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The Green Party candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor could control a fiercely left-wing German Government

Opinion
Rainer Zitelmann

BERLIN, GERMANY - APRIL 19: Greens Party co-chair Annalena Baerbock introduces herself as chancellor candidate in the Malzfabrik on April 19, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Andreas Gora - Pool/Getty Images)

For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Green Party has nominated a candidate in the race to be Chancellor and succeed Angela Merkel.

This morning, the party announced 40-year-old Annalena Baerbock to stand in the September 27 election. After Merkel’s Christian Democrats, the Greens are polling in second place – the party is within a fighting chance.

Baerbock would be the youngest chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic – she would also be the most left-wing Chancellor Germany has ever seen. She has a background in politics and international law and has been co-leader of Germany’s Greens since 2018. Both Baerbock and her co-leader Robert Habeck have regularly come under fire for their poor grasp of complex issues in interviews. Their critics have branded them as high on opinions and low on facts. While Habeck has previously served as a state minister, Baerbock has no experience of government

Despite the criticism, it is almost certain the Greens will gain a record number of votes in the upcoming race for Chancellor. In the last federal elections on September 24, 2017, the party scored just 8.9 per cent of the vote, making them the smallest of the six parties in the German parliament. According to the latest polls, the Greens are set to secure between 21 and 23 per cent of the vote this time around, just behind the CDU/CSU.

This would leave the Greens in pole position to exert a decisive influence on the policies of Germany’s next federal government and the only conceivable coalition will be one in which either the Greens either hold the chancellorship or take a very strong second place. A third partner, the liberal FDP, could even form part of this coalition between CDU/CSU and the Green party.

Another possible coalition is unsettling for many within the business community: Germany could be ruled by the Greens, alongside the SPD, a party which is following in the footsteps of former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in its sharp pivot to the left, and Die Linke, the latest incarnation of the former communist party that governed East Germany. The prospects of a tripartite left-wing government are causing many entrepreneurs to consider leaving Germany entirely.

The Greens are committed to moving beyond nation-states to establish a “Federal European Republic”. In pursuit of this final goal, they want “the EU to be given an instrument to create a permanent fiscal policy of its own, the use of which cannot be blocked by individual countries in the event of a crisis”. Essentially, this would mean disempowering national parliaments and enforcing minimum wages and high social standards all across Europe.

The Greens espouse an economic policy with an extremely strong role for the state and higher taxes on high earners and the wealthy. As a “last resort”, they have called for real estate companies to be nationalised. In the German capital of Berlin, the Greens are actively supporting an initiative to nationalise housing companies that own more than 3,000 rental apartments.

One of the major distinguishing features of the Greens is their detachment from business: 44 per cent of party members are civil servants or work in the public sector, and civil servants also represent the largest group among their voters.

In foreign policy, the Greens overwhelmingly moral approach is likely to lead to deteriorating relations with Russia and China in particular. Traditionally, the party has also been highly critical of the United States. Above all, conflicts with the U.S. are likely to arise because the Greens want to cut defence spending and explicitly reject NATO defence ministers’ commitment to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence. In addition, according to the Greens’ Party Programme and Principles, their foreign and security policy will also be “feminist” – whatever that might mean.

Dr Rainer Zitelmann is a German historian, sociologist and author. His latest book is The Rich in Public Opinion: What We Think When We Think About Wealth, which has recently been published by the Cato Institute.

City A.M.'s opinion pages are a place for thought-provoking views and debate. These views are not necessarily shared by City A.M.

German Greens’ Annalena Baerbock: 5 things to know

Fast facts about the party’s candidate for chancellor.

Annalena Baerbock has been a co-leader of the German Greens since 2018 | Filip Singer/EP


BY LAURENZ GEHRKE
April 19, 2021 POLITICO.EU


BERLIN — Annalena Baerbock, unveiled on Monday as the German Greens’ candidate for chancellor, is a high-flyer now tasked with proving she’s ready for high public office.

Baerbock, a 40-year-old member of the Bundestag, has already proved her mettle as one of the party’s two co-leaders since 2018. But she will face a new level of scrutiny now that she has been chosen as the party’s nominee to succeed Angela Merkel in September’s general election.

That scrutiny will be particularly intense as the Greens lie in second place in the opinion polls and have a strong chance of joining — and perhaps even leading — the next government.

Here are five things to know about Baerbock.

1. Early years

Baerbock was born in Hanover in 1980 to a social pedagogue and an engineer. She grew up on a farm with her two sisters and two cousins. At the age of 16, she participated in a student exchange in Florida.

She began studying political science and public law at the University of Hamburg in 2000. Baerbock spent the 2004-2005 academic year at the London School of Economics and Political Science, studying international law. She started a dissertation on natural disasters and humanitarian aid at the Free University of Berlin but hasn’t finished her thesis — her political career got in the way.

