Batteries versus e-fuels: Which is better?

DW explores the best solutions for small and commercial vehicles as battery-fueled EVs get cheaper and more "climate-neutral" e-fuels prepare to hit the market.



Electric vehicles powered by batteries are set to make the combustion engine car obsolete

Beyond the Tesla electric vehicle (EV) hype, battery-powered cars are finally starting to dominate a market long ruled by the combustion engine.

In Norway, for example, 84% of new car sales in January were EVs.

Compared with high-carbon petrol vehicles, zero-emission cars make less noise, accelerate much faster and don't spew out CO2 as they drive. The expansion of charging infrastructure in many countries has added to the allure of EVs.
EVs much cheaper to run — and soon to buy

Until recently, EVs cost almost twice as much as internal combustion cars. But electric models will achieve price parity with their fossil fuel counterparts by 2026 and will be 10-30% cheaper by the end of the decade, according to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) study.

Even better, EVs harness around 95% of the energy used when driving, as opposed to a combustion engine that loses two-thirds of energy as waste heat. And with oil prices reaching a record high in recent months, EVs are increasingly cheaper to run.

At a current fuel price of roughly two euros per liter, it would cost 14 euros for someone to drive a diesel car 100 kilometers. By comparison, an EV consuming around 15 kilowatts (kWh) of electricity for 100 kilometers of travel would, at an average electricity price of 20 euro cents per kWh, cost just three euros.

Due to this significant cost advantage, experts expect battery-powered EVs to soon dominate mainstream markets. The BNEF study assumes that 70% of all newly sold passenger cars in the EU could be battery-powered as early as 2030.

But as the consumer EV revolution emerges on the horizon, how far can the technology be adopted by heavy commercial trucks, trains, planes and ships?

There are different ideas about how to decarbonize heavy goods vehicles

Batteries trump hydrogen for heavy transport

Debate has simmered as to how to best achieve zero emissions for truck transports that drive hundreds of kilometers a day.

While electric heavy goods vehicles are increasingly affordable, uptake will be limited unless fast-charging stations are located consistently on long-distance routes.

One alternative carbon-neutral option for trucks is hydrogen fuel cells that generate electricity to power the vehicle.

A downside, however, is cost, with hydrogen-powered trucks significantly more expensive than standard electric models. They are also less efficient, according to a recent study by Fraunhofer ISE, a German scientific research institute.

The study, commissioned by the Traton Group — the world's leading commercial vehicle manufacturer whose brands include MAN, Scania and Volkswagen — confirmed that e-trucks with batteries will save on cost compared to hydrogen.

"In truck traffic, especially on long-distance routes, pure e-trucks will in most cases be the cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution," said Catharina Modahl-Nilsson, Chief Technical Officer of Traton Group, in a statement.

"This is because hydrogen trucks have a decisive disadvantage. Only about a quarter of the output energy powers the vehicle, three quarters is lost through conversion processes. With the e-truck, the ratio is reversed," she added.

E-fuels struggle to contend

Years in the making, synthetic e-fuels are being promoted as a climate-neutral option for cars and trucks with existing combustion engines. The fuels utilize green hydrogen produced from water and renewable electricity, which is combined with CO2 to produce a synthetic fuel similar to diesel, gasoline or kerosene.

German auto manufacturer Porsche has invested heavily in the technology, and intends to produce an e-fuel this year that company spokesman, Peter Gräve, said will "permit the almost climate-neutral operation of combustion-engine vehicles."

But while e-fuels might help prolong the life of the combustion engine in a zero carbon world, they remain relatively inefficient compared to battery technology — and are also significantly more expensive.

Vehicles run on e-fuels consume five times more energy than a battery-powered EV, and will be around eight times more expensive to run per kilometer in the future, according to a study commissioned by the German Energy Agency.
Zero carbon ships, trains and planes

While small propeller-driven aircraft and excursion ferries are increasingly being powered by batteries energy-intensive trains are better served by overhead electric lines that can also be utlilized by e-buses and e-trucks at relatively low cost.

Today's battery technology is also insufficient for commercial aircraft and large container ships travelling long distances. But this is where e-fuel might be the only climate-friendly alternative.

