobs across various sectors in Malaysia, including healthcare, education, and finance, and comes days after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim targeted at least $107 billion in investments for the semiconductor industry.

Anwar said in April that he planned to build Southeast Asia’s largest integrated circuit design park, while offering incentives including tax breaks and subsidies to attract global tech companies and investors.

Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent firm Alphabet, said: “Google’s first data centre and Google Cloud region is our largest planned investment so far in Malaysia — a place Google has been proud to call home for 13 years.

“This investment builds on our partnership with the Malaysian government to advance its ‘Cloud First Policy’, including best-in-class cybersecurity standards.”

Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the cash “will significantly advance” Malaysia’s digital ambitions outlined in a 2030 masterplan.

He added that the data centre and cloud region “will empower our manufacturing and service-based industries to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies to move up the global value chain”.

Earlier this month Microsoft said it would spend $2.2 billion on AI and cloud computing in Malaysia, with boss Satya Nadella pledging to invest billions in Thailand and Indonesia during a tour of the region.

And Amazon said it would spend US$9 billion in Singapore over the next four years to expand its cloud computing capabilities in the city.

The facility announced on Thursday will be located at a business park west of the capital Kuala Lumpur and will power Google’s popular digital services such as Search, Maps, and Workspace.

“When operational, Malaysia will join the 11 countries where Google has built and currently operates data centres to serve users around the world,” the statement said.

The Google Cloud region “will deliver high-performance and low-latency cloud infrastructure, analytics, and AI services to large enterprises, startups, and public sector organisations”, it added.

A key player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch.

Research by global consulting firm Kearney showed AI was poised to contribute $1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s gross domestic product by 2030, with Malaysia predicted to see more than a tenth of that.

“Now that many of these American tech giants are diversifying their investment risks away from China, Malaysia with its traditional involvement in high-tech industry is in a good position to welcome the relocation of their operations,” said Oh Ei Sun, an analyst with the Pacific Research Center of Malaysia.

PEOPLES CAPITALI$M
Nobel winner Yunus brings ‘social business’ mantra to Olympics

AFP
May 29, 2024

Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus sees the Paris Olympics as a means to promote his social business agenda - Copyright AFP Munir UZ ZAMAN

Since the early days of Paris’s bid for the 2024 Olympics, the city has been receiving advice from a prestigious counsel: Nobel peace prize winner and social business guru Mohammed Yunus.

Yunus pioneered microcredit in his native Bangladesh from the 1970s, helping lift millions out of poverty by providing traders with small loans to help them start businesses.

His role in Paris as an advisor and ambassador for socially responsible business is a departure from his usual work — and is all the more surprising given the reputation of the Olympics for embracing mega-projects and corporate sponsors.

The 84-year-old admits to not even being a sports fan, but he agreed to come on board after accepting a dinner invitation from Paris’s Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo in 2016 as she and her team were bidding to host the Games.

“I said to them the simplest thing you can do, before you make any decisions about allocating funds, is ask ‘does this item have any social purpose?'” Yunus said.

“If it doesn’t, not a penny should be allocated,” he added.

He says he quickly saw an opportunity to use the power of the Olympics to spread his message about the importance of embracing new ways of doing business, focusing on solving humanity’s problems rather than making profits.

“The moment Paris does something, it becomes globally interesting,” he said. “There is public awareness about Paris, the respect they have, their history and how they are known for creativity.”

– A different village –

Yunus says his ideas fell on fertile ground in the mayor’s office and the organising committee, with the city’s vision for the 33rd Summer Games being an event with a lower budget and environmental impact compared with previous editions.

Only two news sports venues have been built, in addition to the athletes’ village.

Having visited the village built for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro — a high-rise complex outside the city, with poor public transport links — Yunus knew the pitfalls.

“I saw all these tall buildings, one after another, and I thought ‘that’s not the right way to do it’,” he said.

By contrast, the Paris 2024 village is around 40 low-rise blocs on a brownfield site in one of the poorest parts of northern Paris, with new metro lines, schools and parks part of the redevelopment plan.

Around a third of the 2,800 apartments are set to be converted into social housing once the Olympics and Paralympics wrap up in September.

Yunus also urged organisers to consider adding “social businesses will be given priority” to their public tenders for services such as catering.

“All the big companies which are used to winning these tenders read that line and talk to each other and ask: What is a social business? Are we one? Will we get a priority?” he said.

“And the smart CEO will say, ‘Okay, since we’re not a social business, why don’t we have a partnership with one?’. So at least you are bringing them into the picture.”

– Corporate domination –

Ultimately, the catering contract to provide 40,000 meals a day was won by Sodexo, a listed French multinational with annual sales of more than 12 billion euros ($13 billion).

Elsewhere, the usual roster of global blue-chip sponsors will use the Games for promotional purposes, from Japanese carmaker Toyota and global steel maker ArcelorMittal to French luxury empire LVMH.