2. Political career

Between 2005 and 2008, Baerbock worked as office manager for Elisabeth Schroedter, then a Green MEP. Baerbock ran for the Bundestag unsuccessfully in 2009, but succeeded in the 2013 election and has since held her seat. She served as the Greens’ climate policy spokeswoman between 2013 and 2017, before becoming co-leader of the party alongside Robert Habeck in 2018.

Within the party, Baerbock played a significant role in all but burying the Greens’ decades-old division between fundamentalists and realists — or Fundis and Realos. She and Habeck won election as co-leaders even though both were seen as centrists, whereas traditionally the leadership has been split between the two wings of the party.

In recent years, the Greens as a whole have become more centrist, catering to voters from milieus that were previously safe harbors for the Christian conservative parties. However, this shift has also drawn criticism from climate protection groups, who say there can be no watered-down approach to saving the planet. In 2018, Baerbock and Habeck attended a “No-longer-Green-voters forum” to try to address such concerns.

3. Foreign policy

Baerbock has focused a significant part of her political energy on international affairs, taking a centrist line on defense and pushing for a stronger common EU foreign policy.

To the annoyance of some traditional Green voters, the party last year approved a program that described NATO as an “indispensable” part of European security and backed an expansion of EU defense cooperation.

However, she has also described the alliance’s target for all members to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense as “not really helpful.”

On Monday, she called for “a common and strong foreign policy.” The Greens have been more critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian leaders than many in the German mainstream.

“If Germany’s voice in foreign policy fails — be it with regard to the tensions in Ukraine or the attitude towards Russia, or with regard to the Nord Stream 2 project — then Europe will be destroyed,” she said on Monday.

That stance would make the Greens a bit of an awkward fit for one possible post-election coalition, with the Social Democrats and leftist Die Linke, which have taken a softer stance on Russia.


4. Climate connection

At her unveiling as the party’s chancellor candidate on Monday, Baerbock made a personal connection between her family life and her climate aspirations. (Baerbock is married to Daniel Holefleisch, a political consultant, with whom she has two daughters, born in 2011 and 2015. They live in Potsdam, southwest of Berlin.)

In her speech, Baerbock told the story of being with her younger daughter, then an infant, when the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted. The two were in Paris in the room with Laurent Fabius, French foreign minister at the time, when he made the formal announcement.

“In 2050, the year for which this climate conference has formulated its big goals, when my daughter is as old as I was then, 35, she will perhaps also have little children and I will be a grandmother,” she said. “By then we will have to have created climate-friendly prosperity.”

5. Sports champion

As a child and teenager, Baerbock was a successful trampolinist and participated in national competitions. During her year as an exchange student in the U.S., sports helped her to integrate, she said in an interview earlier this year.

“For me, it was a very formative experience to feel foreign, to feel what it’s like not to know a language so well and what that does to one’s character and self-confidence,” she said, adding that playing soccer helped her to connect with others.

“On the soccer field, it doesn’t matter if you can express your humor in the language or not — it’s about how well you shoot a corner. And that’s why sport has remained such a central social issue for me, because it’s incredibly important for cohesion.”

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Financial services leaders team up to launch net zero alliance
Angharad Carrick
Wednesday 21 April 2021 

Former BofC, BoE Governor Mark Carney is leading the charge on the latest net-zero alliance of financial services leaders. (Getty Images)

Leading financial services firms have today announced the launch of a new alliance to reach net zero emissions ahead of President Biden’s climate summit.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) will bring together existing and new net zero initiatives and will be made up of 160 of the world’s biggest banks, asset managers and insurers with assets in excess of $70 trillion.

It has been organised by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney who has been appointed the Prime Minister’s Finance Advisor for COP26, alongside John Kerry and Janet Yellen.

Their aim is to raise the coordination of net zero initiatives in the financial services industry, the alliance said. All member alliances have to be accredited by the UN Race to Zero campaign and so use science-based guidelines to reach net zero emissions.

Among these are setting a 2030 interim target as well as a commitment to reporting and accounting in line with the UN’s campaign.

Climate campaigners have already raised allegations of greenwashing among these guidelines, questioning whether the 2030 target is mandatory. Similarly questions relating to reducing fossil fuel financing will need to be addressed.

The Net Zero Banking Alliance is the newest net zero alliance and is made up of 43 of the world’s leading banks.

It comes just days after a leading investor group called on banks to set tougher net zero targets. The group, which includes Aviva Investors and Legal & General Investment Management, urged banks to crase activities through fossil fuel financing.

“Uniting the world’s banks and financial institutions behind the global transition to net zero is crucial to unlocking the finance we need to get there – from backing pioneering firms and new technologies to building resilient economies around the world,” the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Carney added: “Most fundamentally, GFANZ will act as the strategic forum to ensure the financial system works together to broaden, deepen, and accelerate the transition to a net zero economy.”

BA looks set to recover from pandemic, so why are its 40-something pilots giving up their gold-plated pensions?

Hannah Godfrey
Tuesday 20 April 2021 



In turbulent times, when the future of a company is being called into question, it is not uncommon for staff to transfer out of their employer’s defined benefit (DB) pension scheme, if they have one.

