Nitazenes: The street drugs stronger than heroin, fentanyl

Zulfikar Abbany

DW

A class of drugs called nitazenes — developed in the 1950s but never approved for medical use — is causing deaths on US and UK streets. What you need to know

Just when communities were starting to understand the lethal effects of fentanyl and oxycodone abuse, yet another painkiller opioid has emerged from the pharmaceutical archives as a deadly street drug.

Commonly known as nitazenes, 2-Benzyl Benzimidazole opioids are said to be up to 500 times more potent than heroin, making people more prone to addiction.

Drug and health agencies in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, and the US are reporting a rise in the number of overdoses and fatalities linked to nitazenes.

There are indications that while authorities clamp down on fentanyl, and heroin cultivation in Afghanistan slows under the Taliban, nitazenes are being mixed into other substances, including heroin and fentanyl — and even cannabis.
What are nitazenes?

A class of more than 20 synthetic chemical compounds, nitazenes were originally developed in the 1950s as opioid analgesics — painkillers. But they were never approved for use in human or veterinary medicine. Synthetic drugs like nitazenes and fentanyl are not grown naturally or cultivated in the environment like heroin or cannabis, but manufactured artificially by humans using chemicals.

They started to surface as illicit substances around 2019 in the UK, US and the Baltic states, although some reports suggest a number of drug deaths in Russia in 1998 were linked to nitazenes as well.

They are psychoactive drugs, which, according to a World Health Organization definition, means they "affect mental processes, including perception, consciousness, cognition or mood and emotions."

Not all psychoactive substances are addictive, but nitazenes are said to be far more potent than their natural "analogs" — drugs like morphine and heroin — and, as a result, experts say they are more likely to produce a dependency.

Nitazenes are controlled substances, which means they are generally classified as dangerous and illegal narcotics.

When sold in powdered form, nitazenes have a yellow, brown or off-white color. The US Drug Enforcement Administration says nitazenes are also being pressed into pills and "falsely marketed as pharmaceutical medication (like Dilaudid 'M-8' tablets and oxycodone 'M30' tablets."

The effects are similar to other opioids, such as euphoria, sedation, and a kind of wake-sleep consciousness, but also respiratory depression and even arrest — you stop breathing.

Why is the risk of overdose so high?

In an open letter to the journal Lancet Public Health in February 2024, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) wrote that nitazenes "have been increasingly identified in post-mortem analyses of drug-related [deaths] since 2022."

There is some evidence that nitazenes are being mixed with other illicit drugs to lower the cost of their production.

Adam Holland of the University of Bristol's School of Psychological Science commented — also in Lancet Public Health — that nitazenes were detected in substances sold as other opioids, benzodiazepines, and cannabis products.

"This means many consumers are using nitazenes inadvertently, unaware of the risks they face," wrote Holland.

And part of that risk is that people cannot judge how to dose the drugs they are taking — because they simply don't know what they are taking.

This is borne out in statistics out of the UK, for instance, where in the six months to December 2023 more than 50 people died after using nitazenes.
How addictive are nitazenes?

It is difficult to put a concrete figure on the addictiveness of illicit substances, including nitazenes — it is rarely the drug alone that determines its level of addictiveness.

There's a range of biological, psychological and social factors that influence substance use disorders, including addiction, and how they affect an individual.

Instead, pharmacologists refer to a drug's potency.

How potent are nitazenes compared to other opioids?

A 2022 report by the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) cited a review of "early studies" in which scientists gave 2-benzyl benzimidazole compounds, including isotonitazene — known as ISO on North American streets — and etonitazene, to mice.

Those studies indicated that isotonitazene was 500 times stronger than morphine and etonitazene was 1,000 times stronger than morphine.
What are the most common types of nitazenes?

The AMCD report ranked the following nitazenes from most to least potent:Etonitazene
Isotonitazene
Protonitazene
Metonitazene
Butonitazene
Etodesnitazene
Flunitazene
Metodesnitazene
What do nitazenes do in the body?

Nitazenes interact with various opioid receptors in the brain and nervous system.

One of these types of receptors was described by a UK government advice paper as "a principal mediator" in the brain that affects positive, therapeutic functions, such as pain relief, and the brain's reward, causing a sense of euphoria.

But a 2022 review of the function of another one of the receptors noted that "both therapeutic and unwanted effects of opioid drugs were exerted through their binding" to the receptors. Those unwanted effects included addiction, dependency, tolerance and withdrawal symptoms.

Edited by: Carla Bleiker

Sources:

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA): "New psychoactive substances" in the European Drug Report 2023: https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/european-drug-report/2023/new-psychoactive-substances_en

Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (UK, 2022): "Advice on 2-benzyl benzimidazole and piperidine benzimidazolone opioids" — updated December 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/acmd-advice-on-2-benzyl-benzimidazole-and-piperidine-benzimidazolone-opioids/acmd-advice-on-2-benzyl-benzimidazole-and-piperidine-benzimidazolone-opioids-accessible-version#pharmacology

Zhang JJ, Song CG, Dai JM, Li L, Yang XM, Chen ZN. "Mechanism of opioid addiction and its intervention therapy: Focusing on the reward circuitry and mu-opioid receptor" in MedComm, June 2022: https://doi.org/10.1002/mco2.148