The first commercial e-fuel plant is currently being built in southern Chile. Porsche, alongside German technology giant Siemens Energy, want to produce carbon neutral e-fuels using low-cost wind power.

"In ten years, we will see dozens of such projects a year springing up like mushrooms, climate-neutral fuel made from electricity, water and air," predicts Christian Breyer, an expert on global energy scenarios at Findland's LUT University.

Charging the zero emissions future

The potential manifold benefits of EV batteries will likely secure their ascendancy over e-fuels in a carbon neutral transport future.

With a storage capacity of around 50 kilowatt hours, EV batteries can both power your car and supply the average electricity needs of a two-person household in Germany for a week.


For homeowners, inexpensive solar power from the house roof can charge the car battery during the day before it supplies the house with electricity at night.

Vehicle manufacturers such as VW are preparing their models for this dual function, while energy suppliers are also interested in using EV batteries to complement the power grid when demand is particularly high.

At present, however, the technology is still in its infancy, with only select battery wall boxes able to feed electricity back into the grid. Energy suppliers are also not currently able to pay car owners for supplying electricity.

But experts say that people who combine an EV with grid feeding could potentially earn around 800 euros per year. It's just one more incentive that will help drive the mass uptake of EVs.

SOLAR ENERGY AROUND THE WORLD: FROM MINI-GRIDS TO SOLAR CITIES

Drinking water from the sun

The village of Rema in Ethiopia operates a solar pump with a connected water tank. The well is far away from the village, and the water used to have to be piped to the village with a diesel pump. But this was often broken or there was not enough fuel. Since 2016, a solar pump has been supplying water to the 6,000 inhabitants, many of whom also need the water for their fields.

12345678910

Namibia pitches green hydrogen to Europe at Davos

With the European Union looking to ditch Russian oil and gas, the African country says it could not only help bridge the gap but also bolster the bloc's green push thanks to abundant sunshine and high wind speeds.

Namibia is making its debut at this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos

It's difficult to miss the Namibia House on Davos Promenade. The Namibian residence is plastered with posters exhorting potential investors to take a bet on its renewable potential.     

Inside, the place is buzzing with activity, with murmurs of casual business interactions on the ground floor and exhaustive investment sessions a level below; Namibia seems to be making the most of its debut at the annual World Economic Forum meeting of the global elite in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos.

Among the things on sale: sunshine and wind. Namibia with a long coastline on the South Atlantic is among the driest countries in the world with 3,500 hours of sunshine per year. The country of 2.5 million is now looking to harness the sun and wind to produce so-called green hydrogen from seawater, an energy source the European Union is banking on as it seeks to cut its reliance on fossil fuels to combat climate change.

"Here's a country that has the requisite resources. Here's a country that is serious at play," said Obeth Kandjoze, chairperson of Namibia's Green Hydrogen Council. "And here we are at the WEF [World Economic Forum], saying we are ready for business. So, that's the sales pitch."

Namibia is using its debut in Davos as an opportunity to attract investments

 into green hydrogen, agriculture, and tourism

Major green hydrogen plans

Green hydrogen, which unlike grey hydrogen is produced by separating hydrogen molecules from water using renewable energy, is a key pillar of the European Union's plan to become climate-neutral by 2050 and wean itself off Russian oil and gas.

This month, the European Commission, while doubling the EU hydrogen targets for 2030 as part of the REPowerEU plan, said it was looking to import 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen annually to replace fossil fuels in several industries and vehicles. 

Eager to grab a pie of that cake, Namibian officials have been touring European capitals, including Berlin and Paris, over the past months. The southern African country, which counts diamonds and uranium among its main exports, has received expressions of interest from the likes of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The interest and inquiries have only gone up since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, Kandjoze, who is also the head of Namibia's National Planning Commission, told DW.

Berlin has pledged €40 million ($42.6 million) to help its former colony develop the future energy source. The German government expects one kilogram of hydrogen from Namibia to eventually cost between €1.50 and €2.00. 

