THEY NEED AN INDUSTRIAL UNION

Albemarle says Chile output on track despite strike
Reuters | September 8, 2021 |

Chile’s Salar de Atacama, pictured here, is the world’s largest and purest active source of lithium. Reference image by Francesco Mocellin, Wikimedia Commons.

Albemarle Corp, the world’s top lithium producer, said on Tuesday it has maintained output from its Chile operations despite an ongoing strike by one of the company’s four unions in the South American nation.


The 135-member “Albemarle Salar” union, which the company said comprises about half the workers at its Salar plant, went on strike in August after failing to reach a labor contract deal with the U.S.-based lithium miner.


The company in a statement said the Salar workers remained on strike – part of a regulated legal process in Chile – but that operations continued apace there and at its La Negra processing plant nearby.


ALBEMARLE’S ATACAMA OPERATIONS IN CHILE ARE A VITAL SOURCE OF LITHIUM

“We have a solid contingency plan that maintains operational continuity and our production at La Negra to continue meeting our customers’ needs,” the company said in the statement.

Representatives of the striking union did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Albemarle’s Atacama operations in Chile are a vital source of the ultralight white metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicles. Top competitor SQM operates nearby.

The company said it had failed to reach agreement with workers at the Salar union but had struck deals with the remaining three guilds at its operations in Chile.

“We have presented four offers, which have been rejected because they aspire to an end-of-conflict bonus amount that far exceeds what was provided to the other three unions, with whom we successfully concluded negotiations this year,” the company said.

The union on strike has said in a previous written statement that it is particularly disadvantaged by the Salar’s distant location, which it said shortens rest time. The union also expressed concern over inequality around compensation.

Albemarle extracts lithium-rich brine from beneath the salt flat at its Salar plant, then processes the distilled brines into battery grade lithium carbonate at its La Negra chemical plant near the city of Antofagasta in northern Chile.

(By Dave Sherwood; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Boeing board to face investors’ suit over
737Max crashes

Jef Feeley and Julie Johnsson, Bloomberg News

Boeing Co.’s directors must face an investors’ lawsuit accusing them of failing to properly oversee development of the 737 Max line of planes that were involved in two fatal crashes within a six-month period starting in 2018.
 
Delaware Chancery Judge Morgan Zurn threw out some claims against Boeing’s board, but said Boeing shareholders produced enough evidence to justify pursuing claims that directors missed a “red flag” about the 737 Max’s safety issues in the first crash in October 2018. That incident raised issues about a flight-control system “that the board should have heeded but instead ignored,” the judge said in her 102-page decision.
 
Boeing’s board didn’t move to gain greater oversight over quality and safety until a second Max crashed in Ethiopia in March 2019, according to a complaint filed by the New York State Common Retirement Fund and the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado. But the board failed to focus on safety even before the first crash, the investors claim.

The second disaster, which brought the death toll from the two accidents to 346, spurred a global grounding that plunged Boeing into one of the deepest crises in its century-long history.  Different investors’ suits against company directors have been consolidated in state court in Delaware.

Boeing declined to immediately comment on the ruling.

An automated flight-control system known as MCAS was implicated in both crashes. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration last year gave Boeing the green light to have the planes resume passenger flights after extensive modifications to the MCAS systems.

Disgruntled investors claim David Calhoun, who was lead director when the fatal accidents occurred, made “public representations” he knew were false about the board’s response to the first 737 Max crash in hopes of salvaging directors’ reputations. Zurn backed up their contentions, noting Calhoun made four misstatements after Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea in 2018, killing, all 189 people aboard.

That disaster should have served as a wakeup call to Boeing directors, Zurn said. Instead, board members “ignored the Lion Air Crash and the consequent revelations about the unsafe 737 MAX,” the judge wrote. Investors claim that led to the second fatal crash in 2019.

Zurn did throw out claims against individual Boeing executives, saying it was the board that failed to “make any good faith effort to implement and oversee a board-level system to monitor and report on safety.”

Zurn acknowledged the primary victims of Boeing’s lax oversight were the passengers of the two 737 Max flights and their families.

“While it may seem callous in the face of their losses, corporate law recognizes another set of victims: Boeing as an enterprise, and its stockholders,” the judge said. “The crashes caused the company and its investors to lose billions of dollars in value.”
 
