More Sustainable Conversion of Sunlight and Luminescent Materials With Manganese

TOPICS:CatalystsEnergySolar EnergySustainabilityUniversity Of Basel

By UNIVERSITY OF BASEL AUGUST 18, 2021

For the first time, Manganese complexes show the types of luminescent properties and photocatalytic behavior that were primarily associated with noble metal compounds until now. Credit: Jakob Bilger

University of Basel researchers have reached an important milestone in their quest to produce more sustainable luminescent materials and catalysts for converting sunlight into other forms of energy. Based on the cheap metal manganese, they have developed a new class of compounds with promising properties that until now have primarily been found in noble metal compounds.

Smartphone screens and catalysts for artificial photosynthesis – to produce fuels from sunlight, for example – often contain very rare metals. Iridium, for instance, which is used in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), is rarer than gold or platinum. Ruthenium, used in solar cells, is also one of the rarest stable elements. These metals are not only very expensive, by virtue of their scarcity, but also toxic in many compounds.

Now, a team led by Professor Oliver Wenger and his doctoral student Patrick Herr from the University of Basel have for the first time succeeded in producing luminescent manganese complexes in which exposure to light causes the same reactions to take place as in ruthenium or iridium compounds. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Chemistry. The advantage of using manganese is that the element is 900,000 times more abundant in the Earth’s crust than iridium, as well as being significantly less toxic and many times cheaper.

Rapid photochemistry

At present, the new manganese complexes perform worse than iridium compounds in terms of their luminous efficiency. However, the light-driven reactions that are needed for artificial photosynthesis such as energy- and electron-transfer reactions take place at high speed. This is due to the special structure of the new complexes, which leads to an immediate charge transfer from the manganese toward its direct bonding partners on excitation with light. This design principle for complexes is already used in certain types of solar cells, although until now it has mostly featured noble metal compounds, and sometimes complexes based on the less noble metal copper.

Preventing unwanted vibrations

The absorption of light energy normally causes greater distortion in complexes made of cheap metals than it does in noble metal compounds. As a result, the complexes begin to vibrate and a large part of the absorbed light energy is lost. The researchers were able to suppress these distortions and vibrations by incorporating tailor-made molecular components into the complexes in order to force the manganese into a rigid environment. This design principle also increases the stability of the resulting compounds and their resistance to decomposition processes.

Until now, no one has succeeded in creating molecular complexes with manganese that can glow in solution at room temperature and that have these special reaction properties, says Wenger. “Patrick Herr and the involved postdocs really made a breakthrough in this respect – one that opens up new opportunities beyond the field of noble metals.” In future research projects, Wenger and his group want to improve the luminescent properties of the new manganese complexes and anchor them on suitable semiconductor materials for use in solar cells. Other possible refinements include water-soluble variants of the manganese complexes that could potentially be used in place of ruthenium or iridium compounds in the photodynamic therapy used to treat cancer.

Reference: “Manganese(i) complexes with metal-to-ligand charge transfer luminescence and photoreactivity” by Patrick Herr, Christoph Kerzig, Christopher B. Larsen, Daniel Häussinger and Oliver S. Wenger, 2 August 2021, Nature Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00744-9

'Worst year I've ever witnessed': Drought withers Western Canada's spring wheat

'Some are harvesting about 25 per cent of what they would typically expect. The conditions are terrible'

Author of the article: Laura Brehaut
Publishing date: Aug 19, 2021 •

"It's going to be an interesting season because we're seeing lowered (wheat) production across major exporters globally," says Daniel Ramage, Cereals Canada's director of market access and trade policy. PHOTO BY DAVID GRAY /Getty Images

Overlooking the Bow River as it winds from the Rockies through Southern Alberta, Hannah Konschuh farms wheat, canola, barley and yellow peas. “It’s really brown right now, but our farm is actually in a beautiful spot,” she says, taking a break from harvesting wheat in the 33 degrees Celsius heat.