"This would be the most competitive price in the world which would be a huge locational advantage for hydrogen 'made in Namibia,'" former German Research Minister Anja Karliczek said in August last year at the time of signing a hydrogen pact with the African country. "We need large amounts of hydrogen and we need it quickly and at low cost. Namibia can provide both."

German connection

Namibia, one of the most politically stable countries in the region, has seen its economy struggle in recent years due to a sharp drop in commodity prices, drought, the COVID-19 pandemic and now the war in Ukraine, which has pushed prices and stoked food shortages. The country relies on imported electricity to meet much of its needs.

The country, which is the first in Africa to add environmental protection to its constitution, is hoping green hydrogen will help turn its fortunes.

It has selected Germany's Enertrag-backed Hyphen Hydrogen Energy to develop the country's first mega green hydrogen project in the southwest. The project would ultimately produce up to 300,000 tons of green hydrogen per year.

The scheme is expected to cost around $10 billion, a steep investment in a country whose gross domestic product is just $12 billion. Kandjoze says Hyphen is already scouting for funds.

He said the government was also considering green bonds to fund renewable hydrogen projects.

"So far, we've not tested the market but we believe we've got what it takes to be able to pull this one off," Kandjoze said.

Green hydrogen — a risky bet

Green hydrogen currently constitutes just a fraction of total hydrogen production. The technology is still not fully proven on a big scale, making it a rather risky bet.

There are other concerns. The electrolysis process to separate hydrogen molecules from water is expensive. Producing green hydrogen is even more costly when seawater is used, as Namibia plans to, because then the water has to first go through an expensive desalination process. Transporting hydrogen remains challenging.

"We rather take the risks for a better future, risk all that money to help clean up the environment," Kandjoze said. "We are a country that suffers excruciating drought one season and flooding the next. We better stomach that risk than simply wait."

At the Namibia House in Davos, the green hydrogen pitch appears to have intrigued potential investors. The investment session on the topic in the presence of Namibian President Hage Geingob was overbooked.

"We are overwhelmed by the interest that we are experiencing here in Davos from all sort of development agencies, funding agencies, technology partners," Sven Thieme, executive chairman of O&L, Namibia's largest privately held group of companies which is also building a green hydrogen plant as a pilot project, told DW. 

Edited by: Hardy Graupner

Pregnant elephant on brink of extinction found dead; poisoning suspected

CBSNews - Thursday

Acritically endangered Sumatran elephant and its unborn baby were found dead from suspected poisoning in western Indonesia, a conservation official said on Thursday. The carcass of the heavily pregnant mammal was found next to a palm plantation in Riau province on Sumatra, a large island home to some of the world's rarest animals.


© Dekyon Mbo /Dead Sumatran Elephant

The archipelago nation faces an ongoing battle against wildlife crime and several elephant poisoning cases have been reported in recent years, including one in 2019 when a Sumatran elephant was found decapitated with its tusks ripped off.

Last year, a baby Sumatran elephant died after losing half her trunk to a trap set by poachers.

A plantation worker discovered the mother, who was 22 months pregnant, on Thursday and immediately reported the carcass to authorities who collected samples before burying the body.

"We estimated the female elephant to be around 25 years old and during the necropsy test we found that it was pregnant and was close to giving birth," said Hartono, the head of the local chapter of the Natural Resource Conservation Agency.

Elephants may mourn deaths, researchers find using YouTube videos

Officials are still testing samples to determine the cause of death, added Hartono, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

They suspect poisoning because the mother was foaming at the mouth when she was discovered.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, Sumatran elephants are on the brink of extinction with only about 2,400-2,800 left in the world.

The elephant population is also threatened by rampant poachings because of their tusks, which are prized in the illegal wildlife trade.

Rampant deforestation has reduced the critically endangered elephants' natural habitat and brought them into increasing conflict with humans.

"Over two-thirds of its natural lowland forest has been razed in the past 25 years and nearly 70 percent of the Sumatran elephant's habitat has been destroyed in one generation," the WWF said.

In 2013, WWF Indonesia said poisoning or shooting had killed many of the 129 critically endangered Sumatran elephants in less than a decade.

Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.

