Sunday, August 15, 2021

Smart energy meter shows energy generation instead of consumption

An energy meter indicates that hundreds of watts are generated but in reality a small amount of power is consumed. This can happen using the combination of a dimmer and some household equipment, which together only consume about twenty watts. Depending on the actual setting of the dimmer, the energy meter gives the correct read-out, a consumption that is twenty times higher, or even hundreds of watts of generated power. Researchers from the University of Twente will present and explain this effect on the large online conference on electromagnetic compatibility, EMC 2021.

"The meter is running back," we used to say when energy was generated—the dial of the electricity meter turned the other way around, which was a great way of visualizing the power generated by solar panels, for instance. Today's smart meters have a display that can show the energy that is fed back. Earlier UT research, on intelligent electricity meters, indicated that the errors in reading can be huge: they can show substantial under- or overconsumption of hundreds of percentages. As the researchers now found, they can even show a negative amount of energy, as if electronics would generate power instead of using it.

This effect happens when a remotely controlled dimmer is used in combination with some kind of household equipment. When the dimmer is only used for switching on an off, it still appears to dim for a few seconds. For the equipment, this has no direct consequences, but for the measurements the smart meter shows, it can be the difference between a readout that is fully correct, a readout that indicates far too much power and a readout that actually shows energy production. After consumers noticed this in their homes, Frank Leferink's lab tested it using both a simulated main voltage with no further load and a fully operational environment with all types of devices working.

According to the researchers, this has to do with the rapid current pulses formed by the combination of the dimmer and the device. Like many home devices and battery chargers, the dimmer also has a switching power supply—it will work the same for various main voltages (110 V, 230V) by switching rapidly. Thus, it is not linear load anymore, like many loads used to be. The dimmer, in turn, can take action at several moments of the sinusoidal shape of the net voltage. This moment determines the measured outcome: roughly from minus 400 to plus 400 watts.

Switching power supplies, LEDs, and dimmers are far more complex loads. An average electricity meter determines the overall current using a coil. But this too simple and will not accurately measure today's complex net loads. Many of the smart energy meters were upgraded and have the lastest "immunity norm," but even for this article a meter was used that was built in 2019.

The other side of the coin is that the equipment we use should meet the standards as well, as noted in a recent publication of "Netbeheer Nederland' (Netherlands Grid Management). The combination of equipment and a dimmer that is not used for dimming may be a bit out of the ordinay. But imagine you use a remotely controlled device for several purposes: you dim a few lights, and switch on and off another type of device, all in one. So, this situation may not be that extraordinary after all.

The paper "How to earn money with an EMI problem: static energy meters running backwards," by Tom Hartman, Bas ten Have, Niek Moonen and Frank Leferink, will be presented at the IEEE Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Signal & Power Integrity.Electronic energy meters' false readings almost six times higher than actual energy consumption

Provided by University of Twente

Prominent fact-checker Snopes apologizes for plagiarism

by The Associated Press

The co-founder and CEO of the fact-checking site Snopes.com has acknowledged plagiarizing from dozens of articles done by mainstream news outlets over several years, calling the appropriations "serious lapses in judgment."

From 2015 to 2019—and possibly even earlier—David Mikkelson included material lifted from the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and others to scoop up web traffic, according to BuzzFeed News, which broke the story Friday.

Mikkelson used his own name, a generic Snopes byline and a pseudonym when he lifted material, including single sentences and whole paragraphs on such subjects as same-sex marriage and the death of David Bowie, without citing the sources, BuzzFeed and Snopes said.

He has been suspended from editorial production pending the conclusion of an internal review but remains CEO and a 50% shareholder in the company, according to a statement from Snopes' senior leadership.

"Let us be clear: Plagiarism undermines our mission and values, full stop. It has no place in any context within this organization," the statement said.

In a separate statement, eight current Snopes writers also condemned Mikkelson's actions, while former staffers indicated to BuzzFeed that he routinely encouraged the practice as a way to make Snopes appear faster than it was.

