Shift to renewable energy needed by

 2030-35, top researchers say

Leading energy experts are campaigning for a more rapid global energy transformation, saying the world must shift to nearly 100% use of renewable power sources within the next 10 to 15 years – "much sooner than 2050"

by  Jim Pollard

Asian News Today, Asia Pacific News Headlines Feb 14

Leading energy experts say countries around the world needs to transition to renewable energy in the next decade and a half if the world is to avoid extensive ecological damage.

File photo by Schwanberg Science Photo Library via AFP.


(ATF) A group of leading energy experts are campaigning for a rapid global energy transformation, saying the world must shift to nearly 100% use of renewable power sources within the next 10 to 15 years – "much sooner than 2050" – for the planet to avoid extensive ecological damage.

The 100% Renewable Energy (RE) Global Strategy Group, as they are called, released a 10-point declaration at a conference in Dubai this week.

Leaders of the group said that solar, wind and battery systems are already the cheapest and least environmentally damaging sources of power – and they are projected to become far cheaper in the years ahead.

They said "super-abundant" power would be available to all countries and all sectors of society and that switching to solar and wind power, primarily, would create millions of jobs and save trillions of dollars in social and health costs from polluting emissions and maintaining coal-fired, nuclear and oil-fuelled systems that are creating an environmental catastrophe.

Their key message is: "The transformation to 100% renewables is possible and will be coming much faster than the general expectation. A 100% renewable electricity supply is possible by 2030, and with substantial political will around the world, 100% renewable energy is also technically and economically feasible across all other sectors by 2035."

The 100% RE Global Strategy Group – made up of experts on solar power, renewables and "smart" power grids – say this change is already happening. Close to a dozen countries have already achieved this switch and another dozen have passed laws to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2030. Plus, a further 49 countries have passed laws to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2050, they say, along with 14 states in the US and 300 cities around the world.

But this transformation needs to happen more quickly, they say.

Prof Mark Jacobson from Stanford University said: “We have lost too much time in our efforts to address global warming and the seven million air pollution deaths that occur each year, by not focusing enough on useful solutions.

"Fortunately, low-cost 100% clean, renewable energy solutions do exist to solve these problems, as found by over a dozen independent research groups. The solutions will not only save consumers money, but also create jobs and provide energy and more international security, while substantially reducing air pollution and climate damage from energy. Policymakers around the world are strongly urged to ensure we implement these solutions over the next 10-15 years."

Another member of the group, Tony Seba, a lecturer at Stanford and well-known author, who founded RethinkX in the US, said his research had shown a decade ago that car manufacturers would shift to electric vehicles in 2020-21, as is currently happening.

“This group of researchers has developed dozens of science-based studies over several decades, using different methodologies, and covering hundreds of regions around the world. The conclusion is clear: a global energy system powered by 100% clean renewable energy is not just possible over the next 10-15 years, it can also save money, create jobs and wealth, save lives, and get humanity ahead of the curve to prevent runaway climate change,” Seba said.

“It is economically, socially, geopolitically and environmentally irrational for us to kick the can down the road to 2050.”

The five other members of the 100% RE Global Strategy Group are Prof Eicke Weber (Berkeley University, Freiburg, Germany), Prof Andrew Blakers (Australian National University, Canberra), Prof Christian Breyer (LUT University, Finland), Hans-Josef Fell (Energy Watch Group, Germany), and Prof Brian Vad Mathiesen (Aalborg University, Denmark).

Prof Eicke Weber said: "Bringing together this unique group of globally leading scientists allowed us to determine the key common elements resulting from all our studies on a world that is reliably supplied by 100% renewable energy in the near future, soon enough to avoid the most catastrophic effects of the looming climate catastrophe."

Brian Vad Mathiesen commented: “With low-cost renewable energy-based electricity in place in 2030 a parallel rapid transition and re-design of the national energy systems will be feasible, using a 'smart' energy system approach combining electricity with energy efficient buildings, district heating, electrified transport and industry, as well as energy storage. We provide a deep understanding of the technical solution; decision-makers now need to re-design the energy markets for the re-designed energy systems.”

The Strategy Group's declaration and key findings of their research from the past two decades were summarized and presented at a conference of the 2021 Partner Meeting of the Desert Energy Initiative Dii in Dubai. Their declaration and other material can be found at www.Global100REStrategyGroup.org.

Their statement said: "The Earth's climate emergency requires the completion of a zero-emissions economy much sooner than the generally discussed target year of 2050. A target year needed for ending our CO2 and other climate-warming and air pollutant emissions is proposed to be 2030 for the electric power sector and soon thereafter, but ideally no later than 2035, for other sectors.

"The central question of [our] studies was whether and how it is possible to achieve the goal of 100% supply of the world's energy demand with renewable energies already by 2030 for the electricity demand, and 2035 for the total energy demand. The core solution to meeting this timeline is to electrify or provide direct heat for all energy and provide the electricity and heat globally with 100% clean renewable energy."