HUMANS SHOULD MOVE

Zimbabwe's ballooning jumbo herds a growing threat to humans




Cattle herder Hanganani Gideon Dube can no longer fend for his family because of his injuries sustained in an elephant attack (AFP/Zinyange Auntony)

Kudzanai MUSENGI
Thu, May 26, 2022

Seventy-five-year-old Hanganani Gideon Dube has walked with a slight limp and his speech been laboured since he miraculously survived being trampled by an elephant in northwestern Zimbabwe.

He considers himself lucky to be alive following the assault one afternoon in May 2021 near Mabale village on the outskirts of Hwange National Park, the country's biggest.

But the injuries have left him unable to fend for his family of six.

Dube was tending his cattle when "suddenly I found myself face-to-face with an elephant".

He sprinted off, without realising he was running straight into the path of another elephant.

"There was no time for me to evade the second elephant. It attacked me swiftly and I blacked out," he said in the local Ndebele language.

Dube said he's still puzzled "why the elephant didn't finish me off".

"I am lucky to be alive but I am now useless as I can no longer do any physical work, including looking after my cattle," he said sitting on a stool by a cooking fire at his homestead.

At least 60 people have been killed by elephants in Zimbabwe since the start of the year, compared with 72 over all of 2021 year.

Zimbabwe's conservation success story has had unfortunate side-effect of heightening jumbo-human conflict.

With some 100,000 elephants, Zimbabwe has the world's second-largest population after Botswana, and about one-quarter of the elephants in all of Africa.

More than half of those pachyderms live in and outside the unfenced Hwange, a wildlife park nearly half the size of Belgium, some 14,600 square kilometres (5,637 square miles) of vegetation.

Elephants roam freely from Zimbabwe's sprawling and unfenced game reserves and it is common to find herds crossing or resting along the main highway from Hwange to the nearby prime tourist resort of Victoria Falls.

- 'Reward not punishment' -

Zimbabwe's elephant population is growing at about five percent a year, reaching unsustainable levels.

"Our conservation methods are working and I believe that instead of being punished we should be rewarded," Fulton Mangwanya, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director told AFP.

He spoke on the sidelines of a conference in Hwange where the government is this week lobbying allies to push for legal ivory trade.

Zimbabwe, along with Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, wants the UN Convention on International Trade Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, commonly referred to as CITES, to lift the ban on the trade in ivory.

They argue that scrapping the ban can help to better preserve the animals and bring economic benefit to local communities who live close to the animals.

Zimbabwe has a huge $600-million stockpile of ivory which it recently showed to ambassadors representing various countries including the European Union, China and Japan. It has urged EU diplomats to allow a one-off sale of the ivory.

The country's last official elephant census in 2014 counted more than 80,000, a figure now estimated at 100,000, which authorities say is three times more than capacity.

But some conservationists doubt the accuracy of the statistics and fear that lifting the trade ban would pose a threat to elephant populations.

America, along with EU countries and Britain remain opposed to lifting the ban while China and Japan are some of the countries in support.

International trade in ivory and elephants has been banned since 1989 under the CITES. One-off sales were allowed in 1999 and 2008, despite fierce opposition.

The Harare government has threatened to pull out of the convention if it doesn't have its way on ivory trading.

str-sn/bp

Ukraine's children of war roam rubble of eastern front




(AFP/ARIS MESSINIS)More

Dmitry ZAKS
Thu, May 26, 2022

The darting eyes of the sullen boy sitting all alone on a slab of a destroyed Ukrainian apartment tower moved to the sound of shellfire.

An overnight attack had levelled an abandoned building facing the Russians approaching through the nearby woods.

Yevgen and his mother had already escaped the ruins of one village smoking on the horizon of Ukraine's increasingly besieged war zone capital Kramatorsk.

The 13-year-old was now contemplating having to run again in the fourth month of Russia's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.

"That was a 22," the serious-looking boy from the ruined hamlet of Galyna volunteered from the edge of his severed block of concrete.

The booms of what could have been 122-calibre shells rolled in from the environs of one of the biggest battles of the eastern front.

Yevgen kicked a few boulders and wandered through the rubble that layered a yard once filled with children from families operating the surrounding factories and farms.