Mikkelson did not immediately return an Associated Press email seeking comment Saturday. He told BuzzFeed his behavior was due to a lack of formal journalism experience.

"I didn't come from a journalism background," he said. "I wasn't used to doing news aggregation. A number of times I crossed the line to where it was copyright infringement. I own that."

Created in 1994 under a different name by Mikkelson and his then-wife, Barbara Hamel, Snopes has earned two Webby Awards and served as one of Facebook's fact-checking partners between December 2016 and February 2019, BuzzFeed News said. In recent years, the site has been the focus of a contentious ownership battle between Mikkelson and the company that bought Hamel's shares.

BuzzFeed News flagged stories from a range of outlets that also include The New York Times, CNN, NBC News and the BBC. Six were originally published under the Mikkelson pseudonym Jeff Zarronandia, three under Mikkelson's name and the rest as "Snopes staff." Snopes said it has identified 140 stories with possible problems, including the 54 found to include appropriated material.

Snopes also cited AP material that wasn't properly attributed. It did not specify which stories.

Senior management said in the statement that Snopes was removing unattributed content while leaving up individual pages. An editor's note will be used to outline the issues and link to original sources.

"We are in the process of archiving and retracting all of the offending stories, along with disabling any monetization features on those posts," the statement said. "We will attempt to contact each news outlet whose reporting we appropriated to issue an apology."

Snopes meets $500K crowdfunding goal amid legal battle

China's youth react to gaming curbs with anguish and cunning

by Danni Zhu, Beiyi Seow

Online gaming appears to be the latest target for China's regulators.

It is Zhang Yuchen's last summer break before high school, but events have taken an unwelcome turn—the 14-year-old's game time has been decimated as China's tech firms try to dispel accusations that they are selling "spiritual opium" to the country's youth.

An edict by gaming giant Tencent means players under 12 can no longer make in-game purchases in multiplayer battle smash-hit "Honor of Kings", while under-18s are locked out after two hours during holidays and one hour on school nights.

"I wanted to cry," an anguished Zhang said as the news ricocheted across the world's largest gaming market, which soaked up $20 billion in the first half of this year alone.

"Limiting game time over the holidays means I can't play (Honor of Kings) to my heart's content," he told AFP.

The changes—incontestable and imposed far too quickly for the liking of Zhang and his peer group—have come as a censorious state scours the tech scene for signs of any firm growing too big, owning too much data or having too great a hold over China's people.

Gaming appears to be the latest target for regulators who have already strafed mega-apps providing ride-hailing, personal finance and online learning, as the Communist Party refines the type of capitalism it wants for society.

State media reports have singled out gaming, with one article calling it "spiritual opium" and another advocating an end to tax breaks for the sector.

'I have nothing to do'

Investors rushed to sell shares in Tencent and rivals NetEase, XD Inc and Bilibili, despite China's place as the world's biggest gaming market.

In reaction, Tencent this month dropped the bombshell curbs on play time, an early sign of broader industry changes to come.

Minors complain that the measures are too sweeping, affecting even teens who have finished their university entrance exams and just want to relax.

Tech giant Tencent has imposed curbs on its games, locking out under-18s from its hit game 'Honor of Kings' after two hours of p — Tech giant Tencent has imposed curbs on its games, locking out under-18s from

"I'm on vacation now and have nothing to do, but I can only play for a short while," said a 17-year-old student surnamed Li.

"It's quite upsetting," she added, noting that older teens have more self-control and should not be forcibly stopped from playing.

She gets automatically locked out after hitting the two-hour holiday limit.

But there are loopholes even with broader curbs, Li added, as playing an hour on different games could still lead to teens gaming for the same hours as before.

Others have circumvented the policy altogether, by borrowing an adult's account or using their parents' mobile phones.

"By borrowing an account now, I can play two to three hours a day and of course, game after 10 pm," said another 17-year-old student on condition of anonymity.

Some analysts say the reaction to state media reports about gaming may be excessive.