The case is In Re Boeing Co. Derivative Litigation, 2019-0907, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).

Ford hires Apple Car/ Ex TESLA engineer in coup for recovering automaker

Craig Trudell and Keith Naughton, Bloomberg News

Ford Motor Co. is hiring the head of Apple Inc.’s car project away from the iPhone maker, a stunning development that brings the 118-year-old automaker an executive with Silicon Valley chops.

Doug Field is coming aboard as chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer, Ford said in a statement. Field also previously worked as a top engineer at Tesla Inc. between two stints at Apple -- most recently as a vice president in its special projects group -- and played a major role at Tesla launching the Model 3 sedan.

The hire is a coup for Ford, which has made major strides under Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley in convincing investors it can compete with Tesla and others on electric vehicles and technology. Ford shares have almost doubled since Farley took over in October, after his two predecessors presided over a years-long slump.

“This is a watershed moment for our company -- Doug has accomplished so much,” Farley said in a briefing with reporters. “This is just a monumental moment in time that we have now to really remake” the automaker.

Bloomberg News reported the move earlier Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Ford shares reversed a decline on the news and rose 0.5 per cent at the close of regular trading in New York, while Apple gained about 1.6 per cent, off its intraday high.

Apple said it’s grateful for the contributions Field made and that it wishes him well at Ford. The departure marks another significant setback for Apple’s automotive efforts. The company’s car project has gone through several strategy and leadership shake-ups since it started to take shape around 2014. 

 

‘APPLE CAR’ SPECULATION

Apple has become the world’s most valuable company, with an almost US$2.6 trillion market capitalization, by selling smartphones, tablets, personal computers and services. Investors and customers have been clamoring for new device categories, and speculation about the car project was rampant early this year.

Some Apple engineers on the project believe the company could release a product in five to seven years if the company decides to go ahead with one, people with knowledge of the efforts said in January. Discussions with some major automakers, including Hyundai Motor Co., have stalled, Bloomberg reported in March.

Field joined in 2018 and is at least the fourth member of the car group’s management team who has left since February and the fourth Apple car division chief to leave in since it started.
 

FIELD’S PATH

Field is coming full circle, having begun his career as an engineer at Ford. He returns as the key player in the automaker’s push to create a continuous flow of revenue from deploying services into vehicles via software. Farley has said Ford’s future depends not on selling cars one at a time, but on selling features to owners to constantly update their cars like they do their phones. 

“There’s no company with a better history in this industry,” Field told reporters. “After meeting and talking to Jim and other leadership at Ford, I became convinced that not only was the history here, but that there was a deep desire to really change and embrace these technologies.”

Recurring revenue has become the holy grail for automakers looking to break free of the industry’s historical boom-and-bust cycles. Whereas Tesla has offered over-the-air updates for years, Ford has recently started offering features including a hand-free driving system on its electric Mustang Mach-E and F-150 pickup for a fee.

Field said he plans to keep his home in Silicon Valley, while also purchasing a new home in the Detroit area.

“I’m in Michigan right now and I will be here whenever I’m needed in order to push things forward,” Field said. But “it’s important actually in this role for me to make sure that I’m in touch with the talent and technologies and things that are emerging in Silicon Valley.”

China accuses Canada Goose of 

'misleading' consumers in ads

High-end parka maker Canada Goose Holdings Inc. was fined by China and criticized by its state media for allegedly misleading consumers in some advertisements, becoming the latest foreign brand to be targeted by regulators amid political tensions between Beijing and the west.

Shanghai’s market regulator fined the retailer’s local unit 450,000 (US$71,000) in June, according to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, an official corporate information website. The regulator said Canada Goose’s claims of using “the warmest material from Hutterite,” referring to communities that produce some of the world’s most luxurious goose down, deceived shoppers as most of its products are actually made with other material.

A Wednesday commentary in the Economic Daily newspaper, which is affiliated with China’s powerful State Council, cited the accusations about the ads as evidence that Canada Goose hadn’t obeyed Chinese advertisement laws.

“Canada Goose probably hasn’t carefully studied China’s law and ignores changes in the Chinese market,” the article said. “The moon isn’t rounder in foreign countries, and foreign down jackets aren’t warmer.”