In addition to the seven initial signatories, dozens of invited academics and other researchers in the renewables field have supported their statement.

"Over 300 cities worldwide have passed laws to reach 100% renewable electricity by no later than 2050; and over 280 international businesses have committed to 100% renewables across their global operations. However, only Denmark has passed laws to reach 100% renewable energy across all sectors, and it is by 2050," the group said.

"In the public debate, policies to reach 100% renewables across all energy sectors are few in number, and by 2035 are non-existent. Some have considered such policies impractical. Based on old data, even major bodies, such as IRENA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have only demanded to achieve 70% RE by 2050. The EU as a whole has only a 32% RE target in total energy by 2030, Germany has only a 65% target in the electric power sector.

Coal and bio-mass habit threatens India’s 'solar-power revolution' 

New Delhi has made some big promises on updating the country’s energy menu but with coal still accounting for 70% of electricity generation and a voracious domestic energy appetite, change is going to be difficult 

by Tim Daiss

Comment and Opinion Feb 16

India’s energy use has doubled since 2000, with much of that demand still being met by coal.

India, the world’s second most populous country after China, and the third largest energy consumer, keeps making energy headlines as it tries to meet its seemingly insatiable energy demand while also battling problematic greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels.

The latest salvo in the country’s war to ramp down its carbon footprint came last week when the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said that India is entering a “solar-power revolution” that could match coal as its top electricity source within two decades, or even sooner.

“As things stand, solar accounts for less than 4% of India’s electricity generation, and coal close to 70%,” the agency said in its newly released India Energy Outlook 2021.
Read more: China showbiz shares surge amid new year box office boom

By 2040, coal and solar converge in the low 30%s in the Outlook’s so-called Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS), while this switch is even more rapid in the other two scenarios given.

The SDS, for its part, examines how India could mobilise an additional surge in clean energy investment to produce an early peak and rapid subsequent decline in emissions, consistent with a longer-term drive to net zero.

The Outlook added that the “dramatic turnaround is driven by India’s policy ambitions, notably the target to reach 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity by 2030.”

The extraordinary cost-competitiveness of solar, which out-competes existing coal-fired power by 2030, even when paired with battery storage, is also a contributing factor, it said.

It added that the scenario doesn’t even come close to exhausting the scope of solar to meet India’s energy needs, particularly for other applications such as rooftop solar, solar thermal heating, and water pumps – all three areas that can be ramped up quickly and at economies of scale.
RAMPANT DEMAND

Achieving this level of solar build-out while reducing its coal usage needed for power production, however, will be no small feat for the country of some 1.2 billion people given its rampant energy and electricity demand coming amid rising incomes and improved standards of living.

India’s energy use has doubled since 2000, with much of that demand still being met by coal – the dirtiest burning fossil fuel – oil, also a dirty burning fuel source, and solid biomass, which includes the burning of wood, charcoal, and other residues for heating and cooking purposes.

Currently, around 32% of total primary energy used in India is derived by bio-mass, a primary factor in the country’s GHG emissions – the third largest in the world after China and the US.

More troubling for India’s GHG emission reduction goals, biomass is still integral for remote villages and urban clusters with decentralised settlements. As such, it is often the fuel of choice for many in the country.
BIOMASS POWER

Biomass is also still being promulgated by the government for industrial usage as well. India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set a national target to achieve 10 GW of installed biomass power by 2022.

The country currently has 5+ GW capacity biomass powered plants, while 83% are grid connected while the remaining 17% are off-grid plants.

Not only does India have to grapple with its bio-mass quandary, but its coal usage and production as well.

Here’s a case in point. In July, New Delhi announced the auction of 38 new coal mines with an annual production capacity nearly one third of current national total output. As an incentive, it also reduced upfront payments, relaxed payment schedules, and offered rebates in revenue shared with the government for early coal production.
NET EXPORTER

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the time that he wanted the country to become a net coal exporter. However, seemingly in contradiction, he also said a few months later that India would become the major driver of global energy demand in the years to come, but would also hold down carbon emissions even as its power consumption soars.

However, even given the IEA’s positive forecast that solar could match or even exceed the country’s coal capacity within two decades, coal would still comprise at least 30% (nearly one third) of the country’s energy mix by the end of the 20-year forecast period.

Other countries for their part, including the UK, France, Germany, and others have all pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050. Given the almost frantic carbon reduction push in Europe underway as well as increased green hydrogen energy investment, and even moves to divest funding away from liquified natural gas (LNG) projects, it appears that 2050 date could be reached early for some.
ENERGY MIX

For India, its ability to meet increased electricity demand while keeping Modi's pledge of less carbon intensity will depend on how quickly and efficiently it can phase out coal's dominance in its energy mix and replace them with renewable sources, solar, wind and now green hydrogen and LNG. This includes reducing coal as part of India’s energy mix by even more than the IEAs forecast.