Due to the drought and unprecedented temperatures across Western Canada, her county of Wheatland has declared a state of emergency. On day five of this year’s wheat harvest at her family farm, Generation Land & Grain Co. Ltd., the effects were obvious.

Their Canadian Prairie Spring, which yielded 65 bushels an acre in 2020, has dwindled to 12. Usually more drought-tolerant, their hard red spring is also suffering; as is their barley, yielding 10 to 15 bushels per acre compared to last year’s more than 100.

Hard year or not, Konschuh takes pride in growing grain. “It’s pretty remarkable to say that this wheat I’m growing right now is going to end up all over the world and in someone’s kitchen. It’s a pretty special thing to get to say that I’m growing wheat in Alberta.”

They’re fortunate, Konschuh adds. Last year’s growing season was fruitful, which created a buffer. They have crop insurance, manage their expenses and choose farm upgrades carefully. Even still, the implications of the drought are many. Unable to fulfil the “conservative” amount of grain they pre-sold to some of their buyers, they had to pay the replacement costs. As grain plants wither, grasshoppers thrive, putting increased pressure on already struggling crops.

“In the middle of the summer, I was feeling pretty stressed about it. And you do what you can,” says Konschuh. “We’re going to be fine for next year. But what really contributes to my stress levels is that it’s been said that droughts come in three- and five-year cycles. So if we do find ourselves in a prolonged drought cycle, it will have impacts on our ability to keep doing this.”

Throughout Western Canada — from Vancouver Island to Northwestern Ontario — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Monitor map paints a stark picture. The three Prairie provinces especially are mottled brown, red, orange, tan and yellow, indicating a sliding scale of abnormal dryness.

Because of the record-breaking temperatures and lack of rain, harvest started seven to 14 days early in the Prairies, says Daniel Ramage, Cereals Canada’s director of market access and trade policy. And though there’s regional variation, yields are lower across North America.

“It’s going to be an interesting season because we’re seeing lowered production across major exporters,” says Ramage. In addition to lower yields in North America, countries including Russia and Kazakhstan have also trimmed production estimates. “So the supply available globally is shorter than it has been in previous years.”

Article content

“We had a really good growing season last year (pictured), so that’s going to buffer us a bit,” says Hannah Konschuh, who farms near Cluny, Alta.

 PHOTO BY HANNAH KONSCHUH

The latest USDA estimate forecasts 24 million tonnes of Canadian wheat production; a 32 per cent decrease from 2020. Despite the drop, Ramage doesn’t expect shortages in Canada: “Our domestic consumption in a normal year would be around eight million tonnes — (24 million tonnes is) more than enough.”

With grain in shorter supply, however, prices may rise; according to the 2021 Food Price Report, bread prices could increase by as much as 6.5 per cent by the end of the year.

Harvest is underway in the Prairies, but the full effect of the severe weather on the quantity and quality of grain is yet to be determined. Farmers in some areas are faring well, says Erin Gowriluk, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, but in others, harvest could be as low as 50 per cent.

While it may not be unprecedented, Gowriluk adds, the drought is unique in how widespread it is. In the past, provinces may have seen pockets of drought where wheat quality would drop, but 80 per cent would remain good, very good or excellent. Now, the situation is inverse: In Alberta, for example, 80 per cent of the crops are of lesser quality.

Whether it’s drought, excess moisture or early snowfall, farmers are on the front line of climate change, says Gowriluk. “I think what’s becoming increasingly challenging, especially for young farmers who are just coming into this and facing some pretty significant expenses, is not knowing. It’s the uncertainty of what impact climate change is going to have on their ability to viably farm.”

Tony Van Den Tillaart, co-founder of Fieldstone Organics in Armstrong, B.C., has been farming for 45 years and grows a variety of grain (such as emmer, spelt and an assortment of wheats) in the Spallumcheen area. “This is the worst year I’ve ever witnessed,” he says. “Since the snow left this spring, we haven’t had enough rain that would wet your T-shirt.”