The Toronto-based company’s Shanghai unit didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 

TENSIONS SOAR

While the Chinese market has become a growth driver for global brands, political tensions with western countries over everything from trade to the virus and human rights are fueling nationalism among mainland shoppers.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing are especially fraught over the holding in Canada of Huawei Technologies Co. executive Meng Wanzhou, who was detained in December 2018 -- days before Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were taken into custody by China and later accused of spying. Spavor was last month sentenced to 11 years in prison.

A threatened boycott after Meng’s detention in 2018 caused Canada Goose to delay the opening of its flagship store in Beijing.

Canada Goose joins other foreign retailers who have been caught in China’s crosshairs amid tensions with their home countries. A Shanghai unit of Hennes & Mauritz AB was in August similarly fined 260,000 yuan for “deceiving and misleading consumers” in its ads, and was alleged to be selling inferior products and failing to disclose some required product information on packages. 

The Swedish apparel was boycotted earlier this year by Chinese consumers for its statement expressing concern about reports of forced labor in China’s Xinjiang province. Online sales of Adidas AG and Nike Inc. also plunged in China after shoppers turned their backs on international brands that have taken a stand against the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs there.

Bill Gates takes control of Four Seasons in deal with Saudi Prince

Adveith Nair, Shaji Mathew and Sophie Alexander, Bloomberg News

The Four Seasons restaurant at the Seagram Building location in New York in 2016. Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Bill Gates will take control of the Four Seasons hotel chain after his investment firm agreed to acquire a stake from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Co., in a bet that luxury travel will rebound from a pandemic-induced slump.

Gates’s Cascade Investment LLC will pay US$2.2 billion in cash to boost its stake in Four Seasons Holdings to 71.25 per cent from 47.5 per cent, according to a statement Wednesday.

The lodging industry has been hobbled by a drastic slowdown in global travel as the world struggles to halt the spread of COVID-19. Vaccination campaigns helped fuel a lodging rebound led by leisure travelers, but luxury hotels are still lagging behind lower-quality properties, according to data from STR. 

Gates, 65, and Alwaleed, 66, have known each other for decades. In 2017, the Microsoft Corp. co-founder described the prince as an “important partner” in their charitable work, and he was one of a few Western executives to voice support for Alwaleed after he was detained and accused of corruption by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. 

Four Seasons shareholders took the company private in 2007, when it managed 74 hotels, with Gates and Alwaleed leading the deal. The new owners expanded the company’s footprint to more markets in a bid to capitalize on what was then a booming market for luxury travel.

The chain now manages 121 hotels and resorts, and 46 residential properties, and has more than 50 projects under development, according to the statement. Its landmark Kingdom Tower in Riyadh is among the two dozen hotels it owns across the Middle East and Africa. That property is popular among the consultants and bankers who commute from nearby Dubai and have helped transform Saudi Arabia’s economy.

It has also expanded efforts to attach its brand to luxury homes, as real estate developers realized that affluent buyers would pay more to live in a condominium or residential community associated with the hotel brand.

Kingdom Holding, which will retain 23.75 per cent of the hotel chain, plans to use proceeds from the transaction for investments and to repay debt. Four Seasons Chairman Isadore Sharp, who founded the company in 1960, will keep his 5 per cent stake. The deal is expected to be completed in January.
 

‘CONFIRMED UNDERSTANDING’

Alwaleed has made a series of deals since he reached a “confirmed understanding” to secure his release from detention in 2018. Shortly after, he invested about US$270 million in music streaming service Deezer. In February, he sold a stake in his Rotana Music label to Warner Music Group Corp. 

Cascade, which is run by Gates’s money manager, Michael Larson, first invested in Four Seasons in 1997, when it was publicly traded. The investment firm also manages the endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates and Melinda French Gates ended their 27-year marriage last month. He has a net worth of US$152.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and she has received almost US$6 billion of shares in public companies, filings show. More precise details of how the ex-couple’s fortune is being split remain confidential.

Alwaleed’s wealth has been almost cut in half since 2014 and now stands at US$18.4 billion. In an earlier interview, he attributed the decline to a slump in Kingdom Holding’s shares and not because of any agreement or settlement he made during his detention. About half of the prince’s wealth is tied to shares in the holding company, in which he owns a 95 per cent stake.

Alwaleed’s holdings include shares of Citigroup Inc., ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc. and Accor SA.