Although seen as “gold-plated”, some DB scheme members worry about their scheme falling to the pension lifeboat fund, and that they will lose money as a result.

Read more: Government opens call for evidence of social factors in UK pension schemes

This has been the case at British Airways in recent months. Pilots in particular have been transferring out of the scheme for a number of years and for a variety of reasons, however in the last year, when the coronavirus hit airlines particularly hard, the viability of the company became another factor for those considering transferring away from the pension.

But leaving a DB scheme is considered a risky move, and in recent years the City regulator has taken a hard line on the subject, making it clear that almost all employees should stick with the increasingly rare DB schemes, rather than transfering out of it.

“The decision to transfer out of a DB scheme is a complex one and we remain of the view that for most people a transfer out of a DB scheme is unlikely to be suitable.

“However, the number of consumers receiving a recommendation to leave their DB scheme has been consistently too high,” it wrote on its website.

It can also be an extremely expensive endeavour. Management fees on large sums of money transferred from a DB scheme can be eye-watering, cutting chunks from money earmarked for retirement.

Read more: Pensionbee targets £384m valuation as it gears up for London float

Just last month the Financial Conduct Authority issued yet another update on the DB space, again pointing out that some firms are still “struggling to give consistent, suitable advice”, and that too much of the advice it assessed was unsuitable.

Those who choose to transfer from a gold-plated scheme are giving up a guaranteed income for life in favour of the flexibility of a private pension, meaning the money is at the mercy of stock market ups and downs, poor investment choices, or poor money management.
Million pound pensions

The British Airways Pension Schemes have seen a steady stream of members transferring out in recent years, though when contacted by City A.M., BA pensions refused to give any precise figures on the number of members transferring.

Members of the schemes include pilots and officers, often with DB pots running into the millions of pounds, cabin crew and general staff. Most of the 85,000 scheme beneficiaries are in BA’s New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS).

One pilot said around 80 per cent of pilots who are in the now-closed-to-accrual NAPS are considering transferring out, or have already done so. “I can’t think of the last time I went to work when someone was sure they were staying in the scheme,” he added.

Transferring out of the pension scheme has been something pilots in particular have talked about and acted upon now for a number of years. But recently, and despite the general advice from the regulator, pilots have been weighing up leaving the scheme for fear the flag carrier or its overall owner IAG goes bust, after the coronavirus pandemic grounded planes and left airlines losing billions.

However, British Airways has fared better than its rivals, some of which have looked in danger of collapse or have asked the government for bailout loans. BA also recently bolstered its finances with a £2bn loan deal.

“I was concerned about having the golden egg, and that someone might shoot the golden goose,”

BA Pensions has been approached for comment.

Al Rush, a financial adviser who has campaigned about DB transfers in the past, said many of the stories he had heard from pilots who transferred from their DB pension centred on “the mistrust of the employer and the trustees and the schemes”.

One pilot who spoke to City A.M. admitted his decision to leave the scheme had been driven by emotion, and in fear that British Airways would collapse: “I was concerned about having the golden egg, and that someone might shoot the golden goose,” he said.

The City regulator stepped up its work in the DB transfer sector after hundreds of steelworkers were mis-advised to transfer out of their DB pensions a few years ago.

Financial advisers targeted the steelworkers and capitalised on fears that their DB pension would fall to the Pension Protection Fund. Many of the advisers involved were ultimately banned by the FCA from carrying out regulated activity, and their companies – all small, local firms – buckled under the weight of compensation claims when it became clear they had given poor advice to line their own pockets.

Read more: British steelworkers vote in favour of Tata’s reforms to pensions

Pilots are acutely aware of the regulatory hurdles they face trying to access their cash, and have come up with ways to game the system to ensure they get the go-ahead for the transfer.

“I’ve been through the justification process of a transfer,” said one. “You just have to say the right thing and have the right attitude to risk.

“We’ve been aggressive buyers. I understood that if you didn’t have a high tolerance for risk, they couldn’t approve it. It’s almost like taking an exam.”
St James’s Place

Due to the FCA’s activity in the area, there are now fewer financial advisers offering the transfer service, meaning the market is populated largely with a number of big firms that are able to pay the costs of ever-rising professional indemnity premiums in the area, leaving consumers with fewer choices about who to go to if they want to transfer their pension.

Advisers still operating in the market include giant St James’s Place (SJP), which City A.M. understands has worked with BA pilots, some of whom are still in their 40s, to transfer out of the scheme.

SJP has a long-term working relationship with BA, including holding seminars for BA pilots that cover a range of pension and tax-related subjects, including DB transfers.

One mid-career who transferred his whole pension with SJP had only good things to say about the wealth manager, though he acknowledged: “Most companies won’t touch you under 50.”

Rush, who helped obtain compensation for the mis-sold steelworkers, said the further away an individual is from retirement, the it is harder to justify a transfer.