Pergolizzi J Jr, Raffa R, LeQuang JAK, Breve F, Varrassi G. "Old Drugs and New Challenges: A Narrative Review of Nitazenes" in Cureus, June 2023: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.40736

Schüller M, Lucic I, Øiestad ÅML, Pedersen-Bjergaard S, Øiestad EL. "High-throughput quantification of emerging "nitazene" benzimidazole opioid analogs by microextraction and UHPLC-MS-MS" in Journal of Analytical Toxicology, September 2023: https://doi.org/10.1093/jat/bkad071

Zulfikar Abbany Senior editor fascinated by space, AI and the mind, and how science touches people

Crack and fentanyl abuse on the rise in Germany

Oliver Pieper

DW 

March 17, 2024

Germany is facing an alarming rise in crack cocaine and fentanyl abuse, with nearly 2,000 drug-related deaths reported in 2022. Experts are calling for comprehensive strategies to address the crisis.

In Germany, crack has become so widespread, it has put drug abuse problems on a new scale

Andre Penner/AP/picture alliance

Crack, the street name given to a solid form of cocaine, is quickly becoming a serious problem in Germany.

Its looks harmless enough, like light-colored rock candy, which is why users call it "white" or "stones." When heated to 96 degrees Celsius (205 degrees Fahrenheit), it crackles, hence the name. The mixture of cocaine, baking soda and water delivers a "kick" in less than 10 seconds, faster than any other drug.

Crack is extremely addictive and can be devastating for those who use it.

"Crack is smokable cocaine that delivers a kick. When used on consecutive days, it can produce psychotic states," said social worker Michael Harbaum.

Harbaum, a trained social worker, has been working with addicts for decades. But, he said, crack has changed everythingImage: Privat

Harbaum has worked at the Düsseldorfer Drogenhilfe (Dusseldorf Drugs Help Center) in western Germany for the last 20 years. His first job there was running the drug consumption room, where illicit drugs can be used under the supervision of trained staff.

He now manages the center and has seen the number of people using crack in the drug consumption room skyrocket from a few hundred in 2017 to more than 31,000 in 2023.

"Crack has a very powerful effect. It acts very fast, but it also wears off very fast. So, people feel a pressure to consume it again very quickly," said Harbaum.

"This is a very dangerous situation. Just imagine the substance being consumed every half hour. That leaves barely any recovery time –– no time to eat or care for hygiene."
Drug-related fatalities steadily rising

Germany saw almost 2,000 drug-related deaths in 2022, the highest number in two decades. The main cause was either heroin or other long-term drug abuse. Fatalities from cocaine and crack overdoses rose to more than 400.

Addiction researcher Daniel Deimel has been working to develop new courses of action to deal with the consumption of crack.

"Crack has been problematic in large cities like Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hanover for around 20 years," he told DW. "But it has been spreading in western Germany since 2016 in major cities, but also in German states like Saarland, because Europe is being flooded with high-purity cocaine.

"The drug market is growing because Colombian cocaine production has been growing substantially. The market and producers have diversified," he added.

Cocaine is increasingly entering Europe via seaports, such as in Antwerp in Belgium, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the German port of Hamburg.

EU ports join forces to fight drug smuggling

02:27 Deimel believes demand will remain high.

"We are living in a high-performance society. Cocaine is now used by many middle-class people — its use has been normalized to some degree. It has shed its cliched image of the 1980s and 1990s as a drug of the rich, of artists and media professionals."

Deimel studied the drug scene in the city of Cologne last year and found that almost all cocaine users had smoked crack at some point. Many of them were homeless. Many users reported massive psychological problems, including paranoia, in connection with crack consumption.

The biggest problem is that crack has no antidote, said Deimel.

"Well-developed addiction medicine interventions already exist for heroin, such as methadone, which is used as a substitution-assisted treatment. But no drug has yet proven effective against crack addiction. We really need more research on this. We also need a 24/7 emergency help center," he said.

Germany seeks coordinated action against cocaine trafficking

02:35 Unlike heroin, crack has no antidote

Harbaum's team in Dusseldorf recently opened a new accommodation facility for up to 11 addicted people at the city's central train station. It has social workers and security staff, as well as lockable single rooms.

Experts say more facilities like this are urgently needed, because in addition to crack, the next wave of highly dangerous drugs in the form of synthetic opioids like fentanyl is already arriving.

Fentanyl is a painkiller for people who are dying, or suffering from cancer, and is being mixed with heroin. A six-month test project in 17 drug consumption rooms in Germany, carried out by the German AIDS Association, showed that 3.6% of heroin samples provided contained traces of fentanyl.

"Synthetic opioids are entering the market and mixed with heroin,"said Deimel. "The problem is that these substances are substantially more potent and more lethal. With fentanyl, 2 mg is enough –– that's the size of the tip of a pencil."

Fentanyl, America's silent killer   07:06

Burkhard Blienert, commissioner for addiction and drug issues, believes there should be more low-threshold services to reach users.

"In addition to drug consumption rooms, there could also be drug-checking, rapid tests in drug consumption rooms, low-threshold substitution offers, and laypeople should know naloxone," he told DW.

Naloxone is a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. It is injected and restores breathing after an opioid overdose.

A range of effective measures have been tried and tested in Europe, he pointed out, but they aren't necessarily available where they are needed.