"Investors made it a big story by overreacting," Ether Yin, partner at consultancy Trivium China, told AFP.

"Keeping kids from getting addicted to games has been the policy of the land since 2018."

'Why do they have to do this?'

To get ahead of public criticism, however, Yin believes other gaming companies will likely roll out their own plans to restrict minors from playing and spending money inside games.

Chinese regulators have moved against tech giants in recent months over issues such as data security — Chinese regulators have moved against tech giants in recent months over issues

The impact on Tencent for now will be "minimal", given that children under 16 contribute around three percent of gross billings, said Michael Norris, research and strategy manager at consulting firm AgencyChina.

But with the gaming sector already highly scrutinised, Norris called it "unusual" to single out online gaming, which is regulated, if the concern was addiction.

For now, Tencent's gaming curbs have claimed unlikely victims—with some parents who game with their children also locked out.

Programmer Peng Jianfei said his 12-year-old son was using his account to play "Honor of Kings" while on summer break when an authentication prompt appeared and the boy entered his own ID number, triggering a block.

"I think such measures can, to an extent, reduce minors' gaming time," the 45-year-old said.

"But for now... if I can't play Tencent's games, I could always go to NetEase, don't you think?"

But other parents welcomed the restrictions.

"If children spend too much time on games, it's bad for their eyesight," said a 34-year-old mother in Beijing surnamed Wang.

Tugging on her arm was her 10-year-old son, an "Honor of Kings" fan who was less enthusiastic about the changes.

"Mum, say it's a bad decision!" he said. "Why do they have to do this?"

China gaming shares dive after 'spiritual opium' warning

Disease ecologists document person-to-person spread of antimicrobial-resistant plague

by Northern Arizona University

Although the world is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many other dangerous pathogens still out there, like Yersinia pestis, which causes plague—the deadly disease that killed tens of millions of people during the infamous Black Death in the 14th century. Although plague has been largely eradicated in the developed world, it still affects hundreds of people globally each year.

When a human is infected with bubonic plague from a flea bite and it goes untreated, the infection can progress and spread to the lungs, resulting in pneumonic plague. The most feared clinical form of plague, pneumonic plague is typically lethal if not quickly treated, and infected patients can transmit the disease to others via respiratory droplets. A team of scientists from Northern Arizona University's Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, led by professor Dave Wagner, recently published their findings from a remarkable study involving antimicrobial resistant (AMR) plague.

Although pneumonic plague outbreaks are now extremely rare, scientists consider plague to be a reemerging and neglected disease, particularly in the East African island country of Madagascar, which reports the majority of annual global cases. With no vaccine against it, preventing mortality from plague requires rapid diagnosis followed by treatment with antibiotics. An AMR strain of Y. pestis—resistant to the antibiotic streptomycin, usually the first-line treatment for plague in Madagascar—was isolated from a pneumonic plague outbreak that occurred there in 2013, involving 22 cases, including three fatalities.

Wagner's team, including PMI senior research scientists Dawn Birdsell and Nawarat Somprasong, PMI assistant director Amy Vogler, professor Herbert Schweizer, associate professor Jason Sahl and senior research coordinator Carina Hall, conducted a study of this outbreak, together with long-term research partners at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar and scientists at the Institute Pasteur Paris and the Madagascar Ministry of Public Health. The results of the study, "Transmission of antimicrobial resistant Yersinia pestis during a pneumonic plague outbreak," were recently published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

"By characterizing the outbreak using epidemiology, clinical diagnostics and DNA-fingerprinting approaches," Wagner said, "we determined—for the first time—that AMR strains of Y. pestis can be transmitted person-to-person. The AMR strain from this outbreak is resistant to streptomycin due to a spontaneous point mutation, but is still susceptible to many other antibiotics, including co-trimoxazole. Luckily, the 19 cases that were treated all received co-trimoxazole in addition to streptomycin, and all of them survived.