Most of the construction work was performed by France’s largest building companies — Bouygues Construction, Eiffage and Vinci.

But around the fringes, a desire to use the Games to nurture small, socially minded companies can be glimpsed, even if they have benefited from only a fraction of the nearly 9-billion-euro budget.

A Paris-based plastic recycling business called Le Pave won a contract to provide 11,000 seats at new Olympic venues, one of around 500 “social businesses” to win tenders.

Others included a business that converts building waste into topsoil, which was used at the athletes’ village. Laundry services there will be provided by a consortium of nine small local entrepreneurs.

On the Games building sites, contractors were also required to use long-term unemployed people for at least 10 percent of their workforce.

Yunus does not seek credit for any of these initiatives, but he is convinced that by putting his ideas and reputation at the service of the Games, he is helping to encourage change.

He has begun advising Milan-Cortina, the Italian host of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“They whisper in my ears, ‘we want to do better than Paris’,” he said.

Pitzer.edudwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/proudhon/dana.html

Proudhon and his "Bank of the People" - Anarchy Archives

M. Proudhon is about five feet eight inches high, of rather clumsy person. His hair is light, his complexion fresh, his eyes blue and keen, and ...

Exxon plays hardball against climate NGOs. Will investors care?


By AFP
May 28, 2024

ExxonMobil's aggressive posture towards climate activists has drawn criticism from Norway's sovereign wealth fund and others - Copyright AFP/File JADE GAO
John BIERS

ExxonMobil investors will have a chance to weigh in at Wednesday’s annual meeting on the company’s hardball approach to the latest shareholder challenge from environmentalists over climate change.

The US oil giant, which unapologetically favors petroleum investment despite its negative climate impacts, has adopted a more aggressive posture towards activists at this year’s virtual meeting compared with years past.

ExxonMobil has sued two shareholder groups, NGO Follow This and activist fund Arjuna Capital, which sought an investor vote on a measure to limit emissions.

Its suit, which includes seeking legal fees, has drawn criticism from shareholders like Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS).

A large number of votes against ExxonMobil board nominees would signify shareholder disgust with the company’s tactics.

CalPERS called climate change “a serious threat to long-term investment returns,” while arguing that ExxonMobil’s litigious tactics could have “devastating” consequences for corporate governance.

“If ExxonMobil succeeds in silencing voices and upending the rules of shareholder democracy, what other subjects will the leaders of any company make off limits? Worker safety? Excessive executive compensation?”

CalPERS said it would vote against all 12 board nominees “to send a message that our voices will not be silenced.”

The move comes after Arjuna and Follow This demanded a shareholder vote in December on a plan directing ExxonMobil to accelerate emission reductions, requiring targets and timetables to lower “Scope 3” emissions.

The category of emissions includes those created by consumers using a company’s product, such as the CO2 released by the burning of oil and gas produced by a fossil fuel company.

ExxonMobil argued that the proposal was the same as one rejected by nearly 90 percent of company shareholders at the 2023 meeting.

Such proposals are “expensive and time-consuming to address,” said ExxonMobil, adding that the proposal “does not seek to improve ExxonMobil’s economic performance or create shareholder value,” according to the suit.

“Defendants’ overarching objective is to force ExxonMobil to change the nature of its ordinary business or to go out of business entirely,” said the lawsuit.

Soon after ExxonMobil filed the suit in federal court in Texas in January, Arjuna and Follow This withdrew the proposal.

However, ExxonMobil has persevered with the litigation, asking a federal judge to declare that the measure can be omitted from the company’s proxy statement.

US District Judge Mark Pittman last week approved a motion to dismiss the case against Netherlands-based Follow This, ruling that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the group. But Pittman permitted the suit to go forward against Arjuna.

In a May 27 letter to ExxonMobil, Arjuna managing partner Natasha Lamb rejected the oil giant’s characterization, saying her firm’s focus on climate change “is consistent with, and indeed necessary for, securing future financial success.”

Lamb pledged to refrain from further climate proposals at ExxonMobil, adding, “I expect that Exxon will now, albeit belatedly, do what justice and a respect for the rights of shareholders require and withdraw its lawsuit.”

Richest elite emit 12 times more greenhouse gases from transport than average


By Dr. Tim Sandle
May 29, 2024

Image: — © Digital Journal

A new study into pollution and environmentally-harmful emissions reveals that half of all transport emissions in Britain come from just one in five people (15 percent of the population). Plus, the worst polluting 10 per cent of the population are responsible for four tenths (42 per cent) of all transport emissions. Social class has a connection with environmental impact.

Furthermore, there is a connection related to relative wealth. People with an income over £100,000 travel, on average, at least double the distance each year of those earning under £30,000. People from more deprived neighbourhoods tend to travel significantly less and emit less greenhouse gas than those from the least deprived.

The information comes from the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research in the report Moving together: A people-focussed pathway to fairer and greener transport.