Disheartened, Van Den Tillaart watched his grain plants wither as the weeds kept growing. “Even in my garden, I had cherry trees that looked like I was going to get a nice crop and the heat just fried them. They shrivelled up to nothing. It was just so hot. Apples were burnt on one side, little green apples. It’s like someone took a torch to them.”

On top of the drought and heat, his area is also under a wildfire evacuation alert. “These fires have just made it worse because you don’t get the sunlight. It affects plants that are trying to ripen.”

The farmers Van Den Tillaart works with at Fieldstone have reported varying challenges, depending on their region of B.C., type of soil and moisture levels. Some are harvesting 75 per cent of what they did in 2020; others 50, 25 and even 10 per cent. As a result of this shortfall, he’s prepared to prioritize smaller orders in the coming year: “We might not be able to fill some bigger orders.”

Janna Bishop, co-founder and CEO of Flourist — a mill and bakery in Vancouver, which sources dry goods directly from Prairie growers — has been in close contact with their farming partners over the past few months.

“Some are projecting almost no harvest at all, or just enough to maybe replace the seed that they planted in the ground so they can get seed planted next summer. Some are harvesting about 25 per cent of what they would typically expect,” says Bishop. “The conditions are terrible.”

Flourist will rely on 2020 grain harvests for as long as possible, and is considering diversifying suppliers by expanding to other regions such as Ontario or B.C. Since Bishop and Shira McDermott founded the company in 2014, traceability has been a priority. The names and faces of their farming partners appear on their packaging and website, and Bishop says they empathize when they’re struggling.

“We will feel the effects in a few months when grain reserves start to really dwindle, and we’re scrambling to find (grains) and we’re probably paying much higher prices,” says Bishop. “The farmers are the people on those first lines. They see it every single day that there’s no rain in the forecast, and it’s awful to witness. But it’s important to be connected to our food in that way.”

At his Saskatoon bakery, The Night Oven, Bryn Rawlyk also strives to create connections between his customers and the food they eat. Since he dumpster dived for the components of his first wood-fired oven, which he built with friends in Montreal’s parc sans nom (park without a name) in 2005, he’s engaged in improving community access to food.

Early in the farm-to-table movement, he began to question why flour wasn’t considered in the same way as other local produce, and set out to change that perception. Today, he makes loaves such as his Saskatoon Sourdough with Red Fife wheat flour milled from grain grown within a two-hour radius of the city.

Rawlyk grew up on an acreage outside of Saskatoon where grain wasn’t just a local food but a local activity. “People in Saskatchewan are always once or twice removed from a farmer,” he says. “Here in the Prairies, we’re known as the breadbasket of North America. That’s shown in the product, but also just the livelihoods of so many of the people, and the people connected with those activities and families and forums.”

This is the worst year I've ever witnessed. Since the snow left this spring, we haven't had enough rain that would wet your T-shirt.

Every farmer he knows has been affected by the drought, and some of those he works with have enough stock set aside from 2020 to meet his bakery’s needs for the coming year. But like Konschuh, he worries about what will happen if the drought continues: “Everyone’s been on edge.”

In terms of the 2021 harvest, the question of quality remains: How will wheat grown under drought and heat stress perform for bakers? At The Night Oven, Rawlyk prioritizes using local flour and buys it regardless of the challenges presented during a given season.

“We try to find different uses for it within the bakery,” he says. If a grain isn’t suitable for making a lofty loaf of bread, they might make crackers or flatbreads instead. “That’s what I think is a nice thing about the dynamic nature of what we’re allowed to do, and those skills as bakers in the bakery — of taking a product and being more nimble with it.”

Baker Dawn Woodward, co-owner of Evelyn’s Crackers in Toronto, works predominantly with Ontario-grown grains such as rye, Red Fife wheat, spelt and barley, but buys einkorn from the Prairies. Contrary to the Western Canadian experience this year, many Ontario farmers faced drought followed by a long stretch of rain, rogue hail storms and high winds.