"The point mutation, which also is the source of streptomycin resistance in other bacterial species, has occurred independently in Y. pestis at least three times and appears to have no negative effect on the AMR strain, suggesting that it could potentially persist in nature via the natural rodent-flea transmission cycle. However, AMR Y. pestis strains are exceedingly rare and the mutation has not been observed again in Madagascar since this outbreak."Why health officials are concerned about the Madagascar plague outbreak

More information: Voahangy Andrianaivoarimanana et al, Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistant Yersinia pestis During a Pneumonic Plague Outbreak, Clinical Infectious Diseases (2021). DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciab606

Journal information: Clinical Infectious Diseases

Provided by Northern Arizona University

Image: Hubble peers into a dusty stellar nursery

by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Nestled among the vast clouds of star-forming regions like this one lie potential clues about the formation of our own solar system.

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features AFGL 5180, a beautiful stellar nursery located in the constellation of Gemini (the Twins).

At the center of the image, a massive star is forming and blasting cavities through the clouds with a pair of powerful jets, extending to the top right and bottom left of the image. Light from this star is mostly escaping and reaching us by illuminating these cavities, like a lighthouse piercing through the storm clouds.

Stars are born in dusty environments and although this dust makes for spectacular images, it can prevent astronomers from seeing stars embedded in it. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument is designed to capture detailed images in both visible and infrared light, meaning that the young stars hidden in vast star-forming regions like AFGL 5180 can be seen much more clearly.Image: Hubble sees a cluster of red, white, and blue

Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Traces of Ceres' icy crust found at occator crater

by Planetary Science Institute

Anomalies in the distribution of hydrogen at Occator crater on the dwarf planet Ceres reveal an icy crust, says a new paper led by Tom Prettyman, a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute.

The evidence comes from data acquired by the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft. A detailed map of the concentration of hydrogen in the vicinity of Occator was derived from observations from elliptical orbits that brought the spacecraft very close to the surface during the final mission phase, said Prettyman. The paper entitled "Replenishment of near-surface water ice by impacts into Ceres' volatile-rich crust: Observations by Dawn's Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector" appears in Geophysical Research Letters. PSI scientists Yuki Yamashita, Norbert Schorghofer, Carle Pieters and Hanna Sizemore, are co-authors.

GRaND's neutron spectrometer found elevated hydrogen concentrations in the outermost meter of the surface of Occator, a large, young crater 92 kilometers (57 miles) in diameter, the paper says. The paper argues that the excess hydrogen is in the form of water ice. Results confirm Ceres outer crust is ice rich and that water ice can survive within impact ejecta on airless, icy bodies. The data imply partial control of the distribution of near-surface ice by large impacts and provide constraints on surface age and regolith thermophysical properties.

"We think that ice has survived in the shallow subsurface during the roughly 20 million years following the formation of Occator. Similarities between the global distribution of hydrogen and the pattern of large craters suggest impact processes have delivered ice to the surface elsewhere on Ceres. This process is accompanied by the loss of ice by sublimation caused by heating of the surface by sunlight," Prettyman said.

"The impact that formed Occator would have excavated crustal materials as deep as 10 kilometers (about 6 miles). So, observed enhancements in the concentration of hydrogen within the crater and ejecta blanket support our interpretation that the crust is ice rich. The findings reinforce the emerging consensus that Ceres is a differentiated body in which ice separated from rock to form an icy outer shell and subcrustal ocean," Prettyman said.

"Smaller, water-rich bodies, including the parent bodies of the carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, may not have experienced differentiation. So, the findings could have implications for the evolution of icy bodies, small and large," Prettyman said. "More broadly, as an ocean world, Ceres could be habitable and is therefore an attractive target for future missions."