The report finds that the transport system, in terms of its environmental impact, reflects wider inequalities in society, with the highest earners the highest polluters. For example, the richest 0.1 per cent in Britain emit 22 times more from transport than low earners, and 12 times more than average.

The research also finds that men are more likely to be high emitters than women, travelling significantly further by both car and plane. Further with population data, people with a disability are likely to travel far less than those without (including by plane), and their emissions are much lower as a result.

Another measure finds that people from a non-white British ethnicity tend to travel less far and emit less. On the demographic front, those aged 35 to 64 emit the most from private transport.

Overall, the data is concerning for the UK has made limited progress over the past three decades in reducing emissions from transport, which is now the country’s largest emitting sector.

The report states that to decarbonise transport in the UK, the government must improve public transport, boost active travel and speed up the transition to electric vehicles. This must include the Committee on Climate Change and the UK government doing more to put fairness and the British public at the heart of their net zero plans.

In the conclusion to the report, the IPPR calls for new taxes on private jets and lifting the ban on municipal bus fleets, making franchising of buses easier and ensuring the rail network is run in partnership with local leaders. Furthermore, the policy group calls for reinstating the 2030 ban on the purchase of new internal combustion engine vehicles and realigning the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate behind this.

Canada’s Internet paradox: Will more Wi-Fi lower online addiction?


Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGTAL JOURNAL

May 24, 2024

More and more restaurants and coffee houses offer internet connection in a breeze for their customers. — © Digital Journal

It is estimated that 92 percent of Canada’s population are Internet users, which equates to 37.1 million Canadians being connected. As of the third quarter of 2023, Canadians spent an average of one hour and 17 minutes per day using social media and more than six hours per day using the Internet in general.

With these data comes increasing concerns over digital overuse and addiction.

How might this be tackled? Paradoxically, some argue that in this diverse and connected landscape then expanding Wi-Fi accessibility could be the optimal strategy to mitigate Internet addiction.

This argument comes from the firm ProxyScrape who put forward the notion that with Canada’s vast territories and scattered populations, comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage is crucial for economic growth and social inclusivity. However, as more areas get connected, concerns about Internet addiction also grow.

Here, it is suggested, that limited access leads to concentrated periods of online activity, and with it the intensification of addictive behaviours.

Hence, increasing Wi-Fi coverage and access, could lead to individual experiencing less compulsion to “binge connect.” The idea would be to transform Internet access from a coveted resource to a ubiquitous one. Here are some possible outcomes of widespread Wi-Fi access:

It may also turn out that continuous access could encourage more productive and educational uses of the Internet, reducing the attraction of compulsive and recreational use. The rise of technology in schools has made learning more efficient.

This could help students by making information accessible, reducing stress from repetitive tasks, and enabling faster communication with teachers, better preparing them for a tech-driven future.

Thibeau Maerevoet, CEO of ProxyScrape, tells Digital Journal: “Expanded Wi-Fi is not just about more bandwidth or faster speeds; it’s about recalibrating our relationship with digital spaces. When connectivity becomes a constant rather than a luxury, people begin to set healthier boundaries for themselves.”

To leverage increased Wi-Fi for reducing Internet addiction, Maerevoet thinks that several actionable measures can be introduced:Public Education on Healthy Internet Use: Communities need comprehensive programs on balanced Internet use.
Promote Digital Literacy: Understanding the diverse online tools and resources can transform user habits from passive consumption to active and purposeful interaction.
Encouraging Offline Communities: Building local community groups and activities that offer attractive alternatives to online entertainment.
Implement Usage Monitoring Tools: Encourage the use of apps that monitor time spent online, promoting self-awareness among users.

Employing these strategies alongside expanded Wi-Fi access could change how Canadians interact with their digital devices. Instead of compulsive scrolling sessions, users might engage in short, purposeful periods online, enhancing their awareness and control over their digital consumption, says Maerevoet.

He concludes with: “As we rethink our relationship with technology, perhaps the key lies not in reducing connections but in making them smarter, more accessible, and more integrated into a balanced lifestyle.”

Exposed to Agent Orange at U.S. bases, veterans face cancer without VA compensation

Hannah Norman, KFF Health News
May 27, 2024 

President Joe Biden greets military personnel ahead of the 'dignified transfer' ceremony for three slain US soldiers © Roberto SCHMIDT / AF

As a young GI at Fort Ord in Monterey County, California, Dean Osborn spent much of his time in the oceanside woodlands, training on soil and guzzling water from streams and aquifers now known to be contaminated with cancer-causing pollutants.

“They were marching the snot out of us,” he said, recalling his year and a half stationed on the base, from 1979 to 1980. He also remembers, not so fondly, the poison oak pervasive across the 28,000-acre installation that closed in 1994. He went on sick call at least three times because of the overwhelmingly itchy rash.