“The reason for that, simply put, is that it is so much harder to see into the future and identify future events and circumstances which could conspire to hinder and jeopardise an otherwise happy retirement,” he said.

“The longer a timeline is, the thinner and weaker it has to be, so from an advisory perspective, the more years that the client is from retirement, the far more cautiously you must proceed.”

Rush said that a client in their 40s should generally only transfer if they have a terminal illness, or if they have significant other financial holdings.

“The stories that I’ve heard [from pilots] is very similar to the stories surrounding the British Steel pension scheme, Rush continued. “Much of the advice centred on so-called flexibility, death benefits and erroneously played on mistrust of the employer and the trustees and the scheme itself.”

The mid-career pilot said most of his colleagues who had transferred had done so via SJP.

“They’re not for everyone,” he continued, “and some of the guys went to Hargreaves Lansdown and Delta Financial. I think SJP were really good.”

St James’s Place said it maintained a “cautious” approach to DB transfers, and started from the position that for most people retaining the benefits of a DB scheme would likely be in their best interests.

The financial advice giant said all recommendations to transfer are checked by qualified pension transfer specialists that operate independently of its advisers, known as ‘partners’ at the firm.

“For the vast majority of completed transfers, the clients will be aged 55 or over and at retirement. However, there will be still be occasions where a transfer is in the client’s best interests even though they are further from retirement. For example, a partial transfer, which is now permitted under the BA scheme,” SJP said.

As for its charges, SJP said the maximum initial advice charge for DB transfer advice is 4.5 per cent – a non-contingent charge that, as per changes made by the FCA, is payable whether the person receives advice to transfer or not – which also covers the cost of all advice on the transfer, including advice on establishing the pension plan and the investment strategy used. SJP then charges a maximum ongoing fee of 0.5 per cent per annum.

SJP also charges an initial product charge of 1.5 per cent on top of the 4.5 per cent and an annual product management charge of one per cent, which is waived in the first six years, plus any additional charges for managing the underlying investments.

The pilot, however, who transferred before contingent charging rules were put in place, believes he is being charged roughly 1.5-2.1 per cent on his pension each year. With a pension pot running into the millions, a conservative estimate would mean he is paying £30,000 per year in fees, and being in his 40s, he has a while to go – and plenty of fees to pay – before he can access his pension.

Another pilot said he understood that, from a regulatory point of view, staying in the DB scheme was the safest option, “but from a personal point of view, with education, and a capacity for loss, it’s a shame that some of the bad actors have basically shut the door on what could be a good situation for people.”
Pay day for asset managers

Despite the regulator’s crackdown, and insistence that DB transfers are not for the majority of people, asset managers are still making a fortune each year from those transferring out of their gold-plated pensions.

AJ Bell, SJP and Royal London increased their overall share of the DB pension transfer market dramatically in 2020, with more than a third (37.5 per cent) of all transferred amounts going to them, according to research by consultancy LCP.

SJP in particular increased its market share last year. For every £6 transferred out of a DB pension scheme administered by LCP, £1 went to SJP, and more than a quarter (26 per cent) of all transfers were carried out by the wealth manager.

DB transfers are no doubt risky business, but they are appropriate for some people in the right circumstances, and have “very possibly” been overly vilified, according to Rory Percival, an ex-technical specialist at the FCA turned consultant.

“Most of the advisers who are still in the market, hopefully, are on the right page,” he said. “[But] there tends to be overemphasis on flexibility, death benefits and having excess capital [as a reason to transfer]. It’s a big temptation for customers and advisers, especially advisers who then manage the money [after the transfer],” he added.

Swedish ‘sustainable’ forestry is threatening our home and livelihood

Katarina Sevä 20 April 2021 

Reindeer herding is not just a profession. It is something you live with around the clock and all year round, generation after generation. Our families have lived in these lands and have been continuously carrying on with forest Sámi reindeer herding for many hundreds of years.

Katarina Sevä, reindeer herder, member of the Council of Mounio Sámi reindeer herding district. © Rasmus Törnqvist / Greenpeace

But in recent years, the land needed for reindeer herding has decreased more and more, due to extensive logging. This affects the reindeer directly. The food disappears. The vital hanging lichen – the emergency feed – is becoming increasingly rare. You can see how the reindeer have changed in recent years. Their antlers have become worse and the average weight of the reindeer has decreased. The behavior of the reindeer is changing. It’s devastating – and it’s awful to see. If the forests were to disappear, then there is no future for the reindeer and reindeer husbandry at all.

Ronny Nyström, Reindeer herder, former forestry negotiator, Mounio Sámi reindeer herding district. © Rasmus Törnqvist / Greenpeace

Although we have used these forests for centuries, most of them are today held by the state owned forest company Sveaskog. A couple of years ago, we still had regular consultations with Sveaskog, which we have had for decades. Unfortunately, they abruptly terminated these meetings with us. We received no sensible explanation, only oral information about the message.