Woodward is accustomed to adapting to the needs of different grains and suspects that with climate unpredictability, variability in their quality and quantity will grow. “A lot of what I make is tailored to fluctuation,” says Woodward. “I make a pan loaf, so it doesn’t matter if the bread’s a little on the soupy side this week. It’s a pan loaf. A cookie is a cookie, maybe I’ll bake it frozen instead of bringing it to room temperature.”

Flavour is her focus, Woodward adds, which often comes down to the farmer and variety of grain versus year-to-year weather fluctuations. “I feel very lucky in that I’m not producing 1,000 baguettes, where if there’s a change in the flour, you’re screwed.”

At Flourist’s bakery, they’re also used to responding to the specific requirements of each grain. But part of the company’s task is conveying information to their home baking customers, so they can make the kinds of loaves they desire.

“Because we’re extremely committed to our farming suppliers and milling our own grain, we have to let the grain tell us how to make the bread,” says Bishop.

They’ve seen a drop off after the initial surge of baking enthusiasm in 2020, but expect increased interest in the fall. “This is bad timing to be coming off of a really terrible harvest,” she adds. “But I hope it serves as an opportunity to help illustrate to people the challenges of growing food.”

 

Steel made without fossil fuels delivered for 1st time

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Swedish venture HYBRIT aims to replace coking coal with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen

Thomson Reuters · Posted: Aug 19, 2021 

Swedish venture HYBRIT aims to replace coking coal, traditionally needed for ore-based steel making, with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen. Hydrogen is a key part of the EU's plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (HYBRIT)

Swedish green steel venture HYBRIT said on Wednesday that it had made the world's first customer delivery of steel produced without using coal as it looks to revolutionize an industry that accounts for around eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

HYBRIT, owned by SSAB, state-owned utility Vattenfall and miner LKAB, said it would deliver the steel to truck-maker Volvo AB as a trial run before full commercial production in 2026.

"I'm happy to be minister for enterprise and energy in a country where industry is bubbling with energy for a [green] reset," Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation Ibrahim Baylan told a press conference on Wednesday.

HYBRIT started test operations at its pilot plant for fossil-free steel in Lulea, northern Sweden, a year ago.

It aims to replace coking coal, traditionally needed for ore-based steel-making, with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen. Hydrogen is a key part of the EU's plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

HYBRIT said on Wednesday that it had made the world's first customer delivery of steel produced without using coal. (Jan Lindblad Jr/HYBRIT)

SSAB, which accounts for 10 per cent of Sweden's and seven per cent of Finland's carbon dioxide emissions, said the trial delivery was an "important step towards a completely fossil-free value chain."

"The goal is to deliver fossil-free steel to the market and demonstrate the technology on an industrial scale as early as 2026," it said in a statement.

Another green steel venture, H2 Green Steel, is planning to build a fossil-fuel-free steel plant in the north of Sweden, including a sustainable hydrogen facility, with production starting in 2024.

Volvo said in April it would start production this year of prototype vehicles and components from the green steel.

Look up! The rarest Full Moon of 2021 shines in the sky this week

Scott Sutherland
Meteorologist/Science Writer

Thursday, August 19th 2021 - 

Eyes to the sky Sunday night! We won't see another "Blue Corn Moon" until 2024!

The upcoming Full Moon this weekend will be a special one to see. It is the first summer Blue Moon we've seen in five years, and there won't be another until 2024.

Take a few moments on Sunday night to pause and look up into the night sky. Venus will be there, near the western horizon, early in the night. Jupiter and Saturn are up nearly from dusk 'til dawn these days. Plus, the bright Full Moon which rises that night will be a special Blue Moon — the third Full Moon in a season with four Full Moons.

The Blue Moon hangs in the sky near Jupiter and Saturn on the night of August 22. Credit: Stellarium/Scott Sutherland

Now, there are two types of 'Blue Moon' that we hear about. The kind that typically sticks in peoples' minds (probably because it's harder to miss) is when there are two Full Moons in a single calendar month. We saw this last in the Fall of 2020 when we had the Halloween 'Micro' Blue Moon. This particular definition is based on a misinterpretation, though.