"I am not scared," he declared with a resolute shake of the head.

"I got used to the shelling in Galyna."

- Battle of Galyna -

That Yevgen appeared to distinguish the calibre of exploding shells -- adopting the shorthand used by Russian and Ukrainian soldiers -- worried his mother to no end.

Lyubov Zakharova had spent much of the war trying to keep Yevgen off the streets.

They ended up sheltering for a week in a Galyna school basement from a frightening battle between Russian tanks and Ukrainian forces dug in the surrounding hills.

Zakharova then risked it and made a mad 20-kilometre (12-mile) dash with Yevgen and his two little sisters for the relative safety of Kramatorsk.

"I stay up all night worrying about them," the 33-year-old single mother said from the garden of an abandoned cottage she found near the now-destroyed Kramatorsk tower.

"My two-year-old has started losing her hair from the stress."

Yevgen stood with his hands folded behind his mother's skirt and stared at his shoes.

But his head would jerk sharply at the rumbles coming from the front.

"You barely want to allow the children to go out and play," the mother said.

"The kids keep asking to go out and I never want to let them. I will probably have to move us again."

- War zone capital -

The battle at Galyna allowed the Russians to edge a little closer to Kramatorsk -- a rival seat of power for the Donbas war zone to one Kremlin-backed fighters set up in Donetsk.

The largely deserted city is locally famous for the particularly bleak tone of the air raid sirens blaring at seemingly random hours of both day and night.

Its administration buildings and factories have mostly been either bombed or closed.

It has had no gas for nearly a week and is starting to lose power.

This made Galina Mukhina all the more incredulous when her recently married son -- safely ensconced in Poland -- decided to bring his young family back to Kramatorsk.

"I am scared for their little children," Mukhina said while sweeping out shards of glass and plaster that went flying across her apartment in the overnight attack next door.

"I have been telling them it is not safe. Maybe they will listen now."

- Refugee and returnees -

That Yevgen and his mother were thinking of fleeing -- while Mukhina's son was planning to return to -- the same devastated city highlights one of the great contradictions of the war.

Some return because they have run out of savings and others because they feel the longing of home.

But retired police investigator Oleksandr Rytov said he does not expect his own adult children to ever come back from their newly found refuge in Germany.

"We are probably witnessing the start of a new emigration wave among the young," the 55-year-old said while clearing out his own shelled-out apartment in the neighbouring city of Bakhmut.

"This is a war. No one knows what will happen in the next 10 minutes. It is impossible to predict a thing."

Yet Yevgen's young mind seemed firmly set.

The 13-year-old kept staring at the destroyed building and then shooting furtive glances at the battles raging across the horizon.

He brooded for a few minutes and then spoke in a sudden burst.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin did this to us. This is the Russian world he promised us," he said with a nod toward the levelled tower.

"I will hate the Russians for the rest of my life," the boy angrily whispered. "At least the Americans support us."

zak/oc/imm

 

Brutal’ Discrimination Adds Trauma to Roma as they Flee War-torn Ukraine

Refugees at a border point between Republic of Moldova and Ukraine on March 1, 2022. Among the 2 million refugees who have fled Ukraine were Roma refugees who say they were discriminated against as they tried to escape. Credit: UN Women

• by Ed Holt (Bratislava)
• Wednesday, March 09, 2022
• Inter Press Service

BRATISLAVA, Mar 09 (IPS) - Roma refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine are facing discrimination on both sides of the country’s borders at the end of often harrowing journeys across the country, rights groups have claimed.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has sparked what the UN has described as the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since WWII, and as of March 9, an estimated 2 million people had left the country.

These include Roma who, like other refugees, abandoned their homes and communities as fighting broke out across the country.

But having reached borders of neighbouring states, they have found themselves subject to what some groups helping them have described as “brutal” discrimination.

“Groups working on the ground at borders in Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary have confirmed discrimination to us, and also media reports have backed this up. Roma are facing discrimination both by border guards, and then local people once they get out of Ukraine. It’s very sad and disappointing, but not surprising,” Zeljko Jovanovic, Director of the Roma Initiatives Office at the Open Society Foundation (OSF) told IPS.