Mounting evidence shows that as far back as the 1950s, in an effort to kill the ubiquitous poison oak and other weeds at the Army base, the military experimented with and sprayed the powerful herbicide combination known colloquially as Agent Orange.

While the U.S. military used the herbicide to defoliate the dense jungles of Vietnam and adjoining countries, it was contaminating the land and waters of coastal California with the same chemicals, according to documents.

The Defense Department has publicly acknowledged that during the Vietnam War era it stored Agent Orange at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, and the former Kelly Air Force Base in Texas, and tested it at Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base.

According to the Government Accountability Office, however, the Pentagon’s list of sites where herbicides were tested went more than a decade without being updated and lacked specificity. GAO analysts described the list in 2018 as “inaccurate and incomplete.”

Fort Ord was not included. It is among about four dozen bases that the government has excluded but where Pat Elder, an environmental activist, said he has documented the use or storage of Agent Orange.

According to a 1956 article in the journal The Military Engineer, the use of Agent Orange herbicides at Fort Ord led to a “drastic reduction in trainee dermatitis casualties.”

“In training areas, such as Fort Ord, where poison oak has been extremely troublesome to military personnel, a well-organized chemical war has been waged against this woody plant pest,” the article noted.

Other documents, including a report by an Army agronomist as well as documents related to hazardous material cleanups, point to the use of Agent Orange at the sprawling base that 1.5 million service members cycled through from 1917 to 1994.
‘The most toxic chemical’

Agent Orange is a 50-50 mixture of two ingredients, known as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Herbicides with the same chemical structure slightly modified were available off the shelf, sold commercially in massive amounts, and used at practically every base in the U.S., said Gerson Smoger, a lawyer who argued before the Supreme Court for Vietnam veterans to have the right to sue Agent Orange manufacturers. The combo was also used by farmers, forest workers, and other civilians across the country.


The chemical 2,4,5-T contains the dioxin 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD, a known carcinogen linked to several cancers, chronic conditions, and birth defects. A recent Brown University study tied Agent Orange exposure to brain tissue damage similar to that caused by Alzheimer’s. Acknowledging its harm to human health, the Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of 2,4,5-T in the U.S. in 1979. Still, the other weed killer, 2,4-D is sold off-the-shelf today.

“The bottom line is TCDD is the most toxic chemical that man has ever made,” Smoger said.

For years, the Department of Veteran Affairs has provided vets who served in Vietnam disability compensation for diseases considered to be connected to exposure to Agent Orange for military use from 1962 to 1975.


Decades after Osborn’s military service, the 68-year-old veteran, who never served in Vietnam, has battled one health crisis after another: a spot on his left lung and kidney, hypothyroidism, and prostate cancer, an illness that has been tied to Agent Orange exposure.

He says many of his old buddies from Fort Ord are sick as well.

“Now we have cancers that we didn’t deserve,” Osborn said.


The VA considers prostate cancer a “ presumptive condition” for Agent Orange disability compensation, acknowledging that those who served in specific locations were likely exposed and that their illnesses are tied to their military service. The designation expedites affected veterans’ claims.

But when Osborn requested his benefits, he was denied. The letter said the cancer was “more likely due to your age,” not military service.

“This didn’t happen because of my age. This is happening because we were stationed in the places that were being sprayed and contaminated,” he said.


Studies show that diseases caused by environmental factors can take years to emerge. And to make things more perplexing for veterans stationed at Fort Ord, contamination from other harmful chemicals, like the industrial cleaner trichloroethylene, have been well documented on the former base, landing it on the EPA’s Superfund site list in 1990.

“We typically expect to see the effect years down the line,” said Lawrence Liu, a doctor at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center who has studied Agent Orange. “Carcinogens have additive effects.”

In February, the VA proposed a rule that for the first time would allow compensation to veterans for Agent Orange exposure at 17 U.S. bases in a dozen states where the herbicide was tested, used, or stored.


Fort Ord is not on that list either, because the VA’s list is based on the Defense Department’s 2019 update.

“It’s a very tricky question,” Smoger said, emphasizing how widely the herbicides were used both at military bases and by civilians for similar purposes. “On one hand, we were service. We were exposed. On the other hand, why are you different from the people across the road that are privately using it?”

The VA says that it based its proposed rule on information provided by the Defense Department.


“DoD’s review found no documentation of herbicide use, testing or storage at Fort Ord. Therefore, VA does not have sufficient evidence to extend a presumption of exposure to herbicides based on service at Fort Ord at this time,” VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said in an email.

Getting rid of daily mail delivery is not on the table, Canada Post CEO says

WHO SAID IT WAS?!

CBC
Wed, May 29, 2024 

Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger poses in front of an electric delivery vehicle after a news conference on the postal service’s plans to transform their fleet of 14,000 vehicles, in Ottawa, in June 2022. Getting rid of daily mail delivery is not an option Canada Post is considering, the Crown corporation’s president and CEO told MPs on Wednesday night. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)More


Getting rid of daily mail delivery is not an option Canada Post is considering, the Crown corporation's president and CEO told MPs on Wednesday night.