"Given the truly dangerous developments with crack and synthetic opiates, we can't afford to keep debating whether drug consumption rooms and drug-checking should be offered or not," he said.

This article was originally written in German.

Drug dealing and smuggling in Berlin  42:35

Oliver Pieper Reporter on German politics and society, as well as South American affairs.

DRC: Why it's hard to make cobalt mining more transparent

Jonas Gerding in Kolwezi, Congo

DW

Child labor and collapsing tunnels in DR Congo's cobalt mines are bringing electric cars and other vehicles into disrepute. But the push for transparency along the country's cobalt supply chain is met with resistance.

Making Congo's cobalt mining less exploitative is a difficult task

Mining engineer Pierre Amani Kangenda peers into the mouth of a narrow shaft that plunges straight down to the belly of a cobalt mine.

He can't quite make out the silhouettes of the young men whose job is to heave 20-kilogram (44-pound) sacks of dirt rich in cobalt and copper composite up the mine wall to the surface. But he can see their headlamps in the darkness.

The men use pickaxes and shovels to dig for cobalt in this small-scale mine known as UCK Drain on the outskirts of Kolwezi in the DRC's southern copper belt, where great amounts of cobalt are mined.

"As soon as they reach the vein of ore, they start extracting the raw materials," says Kangenda who is decked out in a high-visibility vest as he conducts his daily patrol of the site which has 59 shafts.

"When they reach a depth of 30 meters (98 feet), they stop and look for another place to dig. That's what the rules [on this site] say."

Elsewhere, shafts can sink as deep as 100 meters, depending on local regulations.

The dangerous business of cobalt mining in Congo is increasingly gaining international attention

Large informal mining sector

The Democratic Republic of the Congo accounts for some two-thirds of the world's cobalt, dwarfing the output of its closest competitors, Australia and Russia. Around 15-20% of Congo's cobalt supply is dug up by artisanal miners like those working here at UCK Drain.

Tunneling deep into the red dirt is hard and dangerous work. However, it's somewhat safer here than at other artisanal mines in the country.

Pierre Amani Kangenda is resonsible for monitoring mine safety for the Better Mining program

That's because Kangenda, who works as a monitor and trainer for RCS Global, a consultancy with a focus on supply chain transparency and responsible sourcing, is there to make sure standards are being upheld.

"I check what problems there are. Are there children on site? Is there violence and rape?" he tells DW.

The tunnels must be secured and closed down if cracks appear, Kangenda explains, and corrugated iron roofs over the shafts are erected to protect them from rain. Pregnant women and military personnel aren't allowed on the site.

"If there are incidents, we report them to our partners. We try to correct them so that the supply chain is internationally acceptable," Kangenda explains.
Saving the reputation of e-mobility

Kangenda documents everything he observes on his patrols into a computer program. The mine is one of eight that are part of RCS's Better Mining program, which aims to continuously monitor and support the improvement of conditions on and around artisanal and small-scale mine sites.

Partner companies along the supply chain can view the data logged in the program and react to it. This is important as the demand for cobalt continues to skyrocket.

Cobalt is a key component of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power electronic devices and electric vehicles (EVs). But reports of dangerous working conditions and child labor in Congo's informal mines have sparked an outcry over what has been referred to as "blood cobalt" in recent years.

This is forcing EV manufacturers, who market themselves as sustainable, to look for ways to source 'clean cobalt' untainted by abusive labor practices. This is proving a difficult undertaking.

Stopping child labor in all forms

Because of the monitoring of this mine, it's relatively easy to ban children from working in the tunnels or even from entering the actual mining site.

But it's more difficult to stop children selling the raw ore they find by sifting through rock scraps on-site to the Chinese middlemen who control the majority of the trading depots.

"We try to explain to the depot owners that they are not allowed to buy the raw materials brought to them by children," says Kangenda. "That is the condition we impose on them."

Better Mining has also launched information campaigns in the surrounding schools and churches to try to keep children away from the mine site.

"We are thinking about how we can cordon off the site," says Alain Mpalanga, the deputy head of the Somikas' cooperative, which organizes UCK miners.

"If we manage to do that, including the depots and the bistro area, then children will no longer have access."

The persistent issue of collapsing tunnels

Somikas earns 10% for every kilogram of copper and cobalt mined on the UCK Drain site, explains Mpalanga as he sits in his cramped office at the site entrance.

He oversees as many as 5,000 miners, who work on the site. They aren't formally employed. Rather, they work together to excavate a tunnel and pool their earnings.

Asked about RCS Global, Mpalanga says: "We work in symbiosis."

But the issue of death hangs over the mine's operations:

"There have been many deaths [from cobalt mining] since raw materials started being traded on a large scale," he tells DW. "But we have been able to put an end to the series of constantly collapsing tunnels because we now have technical experts and engineers."

That doesn't mean there are no more fatalities from collapsed tunnels. Rather, fewer people die when walls cave in, Mpalanga admits.

"We've never had more than five fatalities in one accident," he says, compared to incidents that have killed dozens at once.

Perfectly clean supply chain not yet possible

Better Mining isn't a certificate for a flawless supply chain. Rather, it's goal is to enable companies at the end of the supply chain comply with corporate due diligence obligations abroad, such as is now required by German law, says Lucien Bahimba, a compliancy expert and RCS Global's regional coordinator.