Back in 1946, the March issue of Sky and Telescope featured an article by James Hugh Pruett, titled "Once in a Blue Moon." In that article, Pruett wrote about the instance where there are 13 Full Moons in a calendar year, with the timing just right for two of them to occur within the same calendar month. He mistakenly thought that was the Blue Moon. Since they occur slightly more often than seasonal Blue Moons, this has become a somewhat more popular definition.

However, the traditional definition of a Blue Moon is "the third Full Moon in a season with four Full Moons."

This visualization of the Moon, produced from images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the August 22 Blue Moon. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Usually, any particular season of the year will have three Full Moons. However, every three years or so, simply based on when the Full Moons appear, we'll have a season with FOUR Full Moons.

This happens when the season's first Full Moon occurs with a few days of when the season begins. Then, because the time between Full Moons is only 29.5 days, the following three will occur earlier and earlier in their respective month. The fourth one will, therefore, occur just before the end of the season.

For Summer 2021, the season starts on June 20 and ends on September 22. The Full Moons are on June 24, July 24, August 22 and September 20. So, four Full Moons, and the third one — on August 22 — is a Blue Moon.

The four Full Moons of 2021. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/Scott Sutherland

The last time we saw a seasonal Blue Moon was on May 18, 2019. However, the last summer Blue Moon occurred over 5 years ago, on August 18, 2016.

The next Blue Moons will be on August 30-31, 2023 (the second Full Moon of that month) and on August 19, 2024 (the third Full Moon of that summer).

IS A BLUE MOON ACTUALLY BLUE?

The Moon doesn't actually appear blue on the night of a Blue Moon. It is just a saying that means "seldom" or "rare" since we don't often see the Moon look blue.

Most often, when we see the Moon change colour, it's either orange or red. This can be due to a lunar eclipse when a Full Moon passes through Earth's umbra - the darkest part of the planet's shadow. The umbra is tinged red because when sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the air molecules and the various dust, particles, and water droplets, scatter the shorter wavelengths of the light first. So, only the reds emerge out into space on the other side.

Watching a lunar eclipse from the surface of the Moon, the Earth would appear ringed in red as sunlight filters through the atmosphere. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

We can also see this kind of colour change when smoke and ash particles are in the air. In this case, the shorter wavelengths of the moonlight are quickly scattered, letting only the longer orange and red wavelengths pass unchanged.

Every once in a while, though, we can see the Moon actually look blue. It doesn't necessarily have to be full for this to happen.

According to NASA, "The key to a blue Moon is having in the air lots of particles slightly wider than the wavelength of red light (0.7 micron) — and no other sizes present. This is rare, but volcanoes sometimes spit out such clouds, as do forest fires."

As it happens, if there are a lot of ultrafine ash particles in the air, the red wavelengths of light will be scattered first. Thus, since only the shorter wavelengths pass through unimpeded, it gives the Moon a blue tinge. There were reports of the Moon appearing blue for years following the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. They were also seen after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, following the 1983 El Chichon eruption, and after the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

BLUE 'CORN' MOON?

According to the Farmers' Almanac (whichever one you favour), the August Full Moon is typically known as the Full Sturgeon Moon.

"The sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were said to be most readily caught during this Full Moon," says The Old Farmer's Almanac.

This graphic collects all the relevant data about each Full Moon of 2021, including their popular names, whether they are a 'super' or 'micro' Moon, a perigee or apogee Full Moon, and whether they are remarkable in some other way (Blue Moon or Harvest Moon). Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/Scott Sutherland

The Farmer's Almanac, attributes Sturgeon Moon to the Algonquin peoples of the Great Lakes and what is now the U.S. Northeast. However, to the Algonquin and other First Nations peoples, 'Corn Moon' may have been the more popular name.