Canada Post has been asking for changes to its governing regulations, including around how often it has to deliver letter mail.

But Doug Ettinger told the House government operations committee that if anything, the Crown corporation needs to expand its operations to compete with private companies in package and parcel delivery.


"Even if we only deliver a letter every second day, we still have to go through the route, because to be competitive in e-commerce and parcels, we have to be there every day," Ettinger said, adding that the market is now focused on e-commerce.

"The answer to this … is we need seven-day delivery, that's what we need. We don't need fewer days."

A Canada Post spokesperson later told CBC News that the Crown corporation still wants Ottawa to change the legislation that mandates how quickly it delivers mail to make deadlines more flexible.

Crown corp. bleeding money

According to the its latest annual report, Canada Post lost a whopping $748 million pre-tax in 2023.

Ettinger said that is largely due to a widening gap between the cost of delivery and the price of postage. A lack of revenue and subsequent inability to invest in new services is Canada Post's biggest obstacle to modernizing, the CEO said.

In order for Canada Post to make changes to compete with private delivery companies, regulatory changes need to be made, Ettinger said.

"Our operating model was built … for a paper-based economy — almost pre-internet — and that is holding us back," Ettinger said.

"We are driving a 1967 Chevy in a Formula 1 race."

A Canada Post parcel delivery vehicle parks in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The crown corporation wants the federal government to re-examine its mandate that sets how often and quickly it must deliver letter mail. Canada Post lost $748 million last year, in large part due to declining revenues from letter mail and tough competition from other private parcel delivery services.More

A Canada Post parcel delivery vehicle parks in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Crown corporation wants the federal government to re-examine its mandate that sets how often and quickly it must deliver letter mail. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Unlike some other Crown corporations, Canada Post isn't taxpayer-funded. It needs to sustain itself through profits.

But many of its business practices still need to be approved by the federal government. That includes its corporate plan and the price of postage.

Ettinger pointed to other countries, such as the United Kingdom, United States and Australia, that have been able to work out a scaled pricing approach based on a calculation of rising costs.

The minister who oversees Canada Post, Jean-Yves Duclos, has not explicitly committed to making regulatory changes in the past.

"Whatever we need to support Canada Post in supporting Canadians, it will be envisaged, as we need Canada Post in the future," Duclos said earlier this month.

Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in February 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Ettinger said Canada Post is working with the government on an updated corporate plan, but stressed that the Crown corporation needs more flexibility in order to compete.

Its annual report indicated that it could run out of money at some point within the next year. When asked how the Crown corporation's financial situation is sustainable, Ettinger replied, "It's not."

"We have to undergo substantial change. The business model … has outlived its useful life," he said.

"It is a fight. I'm not being dramatic by saying that. Our business model needs to be updated. It's done — finished — and probably has been for 10 years."

Exclusive-White House to support new nuclear power plants in the U.S.

Wed, May 29, 2024 

 The Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant is pictured from Royalton


By Nichola Groom and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday plans to announce new measures to support the development of new U.S. nuclear power plants, a large potential source of carbon-free electricity the government says is needed to combat climate change.

The suite of actions, which weren't previously reported, are aimed at helping the nuclear power industry combat rising security costs and competition from cheaper plants powered by natural gas, wind and solar.

Nuclear proponents say the technology is critical to providing large, uninterrupted supplies of emissions-free power to serve soaring electricity demand from data centers and electric vehicles and still meet President Joe Biden's goal of decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050.

"In the decisive decade for climate action, we need to pull as many of the tools for decarbonization off the sidelines and onto the field," said Ali Zaidi, Biden's national climate adviser.

Critics worry about the buildup of radioactive waste stored at plants around the country and warn of the potential risks to human health and nature, especially with any accidents or malfunctions. Biden signed a law earlier this month banning the use of enriched uranium from Russia, the world's top supplier.

At a White House event on Wednesday focused on nuclear energy deployment, the Biden administration will announce a new group that will seek to identify ways to mitigate cost and schedule overruns in plant construction.

The group of climate, science and energy policy experts from White House and Department of Energy will work with project developers, engineering, procurement and construction firms, utilities, investors, labor organizations, academics, and non-governmental organizations.

It also said the Army will soon solicit feedback on deploying advanced reactors to provide energy for certain facilities in the United States. Small modular reactors and microreactors can provide energy that is more resilient to physical and cyber attacks, natural disasters and other challenges, the White House said.

The Department of Energy also released a paper outlining the expected increased safety of advanced reactors. And a new tool will help developers figure out how to cut capital costs for new nuclear reactors.

The youngest U.S. nuclear power reactors, at the Vogtle plant in Georgia, were years behind schedule and billions over budget when they entered commercial operation in 2023 and 2024. No new U.S. nuclear plants are currently being built.