We have said “no” to logging in important areas and we have shown the importance of these areas. But Sveaskog shows us no consideration at all, they just cut the forests. We can say nothing about it. We do not even get maps of where they plan to log. They come here and make new forest roads in the area, chopping down forests that can be important to us. They have also logged forests that we have previously agreed must be kept, because they are so important for reindeer grazing.

Aerials of forest and clearcuts in Mounio Sámi community. © Rasmus Törnqvist / Greenpeace

Sveaskog has treated us very abusively – and still does. This haunts us daily. We have made demands to Sveaskog. We have written letters from Sámi reindeer herding district, where we demand that we should have consultations back and that some forests must be saved. But we have not been heard. It’s awful that a state-owned company can do that.

We have seen with our own eyes how fast the logging goes on and feel a strong concern for the future. The reindeer and we who work with reindeer husbandry are completely dependent on the forest. If we lose the few small areas of hanging lichen forests that we have left, it is the end of reindeer husbandry. What should we do if the forest is lost? What will the reindeer live on? Where will we go?Reindeer in Mounio Sámi community. 

© Rasmus Törnqvist / Greenpeace

Sveaskog is the state’s own forest company – and is governed on the basis of what the Swedish parliament and the government decide. They must consult with the reindeer herding area – this is an absolute minimum. We demand that Sveaskog immediately stop all logging in Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district until they restart consultation with us again.

Katarina Sevä is a reindeer herder and board member of Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district

Please support our call to protect Indigenous lands from logging, here: https://act.gp/3gqtFkW

 

Swedish state-owned forest company accused of abusing Sámi rights

Greenpeace International 20 April 2021 | 


Stockholm, Sweden, 20 April, 2021 – Sweden’s largest forest company, state-owned Sveaskog, has repeatedly ignored Sámi rights and logged old growth forest on ancestral lands vital to reindeer herding around Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district in Sweden’s north. Sveaskog has also stopped all consultation processes with the community. The Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district and Greenpeace Sweden demand that Sveaskog immediately withdraw all logging processes in the area.

Katarina Sevä, reindeer herder and board member of Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district, said:

“Sveaskog’s logging practice is a catastrophe for the Muonio reindeer herding district. During the last two years, Sveaskog has stopped all consultation processes with us and cut down all the forests that we specifically asked them not to. If this continues, it will be the end of reindeer husbandry in Muonio.”

Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district is on the border between Sweden and Finland. For centuries reindeer husbandry has been a vital part of the livelihood and culture of the community. The area is also home to some of the last natural forests in Sweden, so-called continuity forests, that have not been clear-cut previously.

State-owned forest company Sveaskog, the biggest forest company in Sweden, submitted some 100 logging notifications in the area. Mapping done by Greenpeace shows that these coincide to a large extent with continuity forests. These forests are vital to reindeer husbandry, since they are the natural source of ground and hanging lichens — the predominant diet of the reindeer. A large proportion of old growth forests in the area have already been clear-cut by Sveaskog, despite the fact that they form crucial reindeer pastures.

“Sweden likes to portray itself as an environmental and human rights leader. This hypocrisy is laid bare by this example of its state-owned company consistently trampling the rights of the Indigenous peoples and devastating the last remains of old-growth forests,” said Dima Litvinov, Senior Campaigner with Greenpeace Sweden.

Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district and Greenpeace demand in a joint letter to Sveaskog that the company immediately stop all logging and withdraw the logging notifications in the area until it resumes consultation processes with the reindeer herding district .

“Sveaskog must immediately stop all logging in the area until they resume consultations with us under acceptable conditions”, said Katarina Sevä, reindeer herder and board member of Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district.



ENDS



Photo and Video available here: https://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJLXDUQB

Notes to Editors:

Facts about Sveaskog´s logging plan in Muonio Sámi reindeer herding

The Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district is located in the northmost part of Sweden, bordering Finland. Their reindeer pastures cover 3640 square kilometres in Pajala municipality with permits to keep up to 3900 reindeer in winter.

Reindeer herding forms the basis of traditional economy for the Sámi and is an integral part of the Sámi identity.

State owned forest company Sveaskog has submitted a total of 101 notifications for logging to The Swedish Forest Agency in the area of Muonio Sámi reindeer herding district in the northernmost part of Sweden, bordering Finland.

The combined areas of logging make up an area of almost 2000 hectares, more than 2800 football pitches. The Swedish Forest Agency themselves state that they have only examined two of these areas in the field, meaning that the government agency cannot know what type of values these forests possess.

A mapping done by Greenpeace Sweden shows that the majority of the forests Sveaskog plans to log are old forests with high conservation values that are also vital to reindeer husbandry. At least 40 of the areas are made up completely of continuity forests that have never been subject to clear-cuts. Almost as many are partly made up of continuity forests.