Funding for the study was provided by a grant from NASA's Discovery Data Analysis Program, the NASA Dawn Mission, and by the SSERVI TREX project.GRaND seeks subsurface water ice on Ceres

More information: T. H. Prettyman et al, Replenishment of Near‐Surface Water Ice by Impacts Into Ceres' Volatile‐Rich Crust: Observations by Dawn's Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector, Geophysical Research Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1029/2021GL094223

Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters

Provided by Planetary Science Institute

Corals survive the heat with bacterial help

by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Treating corals with a probiotic cocktail of beneficial bacteria increases survival after a bleaching event, according to new research. This approach could be administered in advance of a predicted heat wave to help corals recover from high sea temperatures.

Climate change is increasing the temperatures of the oceans, which disrupts the relationship between corals and their symbiotic photosynthetic algae and causes corals to bleach, in some cases eventually leading to their death. KAUST researchers have proposed that manipulating the coral microbiome might enhance their stress tolerance by using beneficial microorganisms for corals, or BMC.

To test this, the team selected six beneficial bacterial strains isolated from the coral Mussismilia hispida and used them to inoculate experimental cultures of M. hispida. At the same time, the corals were exposed to a heat stress treatment, with the temperature increasing to 30 degrees Celsius over the course of 10 days before dropping back down to 26 degrees Celsius. The researchers monitored the health of the corals and measured microbial diversity and metabolic parameters in treatments with and without probiotics or heat stress.

Initially, there was no difference—corals with and without probiotics reacted similarly at the peak temperature and both bleached. "At that point of the experiment, I thought, well, OK, we're seeing similar responses between the treatments," recalls Erika Santoro, the study's lead author, who is now a postdoc at KAUST. "But then after we dropped the temperature, we observed a plot twist from the group that we treated with probiotic BMC. That was a really nice surprise."

Probiotic treatment improved the response and recovery of the corals after the heat stress event, boosting survival from 60 percent to 100 percent. The researchers interpret this as BMC helping the holobiont to mitigate the effects of "post-heat stress disorder" and thus restructure the physiological and metabolic profiles.

The research also describes some of the protective molecular mechanisms. During the recovery period, BMC-treated corals had lower expression of genes involved in apoptosis and cellular reconstruction, and increased expression of thermal stress protection genes. BMC treatment also altered the profile of the microbiome through incorporating some of the beneficial bacteria as well as other changes in the population structure.

BMCs provide a valuable tool to cope with the consequences of climate change, but Santoro emphasizes that it is no silver bullet. "Using a probiotic is an effective tool to help corals deal with the heat stress, but we also have to consider other interventions," she says, such as "protection and conservation, everyone being more aware and, most importantly, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and trying to change our resource use. Corals will need all of these interventions."

The study is published in Science Advances.

Using probiotic bacteria to protect against coral bleaching

More information: Coral microbiome manipulation elicits metabolic and genetic restructuring to mitigate heat stress and evade mortality, Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg3088

Journal information: Science Advances

Provided by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Latvians take to the water for distanced concerts

Issued on: 15/08/2021

The concerts are called LAIVA -- a play on the English word "live" and the Latvian for "on a boat". Gints Ivuskans AFP

Riga (AFP)

Latvians are taking to the country's waterways for a socially distanced musical experience this summer, boarding kayaks, dinghies and motor yachts to enjoy some music -- even if unvaccinated.

At a concert on Juglas Lake near the Latvian capital Riga on Saturday, hundreds of boats could be seen bobbing to rock, folk and heavy metal.

"The idea... is so great," said Vladimirs Kravchenko, a heavy metal fan who has been attending hard rock festivals since the 1990s.

Organisers said there were around 1,500 people on the water, and 3,500 more watching from the shore. Gints Ivuskans AFP

"I hope festivals on lakes like this will continue even after the virus is over," Kravchenko said.

Organisers said there were around 1,500 people on the water, and 3,500 more watching from the shore.

The stage was located on the shore and two floating bars in the lake sold beer and cocktails.

Members of the Latvian folk/pagan metal band Skyforger performed during the festival Gints Ivuskans AFP

Only people with Covid-19 vaccinations were allowed to attend the concert on the shore while the lake was also open to those without a vaccine.