Vogtle is now the largest U.S. source of clean energy, the White House said.

Nuclear energy accounts for about 19% of U.S. power generation, compared with 4% for solar and 10% for wind.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and Nick Zieminski)

GREEN CAPITALI$M

US to unveil ‘guardrails’ needed for carbon markets to succeed

AFP
May 28, 2024

The world's top 25 'carbon majors' caused climate damage at a cost of 20 trillion dollars from 1985-2018, but their financial gains were about 50 percent larger during those years. - © © OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP

Issam AHMED

President Joe Biden’s administration is set Tuesday to unveil “guardrails” it says will ensure that carbon offset markets effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a significant win for advocates of the contentious schemes.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will lay out the government’s first broad guidelines for “high-integrity” carbon markets, aimed at boosting confidence in a system that critics have panned as greenwashing.

To transition to a low-carbon economy, “We need to use all the tools at our disposal — creatively, thoughtfully, and at scale,” she will declare in an event with other senior officials, including White House senior climate adviser John Podesta.

“I believe that harnessing the power of markets and private capital is critical. This includes efforts to grow high-integrity voluntary carbon markets.”

Carbon credits enable corporations and countries to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, with each credit representing the reduction or removal of one tonne of CO2, often in developing countries through projects combating deforestation.

The carbon offsets market is currently worth around $2 billion, but has come under intense fire recently after research has shown that claims of reduced emissions under the schemes are often hugely overestimated — or simply non-existent.


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will join an event outlining the government’s vision for ‘high-integrity’ carbon markets, aimed at boosting confidence in a system that critics have panned as greenwashing – Copyright AFP/File KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI

Yellen will outline principles emphasizing integrity in three key areas: supply-side credits tied to genuine emissions reductions or removals; demand-side corporate accountability that prioritizes emission reduction; and market integrity through greater transparency and reduced complexity.

– US imprimatur –

The release of the guidelines signal the US government is throwing its weight behind the controversial climate financing mechanisms.

Prominent advocates of carbon markets, including former US climate envoy John Kerry, argue that government funding alone is insufficient to meet the Paris accord’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Kenya’s President William Ruto has hailed Africa’s carbon sinks as an “unparalleled economic goldmine” with the potential to generate billions annually.

The UN special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, business tycoon Michael Bloomberg, welcomed the announcement.

“These will help increase investment in projects that reduce emissions and help more businesses grow while reducing their carbon footprints,” he said in a statement with UN special envoy on climate action and finance Mark Carney, and Mary Schapiro, former chair of the US securities and exchange commission.

But scientists emphasize that offsetting should not be used as a license to continue polluting, as emissions must fall by nearly half this decade to meet global warming goals.

A recent global scientific review found that market-based approaches to forest conservation, including carbon offsets and deforestation-free certification schemes, have largely failed to protect trees or alleviate poverty.

Earlier this month, the United Nations introduced rules allowing individuals harmed by carbon credit projects, mostly in the developing world, to file formal appeals.

Activities linked to carbon markets include renewable energy generation, protecting carbon-absorbing environments like forests or peatlands, and replacing coal-fired cookstoves with cleaner alternatives.

But as these schemes have proliferated, allegations of local communities being exploited or displaced have also grown.

Biden administration expands tax credits beyond wind, solar

The sun rises behind windmills at a wind farm in Palm Springs, California,  

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Wed, May 29, 2024 
By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed expanding tax credits that have for years boosted U.S. solar and wind energy projects to cover a wider range of clean energy technologies including nuclear fission and fusion.

The Treasury Department announced its guidance for Clean Electricity Production Credits and Clean Electricity Investment Credits, created under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, that will be available in 2025 as the previously available wind and solar production and investment tax credits sunset.


"The Inflation Reduction Act’s new technology-neutral Clean Electricity credits, which will come into effect in 2025, are one of the law’s most significant contributions to tackling the climate crisis,” John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, said in a statement.

He said they will help the U.S. meet its goal to achieve a net-zero emission power sector by 2035.

The proposal identifies a half-dozen technologies that may be eligible to qualify for the lucrative tax credits, including marine and hydrokinetic energy, nuclear fission and fusion, hydropower, geothermal and some forms of waste energy recovery. The credits were as high as 30% for wind and solar projects if all conditions were met.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters that the IRA has already driven over $850 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investment from the private sector and led to record additions of renewable energy capacity.

The new program is "the next key step," she said.

"These credits ... make an unprecedented long-term commitment to the clean energy sector to ensure the U.S. is a major market for new clean power generation over the next decade and beyond," she said.

Research firm the Rhodium Group estimated that credits could result in a reduction of 300-400 million tonnes of GHG emissions compared to no tax credits in 2035, a cut of 29%-46%.

Some environmental groups flagged concerns that the tax credits for zero greenhouse gas emissions technology could end up supporting controversial energy sources, such as burning waste or methane biogas captured from landfills.