"This is a continuous effort in which people come to understand that within perhaps a month or a year they have to abandon behaviors that they have been doing for five or ten years. It's not always easy," he says from his air-conditioned office in Kolwezi.

Bahimba points to his laptop screen, which shows the mines that are being monitoring. Each mine has a rating, and the program displays individual grievances as well as corrective measures that are pending as well as those that have already been implemented.

Companies at the end of the supply chain can also see this information. RCS Global has listed the car manufacturers Volvo, Ford and General Motors on its homepage as partners.

Sacks of ore are transported to the traders who buy the raw material

Sources mixed at the middlemen

Back at the mine, people push bicycles heavily laden with dusty sacks of ore up a hill to a row of wooden shacks spraypainted with the names of Chinese buyers. Inside these trading depots, the ore is broken up, assessed for purity and weighed.

A truck stands idle as workers load it with raw material to be taken to a plant for processing. This is a critical point in the supply chain.

"Our work is limited to providing information about the mines that we monitor," says Bahimba from RCS Global.

The problem, he says, is that the processors source their raw materials from several mines, and there simply is no knowing what the conditions are like at each one of them.

"The ore is mixed up," he says. "And that's still a bit of a concern in the copper and cobalt sector."

That means that Better Mining, and other similar transparency programs, can't stop raw materials obtained from problematic sources from entering the supply chain yet.

For this to happen, such programs would have to cover Congo's cobalt mines on a large scale and be backed up by actionable laws.

"That would actually be the ideal," Bahima says.

Once the ore is trucked off for further processing, it can be mixed with material from other mines with less transparency

This article was originally written in German

Edited by: Sertan Sanderson

Images: Jonas Gerding/DW

UK dispute over deportations to Rwanda heats up

The British House of Commons is once again about to negotiate the controversial Rwanda bill, which is intended to enable deportations to Africa regardless of asylum-seekers' origin.


Birgit Maass in London

DW

03/17/2024

Sunak, seen here meeting with border guards at London's Gatwick Airport, has urged lawmakers to pass his deportation bill quickly

Carlos Jasso/PA Wire/dpa/picture alliance

When it comes to refugees, 91-year-old Alfred Dubs is easily enraged. The British government's plan to send refugees to Rwanda is "shameful" and damages the United Kingdom's reputation, he said.

Dubs knows what it feels like to leave one's family and home behind, as he himself traveled on the Kindertransport from Prague to London at the age of 6 to escape the Holocaust. Today, he sits as a life peer in the House of Lords for the opposition Labour Party and campaigns on behalf of refugees.

Lord Alfred Dubs was a refugee himself as a child during World War II

Christoph Meyer/dpa/picture alliance

So far, the Lords have refused to pass the "Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill." One reason is that it violates international law. But Dubs predicts they will ultimately give in since the Conservatives also make up the largest group in the House of Lords and the will to fight among the older Lords is waning.
Courts previously blocked the plan

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made it a priority to "stop the boats." Almost 30,000 refugees came across the English Channel last year, mostly in small rubber dinghies. They, and all the other refugees who have reached the country "irregularly" since the beginning of 2022, could soon face deportation to Rwanda. Regardless of their origin, they will be shipped to the East African country and forced to submit their asylum applications there instead of in the UK.

Sunak took to a border patrol boat to promote his deportation bill

mage: Yui Mok/PA Wire/dpa/picture alliance

Two years ago, Boris Johnson's government became the first to charter a plane to take a small group of refugees to Kigali, despite fierce protests from many human rights organizations. The European Court of Human Rights put a stop to Johnson's plans at the last minute.

The UK has already transferred £140 million ($178 million, €163.5 million) to Rwanda, but so far no refugees have actually been sent. The British Supreme Court initially declared the plan illegal, ruling that Rwanda is not a safe third country. The government has since rectified this via a new agreement in which the Rwandan state has promised not deport to anyone to their country of origin.

Sunak has argued that accommodating refugees in British hotels costs £6 million a day and hopes the Rwandan deportations will have a deterrent effect. If the bill doesn't pass, more people will die making the dangerous crossing, the minister responsible, Andrew Sharpe, warned his colleagues in the House of Lords. The Lords should not oppose the "will of the people," Sunak has said in a bid to win support for his tough asylum policy.

Critics like these protesters from Amnesty International have said the bill will have serious consequences for human rights

Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance

Deterrent effect unclear

Opinions differ as to whether the bill would even have an affect on refugee numbers. Jacqueline McKenzie is a human rights lawyer in London, representing, among others, an Iraqi who was already shackled in a bus on the tarmac to be deported to Rwanda before the European Court of Justice prevented it with its urgent ruling.

It was a traumatic experience for him, McKenzie said. He has since proven that he was a victim of human trafficking and is now legally allowed to stay in the UK.

McKenzie doesn't believe that the bill will have a deterrent effect. "We've been talking about Rwanda for years, and people are still coming," she said.

Nikolai Posner isn't convinced either. He works for the French refugee organization Utopia 56 in the northern French port city of Calais, where many migrants embark on their risky journey. When the plan first became known two years ago, there were fewer crossings at first. That is, "until the smugglers decreased the price," as they could well do again. Like many who work in refugee aid, he is calling for more safe and legal migration routes.