'Corn Moon' is the popular name given to the September Full Moon. If we go with Algonquin Moon lore in this case, though, this could be the "Blue Corn Moon" referred to in the popular Disney song, Colors of the Wind. Apparently, when he wrote the song, lyricist Stephen Schwartz simply liked the way the phrase sounded. As it turns out, he may have been closer to reality than he realized.

THE MADDENING MOON ILLUSION

Seeing the Full Moon at any time of night is a spectacular sight. However, go out just after moonrise or just before moonset for what is usually an exceptional treat. It's not something the Moon itself is doing, though. Instead, it's due to a bit of trick of our mind known as The Moon Illusion.

There are times when the Moon actually does look bigger to us, such as during a supermoon, when the Moon is physically thousands of kilometres closer to Earth than usual. There are other times, however, when we just think it looks larger.

As our eyes take in the world around us, our brain knows from experience that objects close to us tend to appear larger and in focus. In contrast, distant objects tend to be tiny and blurry. From this, it also knows that for a distant object to appear in focus, it must be very large.

This close-up of the Harvest Moon was snapped in Calgary, AB, on September 13, 2019. Credit: Siv Heang

So, when we see a bright Full Moon hanging crisp and clear in the sky above the horizon, it is contrasted by all of the objects on the ground, which appear smaller and blurrier the closer they are to the horizon. This combination confuses the brain. So, to compensate, the brain interprets the Full Moon as being much bigger than it truly is. To be clear, the Moon is certainly much larger than any of the objects on the horizon (it's 3,474 km across), but this 'illusion' gives us the impression that the Moon looks enormous!

Look up into the sky closer to the middle of the night, and the Moon will be high above our heads. Usually, it will be the only thing we see, other than the stars and maybe a few planets. At that time, the brain is focused only on the Moon, and without the other objects in the field of view to complicate matters, it is free to just 'see' its actual size.

This zoomed-in image of the Full Snow Moon was captured from Salisbury, NB, on February 9, 2020, and uploaded into the Weather Network's UGC gallery. Credit: Darlene MacLeod/Smith

We have a few tricks of our own that can cancel out the Moon illusion, though.

For the first one, we don't need technology. Just go outside after sunset and find the Moon near the horizon. Stretch your arm out towards it, and cover the Moon over with your thumb or even your pinky finger. Note how big the Moon looks compared to the digit in question, and keep that in mind. Maybe even take a picture of it, if you want. Later in the night, check out the Moon again when it is high in the sky. It may appear smaller than when you saw it earlier, but repeat the step to cover it over with your thumb or finger. Compare it with what you saw before, and you'll find that the Moon is actually precisely the same size at both times.

There is a way technology can help us, though. When the Moon is low on the horizon, take out your cellphone, turn your camera on, and point it at the Moon. Note: it is possible for the Moon illusion to still work on us when looking at a picture or video. This is because the brain will make the same judgments of distance, blurriness, and size it did when looking at a 'live' scene. Still, directly comparing what we see in the sky at that time to what is shown on our small cellphone screen can help put things into better perspective. Plus, you can also take a few pictures to upload into the Weather Network UGC Gallery while you're at it!

Climate change: Does Germany produce double the UK's carbon emissions?

By Nicholas Barrett
BBC News

Chimneys at a coal-fired power station in Germany

The publication of a major report into climate change - warning of catastrophic consequences if the world does not act to limit global warming - has led to a renewed debate about what individual countries are doing.

British Conservative MP John Redwood said the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November would not produce the desired results, unless other nations including China and the US did more to cut their carbon emissions.

And he had this to say about Germany on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's only going to work if Germany, which puts out twice as much as we do, starts to take the issue seriously and closes down its coal power stations."

So, is he right?

What do the figures show?

The Global Carbon Atlas (GCA) publishes emissions data from around the world. It says in 2018, the UK emitted 380 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂) from the burning of fossil fuels.