His investment company reported a loss last year of 1.47 billion riyals (US$392 million). The value of his other holdings -- including Saudi real estate, public and private equities, jewelry and a superyacht -- helped mitigate some of the losses, according to figures previously provided by the firm.

Shares of Kingdom Holding rose 1.1 per cent on Wednesday, giving it a market value of almost 40 billion riyals.

BHP strikes exploration deal with Jeff Bezos-backed startup

BHP Group is joining forces to explore for metals crucial to the energy transition with a startup backed by a group of tycoons including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

The world’s biggest miner has entered an alliance with Silicon Valley-based KoBold Metals Co. to deploy its artificial intelligence technology to look for metals like cobalt, nickel and copper, which are used in electrical vehicle chargers and batteries. The two companies will jointly fund and operate exploration programs -- initially in Western Australia -- and will each have the right to share in any identified prospects.

KoBold has used data-crunching algorithms to build what’s been described as a Google Maps for the Earth’s crust. The technology can locate resources that may have eluded more traditionally-minded geologists, and helps miners to decide where to acquire land and drill, the company said.

The tie-up offers an opportunity to access exploration databases built up by BHP over many years, Kurt House, KoBold’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. “In Western Australia, there’s extensive information. A lot of this data is dark data – it hasn’t been used more than once.”

Shareholders of KoBold Metals also include Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Norwegian oil major Equinor ASA and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund backed by a dozen high-profile investors including Bezos, Gates and Ray Dalio, as well as Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

“Globally, shallow ore deposits have largely been discovered, and remaining resources are likely deeper underground and harder to see from the surface,” Keenan Jennings, vice president at BHP Metals Exploration, said in a statement. “This alliance will combine historical data, artificial intelligence, and geoscience expertise to uncover what has previously been hidden.”

KoBold now has about a dozen exploration properties around the world that have resulted from joint ventures and tie-ups like the one with BHP, House said. “BHP engaged us, and we had many detailed discussions about KoBold’s technology,” he said. “Our approach is very different, and as such, various partners are keen to have ringside seats to see it deployed.” 

BHP inks exploration deal with Gates and

 Bezos-backed KoBold Metals

Cecilia Jamasmie | September 8, 2021 | 

KoBold has used data-crunching algorithms to build what’s been described as a Google Maps for the Earth’s crust. (Stock image.)

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) has struck a deal to use artificial intelligence tools developed by KoBold Metals, a start-up backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, to look for critical materials used in electric vehicles (EVs) and clean energy technologies.


The world’s largest miner and the Silicon Valley-based tech firm will jointly fund and operate exploration using data processing technology to help predict the location of metals such as cobalt, nickel and copper, starting in Western Australia.

KOBOLD, BACKED BY A COALITION OF BILLIONAIRES INCLUDING BILL GATES AND JEFF BEZOS, AIMS TO CREATE A “GOOGLE MAPS” OF THE EARTH’S CRUST

The partnership will help BHP find more of the “future-facing” commodities it has vowed to focus on, while offering KoBold an opportunity to access exploration databases built up by the mining giant over decades.

“Globally, shallow ore deposits have largely been discovered, and remaining resources are likely deeper underground and harder to see from the surface,” Keenan Jennings, vice president at BHP Metals Exploration, said in a statement. “This alliance will combine historical data, artificial intelligence, and geoscience expertise to uncover what has previously been hidden.”

KoBold, founded in 2018, counts among its backers big names such as Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The latter is financed by well-known billionaires including Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg, American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, and Virgin Group’s founder Richard Branson.

Not a miner

KoBold, as its chief executive officer Kurt House has stated multiple times, does not intend to be a mine operator “ever.”

The company’s quest for battery metals began last year in Canada, after it acquired rights to an area of about 1,000 square km (386 sq. miles) in northern Quebec, just south of Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine.

It now has about a dozen exploration properties in places such as Zambia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Western Australia, which have resulted from joint ventures like the one with BHP. The common denominator of those assets is that they contain or are expected to be sources of battery metals.

KOBOLD HAS ABOUT A DOZEN EXPLORATION PROPERTIES IN PLACES SUCH AS CANADA, ZAMBIA AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA, WHICH HAVE RESULTED FROM JOINT VENTURES LIKE THE ONE WITH BHP

Last month it signed a joint venture agreement with BlueJay Mining (LON: JAY) to explore for minerals in Greenland.