Roma refugees faced ‘brutal’ discrimination at both sides of the border of Ukraine as they joined 2 million others to flee the bombing in war-torn Ukraine. These headlines reflect their ordeal. Graphic: IPS

Roma living in Europe are among the most discriminated and disadvantaged groups on the continent. In many countries, including Ukraine where it is thought there are as many as 400,000 Roma, significant numbers live in segregated settlements where living conditions are often poor and extreme poverty widespread.

Health in many such places is also bad with research showing very high burdens of both infectious and non-communicable diseases and significantly shorter lifespans than the general population.

Incidents of discrimination of Roma have been reported at the borders of all countries that are taking in refugees, according to the OSF and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC).

These have included being made to wait much longer in lines, sometimes tens of kilometres long, in freezing weather, than ethnic Ukrainian refugees, before they are processed.

“They are always the last people to be let out of the country,” said Jovanovic.

Media reports have quoted refugees describing discrimination and, in some cases, physical attacks.

One Roma woman who had made her way to Moldova said she and her family had spent four days waiting at the border with no food and water, and having found shelter were then chased out of it by Ukrainian guards.

Groups working with the refugees said Roma who crossed into their countries told them similar stories.

Viktor Teru of the Roma Education Fund in Slovakia said: “Roma refugees tell us that on the Ukrainian side there is ‘brutal’ discrimination.”

But once they finally make it over the border, their problems often do not end there.

Bela Racz, of the 1Hungary organisation, which is helping Roma refugees in Hungary, said he had witnessed discrimination during three days his organisation spent in the eastern Hungarian border town of Zahony at the beginning of March.

“Roma arrived in separate coaches – the Ukrainian border guards organized it this way – and when they did arrive, Roma mothers were checked by Hungarian police many times, but non-Roma mothers were not.

“Local mayors and Hungarians are not providing direct help, such as accommodation, and information, in their towns - that only comes if we ask for it and organise it. Roma did not get proper help, information, or support,” he told IPS.

There have been numerous media reports of similar discrimination at border crossings in other countries, including incidents of Roma being refused transport by volunteers, and being refused accommodation.

Jaroslav Miko, founder of the Cesi Pomahaji (Czechs Help) NGO, who has transported more than 100 Roma refugees from the Slovak-Ukrainian border to the Czech Republic, told IPS he had seen “discrimination of Roma among the volunteers who were picking people up at the border”. He said volunteers were picking up some refugees in vehicles and taking them to other places, but that Roma families were being turned away if they asked for help.

In another incident, the head of a firefighting station in Humenne, in eastern Slovakia, where many Roma refugees have been sent to a holding camp, told a reporter that the refugees had “abused the situation". "They are not people who are directly threatened by the war. They are people from near the border, they have abused the opportunity for us to cook them hot food here and to receive humanitarian aid," the firefighter allegedly said, adding that Ukrainian Roma should not be allowed across the border.

Slovakia’s Interior Minister Roman Mikulec and national fire brigade officials have refused to comment on the claims.

But despite these incidents of discrimination, Roma refugees are getting local help – from other Roma.

“Many Hungarian Roma living in nearby villages are providing accommodation for Roma. Due to the presence of groups like ours, and state representatives, the situation with discrimination is getting better,” said Racz.

“There is a good network of Roma activist groups coordinating work to help refugees and also there are Roma mayors in many towns near the borders in Romania and Slovakia who are prepared to take Roma refugees and arrange shelter for them,” added Jovanovic.

However, all those who spoke to IPS said the discrimination against Roma refugees was a reminder of the systemic prejudice the minority faces.

Meanwhile, Jovanovic said he hoped that the problems Roma refugees were facing now would not be forgotten, as they had been in the past.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

Australia Bidding To Host UN Climate Summit, Set New Emissions Target


By AFP News
05/26/22

Australia will present a more ambitious UN emissions target "very soon" and is bidding to co-host a COP summit with Pacific island neighbours, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday, signalling a ground shift in climate policy.