In the same year, Germany emitted 755 MtCO₂, about twice as much as the UK, and about 2% of the global total of 36,441 MtCO₂.

So the figures for 2018 support Mr Redwood's claim, but some context is needed when making this direct comparison.

Key differences

For a start, Germany is bigger than the UK. It's home to 83 million people, 17 million more than the UK.

It makes more things than the UK. Germany is a net exporter - meaning it exports more goods than it imports from other countries - whereas the UK is a net importer - meaning it imports more goods than it exports.

Speaking to the BBC, German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said: "Germany is a strong industrial nation. We produce and export large numbers of goods that involve energy-intensive manufacturing processes. This makes the transition to a climate-neutral economy even more of a challenge."

Manufacturing accounts for twice as much of the economy in Germany as it does in the UK, according to the World Bank (23% of German national GDP, compared with just 11% in the UK).

"Germany has a larger population than the UK, so it's not too surprising total energy consumption and emissions are higher, because they have more residential and commercial buildings, and more cars on the road," says Dr Mike O'Sullivan, a mathematician and climate researcher at the University of Exeter, who collects data for the GCA.

There's also the question of which emissions you are measuring.

Territorial v consumption emissions

Climate scientists have two ways of measuring a country's carbon footprint:

Territorial emissions - this is how much CO2 is emitted within a country's borders. It takes no account of emissions generated elsewhere by the manufacture of imported goods.
Consumption emissions - this factors in emissions that come from the goods used or consumed in a country, including emissions from their production and delivery from abroad.

So, every time a car is manufactured in Germany and sold to a driver in Britain, the UK's consumption emissions increase, but its territorial emissions stay the same. The emissions from the factory that makes the car would count towards Germany's territorial emissions.

But once the car starts its engines in Britain, its emissions also count towards the UK's territorial emissions.

A total of 950,000 German-made cars were registered in the UK in 2016, according to the consultancy firm Deloitte.




By measuring consumption emissions, experts can better understand how responsible a country is for emissions produced abroad (for example, by another country making the goods which it is importing).

On this measure, the gap between the UK and Germany appears smaller.

We asked Dr O'Sullivan to calculate the difference.

"If we account for population size and traded goods, the UK's emissions in 2018 were eight tonnes of CO2 per person, compared with 10 tonnes of CO2 per person for Germany, so 20% lower, not 50%."




Some have criticised the UK - and other countries - for focusing on territorial emissions. These are the basis for the UK's net-zero target and also what countries are required to submit to the United Nations.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg has accused the government of "creative carbon accounting".

Is Greta Thunberg right about UK climate claims?

Do governments meet their green targets?

"They're falling short by not considering the full scope of how to reduce emissions both inside and outside the UK," argues John Barrett, a professor in energy and climate policy at the University of Leeds.

"We need to consider how we could reduce the impact of what we consume, irrespective of whether it was made in the UK or not."

BBC Reality Check explains how to cut your carbon footprint


When asked about the focus on territorial emissions, a government spokesperson told us: "Our emissions have fallen by 44% since 1990, the fastest of any country in the G7 [group of the biggest economies]".

What about coal?

The UK has moved significantly faster to reduce its dependency on coal than Germany.

According to the Fraunhofer Research Institute, Germany generated 24.1% of its power from coal last year, while the UK was down to just 3.1%, data from the National Grid shows.

Germany is currently planning to phase out the use of coal for the production of electricity by 2038, while the British government has promised to close the UK's last coal power station before October 2024.

"Unlike the UK, Germany was heavily reliant on coal for far too long and started phasing out coal too late. Our goal is a sustainable, reliable and climate-friendly energy supply" says Ms Schulze.

In 2019, the UK passed a law requiring the government to bring territorial emissions down to net-zero emissions by 2050. Germany has

 

HEALTH

Nearly 95,000 COVID-19 cases reported among health-care workers in Canada

By Saba Aziz  Global News

Posted August 18, 2021 10:01 pm

 Updated August 19, 2021 

WATCH ABOVE: Numbers released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information reveal 

nearly 95,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Canadian health-care workers since

 the start of the pandemic. Kim Smith has a closer look at Alberta's numbers.