Contacts:

Dima Litvinov, Campaigner at Greenpeace Sweden: +46 (0) 70 657 65 86 or dima.litvinov@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk: pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org, +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours)

Follow @greenpeacepresson Twitter for our latest international press releases

NASA will soon have the technology to bust the biggest polluters

Image source: Reid Wiseman/NASA
By Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

BGR
April 20th, 2021 at 5:08 PM


Major polluters beware: NASA is watching. The space agency is best known for its exploits in exploring our solar system but NASA also spends a great deal of time looking back down at Earth from above. It’s helped to map the spread of wildfires so officials can plan and strategize, tracked damage caused by floods and hurricanes, and even observed how stressed out plants are. Now, in its longstanding effort to help combat pollution, NASA will soon be deploying a satellite capable of spotting the worst offenders by examining their emissions from above.

In a new post by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the agency reveals its plans to work with nonprofit pollution-fighting organization Carbon Mapper. The two groups will team up to collect a wealth of data regarding the sources of methane and carbon dioxide emissions using a new satellite. The spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch by 2023, will utilize advanced instruments to not only spot emissions from space but actually identify what types of gasses are being expelled.

Many of the world’s governments have agreed to put limits on the amount of greenhouse gasses they emit. These handshakes look nice on paper but the countries don’t always follow through on their promises, and no matter how serious a country takes its climate pledges, there will always be companies within those countries that push or break the limits set forth. When this happens, it can be difficult to identify the source of harmful emissions, and it leads to a lot of finger-pointing both within and between nations.



Reports using data from NASA’s Carbon Mapper satellite will make things a lot more obvious, highlighting exactly where the wealth of greenhouse gasses are coming from and, hopefully, helping to hold those responsible accountable for their actions or lack of oversight.

“JPL is excited to be pioneering this research effort, which will provide critical information about greenhouse gases and the future of Earth’s climate,” James Graf, director for the Earth Science and Technology Directorate at JPL, said in a statement. “This effort is the first time we have partnered on a space mission with a consortium of nonprofit organizations, universities, and the State of California.”

Perhaps the most novel part of this new project is the fact that Carbon Mapper is going to make all of its data public. Anyone that wants to will be able to access the emissions data, including companies, governments, and curious everyday folks. It’ll be incredibly interesting to see how the data is used and if it can actually help to highlight the worst polluters and force them to change. Public sentiment can be a very powerful motivator, and if a company is exposed as being far dirtier than it claims, you can bet they’ll shift gears in a hurry.

Why we must regulate grey water

 April 21, 2021


Dr Wei Chen, Mark Beavis, Oliver Jost, Felix von Bredow and Markus Joswig are the co-authors for a Splash special looking at what to do with all the dirty water collected from a ship’s showers, wash basins, laundries, and galleys.

The IMO’s MARPOL Annex IV is being revised to confirm the lifetime performance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). This may finally bring about grey water regulation – a necessity that is long overdue.

Black water and grey water

A ship’s sewage (black water) is collected from toilets, urinals and hospitals. The IMO’s MARPOL Annex IV prohibits its discharge, except when treated by an STP or discharged at > 12nm from the nearest land. A ship’s grey water, collected from showers, wash basins, laundries, and galleys, is not regulated.


Grey water has more pollutants (measured as BOD or COD) and hence greater environmental impact than black water (Table 1). But logical attempts to regulate grey water have been to no avail.

It has been widely acknowledged that the vast majority of approved STPs are discharging ‘virtually untreated sewage’ , and the regulation need to be made effective. What may not have been recognised is that, for good technical reasons, an effective black water regulation may not be readily achieved without regulating grey water.

Most concentrated sewage vs. most stringent standard

For decades, marine regulators have assumed that a ship’s sewage is similar to sewage on land. It cannot be more wrong. A ship’s sewage is far more concentrated, since urban wastewater contains groundwater infiltration, rainwater, and grey water. Onboard vacuum collection systems push the concentrations even higher, making ship sewage the most concentrated across all industries (Table 2).

Yet, ship sewage is subject to more stringent Faecal Coliform limit when compared to the discharge standards around the world, including the EU land-based rules (Table 3).

It is more so when it comes to the challenging nutrient standards. Under the Baltic Sea Action Plan, local communities of up to 300 population equivalent (p.e.) are not required to remove Total Phosphorus (TP).

Conventional biological wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) on land can achieve the Total Nitrogen (TN) target of 35 mg/l or 30% without introducing nitrogen removal technologies. As such, local communities of up to 10,000 p.e. are not required to remove Total Nitrogen (TN) (Table 4).

This is not because that the land-based industries are not ambitious, or that local communities don’t care. It is quite the opposite. They have evidence based, practicable, and sustainable environmental regulations that are enforced by performance monitoring (Figure below), whereby the goal is to protect environment, using best available technologies without entailing excess costs or adverse environmental impact. In contrast, passenger ships carrying as few as 12 passengers are given nutrient standards that are considered unnecessary, not beneficial, and unviable by industries on land (Table 4).

But are these sewage nutrient standards practicable? A ship’s black water can have nutrient concentrations 10 times that of urban wastewater (Table 5). There are other challenges. Ship operators can never be as familiarised with, or dedicated to, an STP as full-time operators in WWTPs. Ships have far less space and far poorer access and have real challenges in logistics and services. Plus, ships pitch and roll….