Notably, New Delhi recently pledged to transform India to a natural gas-based economy by 2030, moving from gas making up just over 6% of its energy mix to 15% by 2030.

Much of that infrastructure is already being put in place in the way of pipelines, associated grids, LNG import terminals, and LNG fuelling stations for large trucks to help replace diesel burning engines.

LNG for its part, while still a fossil fuel, has a lower carbon footprint than both coal and oil, while there is also now a drive underway in a number of countries to make LNG production facilities reduce their carbon footprints by using renewables to replace feed gas for operations as well as utilising carbon capture and storage technologies.

Sinopec ramps up hydrogen pivot, others need to follow

China's largest oil and gas giant is aiming to be the country's top hydrogen company; It has announced plans to build 1,000 hydrogen refueling and retail outlets, and plans to build 7,000 distributed solar power generation stations by 2025

by Tim Daiss  

A worker walks past a Sinopec storage tank. China's largest oil and gas giant is aiming to be the country's top hydrogen company. It has announced plans to build 1,000 hydrogen refueling and retail outlets by 2025. File photo by Reuters.


(ATF) China has been slow to start reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to some of its neighbors, while a growing number of European nations are way ahead of Beijing on this critical front. Now, however, one Chinese state-run oil major is trying to pick up the slack.

Sinopec, China’s largest oil, gas, and chemical giant in terms of revenue, has announced a green pivot to more hydrogen production and even solar power generation build-out. It aims to become China’s top hydrogen company by 2025 by increasing investment in hydrogen for the country’s transport sector – the world’s largest, as well as refining hydrogen related products.

To achieve its goal it will move away from so-called grey hydrogen, produced by natural gas and as such still a CO2 emitter, to blue hydrogen, which is also produced from fossil fuels but uses carbon capture storage technology (CCS) for greenhouse gases. Brown hydrogen is produced through coal-gasification and has the highest carbon footprint of all hydrogen production. Green hydrogen for its part, with no GHG emissions, is produced by renewables, namely solar and wind.

Sinopec plans to build 1,000 pure hydrogen refueling and hydrogen integrated retail outlets, that also sell conventional fuels, by 2025, an Argus report said on Wednesday.

It also plans to build 7,000 distributed solar power generation stations by the same date.

However, Sinopec hasn’t disclosed CAPEX figures for either plan. The energy giant already produces some 3.5 million tonnes per annum of hydrogen.

In November, the company made incremental moves in the right direction when it launched its first onshore wind power project. The 20MW project, located in Dali in China's northwestern Shaanxi province is being developed by Sinopec Star Co, a clean-energy subsidiary of that previously focused only on geothermal development.

Can China rein in its GHG emissions?

The timing of Sinopec’s new plan comes as Beijing tries to draw a harder line over its massive carbon footprint. China remains by far the world’s largest GHG emissions violator, followed by the US and India.

In mid-January, an environmental report by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, released a scathing report slamming the country’s influential National Energy Administration (NEA) for allowing the coal industry to push ahead with its massive over-construction of new coal projects, while also skirting environmental regulations which could put President Xi Jinping’s 2060 carbon neutral goal in jeopardy.

Bowing to what can only be described as a rare public rebuke, the NEA, on February 5, issued a new draft carbon policy proposing that China generate 40% of its electricity from nuclear and renewable sources by 2030. Of that 40% benchmark, 25.9% is earmarked to come from technologies other than hydropower, including solar, wind and nuclear. China currently generates around 28% of its electricity from renewables – mostly hydropower.

However, what was missing in the draft plan was as telling as what was included. The NEA didn’t even mention the role that hydrogen could play in helping the country clean up its GHG quandary.

Part of that reason could be that even though China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer, its mostly brown hydrogen, with most of it being used in the industrial sector.

So, there is no word yet how, or if, Sinopec’s new plan will fit into the NEA’s draft policy.

However, the oil major could also be bowing to political pressure from Beijing to reduce its carbon footprint while also trying to make a blue hydrogen and solar pivot. China, however, still has no green hydrogen policy, while others in the region are pushing ahead.

Japan seeks to commercialize hydrogen power generation as well as international hydrogen supply chains and cut hydrogen power generation costs. Australia, for its part, set a National Hydrogen Strategy in late 2019 that aims to make the country a major global hydrogen player by 2030.

Yet, for China to achieve its carbon neutral 2060 goal, as well as Xi’s pledge of reaching peak emissions within the next 10 years – still a goal that raises more questions than it answers – it has to turn to both blue and green hydrogen not only for its transportation sector but for its power generation sector as well.