Sunak has argued that housing migrants like these men at the controversial Napier Barracks in Kent is too expensive

Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa/picture alliance

Many who make the dangerous journey from France to the southern English coast have family in the UK. And most of them are indeed entitled to asylum because they come from countries like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, where war and persecution mean that the vast majority of applications have been accepted so far.

Even if the law is passed in the next few days, it remains unclear when the first flights to Rwanda will depart. Civil servants' associations have called for renewed legal clarification, as they believe the new regulations continue to violate international law. Lawyer McKenzie has also predicted that the legal dispute will continue.

Migrants often attempt to cross the English Channel in small boats like these

Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa/picture alliance
Sunak set on swift implementation

However, the prime minister seems determined to deport the first refugees as quickly as possible. He has made the issue of migration a top priority and aims to have the first planes take off for Kigali within days.

It's a repellant thought for Alfred Dubs. After all, he said, the UK is one of the founding members of the European Court of Justice and a signatory to the Geneva Convention on Refugees. The fact that his home country, which took him in so generously as a child, is now setting an "appalling example" is something he will continue to fight as best he can, he said.

This article was originally written in German.

Brazil's Bolsonaro indicted over fake COVID certificate

Former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of tampering with a public health database to make it seem as if he was vaccinated. Bolsonaro has frequently downplayed the severity of COVID-19.

Bolsonaro espoused beliefs against the LGBTQ movement and abortion during his presidency, and had attempted to position Brazil closer to the US on foreign affairs

Brazil's Federal Police on Tuesday indicted former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro for falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination records.
Police: Bolsonaro wanted to 'cheat current health restrictions'

The indictment said Bolsonaro tampered with a public health database to make it look as if he and several others in his circle were vaccinated.

Police detective Fabio Alvarez Shor signed off on the indictment, saying Bolsonaro and several others wanted to use fake COVID-19vaccination records to "cheat current health restrictions."

"The investigation found several false insertions between November 2021 and December 2022, and also many actions of using fraudulent documents," Shor explained.

Despite his departure from office, Bolsonaro still has a fervent following from Brazilian conservatives and the country's burgeoning evangelical Christian movement

Bolsonaro had expressed opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine while also downplaying the health impacts of the virus and the severity of the pandemic.

It's now up to Brazil's prosecutor-general to decide whether to file charges against Bolsonaro at the Brazilian Supreme Court.

Bolsonaro's attorney, Fabio Wajngarten, decried the police allegations as "absurd."

"While he served as president, [Bolsonaro] was completely exempt from presenting any type of certificate on his trips," Wajngarten said, while condemning "political persecution" towards the former Brazilian leader.

Lula returns to a divided Brazil


It was the first indictment against the former Brazilian leader as more charges could potentially be brought on other issues as well.

The former president is currently being investigated over a possible military coup plot to stay in power after he was defeated by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the 2022 election.

On January 8, 2023, a mob of Bolsonaro supporters stormed buildings representing the three branches of government in the capital of Brasilia, several days after Lula's inauguration. Although their attempt to reinstall Bolsonaro's government failed, the event left a mark on Brazil's democracy and revealed the risks of polarization in South America's most populous country.

Bolsonaro also faces a probe over money he received from selling luxury watches he was gifted from Saudi Arabia during his time in office.

wd/sms (Reuters, AP, AFP)

Fossil fuel majors miss the mark on climate targets

Martin Kuebler

DW

Despite corporate messaging touting a low-carbon future, many of the world's top oil and gas companies are failing to meet global climate goals. And they're making plans to expand.


The burning of fossil fuels is heating the planet, yet major oil and gas companies aren't holding back

Haidar Mohammed Ali/AFP/Getty Images


Nearly a decade on from the historic 2015 Paris Agreement, oil and gas companies are nowhere near meeting targets to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) — a goal that itself is becoming increasingly unlikely.

That's the assessment of the latest report from Carbon Tracker, a London-based think tank that monitors how financial markets and investments can affect climate change. The evaluation compared 25 of the world's largest oil and gas companies, including BP, TotalEnergies, PetroChina and Saudi Aramco.

"Companies worldwide are publicly stating they are supportive of the goals of the Paris Agreement and claim to be part of the solution in accelerating the energy transition," said Maeve O'Connor, an oil and gas analyst at Carbon Tracker and author of the report.

"Unfortunately, however, we see that none are currently aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement," added O'Connor.

BP ranked highest in Carbon Tracker's report, but that doesn't mean it's doing everything right

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

The report aims to hold companies to account, and influence climate action by making investors aware of the risks of continued reliance on fossil fuels, the burning of which is the largest contributor to planetary heating.
BP best of a bad bunch

After analyzing public data, Carbon Tracker judged each oil and gas company in five key areas: investment plans, recently approved projects, production plans, emissions targets and executive remuneration policies, which may be used to reward CEOs to boost production.

The company to come off best in the ranking was British oil giant BP, though its barely passing grade of D isn't anything to write home about. And a more detailed analysis by Carbon Tracker pointed out that BP "is still exploring for new reserves across six continents and planning a significant increase in its [liquefied natural gas] portfolio."