During a first solo overseas visit since her centre-left government was sworn in, Wong admitted that on the climate, "Australia has neglected its responsibility" under past administrations.

She told hosts in Fiji's capital Suva that there would be no more "disrespecting" Pacific nations or "ignoring" their calls to act on climate change.

"We were elected on a platform of reducing emissions by 43 percent by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050," Wong said.

"And we're not just going to say it, we will enshrine it in law and we will submit a new nationally determined contribution to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) very soon."

Under conservative leadership, Australia -- already one of the world's largest gas and coal exporters -- has also become synonymous with playing the spoiler at international climate talks.

Wong said the new Labor government wanted to upend that record by co-hosting a future climate summit.

Australia's new Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said her government will present a more ambitious UN emissions target soon 

Photo: AFP / SAEED KHAN

"We have proposed a bid to co-host a future UN Conference of the Parties with Pacific Island countries and I'm looking forward to further discussions in the region about this idea."

Asked by a reporter whether Australia was simply paying lip service to climate action given its vast coal exports, Wong said: "It is true we export a lot of coal to China."

But she added that Australia was seeking to manage its economic transition in "a way that enables continued economic prosperity and equity".

Labor had proposed before its May 21 election victory that it would seek to co-host a UN climate summit in 2024.

To do so, it would need to win the support of two UN country blocs to skip the queue, as well as its proposed Pacific islands co-hosts, said a report this month by the independent research group, the Australia Institute.

But Australia could "reset" its reputation as a climate laggard and a poor regional neighbour if it did so, Richie Merzian, climate director at the institute, said.

Australia's 2019-2020 "Black Summer" bushfires and subsequent east coast floods highlighted the deadly and catastrophic consequences of climate change.

But past Australian governments have resisted calls to cut carbon emissions from 2005 levels faster than its current commitment of up to 28 percent by 2030.

COLOMBIA

Diaz's indigenous community that breeds 'toughness'




Daniel Bolivar was a local football star in Barrancas alongside Liverpool's Colombian winger Luis Diaz, but his own football career never took off (AFP/DANIEL MUNOZ)

David SALAZAR
Wed, May 25, 2022

Running around barefooted on a dust bowl of a pitch, a young indigenous Colombian began kicking a ball more than 20 years ago. Now he is on the verge of becoming champion of Europe.

In the town of Barrancas, where almost half the population is from the Wayuu indigenous community, everyone remembers how the timid "Luisfer" would never get tired.

Liverpool's newest star Luis Diaz emerged from this desert outback in the northern La Guajira department that borders the Caribbean Sea to the northwest and Venezuela to the southeast, to become a national phenomenon.

From a young age, Diaz, whose father Luis Manuel was a coach at the only football school in the small town of 38,000, stood out for his speed, toughness and ability to weave around opponents with the ball at his feet.

In just four months since Liverpool signed Diaz for an initial 45 million euros ($48.1 million) from Portugal's Porto, he has taken English football by storm.

With six goals in 25 matches for the Reds, he has already helped his new side lift the League Cup, FA Cup and reach the Champions League final against Real Madrid on Saturday.

For his uncle Yelkis Diaz, the winger's success is down to his indigenous Wayuu "tradition".

The impoverished community's "transport is walking, jogging ... running," he told AFP.

- 'Almost impossible' conditions -

Thousands of miles away from England, Diaz's family and friends watch excitedly whenever he gallops down the wing for Liverpool.

It is the first time an indigenous Colombian has reached football's elite in a country whose greatest sports stars generally come from the Afro-Colombian community on the Pacific coast and whose indigenous population amounts to just 4.4 percent of the 50 million.

Young people in Barrancas have few options outside of working for multinationals exploiting the neighboring El Cerrejon, the largest open air coal mine in Latin America.

The dreamers imagine themselves playing football or Vallenato folk music.

Diaz would often walk onto the town pitch in his bare feet and wearing the jersey of the local Club Barrio Lleras that his father used to play for.

Playing in "almost impossible" conditions was what forged his talent, says his uncle.

"Running and controlling a ball where there are stones, holes, earth" is not easy and many have given up the dream.

La Guajira is the poorest department in Colombia with more than two thirds of the population living in poverty.