"This is simply a brilliant idea for how to hold a festival and ensure social distancing for the unvaccinated at the same time," Anna Berzina, who was rowing a kayak with her husband, told AFP.

The Baltic state has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union -- around 43 percent.

The stage was located on the shore and two floating bars in the lake sold beer and cocktails. Gints Ivuskans AFP

The government has imposed restrictions for unvaccinated people in a bid to encourage more Latvians to get vaccinated -- including threatening soldiers with dismissal if they do not get the jab.

For live events, the rule is that there must be two separate zones for vaccinated and unvaccinated spectators, creating a headache for organisers.

Saturday's concert was the second in a series designed by Dagamba, a classical and rock music crossover band, which came up with the idea of lake concerts during last year's lockdowns.

The festival included rock, folk and heavy metal music Gints Ivuskans AFP

The concerts are called LAIVA -- a play on the English word "live" and the Latvian for "on a boat".

At the concert, the sight of the flotilla in front of him inspired Peteris Kvetkovskis, the frontman of black and folk metal band Skyforger.

Only people with Covid-19 vaccinations were allowed to attend the concert on the shore while the lake was also open to those without a vaccine. Gints Ivuskans AFP

"Seeing so many boats in front of us, we will play a song about a Viking raid being launched," he told the audience from the stage, before launching into the number called "To the Northern Shores".

© 2021 AFP

Thousands join convoy protests against Thai PM

Issued on: 15/08/2021

Protesters in cars and on bikes massed in Bangkok's central shopping district

Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP

Bangkok (AFP)

Thousands of protesters in cars and on bikes massed in Bangkok's central shopping district Sunday, one of several mobile rallies across Thailand demanding Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha resign over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The kingdom is grappling with its worst outbreak so far, registering record numbers of daily infections each week as hospitals struggle to cope. In total, it has reported more than 907,000 cases and 7,551 deaths from Covid-19.

A sluggish vaccine roll-out -- coupled with financial woes from weeks-long restrictions on businesses -- has fanned anger at Prayut's administration.

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Protesters flashed the three-finger salute of resistance Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP

Sparked by concerns about public gatherings spreading the virus, protesters have in recent weeks turned to organising massive car convoys at major intersections -- thus clogging up Bangkok's already traffic-choked streets.

Thousands turned up in their cars and motorbikes Sunday in at least three rallies across the Thai capital -- with the largest near Bangkok's gleaming shopping malls, empty in recent weeks.

"The time is up for Prayut. The government has shown clearly they will not take responsibility for any loss," shouted Nattawut Saikuar, a politician long associated with former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The anti-government movement first gained momentum last July Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP

Protesters -- who were joined by saffron-robed monks and an LGBTQ contingent carrying rainbow-coloured umbrellas -- flashed the three-finger salute of resistance.

More so-called "car mobs" were also planned in the beach city of Pattaya just two hours from Bangkok, as well as in the northern cultural hub of Chiang Mai.

Nattawut Saikuar said the government 'will not take responsibility' for the fallout from the pandemic Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP

The anti-government movement first gained momentum last July.

At its peak, it drew tens of thousands to street rallies, demanding the resignation of Prayut -- a former army chief who came to power via a 2014 coup.

But attendances have waned this year, as the public stayed away due to Covid-19 fears.

Sunday's protests come after a week of clashes between demonstrators and police, who have increasingly used rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas to quell the rallies.

At least three protesters were injured Friday, but authorities have defended their use of force as appropriate.

"We only use it (force) when it is necessary," National Police chief Suwat Jangyodsuk told a Sunday press conference.

© 2021 AFP

Asia won’t solve climate change without reform of financial markets

15 August 2021

Author: Adam Triggs, Accenture and ANU

More than US$16 trillion worldwide is currently sitting in government bonds yielding negative real returns. Meanwhile, the world needs at least US$35 trillion of sustainable investment to avoid the 1.5 degree increase in global temperatures that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns is now imminent.