It also needs to reconsider its pivot to natural gas even though the fuel emits around 50-60% less CO2 as coal. Beijing mandated that gas make up around 10% of its energy mix by 2020, and 15% by 2030, with additional earmarks after that.

China also needs to phase out its massive coal power generation sector by 2040. As such, its over-reliance on coal and recent coal power plant build-out is inconsistent with its commitments under the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, according to a recent Carbon Tracker report.

Hopefully, Beijing’s recent NEA admonitions are a step in the right direction to remedy this.

Moreover, for China to play catch up with Japan, Australia and a growing number of European nations, including Germany, the UK and France, that have already pledged 2050 carbon neutral goals, and announced major green hydrogen investment goals, its other oil majors will have to follow Sinopec’s lead in both the transportation and power generation sector.

Taking green hydrogen to the next level with fossil fuel cost parity 

Europe is leading the way when it comes to the cleanest of energy fuels with Japan, South Korea and Australia lagging a good way behind - while China isn’t even considering it as a renewables option 

by Tim Daiss

Comment and Opinion Feb 18

Thirty French, Spanish, Italian and German companies are to produce green hydrogen from solar energy at a cost similar to fossil fuels.


Europe continues to take the global lead in green hydrogen development, seemingly leaving the rest of the world in its rear view mirror. Even more remarkable is that its pivot to the cleanest of all fuel choices comes amid the worst health crisis to hit the planet in more than 100 years.

The latest in the European hydrogen drama came on February 11 when a consortium was formalised between 30 French, Spanish, Italian and German companies to produce green hydrogen from solar energy at a cost similar to fossil fuels.

The project, appropriately dubbed the HyDeal Ambition, plans to produce 3.6 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year for energy, industry and mobility sector end-users using gas transmission and storage networks.
Read more: China's Baidu beats revenue estimates on strong cloud and AI demand

That amount is roughly equivalent to one-and-a-half months of oil consumption in G20 member France, which averages about 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil usage, the seventh highest petroleum consumption level in the world, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The group of companies, including McPhy Energy, Enagás, OGE, Snam and others, plan to build 93 gigawatts (GW) of solar power plants and 67GW of electrolysis capacity in Spain, France, and Germany before 2030 – an ambitious plan given its time horizon.

Fuel costs are projected to come in around €1.5 ($1.82) per kg, which includes transmission and storage costs.

The project’s first phase, with a 2022 completion date, will be located in the Iberian Peninsula, bordering both Spain and Portugal.

ENERGY TRANSITION

HyDeal spokesperson Thierry Lepercq said the project, which accelerates the on-going global energy transition, includes a complete industrial ecosystem spanning the whole green hydrogen value chain (upstream, midstream, downstream, and finance). It is the culmination of two years of research, analysis, modelling, feasibility studies and contract design.

Green hydrogen is produced using renewables. It doesn’t emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) when burned, and can be transported by ship or pipeline.

Brown hydrogen, for its part, is produced using fossil fuels, and as such still has a high carbon footprint. Blue hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels but also uses carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems.

There are several notable take-aways from the development. First, HyDeal’s announcement shows how far Europe is pulling ahead of the rest of the industrialised world, including many that are either still only considering green hydrogen, developing it in its early stages, or, as in the case with China – the world’s largest energy consumer and worst GHG emitter by far – not even considering it in its new controversial renewables draft plan to 2030. 

ASIA LAGGING

In the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, Japan, South Korea, and Australia are leading the push for green hydrogen, but still pale in comparison to Europe’s hydrogen development.

However, the most dynamic take-away from HyDeal’s project announcement is that it will reach fossil fuel cost parity. It’s a development that most thought was still years away, giving more than a few countries seemingly ample reasons to postpone their own green hydrogen build-out.

Even the experts missed this one. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA) said in December that it could take ten years for green hydrogen to compete with the cost of fossil fuel alternatives.

Not to be outdone, commodities data provider S&P Global Platts said just a month earlier that green hydrogen costs need to become 50% cheaper to be able to compete with fossil fuels. Others have joined the chorus by predicting a long and convoluted path for green hydrogen adoption.

COST PARITY

HyDeal hasn’t yet disclosed full technical details of how its green hydrogen build-out will be able to reach fossil fuel cost parity. However, USNW-Sydney researchers think they’ve also found a way for green hydrogen to compete with fossil fuel production costs.

In a report released in October, researchers said a range of parameters could lower the price of green hydrogen production to near the cost to produce fossil fuels, including capital costs of electrolyser and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, electrolyser efficiency, available sunlight, and the size of the installations.

Another way to decrease cost would be to use cheap transition metal-based catalysts in electrolysers.

Not only are they cheaper, the researchers concluded, but they even outperform catalysts currently in commercial use.

CARBON GOALS

The ability for green hydrogen production to compete with fossil fuels on a cost basis could not only help the scattering of European countries that have already pledged carbon neutrality by 2050 achieve their climate agendas early, but also help other countries ramp up their own carbon neutral goals.