Among the major oil and gas companies analyzed by Carbon Tracker, BP was still the only one aiming to cut its production by 2030. Three other European companies — Spain's Repsol, Equinor in Norway and UK-based Shell — have committed to keeping production volumes flat. Chesapeake Energy, based in the US, was set to drop production in 2024 but its longer term strategy remains unclear.

Most companies evaluated by Carbon Tracker, however, were still planning to expand their fossil fuel production in the next decade. At the extreme end, American multinational ConocoPhillips is aiming to increase production by 47% over the next five to eight years, compared with its 2022 output.

These expansion plans appear to be at odds with prevailing energy trends. In its World Energy Outlook published last year, the International Energy Agency projected that demand for fossil fuels would begin to decrease in the near future.

"The momentum behind clean energy transitions is now sufficient for global demand for coal, oil and natural gas to all reach a high point before 2030," said the IEA report. That opens up the risk of oversupply and that these major companies may have to abandon some of their expansion plans.

"Companies must be aware of how the switch from fossil fuels to clean technologies might impact their bottom lines," said Mike Coffin, Carbon Tracker's lead expert on oil, gas and mining, in September. "They continue to put investors at risk by failing to plan for production cuts as the energy transition gathers pace."

Only one company 'potentially' aligned with Paris goals

Four of the five highest scoring companies were based in Europe. The bottom of the table was dominated by firms in Saudi Arabia, Brazil and, predominantly, the United States.

Accordingly, these companies scored very poorly when ranked against the emissions targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Only one company — Italy's ENI — had targets that Carbon Tracker said were "potentially" aligned with the Paris goals. That means it's aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 across the entire life cycle of its fuel, from the operation of oil and gas plants to the fumes released when the fuel is eventually burned in cars and industrial processes.

In its 2023 analysis, the International Energy Agency said most companies were still focused only on reducing emissions from the production, transport and processing of oil and gas, which account for around 15% of total energy-related greenhouse gas emissions at source.

"Only a fraction of these commitments matches the pace of decline seen in the [2050 net-zero emissions] scenario and most plan to use offsets to achieve their targets," said the report — meaning they plan to fund emission reduction projects elsewhere, rather than focus on reducing their own emissions.

Faye Holder, who investigates oil companies' claims for global NGO Influence Map, told DW's Planet A that fossil fuel companies aren't changing at the rate needed to keep up with the world's transforming energy demands.

"They're also lobbying against policies that would force that change, or bring it about quicker," she said. "At the same time, promoting this very public narrative that they are doing all they can."

Carbon Tracker said fossil fuel companies need to get ready for the inevitable shift away from oil and gas. This will reduce their exposure to investment risk — and benefit the planet.

"The energy transition is already underway, thanks to an initial push from policy action and a boost from technological innovation," said the report. "But it needs to accelerate further still to allow us to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and minimize temperature overshoot."

Edited by: Jennifer Collins

US linguist couple map fantasy languages for the screen

Lille (France) (AFP) – From Dothraki and Valyrian in "Game of Thrones" to the Chakobsa desert tongue in "Dune", American couple David and Jessie Peterson have devised numerous imaginary languages -- apparently the only two people in the world who earn a living concocting fantasy grammar and vocabulary for film characters.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 -

The Petersons developed languages for the screen adaptations of 'Game of Thrones' and 'Dune'

 © Paul Faith / AFP

Immortal lines from the "Game of Thrones" scripts such as: "You are my last hope, blood of my blood," plunge viewers deeper into the series' fantastical world when uttered in the original Dothraki: "Yer athzalar nakhoki anni, zhey qoy qoyi."

In Dune, the Fremen desert warriors roll the "r" in their Chakobsa tongue -- the name comes from a real ancient hunter's language that inspired author Frank Herbert in writing the original series of "Dune" books.

But Herbert and Game of Thrones novelist George R. R. Martin only included a few words of these fantasy languages in their pages -- it was the Petersons who fully developed them for the screen.

"Languages can be fun. Often I think languages are treated very seriously," said David Peterson


"People can laugh if they make a mistake."

From Klingon to Dothraki

The use of language creators in films dates at least to 1985 when Marc Okrand created Klingon for that alien species in Star Trek.

It has since taken off in numerous fantasy series -- but few people make a living from the work.

A trained linguist, Peterson landed his first paid assignment to develop Dothraki by winning a competition in 2009.

Speaking at a masterclass during a television series festival in the French city of Lille, the Petersons described how they devise languages by discussing the characters' environment, backgrounds and the objects they use.

Fremen characters in 'Dune' speak the Chakobsa tongue devised by language experts 

© ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP

From there, "we extrapolate," David Peterson said.

Tasked with inventing a language which sounded like fire for the Pixar cartoon "Elemental", for example, Jessie Peterson formed words from a series of sounds like explosions and matches.

Now she proudly recalls hearing children call out to their father in the language in the street.

Inventing grammar, vocabulary

With short turnaround times for filming -- sometimes just a couple of months -- the Petersons share the work.

Creating a language means more than just making up words -- the couple start by building grammar, including word genders and tenses.

From there music lover David Peterson works on how the language sounds and Jessie Peterson develops the vocabulary.

They send actors recordings of the dialogue at a normal speed, slow speed and even syllable by syllable.