The firm aims to create a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust, with a special focus on finding cobalt deposits. It collects and analyzes multiple streams of data — from old drilling results to satellite imagery — to better understand where new deposits might be found.

Algorithms applied to the data collected determine the geological patterns that indicate a potential deposit of cobalt, which occurs naturally alongside nickel and copper.

The technology can locate resources that may have eluded more traditionally-minded geologists and can help miners decide where to acquire land and drill, the company said.

KOBOLD ARE MINING CREATURES FROM ROLE PLAYING GAMES

Kobold

A kobold was a reptilian humanoid, standing between 2' and 2'6" (60cm – 75cm) tall, weighing 35 to 45 pounds (16 – 20kg), with scaled skin between reddish brown and black in color and burnt orange to red eyes. Their legs were sinewy and digitigrade. They had long, clawed fingers and a jaw …

 

Kobolds are aggressive, inward, yet industrious small humanoid creatures. They are noted for their skill at building traps and preparing ambushes, and mining. Kobolds are distantly related to dragons and urds and are often found serving the former as minions. Kobolds have specialized laborers, yet the majority of kobolds are miners.

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Classes: Various

Homeland (s): Various temperate forests

Type: Natural humanoid (draconic)

Kobold (D&D) | Officialbestiary Wiki | Fandom

Climate change: Dragonflies spread north in warming world

By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment correspondent

IMAGE SOURCEDAVE SMALLSHIRE

The emperor dragonfly is expanding north into Scotland and Ireland

Dragonflies are moving northwards across Britain and Ireland as temperatures rise.

More than 40% of species have increased their distribution since 1970, while only about 10% have declined, according to a new report.


Experts from the British Dragonfly Society say it's an indicator of the effects of climate change.

There is concern over the loss of populations of insects due to factors such as pollution and habitat loss.

Insect decline linked to light pollution
Insect decline may see 'plague of pests'
Alarm over decline in flying insects

Conservation officer Eleanor Colver said while their data can determine where dragonflies are, it cannot determine exactly how many there are - and whether numbers have increased overall.

"Factors such as the use of pesticides (reducing their flying insect prey), water pollution and habitat loss continue to threaten the health of dragonfly populations within species' existing ranges," she said.

The small red-eyed damselfly: Now found from Cornwall to County Durham


The report, State of Dragonflies 2021, incorporates 1.4 million records from 17,000 recorders gathered from 1970 onwards.


It assesses the fortunes of 46 species of dragonflies and their close relative - the damselflies - across Britain and Ireland.


Since 1995, several species have reached Britain from southern Europe for the first time - and at least two more have reappeared after long absences.


Species expanding their range include the emperor dragonfly, migrant hawker, ruddy darter, black-tailed skimmer and small red-eyed damselfly.


In contrast, some upland and northern dragonflies are in retreat, including the common hawker and black darter, perhaps because of the loss of peatbogs or extreme droughts.


"The increase in many species, if not all, we can put down to a combination of climate warming and more or better wetland habitats such as an increase in the number of ponds, lakes, gravel-pits and reservoirs in recent decades," said Dave Smallshire, co-editor of the report.

But people should not get the message that all is "tickety-boo with dragonflies", he added.

"The overwhelming message is that global climate change - and in the case of Britain and Ireland - significant climate warming is likely to have had an over-riding effect on many of these changes," he said.

Black darter: With a home in upland bogs, this species is in decline


Dragonflies are fast-flying, four-winged insects with long bodies and large eyes. They were some of the first winged insects to evolve, some 300 million years ago.


Scientists are increasingly concerned about the decline of some populations of insects.


One scientific review of insect numbers in 2019 pointed to 40% of species undergoing "dramatic rates of decline" around the world.


The study said bees, ants and beetles were disappearing eight times faster than mammals, birds or reptiles, while other species, such as houseflies and cockroaches, were likely to boom.

TOO LATE

Majority of remaining fossil fuels must stay in the ground to limit climate crisis: study
Rachel Ramirez
CNNDigital
Published Wednesday, September 8, 2021 


An Extinction Rebellion climate change activist holds a banner backdropped by the Bank of England, at left, and the Royal Exchange, centre, in the City of London financial district, on Sept. 2, 2021. (Matt Dunham / AP)

To avoid the worst consequences of climate change — worsening extreme weather, irreversible ecosystem shifts, loss of life and economic hardship — scientists say the world must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The only way to do that, they say, is by making deep cuts to fossil fuel emissions.