More than 5,000 children have died of hunger there in the last decade, according to the main indigenous organization.

When he returns home, Diaz kicks off his shoes for a nostalgic feel of his native earth.

He was last home in July 2021, welcomed by the entire town, following his starring role at the Copa America in which he finished as joint top goalscorer alongside global superstar Lionel Messi.

In a recent interview, Diaz said his style of play shows "my roots, where I grew up".

- The Wayuu James -

In 2015, the Wayuu community took part in Colombia's first ever indigenous football tournament.

Colombian great Carlos Valderrama was in the stands to spot the talent he would pick for an indigenous team to represent Colombia in a continental tournament in Chile.

Diaz and his best friend Daniel Bolivar, an attacking midfielder, made the team and would be its stars.

"In these villages so lost to sport," impressing Valderrama "was something that really motivated us," said Bolivar.

Once compared to Colombian star James Rodriguez, Bolivar would not follow Diaz's path and now works as a machinery operator in El Cerrejon.

Thanks to Diaz's success, the local government in Barrancas started building synthetic pitches. Grass pitches are an impossibility in this arid landscape where running water is only available three days a week.

Diaz's profile has put his home department on the radar of scouts eager to find the next hidden "star" from the La Guajira peninsular.

Before Diaz, the region's biggest name was Arnoldo Iguaran, a player who began his career in the late 1970s and was Colombia's record goalscorer when he retired in the 1990s until he was passed by Radamel Falcao in 2015.

John Angarita, the president of FC La Guajira, has opened his doors to the indigenous youngsters from Barrancas whose "physical toughness" he says allows them to run all game without getting tired.

His football school has 70 youngsters, some from families displaced by Colombia's interminable half-century conflict, dreaming of following in Diaz's footsteps.

"Seeing him on television and thinking that I could be over there is very motivating. Many people are taking note of the Wayuu and indigenous culture," said Denilson Pushaina, a 23-year-old FC La Guajira defender.

das/ag/cl/bc/jc

Taliban 'making women invisible' in Afghanistan: UN expert


Thu, 26 May 2022

Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, said the Taliban have 'failed to acknowledge the magnitude and gravity of the abuses being committed' 

(AFP/Wakil KOHSAR) (Wakil KOHSAR)

The Taliban government's restrictions on women are aimed at making them "invisible" in Afghan society, a UN human rights observer said Thursday during a visit to the nation.

Since the Taliban stormed back to power last year, they have imposed harsh restrictions on women and girls to comply with their austere vision of Islam.

Teenage girls have been shut out from secondary schools, while women have been forced from some government jobs and barred from travelling alone.


This month Afghanistan's supreme leader and Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered women to cover up fully in public, including their faces.

These policies show a "pattern of absolute gender segregation and are aimed at making women invisible in the society", Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul.

"The de facto authorities have failed to acknowledge the magnitude and gravity of the abuses being committed, many of them in their name," Bennett said.

His comments came as Taliban fighters on Thursday broke up a women's protest calling for the reopening of secondary schools for girls.

"Angry Taliban forces came and dispersed us," Munisa Mubariz, an organiser of the rally, told AFP.

In March the Taliban ordered all secondary schools for girls to shut, just hours after opening them for the first time since taking power in August.

The government has yet to offer a clear reason for the decision, but officials claim the institutions will reopen soon.

Foreign governments have insisted the Taliban's record on human rights, especially women's rights, will be key in determining whether the administration will be formally recognised.

During two decades of US-led military intervention in Afghanistan, women and girls made marginal gains in the deeply patriarchal nation.

Some Afghan women initially pushed back against the new Taliban curbs, holding small protests where they demanded the right to education and work.

But hardliners soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding them incommunicado while denying that they had been detained.

Since their release, most have gone silent.

Rembrandt painting comes home: Work by Dutch artist returns to south west French village

A 1631 oil on canvas painting by Rembrandt, "The Christ on the Cross", is installed in the Saint-Vincent church in the French town of Le Mas-d'Agenais on May 24, 2022 after it arrived from the Saint-Andre Cathedral of Bordeaux, southwestern France.