The high-pressure process "usually involves a lot of swearing," David Peterson said.
Language and humanity

The pair have also created alphabets for messages written on screen by using images and symbols to create letters. David Peterson compares the process to the invention of writing five millennia ago.

Fans can study High Valyrian from "Game of Thrones" on learning app Duolingo -- or in regular lessons, along with Dothraki.

The Petersons share their expertise on their Youtube channel "LangTime Studio" with some 600 episodes for fans of co-called "conlangs" -- constructed languages.

'There is no reason to take the humanity out of language,' said Jessie Peterson 

© Chris Delmas / AFP

Could artificial intelligence get the work done faster?

"It would be more work to train the AI to actually produce a small amount of things. You might as well use that time to create the language on your own," David Peterson said.

Jessie Peterson agreed: "The beauty of language is that it is inherently human and there is no reason I want to take humanity out of language."

© 2024 AFP

DR Congo: slam poetry gains popularity

Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 

02:15
Video by: Aurélie BAZZARA-KIBANGULA

Slam poetry is a popular art form among youngsters in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Tetras collective, a trio with a deep love of Congolese and French poetry, use slam to explore their passion for wordplay.

CETA

France faces high-risk vote on EU-Canada free trade deal

Paris (AFP) – The French government on Thursday faces a risky vote on a controversial trade deal between the EU and Canada in the Senate where an unlikely alliance between left and right hopes to torpedo the pact.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 

Some senators want to inflict a defeat on the government over the trade deal

 © Thomas COEX / AFP

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been in force provisionally since 2017, but requires ratification in all European Union member countries to take full effect.

President Emmanuel Macron and his centrist parliamentary allies managed to get the deal approved in the National Assembly in 2019 by a slim margin, but backing by the upper house -- where they are in a clear minority -- is needed for ratification.

The French Communist party placed the treaty on Thursday's Senate agenda, with the stated aim of getting it defeated.

Accusing the government of treating parliament "like a doormat", Communist senator Fabien Gay announced "a political thunderclap" for Thursday.

In a rare temporary alliance, the leadership of the conservative Les Republicains (LR) party, which has a majority in the Senate, has also signalled its opposition to the trade pact.

"We need free-trade agreements, but not at the expense of our sovereignty, especially for food," said Bruno Retailleau, LR's leader in the Senate.

Like all EU trade deals, CETA was negotiated by the EU Commission, but also needs approval from each EU member.

Seventeen of them have ratified the deal, with the process in 10 countries -- including France -- still ongoing. Britain ratified the deal when it was still in the EU.

Cyprus's parliament is the only one to have rejected the agreement outright, over a controversy about a geographical indication for halloumi cheese.

But under EU rules, such a vote only impacts CETA's application if a government officially notifies the EU of the rejection, which Cyprus has not done. Instead, it plans to re-submit the proposal later.

If CETA is rejected in the French Senate, Macron would be expected to do the same.
'A warning shot'

The government has, meanwhile, accused the opposition of weaponising CETA ahead of June European elections seen as a key test of Macron's popularity.

"Let's not be naive," quipped Macron's minister for foreign trade, Franck Riester, saying the trade deal was being "instrumentalised in the middle of the European election campaign".

While the French government defends CETA, there is also plenty of opposition, notably around food safety, with critics pointing to Canada's laxer approach to genetically-modified organisms, hormones, pesticides and herbicides, and lower standards on animal welfare compared to the EU.

CETA has sparked protests across the EU, including in Germany 

© John MACDOUGALL / AFP

There have been angry demonstrations in several EU countries against the deal, including by climate activists.

Criticism has also come from farmers and industrial sectors, notably over access to the Canadian market, and regulations.

"Farming in central Canada is completely industrial and operates without any rules," said LR senator and professional farmer Laurent Duplomb, saying he hoped to "fire a warning shot" in the direction of the EU.

Meanwhile, senators have reported receiving an unusual amount of attention from companies, associations, the government and the Canadian embassy all hoping to sway them.

"I have never seen this much lobbying before a Senate vote," said one member of the upper house who declined to be identified.

Although a no-vote would not in itself kill CETA, the French government worries about the impact of any rejection.

"We have to be careful not to send a negative signal concerning an agreement that produces benefits," said a government source, on condition of anonymity.

The trade deal's backers say French exports to Canada increased by 33 percent between 2017 and 2023, while imports rose 35 percent, thanks to the agreement.

Wine and dairy producers are among the main beneficiaries, the government says.

© 2024 AFP

French lawmakers to probe Polynesia nuclear tests

THEY CREATED GODZILLA

Paris (AFP) – French lawmakers are expected to launch a probe into the impact of the country's nuclear weapons tests in French Polynesia over three decades.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 - 
Atmospheric testing in French Polynesia went on until 1974 © / AFP/File
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France detonated almost 200 bombs from the 1960s to the 1990s in French Polynesia -- a scattered Pacific island territory thousands of kilometres east of Australia -- including 41 atmospheric tests between 1966 and 1974.

"We need to ask ourselves what the French government knew about the impact of the tests before they were carried out, as they occurred and up to today," the largely communist GDR group in the National Assembly said in a written request for an investigation.

The GDR used its right to request one parliamentary investigation per session to demand the probe, which must be formally approved by the defence committee.