"The Biden Administration must prevent dirty energy from co-opting billions in taxpayer dollars," said Sarah Lutz, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Stephen Coates)


From electric vehicles to deciding what to cook for dinner, John Podesta faces climate challenges

The Canadian Press
Wed, May 29, 2024




WASHINGTON (AP) — John Podesta was two months into his new role as President Joe Biden’s global climate envoy when he faced his first international crisis — what to serve for dinner.

He had invited his Chinese counterpart, Liu Zhenmin, over to his house but learned that his guest — perhaps not surprisingly — only likes Chinese food. Although Podesta is well known for his culinary skills, he usually sticks to cooking Italian.

“I thought, OK, well, this is a diplomatic challenge,” Podesta told The Associated Press in an interview.

So Podesta whipped up risotto with leeks and fennel, infusing a classic Italian dish with vegetables that can be found in Chinese recipes. It was a culinary compromise to smooth out an essential relationship between the world’s two superpowers.

Few other problems will be solved as simply as switching around some ingredients. Although Podesta has worked on climate issues for years, the complications and obstacles have only multiplied as scientists warn that global warming is reaching critical levels.

In the interview, Podesta said he saw opportunities to work with China to limit greenhouse gas emissions that are even more potent than carbon dioxide. However, trade disagreements between the U.S. and China have led to what he described as “a period of some friction and competition," and Podesta said he would push China to contribute more money to the global fight against climate change.

International negotiations aren't Podesta’s only responsibility. He's also keeping his previous job of implementing Biden’s domestic clean energy initiatives. Podesta conceded that progress has been slower than expected on electric vehicles, but he believes there’s still momentum despite efforts by the political right to “demonize” zero-emission vehicles.

Looming over all of Podesta's efforts is this year's election and the threat that Donald Trump could be even more zealous in trying to undo climate progress if he returns to in the White House. Podesta warned of a “carte blanche to the polluters."

“Those things matter," he said. "Voters can make a judgment about whether they matter to them. They certainly matter to the planet.”

It's high stakes for a 75-year-old veteran of Democratic politics who was recently considering retirement.

“I had one foot in the car on my way to California with my wife,” he joked.

Taking on two — very big — roles

Podesta's plan to step away from public life changed when Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act two years ago, pumping $375 billion into the fight against climate change. Podesta had helped lay the political groundwork for the law by working with advocacy groups, and Biden asked him to oversee the implementation of financial incentives for clean technologies.

“There’s no one else in the United States that knows as many people in government and knows how to get as much done in government," said Christy Goldfuss, who previously worked at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic-aligned think tank that Podesta founded two decades ago.

Podesta's role expanded into international politics when John Kerry, Biden's first global climate envoy and a former U.S. secretary of state, retired earlier this year. Kerry was known for his close relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, who stepped down as well and was replaced by Liu.

Although neither Podesta nor Liu are new to climate diplomacy, "there’s more uncertainty in the bilateral climate relationship than there has been for the last three years,” said Li Shuo, an analyst at the Asia Society who previously worked with Greenpeace in Beijing.

Earlier this month, Podesta hosted Liu in Washington for their first official meeting since taking on their new roles.

“Personal relationships only go so far, but they are important in terms of building the level of trust that each side is telling the other what is possible,” Podesta said. "And I think we ended up having a good outcome of the meeting.”

Podesta described the conversations as a give and take: “He was pushing me, I was pushing him.” The U.S. and China have opportunities to improve their reductions in emissions of methane and hydrofluorocarbons, he said, and “the world is looking to us to find ways where we can work together.”

From billions to trillions of dollars for climate

However, a sticking point will be an area known as climate finance.

Under the Paris agreement reached in 2015, wealthy countries are supposed to collectively provide $100 billion in annual assistance for developing nations to adopt clean technologies and cope with the impact of climate change. They reached the goal in 2022, two years behind schedule, according to a report released Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Negotiators are supposed to set a new, more ambitious target during the November summit in Azerbaijan.

“We have a challenge where it’s not just billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars of need that’s out there," Podesta said. "We need to mobilize trillions of dollars to transform the global economy from one that’s running on polluting fossil fuels to one that’s running on clean energy.”

China has resisted any requirements to put its own money into the pot, but Podesta emphasized that it’s the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases “and it does have an obligation to the rest of the world to contribute.”

The United States is under pressure to increase its own financial commitments, something that has been challenging with Republicans in control of the House.

Joe Thwaites, an expert on the issue at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Biden administration officials have made progress by scraping together funding from around the federal government and searching “behind the proverbial couch cushions.”

Climate talks clouded by trade disputes

Trade concerns with China have become more prominent. Although China has boasted that its production capacity could help the world transition to a clean energy future, U.S. officials are worried about American workers being displaced if cheap Chinese electric vehicles and other green products flood U.S. markets.