One loser in this once in a generation global energy shake-up could be legacy oil producers, ranging from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, to Russia, its second largest oil producer, to the US – the world’s largest producer, as well as around a dozen other oil producing countries that largely fill their state coffers from hydrocarbon exports.

However, the Saudis may already be out of the gate in anticipation of that eventuality. The kingdom announced in July that it would build the world’s largest green hydrogen production facility using 4GW of Saudi renewable electricity, with a production capacity of 650 million tons.

The fuel will be shipped as ammonia to global end-users then converted back to hydrogen. Production is slated to being in 2025. The move is part of Saudi Arabia’s attempts to diversify its economy away from decades of over-reliance on oil production and exports.

Another billion-tonne oil and gas discovery in Bohai oilfield
CNOOC says it has made another large-scale oil and gas discovery 5,200 meters below the Bohai Sea, in the Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field

by Chris Gill and Jim Pollard

An image of the CNOOC deepwater rig that was later completed and dragged by tugboats into the South China Sea south of Hainan Island to the Lingshui 17-2 oil and gas field. Image: YouTube screen grab.


(ATF) The China National Offshore Oil Corporation on Tuesday announced another large-scale oil and gas discovery in the Bohai sea, in the Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field.

CNOOC said it has proven geological reserves of 100 million tonnes of oil and gas.

The Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field is located in the central waters of the Bohai Sea, about 140 kilometers from Tianjin, a major port in northeastern China, just south of Beijing. The oil and gas field has an average water depth of about 23.2 metres, the Beijing Daily reported.

The discovery well Bozhong 13-2-2 encountered an oil layer with a thickness of about 346 metres and was completed at a depth of 5,223 metres.

After testing, the well produced about 300 tonnes of crude oil and 150,000 cubic metres of natural gas per day on average.

Zhou Xinhuai, general manager of CNOOC Exploration Department, said the discovery of the Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field was important and valuable for future exploration of the same type of field in the area and other offshore locations.

CNOOC, which is one of the largest national oil companies in China, began to conduct oil and gas exploration in the depths of the Bohai Sea as early as half a century ago. After generations of effort drilling and searching for oil and gas, explorers continued to tackle key problems, until the group discovered Jinzhou 25-1 South and other high-level large and medium-sized oil fields.

In a bid to achieve an efficient conversion of reserves, the company has applied an integrated management model of exploration and development, using existing oilfield facilities to quickly promote the construction of well areas. Exploratory wells are directly converted into production wells for test production, to reduce drilling costs and increase the oil and gas yield.

Zhou Xinhuai said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, which began this year, CNOOC workers would continue to implement their development plan at the Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field and become an important force for the Bohai Sea.

CNOOC 'targeting South China Sea and onshore sites'

CNOOC said early this month it would accelerate the exploration and development of natural gas, including deepwater reserves in the South China Sea and unconventional resources onshore China, to cut carbon emissions.

One of the industry's lowest-cost explorers and producers, CNOOC said net oil and gas output last year grew by 5% to 528 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and it aimed to raise 2021 output to 545-555 million boe.

It plans capital spending this year of 90-100 billion yuan (nearly $14 billion-$15.5 billion), the highest since 2014, as it prioritises domestic drilling and natural gas, which is less carbon intensive than oil.

With the aim of making gas 30% of its portfolio by 2025 and half by 2035, CNOOC will expedite large discoveries, such as Lingshui 17-2 in the South China Sea and Bozhong 19-6 in the Bohai Bay off north China.

It will also tap unconventional resources, including coal-seam gas, tight gas and shale gas in China.

"Bohai Bay has huge natural gas potential and our exploration at the South China Sea is only at early stage," CEO Xu Keqiang told reporters.

Bohai Sea - Wikipedia

CNOOC will also consider acquiring gas assets outside China, Xu added.

Production from offshore China will account for about 68% of the 2021 target and overseas operations 32%, compared with the 64%-36% split seen in the previous two years, the company said.

Of 19 projects to commence operation this year, a stand-out is CNOOC's first major fully-owned deepwater gas field, Lingshui 17-2.

CNOOC in January started sailing Shenhai-1, a newly-commissioned deepwater oil and gas production and storage platform, to Lingshui. First output is expected late this year and annual output will reach more than 3 billion cubic metres.

The company has said 3%-5% of its total annual spending will be on offshore wind power, following the launch of its first wind power farm in east China last September and expansion planned in several other coastal provinces.

Asked about its fluctuating share prices following Washington's blacklisting, CEO Xu said CNOOC has been communicating with the US government to overcome misunderstandings "so to be removed from the sanction list as soon as possible".

CNOOC's Hong Kong-listed shared have recovered more than 20% over the last three weeks as European and Asian investors bargain-hunted its shares hit by the US investment ban.