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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a toll on Canada’s health-care workers, with nearly 95,000 cases and 43 deaths reported since the start of the pandemic.

The latest figures, as of June 15, 2021, were released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) on Thursday.

READ MORE: Internationally trained health-care professionals unable to help in COVID-19 fight. Here’s why

Data collected by CIHI showed a 43 per cent jump in case

care staff across the country since January. But the share of cases out of Canada’s total tally among the general population has continued to decline — reaching roughly seven per cent — amid greater vaccination coverage, CIHI reported.

“It’s been a significant impact on health-care workers who provide care to Canadians and we’re seeing that in a number of aspects, including the total COVID-19 cases and deaths that have been experienced,” said Lynn McNeely, manager of health workforce information at CIHI.

Beside the physical impact, McNeely said the pandemic has also presented mental health challenges for health-care workers grappling with long hours and COVID-19 fatigue.

“There’s no doubt health-care workers have been working tirelessly for the past year and a half under some really challenging conditions,” she told Global News.

View image in full screen

Graphic by James Hawkins/Global News

Personal support workers (PSWs) were at the greatest risk of contracting the disease compared with physicians and nurses, data from Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia showed.

Because PSWs tend to work on a part-time basis at multiple facilities, that puts them at an increased risk of exposure, McNeely said.

Of all the provinces, Quebec was the hardest hit, reporting 45,320 cases and 13 deaths among the health-care workers. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, came in second place with 23,557 infections and 17 deaths.

With the country in the midst of a fourth wave of COVID-19 fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, there is a greater push to make vaccinations mandatory for health-care workers.

READ MORE: Should COVID-19 vaccines be mandatory for healthcare workers? Experts weigh in

In Quebec, health-care workers will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 1, Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday.

The Ontario government will also be requiring hospitals and home and community care service providers in the province to enact COVID-19 vaccine policies by Sept. 7. Individuals will need to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination, a medical reason for not having COVID-19 vaccines, or they will need to complete a COVID-19 vaccine educational session, the province said in a statement.

Meanwhile, on Aug. 12, British Columbia became the first province to order people working in long-term care and assisted living to get fully vaccinated as a condition of employment.

2:01Quebec health care workers voice concerns with mandatory vaccines

Quebec health care workers voice concerns with mandatory vaccines

Staffing concerns

While the COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in the overall supply of selected health-care professionals last year, staffing shortages remain a major concern for provinces — prompting hospitals to postpone surgeries, close emergency beds and offer incentives.

Nurse practitioners made the biggest gains with a roughly eight per cent increase followed by physiotherapists and licensed practical nurses, the CIHI report showed.

READ MORE: Facing COVID-19 staffing crunch, some Ontario hospitals offer cash bonuses to new nurses

Nearly 6,000 nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and pharmacists re-entered the workforce to provide COVID-19 support across the country.

“Canada’s supply of health-care workers increased as a result of workers who returned to help respond to the pandemic, as well as new entrants to the professions,” CIHI said in its report.

“Despite the increase in supply and the ability to call on those not working in profession-specific roles, health-care worker infections and exposure to the virus contributed to shortages.”

2:01Alberta Health Services updates staffing shortages after surgeries cancelled

Alberta Health Services updates staffing shortages after surgeries cancelled

With increasing pressure on the country’s health-care system and backlog created by the pandemic, McNeely stressed the need to provide mental health support to the staff.

According to a Statistics Canada survey released in February 2021, 77 per cent of health-care workers who worked in direct contact with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 reported worsening mental health compared with before the pandemic.

It’s an area that will need attention in the months and years ahead, said McNeely.

“We’re going to have to continue to monitor and closely watch that burnout, as well as staff shortages among those who have been dealing with — not only through work, but through their own personal lives — the impact of the pandemic.”