The blasts "had numerous consequences: They relate to health, the economy, society and the environment," GDR said in the text written by Mereana Reid Arbelot, a French Polynesian member of parliament.

She called for a "full accounting" of the consequences and added that the group wanted to "shed light" on how testing sites were first chosen during the 1950s.

Reid Arbelot said those decisions inflicted "trauma on the civilian and military populations".

GDR said that Paris' claims about how much radiation people were exposed to at the time of the tests are contested among scientists and should be revised.

Paris first opened a path to compensation in 2010 when it acknowledged health and environmental impacts.

A study published by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) last year found that the nuclear tests slightly increased the risk of thyroid cancer for local people.

But campaigners at the time said that it should have looked at a larger segment of the population and called for more reparations.

On a 2021 visit, President Emmanuel Macron said the nation owed French Polynesia "a debt" for the nuclear tests, the last as recently as 1996.

He called for archives on the testing to be opened, save only the most sensitive military information.

France's independent nuclear programme was launched in the wake of World War II and pushed by Fifth Republic founder Charles de Gaulle.

One of nine nuclear powers in the world, it maintains a stock of around 300 warheads -- a similar level to China or Britain, but far short of heavyweights Russia and the United States.

French nuclear doctrine calls for the bombs to be used only if the country's "vital interests" are under threat -- a relatively vague term leaving the president wide leeway to decide on their use.

© 2024 AFP

Cezanne and Renoir: Clash of the titans in Milan

Milan (AFP) – One structured and austere, the other sensual and joyous -- Paul Cezanne and Auguste Renoir were two founding fathers of Impressionism, but a new Milan exhibition explores their sharply different styles.

Issued on: 19/03/2024 

Paul Cezanne's 'Paysage au toit rouge ou Le Pin a l'Estaque' (Landscape with a red roof or the Estaque pine) at the Palazzo Reale in Milan 

© Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Marking 150 years since the founding of the art movement, 52 masterpieces by the two Frenchmen are on loan from Paris for an unprecedented show at the Palazzo Reale -- alongside two by Picasso, whom they inspired.

The paintings date from the 1870s to the early 20th century.

Renoir and Cezanne "were both part of the Impressionist adventure, before moving away from it. Cezanne turned towards extremely strong geometric structures, while Renoir kept his vibrant and sensitive touch", said Cecile Girardeau, curator of the exhibition.

The solitary, rather gloomy Cezanne had struck up a friendship in the 1860s with the jovial Renoir.

Cezanne and Renoir 'were both part of the impressionist adventure, before moving away from it,' said curator Cecile Girardeau 

© Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

As the years went on, the pair remained friends despite their different personalities and painting styles, with Renoir visiting Cezanne's home in the south of France several times between 1880 and 1890.
Bold brushwork

Impressionism was born in April 1874 when a group of painters -- including Cezanne, Renoir and others such as Claude Monet -- broke away from the government-backed Paris Salon to hold their own independent show.

Their works were characterised by rapid dabs and brushstrokes that explore the effects of light and colour.

Many of the paintings in Milan -- on loan from the Musee de l'Orangerie and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris -- address similar subjects, from landscapes to nudes or still life.

The works feature similar subjects but show how the artists' approaches varied 

© Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

But the artists' approaches varied, from Cezanne's bold brushworks focused on shapes to Renoir's more sensual touch that often sought to capture dappled light.

Girardeau, curator at the Musee de l'Orangerie, noted the differences between two still life paintings -- Cezanne's "Straw vase, sugar bowl and apples" (1890-1894) and Renoir's "Peaches" (1881).

"Cezanne tried to give us the essential structure of objects and it is through this that he makes us understand his view of the world," she told AFP.

By contrast, "Renoir captures the immediacy of the moment, gives us the sensation of the tablecloth, its folds, the softness of the fruit and the reflection of the light on the earthenware."

The artists' workshops have been recreated for the show: Renoir's from Cagnes-sur-Mer in the south of France and Cezanne's from his family home of the Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, the family home in Aix-en-Provence.

The show includes a reconstruction of Auguste Renoir's atelier in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France © Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Time seems to have stood still as the light falls on the studios, the brushes, dried tubes of paint and wooden frames bearing witness to their masters' work.
Joie de vivre

The painters' personalities came out in their paintings.

The sober Cezanne described wanting to portray nature "according to the cylinder, the sphere, the cone", whereas the exuberant Renoir described a painting as a "joyful, pretty thing".

Cezanne's portraits are austere, the subjects staring into space without the hint of a smile, while Renoir's exude a sense of gentle serenity or, in the case of his voluptuous female nudes, of sensuality.

Their differences reflect their backgrounds. Cezanne was the son of a banker, who had no need to sell his art, while Renoir was from a family of poor artisans.

"Cezanne certainly didn't have a spontaneous natural talent and had to study hard at painting," said Stefano Zuffi, an art historian and co-curator of the exhibition.

"He nevertheless achieved an exceptional synthesis between a very rigorous, very geometric sense of composition and on the other hand, the spontaneity, the freshness, the colour of nature's light," Zuffi added, calling him a "genius".

By contrast, "Renoir's greatness consists of his inexhaustible 'joie de vivre'," he said.

"For him, life was beautiful and painting was a way to make it even more beautiful."

© 2024 AFP