With reporting by Reuters

Economic damage intensifies after Myanmar coup 

 
Australia’s Woodside says it will pull out of country in protest over anti-protester violence that claimed a life on Saturday 

by  Mark McCord

Photo: Reuters


(ATF) The economic fallout from Myanmar’s military coup deepened Saturday as a leading energy firm said it would be pulling out of the country.

Australia's Woodside Petroleum said on Saturday it was cutting its presence in Myanmar amid concerns over violence by security forces directed at protesters demonstrating against the February 1 ousting of the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The announcement came as violence on the streets intensified with the killing of a protester by police, according to reports

"We have watched with growing concern since the events of 1 February 2021. Woodside supports the people of Myanmar and we hope to see a peaceful journey to democracy," the company said in a statement on its website.

"We are reducing our presence in country and expect full de-mobilisation of our offshore exploration drilling team over the coming weeks."

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.

Uncertainty has grown over Suu Kyi's whereabouts, as the independent Myanmar Now website on Friday quoted officials of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party as saying she had been moved this week from house arrest to an undisclosed location.

The coup has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters to Myanmar's streets and drawn condemnation from Western countries, with some imposing limited sanctions.

Police were out in force in the main city of Yangon and elsewhere on Saturday, taking up positions at usual protest sites and detaining people as they congregated, witnesses said. Several media workers were detained.

Three domestic media outlets said a woman was shot and killed in the central town of Monwya. Police there were not immediately available for comment.

Earlier, a protester in the town said police had fired water cannon as they surrounded a crowd.

"They used water cannon against peaceful protesters - they shouldn't treat people like that," Aye Aye Tint told Reuters from the town.

In Yangon, despite the police presence, people came out to chant and sing, then scatter into side streets as police advanced, firing tear gas, setting off stun grenades and firing guns into the air, witnesses said.
We will prevail

At the U.N. General Assembly, Myanmar's Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun said he was speaking on behalf of Suu Kyi's government and appealed for "any means necessary to take action against the Myanmar military and to provide safety and security for the people".

"We need further strongest possible action from the international community to immediately end the military coup ... and to restore the democracy," he said.

Kyaw Moe Tun appeared emotional as he read the statement on behalf of a group of elected politicians that he said represented the legitimate government.

Delivering his final words in Burmese, the career diplomat raised the three-finger salute of pro-democracy protesters and announced, "Our cause will prevail."

Reporting by Reuter

Anas Sarwar wins Scottish Labour leadership election, becoming first 

party leader from Muslim background

In the coming weeks, Mr Sarwar said, he would lay out his vision for a “Covid recovery parliament” following the next election, which would focus on tackling the economic, health and societal impacts of the pandemic

Anas Sarwar has announced his bid to become the next leader of Scottish Labour, following the resignation of Richard Leonard (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

By Charlie Duffield
February 27, 2021 

Anas Sarwar has been named leader of the Scottish Labour Party, beating Monica Lennon by 57.6 per cent to 42.4 per cent.

Mr Sarwar takes over after the resignation of Richard Leonard in January and just ten weeks away from the Holyrood elections, with his party currently languishing in third place behind the SNP and the Conservatives.

He is the first person from a Muslim background to lead a major UK party, and one of the first from an ethnic minority background following Women’s Equality Party leader Mandu Reid.

Mr Sarwar said his election was “the greatest honour of my life”.

In a speech to members after the announcement, he thanked Ms Lennon for a campaign that “has shown the best of our party, not the worst of our politics”.

In a video message, Mr Sarwar said: “I want to say directly to the people of Scotland – I know Labour has a lot of work to do to win back your trust.

“Because if we’re brutally honest, you haven’t had the Scottish Labour Party you deserve.


“With rising injustice, inequality and division, I’m sorry we haven’t been good enough. I will work day and night to change that, so we can build the country we all need.”

UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Huge congratulations to @AnasSarwar on his election as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. I look forward to working with him to secure our economy, protect our NHS and rebuild our country.

“We will fight the Scottish Parliamentary elections by making the case for a socially just Scotland in a modern United Kingdom. Under his leadership, Scottish Labour will focus on what unites us – not what divides us.

“I know Anas will do the hard work that is necessary to win back the trust of the Scottish people and build for the future as we emerge from this pandemic.

“Today we have elected the first-ever ethnic minority leader of a political party in the UK.

“That doesn’t say something about me. That says something great about Scotland and its people. But the fight for equality is far from over.

“I’ll work with all our diverse communities in Scotland to rebuild the country we love.”

Mr Sarwar concluded: “I’m determined that the Labour Party I lead will always be on your side.

“Because I will be a leader who focuses on what unites our country – not what divides it. Together we will build a better future for Scotland.”