No one complained. The IMO’s type approval regime has made impossible tasks so ‘easy’ (Figure above). Ship owners who won’t trust a Bunker Delivery Note have embraced the certification of environmental technologies. Even those ships not applicable for nutrient removal have joined in, oblivious of the implications. It may not be a surprise that the first historical and courageous withdrawal of a certification under the MARPOL Convention was to an STP type approved for nutrient removal.

Conditioning vs dilution

The assumption of ship’s black water being similar to urban wastewater is evidently wrong. The assumption of ship’s black water can be readily processed to meet the most stringent standards is not evidence based. It is logical and essential to bring concentrations of black water closer to that of urban wastewater by ‘conditioning’. Afterall, most STPs are tested using urban wastewater that already contains grey water. Large STPs tested on board cruise ships included grey water. Under Alaska’s successful permitting regime for cruise ships, grey water is regulated together with black water.

Without conditioning, the treated black water, by meeting only the percentage removal target, can still be too concentrated to be allowed into many territorial waters under the national rules. Untreated black water can be too concentrated to be legally received by even the public sewer of the port reception facilities.

Dilution, on the other hand, takes a big step in a wrong direction by using excess amounts of sea water to dilute pollutants, thus cheating the discharge standard.

Regulating grey water is a necessity

Regulating grey water together with black water makes the existing performance standard more attainable and practicable. Because grey water is often co-mingled with black water during storage and transfer on board, regulating grey water is essential for effective implementation of the proposed sewage record books.

There are other reasons too. For years, grey water related non-conformities have been persistent. Sending grey water to an STP’s final stage is a non-conformity wrongly approved and promoted by the classification societies since 2016. Ship’s grey water system is also becoming a dumping ground for regulated wastes, such as food waste and food waste derivatives, violating international marine rules and national biosecurity rules. The interferences of grey water to the Ballast Water Convention also remain outstanding. Regulating grey water can help to address these issues.

Regulating grey water can ultimately align the maritime industry to the rest of our society in protecting our coastal waters with integrated and consistent regulations, both on land and at sea.

Maritime industry needs evidence-based, practicable and sustainable environmental regulations. At a time when the MARPOL Annex IV is under revision, we can have the grey water issue raised and addressed in one hit, or we can have a piecemeal approach that drags on over decades. Which one is better for the industry, and the marine environment?

CANADA

Federal budget fails to support needed pension reform, retiree group says

The Canadian Press

TORONTO -- The Canadian Federation of Pensioners is calling for amendments to federal insolvency laws to protect members of defined benefit pensions if the employer is insolvent.

The federation, which represents 23 retiree groups with a total of about 300,000 members, renewed its call for legislative changes after the federal budget failed to mention the issue on Monday.

The federal government controls Canada's insolvency laws and could use them to protect people with defined-benefit pensions, which are supposed to be guaranteed by the employer, CFP president Michael Powell said Tuesday.

Canada's insolvency laws should give pensioners priority over other creditors if a plan is in deficit and the sponsor is insolvent, he said

Private member's bills C-259 from New Democrat MP Scott Duvall and C-253 from Bloc Quebecois MP Marilene Gill are similar proposals that Powell said he supports.

"They're somewhat different. But the core component of each is identical, which is extending super priority to the unfunded pension liability in insolvency," Powell said in a phone interview.

The two bills, introduced last year, seek changes to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

Duvall, who represents Hamilton Mountain in southern Ontario, agreed his bill is very similar to the Bloc proposal and both put pressure on the Liberals to change the laws.

"The Bloc bill will be debated for the first time on Friday and I will be making a speech supporting that, to make sure pensioners are secured creditors," Duvall said.

White House to Pledge Cutting Global Warming Emissions in Half


Ari Natter and Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg News


Pollution rises from the Big River Electric D.B. Wilson Station power plant in Centertown, Kentucky. Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg , Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The White House plans to pledge this week a target of reducing U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by at least half by the end of the decade as it holds a summit on climate change with world leaders, according to two people familiar with the president’s plans.

The goal, which would represent a near doubling of a climate target set by the Obama administration in 2015, was described by people who had been briefed by administration officials who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

The U.S. target was characterized to the people as halving U.S. emissions from 2005 levels, rather than a specific 50% reduction. One of the people said the administration was seeking to avoid laying down a numeric target, the people said.

The U.S. may also commit to working to achieve even deeper cuts, one of the people said. That mirrors an approach the Obama administration took in 2015, when it laid out a 26%-28% cut by 2025, but said it would work to achieve the higher, 28% reduction.

The White House declined to comment.

Cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half would require broad action to clamp down on planet-warming pollution from power plants, automobiles, oil wells and agriculture.