“There’s no question that we’re now in a fierce competition, particularly in these clean technologies," Podesta said. He suggested that China is supercharging some of its industries and ramping up exports to compensate for its pandemic slump and the collapse of its housing sector, an approach that he described as “anti-competitive.”

Biden recently announced higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, batteries and other technologies. He's also pushing U.S. automakers to increase production of zero-emission vehicles through regulations and financial incentives.

“We’re seeing continued momentum," Podesta said. "It’s maybe not as quite as fast as people anticipated. But it’s very strong, very forward moving. And I think that companies are fully committed to that transition to electrification.”

Trump has criticized the focus on electric vehicles, and partisanship has colored drivers' views of the issue, creating a political and cultural hurdle to lowering emissions from transportation.

“I think that the right has kind of demonized electric vehicles," Podesta said.

Dave Cooke, senior vehicles analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that while the rules have been eased for the next few years, automakers need to increase their efforts now to ensure they hit stricter goals down the line.

“We’ve given them such a cushy first few years,” he said. “If they don’t use that time to figure out their long-term strategy, that would be extremely problematic.”

Reports by independent analysts show that the U.S. is not on track to hit the emissions reduction target that Biden set for 2030, but Podesta said he was not concerned.

“I’m confident that we can do that," he said. "We’ve done an enormous amount already.”

He added that clean energy policies tend to be more partisan in Washington than elsewhere in the country.

"The facts on the ground are changing," Podesta said. “As people go to work in these industries, as they take advantage of the investments that are coming to their communities and see the results of lowering pollution across the board, I think they’re very hard to reverse.”

Chris Megerian, The Associated Press

How my photos of a pick-up football game made a mark on Canadian political history

THE PICTURE THAT LOST HIM THE ELECTION

Doug Ball
Wed, May 29, 2024





THIS IS THE PIC ROBERT STANFIELD WOULD HAVE PREFFERED

SINCE HE WAS RUNNING AGAINST THIS GUY

"Hey, Doug — did you take that shot of Stanfield on the front of the Globe and Mail this morning?"

We were boarding the Progressive Conservative campaign bus outside the Hotel Vancouver early on May 31 during the 1974 federal election.

I was a photographer working for The Canadian Press out of Montreal, where I had been stationed the previous year.

Early the day before, we had flown out of Halifax heading for a rally in Saskatoon and then overnight in Vancouver.

We had a refueling stop in North Bay and were allowed to deplane and stretch our legs on the tarmac.

Someone with the PC party brought out a football and started throwing it around.

I asked Robert Stanfield, the then-Opposition leader, if he was going to join in — and he suggested he might.

I put my Nikon F2 camera aside and joined the game.

A few minutes in, I saw Stanfield take off his suit coat and prepare to enter the fray.

I quickly grabbed my camera and fired off the full roll of 36 frames of him catching the football, throwing it around — and missing it, too.

When I finished the roll, I ran into the terminal and sent the film back to my office in Toronto, where it would be developed, made into prints and transmitted to news clients.

After the evening rally in Saskatoon, I made a quick call to see how the photos had turned out.

All they said was: "It's on the front of the Globe and Mail!"

After waking up in Vancouver, I went to the door of my hotel room and saw two pictures on the front of the Vancouver Province newspaper — one of Stanfield dropping the football, another of him catching it.

Then I saw the Globe and Mail headline: "A Political Fumble?"

On the bus, while I waited to catch hell from Stanfield’s political aides, Charles Lynch of Southam News sat down in front of me and asked the question — if it had been my photo. I said yes.

"Trudeau just won the election," he said.

Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau had won a large majority in 1968, but Stanfield had given him a run for his money in 1972, cutting the Liberals down to minority control in Parliament.

Lynch wasn’t wrong. Stanfield lost, and Trudeau formed another majority government.

Shortly after the election, Stanfield announced his intention to retire. He would go on to serve as the Opposition leader until 1976, when Joe Clark took the party helm.

When Stanfield spoke at the press gallery dinner in 1975, I wasn't in the room — but a friend told me that he gave the funniest speech, in which he called me out by name.

That year, I won the National Newspaper Award for best political photo.

More than a decade later, I got ahold of the ex-politician's phone number.

I dialed and expected a secretary to answer. But Stanfield picked up the phone.

I got nervous. I blurted out my name. I asked the question I'd been wondering about for years: would he sign a copy of the football photo?

It was the most pregnant pause I had ever heard.

Then: "Ah yes," he said. "You won an award for that, and I got nothing. Unbelievable!"

We met for lunch a few weeks later, and he signed a copy: "Doug — I should have taken off my tie."

After the meal, we headed out into a grey, drizzling day and took a few pictures together. Stanfield asked the photographer if we could take one more, on the count of three.

On three, Stanfield put the hook of his umbrella around my neck and gave it a playful tug, and we laughed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2024.

Doug Ball, The Canadian Press