In the coming weeks, Mr Sarwar said, he would lay out his vision for a “Covid recovery parliament” following the next election, which would focus on tackling the economic, health and societal impacts of the pandemic.

Mr Sarwar has repeatedly voiced his opposition to another independence referendum while his opponent in the race said it was important the party did not “deny democracy” if a pro-independence majority is elected to Holyrood in May.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon extended her congratulations to the Glasgow MSP on Twitter.

“Congratulations to Anas Sarwar – he (and his dad before him) and I are long-time political opponents, but I also like and rate him,” she said.

“That may not always be obvious in the weeks ahead as election battle is joined, so worth saying so now.”

Scotland’s justice minister Humza Yousef also tweeted his congratulations, stating: “This makes him first Muslim & Person of Colour leading a political party in UK, an incredible & historic achievement of which I am proud of him for. Well done Anas”.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy said it was “a new chapter in the history of Scottish Labour.”

Hungry teenage dinosaurs kept rival species in check

By Katie Hunt, CNN 

Teen dinosaurs, specifically the offspring of enormous meat-eating species like Tyrannosaurus rex, would have been everywhere 100 million years ago.

© Courtesy Kat Schroeder Young meat-eating dinosaurs and their voracious appetites shaped the world 100 million years ago.

Their voracious and changing appetites would have deeply affected the world around them -- to the extent that these adolescent dinosaurs, as they grew, would have limited the number of other dinosaur species they competed with for food, according to new research.

This could help explain something that has long puzzled paleontologists: why there are relatively few small dinosaurs in the fossil record, particularly in the mid- to late Cretaceous period.

New research published in the journal Science on Thursday has shown these carnivores likely occupied niches that might have ordinarily been filled by smaller, meat-eating dinosaurs, with the young punks beating out those smaller species while competing for prey.

"Dinosaur communities were like shopping malls on a Saturday afternoon jam-packed with teenagers," said Kat Schroeder, a doctoral student in the University of New Mexico's department of biology, who led the study.

"They made up a significant portion of the individuals in a species and would have had a very real impact on the resources available in communities," she said.

Despite dominating the biodiversity on land for more than 150 million years, dinosaurs were not very rich in species, relatively speaking. Among dinosaurs, large-bodied species weighing more than 1,000 kilograms were the most diverse group.

This is completely different from animals in modern ecosystems, where there's typically greater diversity among smaller-bodied species because they are able to share a wide range of ecological niches and sources of prey.

Researchers believe that the large gap in size between meat-eating dinosaur hatchlings, juveniles and adults and their rapid growth would have meant they had eaten different prey at different life stages.

This may have influenced the diversity and unusual body size distribution of dinosaur communities reflected in the fossil record, with teen dinosaurs making up a significant portion of the individuals in a species.

Schroeder and her coauthors collected data from well-known fossil sites from around the globe, including over 550 dinosaur species. Organizing dinosaurs by mass and diet, they examined the number of small, medium and large dinosaurs in each community. Their results showed that there were very few carnivorous dinosaurs weighing between 100 and 1,000 kilograms (220 to 2,200 pounds).

Was it possible that these small and midsize dinosaurs existed and we don't know about it just because they aren't preserved well in the fossil record?

Not likely, said Schroeder, noting that the gap was consistent across climates, latitudes and different regions. They did, however find tiny species of dinosaur in places where their midsize counterparts were missing. This suggested that the gap was not an issue of preservation in the fossil record.

There was more even body-size distribution among plant-eating dinosaurs, and Schroeder said that young plant-eating dinosaurs wouldn't have impacted their environment in the same way as their carnivorous counterparts.

Teen herbivores could eat what their parents ate: Mom and dad consumed the tops of trees, while the younger ones munched on the leaves lower down, she explained. And there is no way a young T. rex could kill and eat a triceratops -- they'd have to leave that up to their parents.

'We shouldn't still be fighting for equal rights': LGBTQ+ bill faces tough battle ahead


Sam Levin in Los Angeles
Thu, February 25, 2021



Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters

The US House of Representatives voted to pass a landmark bill that would establish federal anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, setting up a tough battle in the Senate to turn the proposal into law.

“We shouldn’t still be having to fight for equal rights,” said Nic Talbott, a 27-year-old Ohio resident, who was forced to abandon his plans of joining the military due to Donald Trump’s ban on trans service members. “We should be able to go to work, find housing and just live our lives without having to worry about whether or not we’re going to be excluded just for being transgender or gay.”

The Equality Act passed the Democratic-led House in a 224-206 vote, with three Republicans joining the Democrats. The bill amends existing civil rights laws to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation and provides clear legal protections for transgender and queer people in employment, housing, education, public accommodations, federally funded programs and other sectors.


Related: Outrage as Marjorie Taylor Greene displays transphobic sign in Congress

But the proposal’s future is uncertain. Joe Biden has said signing the bill into law is one of his top priorities, but it first has to clear the Senate, where GOP lawmakers could block the legislation with a filibuster.