A worker harvests fresh produce from a tower at Sky Greens vertical farm in Singapore, 30 July 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)

To make matters worse, the substantial environmental and economic benefits from sustainable practices like lowering carbon emissions, improving land management and other environmental good practices often go unrewarded by the financial system, even though the returns to society are high.

These paradoxes are caused by markets that are missing for the environment and natural capital.

For too long, the world has relied on directionless governments and the unreliable promises of corporate social responsibility and shareholder activism to manage the environment and natural capital and deliver the investment needed to avoid climate change. It hasn’t worked.

Luckily, there is a better way.

These missing markets are the product of deficient global financial rules, insufficient data and weak institutions. Some national governments are now beginning to struggle with these things, but what they need is international cooperation.

The weight of research shows that businesses and households that have good environmental credentials are also better borrowers. They are less likely to default on their loans and they are less likely to be late on their repayments.

In a well-functioning market where these broader social and economic benefits are properly priced, these borrowers would get lower interest rates and, when these loans were securitized and sold-on in the form of bonds, the bonds would be more favourably priced because the underlying asset is stronger and safer.

This is not what we are seeing. While there are some banks and financial institutions which are increasingly taking environmental credentials into account, we are not seeing it on the scale that the evidence would recommend, particularly in developing countries.

The regulations that inhibit sustainable investment globally are the Basel III global capital rules and national financial regulations that seek to implement them. Among other things, these rules require banks to hold high-quality assets on their balance sheets to buffer them from shocks. But the rules around the quality of these assets don’t account for the fact that environmentally friendly loans are safer than environmentally unfriendly loans. The result is that the world’s banks aren’t holding or issuing enough green debt, resulting in less sustainable investment.

It gets worse. The failure of these rules to properly price environmental risks undermines the stability of the financial system, as it means there are risks endemic in bank balance sheets and the broader financial system that we aren’t accounting for. A borrower that is forced to undertake a costly environmental clean-up, for example, could quickly find themselves in financial trouble — a shock which is then transmitted through to the lender and any financial assets that are underpinned by that original loan.

Another factor constraining sustainable investment is a lack of data. There are a range of organisations that provide ratings on the environmental credentials of firms. These data are vital for markets to price environmental risks properly. But these organisations often provide different environmental ratings for the same businesses which makes such pricing difficult.

The ability to collect high-quality data on things like land management and the environmental impact of firms has never been easier given the availability of digital and remote sensing technologies. But in countries where such technologies are unavailable and where firms are not yet providing comprehensive environmental ratings it becomes very difficult for markets to price these risks.

How do we begin to get national financial authorities to work towards a global financial regime that properly prices natural capital (reduced carbon emission, environmental sustainability)? In China, Europe and elsewhere authorities have begun actively framing national approaches to the problem, but the global nature of capital markets and environmental challenges requires a global solution.

China’s central bank governor, Yi Gang, has announced that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is co-operating with the European Union to achieve convergence of green investment taxonomies across the two markets, aiming to implement a jointly recognised classification system for business environmental credentials by the end of this year.

APEC is a platform from which to work these issues through. As a cooperation framework more than a negotiation forum it can support finding practical areas of cooperation, especially between the United States and China, and build broader consensus for mutual benefit. APEC also brings a practical, private sector-led way of getting action on climate change which supports agriculture, boosts investment and bolsters financial stability; something which can help bring more recalcitrant governments into the tent.

Sustainable investment is a practical area in which China and the United States can work together on a common priority. It is an issue PBOC has been working on for some years, it has political appeal across both sides of the isle in the United States and is something which resonates with APEC governments who prefer technology and private sector-led approaches to climate change.

One challenge is in making sure that loans are provided for the right amount of time. The economic payoffs that come from sustainable investments like improved land management can take decades to materialise. There’s a role for government to make sure that there are institutions in place to spur markets in natural capital and design those markets in the most effective way possible.

With government budgets in tatters and the threat of climate change looming ominously, boosting the role of private finance has gone from being preferable to being essential.

Adam Triggs is a Director within Accenture Strategy, a Visiting Fellow at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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