The Biden administration is convening the leaders of up to 40 nations in a summit Thursday and Friday designed to raise global ambition in the fight against climate change. A major target is keeping average global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Can PLANT extract protect you against COVID-19? Clinical trial begins for vaccine made from tobacco shrubs

Canadian-based biopharmaceutical company Medicago has developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate that is derived from a tobacco plant

The candidate uses virus-like particles, which mimic the shape of the virus to train the body to recognize it and mount an immune response

Phase I trial data found the vaccine produced 10 times as many antibodies in recipients compared to those who had been infected with the virus

Researchers from around the world are in the process of recruiting for phase III clinical trials
If successful, the new candidate could be faster and cheaper to manufacture, and easier to produce

By MARY KEKATOS SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED:  20 April 2021 | U

Researchers around the country are testing a new two-dose COVID-19 vaccine candidate that is plant-based.

Developed by Medicago vaccination, a biopharmaceutical company based in Canada, the shot uses a tobacco shrub to produce coronavirus-like particles.

The help the body recognize the pathogen so that it can induce an immune response and launch an attack if a person becomes infected.

If the late-stage clinical trial proves the candidate is successful, it could be faster and cheaper to make - and easier distribute - than other available vaccines.

Canadian-based biopharmaceutical company Medicago has developed a coronavirus vaccine candidate that is derived from a tobacco plant (above)

The candidate uses virus-like particles, which mimic the shape of the virus to train the body to recognize it and mount an immune response

Medicago's coronavirus vaccine is made using a tobacco plant variant and uses Virus-like particles (VLPs).

VLPs, which are molecules that closely resemble but are non-infectious because they don't contain genetic material, are added to the soil and absorbed by the plant as it grows.

It then mimics the shape of the coronavirus to train the immune system to recognize it and mount an immune response.

This is different from the vaccines authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which target just the spike protein on the outside of the virus, rather than resembling the overall structure of the virus.

'All you have to do is extract the spike protein from the plant from the leaves, and you have the vaccine,' Dr Matthew Hong, of Wake Research in Raleigh, North Carolina, told ABC News 11.

'You don't need all the background and all the other support systems, and all the machinery and all the equipment that goes into making a virus.'

This could make the vaccine faster and cheaper to producer than other vaccines on the market, such as from Pfizer or Moderna.

It also does not need to be stored at freezing temperatures, making it easier to send to clinics.

Additionally, because the particles are derived from plants, it could limit the number of adverse reactions experienced by people who get the shot.

This is especially relevant in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA suggesting clinicians stop using the Johnson & Johnson last week after nine reports of rare, but serious, blood clots out of more than 7.2 million vaccinations.

Dr Mark Carlson the principal investigator for Be Well Clinical Studies, the Nebraska arm of the trial, says this new candidate has seen no links to blood clots.

'Thus far, the safety profile from the Medicago pre-clinical data a well as the phase one and phase two data has identified nothing concerning regarding blood clotting or any other safety flags,' Carlson told KETV

Early data from the phase I trial found the vaccine produced 10 times as many antibodies in recipients compared to those who had been infected with the virus.

Currently, Medicago is recruiting 30,000 participants across the U.S. and worldwide for its phase III trial.

To qualify, volunteers must be aged 18 years or older and have not either had COVID-19 or been vaccinated.

This is increasingly difficult in America, where 50.7 percent of the adult population has had at least one dose, according to the CDC.

'Our pool of potential subjects is shrinking daily, and so Medicago is trying to amplify this trial as quickly as possible,' Carlson told KETV.

Medicago is hoping to have results of the study available by fall 2021 to submit to U.S. regulators for review.

Crescent moon-shaped lake appears in Dubai desert

After the Pink Lake in RAK and Love Lakes in Al Qudra, there's a new Instagram-worthy landmark



One of the UAE's hidden gems emerged on social media at Ramadan - the crescent moon lake at Al Qudra desert area in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National








A crescent-shaped lake appeared in the Dubai desert, just in time for Ramadan.

Moon Lake is in the middle of Al Qudra desert, surrounded by golden sand dunes.

The National went in search of the new landmark with a drone, and took these remarkable photographs.

The crescent moon lake was first pictured by Dubai-based photographer and videographer, Mostafa, who published images on his Instagram account @100.pixels.

He described the lake as a “hidden gem, full of wildlife and barely untouched nature”

.


"You will find a lot of oryx in the area. The views during sunset and sunrise are amazing," he said

The discovery comes after pictures of a pink lake on the coast of Ras Al Khaimah went viral on Instagram.

Scientists investigated the mysteriously rosy colour, and suggested the natural oddity was caused by red algae in the salty water.

This lake is likely to be man-made like the nearby Love Lakes, which have proved to be popular with tourists.

If you want to go in search of the crescent moon lake, the Google Map co-ordinates are 24.7874218, 55.3065662.

Be warned, you will need a 4x4 to cross the desert, as there is no paved road.
In pictures: the pink lake in Ras Al Khaimah




A small pool on the shoreline of Saraya Island in Ras Al Khaimah has turned pink. Pawan Singh / The National










Updated: April 21, 2021