The Equality Act builds on the landmark US supreme court ruling last year prohibiting employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ workers. Biden has already issued executive orders to defend trans rights, undoing some of Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies and directing federal departments to follow the guidance of the supreme court decision. But advocates say the Equality Act is vital because it would enshrine protections into law beyond employment, and prevent future administrations from rolling back anti-discrimination rules.

The act would be particularly significant for LGBTQ+ residents in the 27 states that do not have anti-discrimination laws on the books for trans and queer people, where it is legal to deny them housing based on their identities.

“Legislation like this is crucial for shifting the tides for trans folks, especially in red states,” said Aria Sa’id, the executive director of the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District, a community group in San Francisco. Trans people flee to California from other states where they have fewer rights or access to services, she said: “We’re coming from other places in the US where we are not safe. We come to San Francisco for refuge … We should be protected in the law no matter where we live.”

The Equality Act fight comes amid unprecedented attacks on trans rights in the US and overseas. Republican lawmakers in at least 20 states are currently pushing local bills targeting trans people, backed by rightwing groups. Many of the bills seek to block trans-affirming healthcare or ban trans youth and adults from certain spaces, including by prohibiting them from using the correct bathroom or participating in sports teams that match their gender.

Some extremist GOP members of Congress have supported those efforts and have been promoting misinformation and transphobic hate speech this week as the House debated the Equality Act.

David B Cruz, a constitutional law professor at University of California, Los Angeles, said federal protections would, in effect, make it illegal for states to enforce discriminatory rules meant to exclude trans people. The Equality Act would also make it harder for the supreme court, which has become more conservative since last year’s ruling, to carve out trans rights in the next LGBTQ+ discrimination case it reviews, he said.

Legislation like this is crucial for shifting the tides for trans folks, especially in red states
Aria Sa’id

“It would be a monumental achievement,” said Cruz. “It’s not always simple or easy for people to enforce their statutory rights, but even having a federal law that expressly protects those rights on the books, by itself will deter discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.” It would help disrupt “cycles of poverty, due to anti LGBTQ+ prejudice”, he added.

Some Republican legislators are vocally opposing the act by citing concerns about religious freedoms. But Cruz noted that a super-majority of Americans in every state support anti-discrimination laws for LGBTQ+ people, including a majority of Republican voters.

Khloe Rios-Wyatt, the president at Alianza Translatinx, a Latinx trans rights group in Orange county, California, said she faced discrimination for being trans when she was terminated from her first job out of college: “It can be traumatizing. You lose your income and then you’re facing potential homelessness.”

She said she regularly talks to trans people who were denied housing even though they qualified: “You show up in person and they tell you it’s no longer available. It breaks my heart and it has to change.”

Bamby Salcedo, the president of the TransLatin@ Coalition in Los Angeles, noted that 2020 was the deadliest year on record for violence against trans and gender non-conforming people, the majority people of color. While the Equality Act could make a difference for the broader LGBTQ+ community, it would not end discrimination for trans people, she said.

“The reality is that even in California and places that are super progressive, trans people continue to experience discrimination while trying to obtain employment, housing, healthcare and the basic things we need to exist … There is still a lot of work that needs to be done.”

There are at least nine LGBTQ+ members in the House and two in the Senate, and supporters in Congress spoke of their trans and queer family members while championing the bill. Polling released earlier this week confirmed that more Americans than ever before now identify as LGBTQ+.

Nation's Mayors Applaud House Passage of the Equality Act

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2021


WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5: The Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ Americans by listing sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited grounds of employment discrimination under federal law.

U.S. Conference of Mayors. (PRNewsFoto/U.S. Conference of Mayors) (PRNewsfoto/U.S. Conference of Mayors)

U.S. Conference of Mayors President Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer released the following statement in support of the Equality Act:

"Mayors across the country have long supported expanding protections for LGBTQ Americans, and today we applaud the House of Representatives on the passage of the Equality Act. It is beyond time that our country provide federal protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in all key areas of life, including employment, housing, education and public spaces.

"I also commend the bill's sponsor, Rhode Island Representative and former Mayor of Providence David Cicilline for continuing to champion these issues in Congress. He was a strong advocate for expanding protections when he was a member of the Conference, and his continued leadership serves as a beacon of hope as we move closer to living in a land where no one faces discrimination or injustice of any kind based on the color of their skin, who they are, or choose to love."

Aligned with policies adopted by the Conference that endorse federal law to direct nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans, the nation's mayors also sent a letter to every member of the House urging passage of H.R. 5 by a wide margin.

About the United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are more than 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

CisionLess

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nations-mayors-applaud-house-passage-of-the-equality-act-301236181.html

SOURCE U.S. Conference of Mayors