New research quantifies exactly what it would take: keeping a vast majority of Earth's remaining fossil fuels tucked underground.

The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, found that nearly 60% of the planet's remaining oil and natural gas and 90% of its coal reserves should remain in the ground by 2050, underscoring that most regions around the world must reach peak fossil fuel production now or within the next decade to avoid the critical climate threshold.

"Dramatic cuts in fossil fuel production are required immediately in order to move towards limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees," Dan Welsby, the lead author of the report and researcher at University College London, said at a Tuesday news conference. "But the current and indicated fossil fuel production trajectories globally are moving us in the wrong direction."

Researchers say the model accounts for real-world constraints — namely, the speed at which global economies can move away from fossil fuels — that pushed their result to the very limit of a 50% chance to stave off the worst climate change impacts.

To achieve a higher probability of staying below 1.5 degrees, even more carbon needs to stay on the ground, researchers said.

Scientists have already said that only by making rapid, severe cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, while simultaneously removing carbon from the atmosphere, can we halt the precipitous warming trend. The authors also noted that their findings may be an underestimate, since their model doesn't consider future Earth system feedbacks, nor does it take into account underlying uncertainties around the deployment of technologies needed to curb emissions.

"An option is to really start decarbonizing now, rather than either plateauing global emissions or increasing them," James Price, co-author of the study and research associate at the University College London, told CNN. "We need to decarbonize as fast as possible to improve our chance of staying below 1.5 degrees."

Fossil fuels account for more than 80% of the global energy consumption, but scientists say their production would need to go down substantially. Welsby and his colleagues at the University College London say that many operational and future fossil fuel projects are "unviable" and "not conducive" to reaching international climate targets.

Oil and gas production, according to the study, need to decline by 3% each year until 2050 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, signalling severe implications for producers who are banking on continued profits from fossil fuel production.

For coal, Welsby said, all regions need to have already reached peak production — a promising sign since global coal production peaked in 2013, though many countries still rely on the fuel. For oil, all regions should be peaking now or by 2025, according to the study. For gas, researchers say the outlook varies depending on the region.

"We found that in parts of Europe, the U.S. and Russia and the Caspian, gas production needs to peak now," Welsby said. "This production decline is offset by increased production to the 2030s in the Middle East, Africa and other parts of developing Asia. The majority of this increased production in those regions is due to robust domestic demand growth, particularly in power generation and industry."

The study makes one thing clear: fossil fuel investments made today risk being stranded in the future as the climate changes.

As countries get serious about addressing the climate crisis, Steve Pye, a co-author of the study, said that the economics of such investments are "going to start looking increasingly problematic."

"There are key transition risks, driven by falling demand due to the increase in clean energy technologies," he added, "and also increased pressure on production-based activities themselves by investor in shape of shareholder activism or new legislation."

According to a 2020 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the UN Environment Programme, despite establishing targets to make strict and significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, countries are actually projecting an average increase in fossil fuel production of 2% annually.

Scientists say that needs to change immediately. The countries with the largest fossil fuel reserves have the largest global influence to limit climate change. Canada, for example, has a much higher reserve — 83% — that needs to remain in the ground by 2050 than other regions.

Meanwhile, all oil-producing regions — except the U.S. — will see strong declines in production leading up to 2050. The U.S. won't peak until 2025, according to the study, before declining due to plummeting oil imports and the continued use of fossil fuels in the transportation sector.

"The takeaway in this study really addresses the elephant in the room," Maisa Rojas Corradi, coordinating lead author of the major UN report on climate change, but was not involved with the study, told CNN.

"We have known since we've signed up for the Paris Agreement in 2015, that this means we have to stop burning fossil fuels by mid century," she said. "For six years, we have known the logical consequence is that there are loads of fossil fuels that would not be able to extract. It's really good that the paper shows so clearly what, in very practical terms, this really means."

The study builds on an earlier paper published in 2015, which estimated that more than 30% of oil reserves, nearly 50% of gas reserves and more than 80% of coal reserves should not be extracted by 2050 in order to stop careening toward planet warming of 2 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels.

 

The latest estimates in the new study revealed higher numbers and assesses reserves out to 2100 under a 1.5-degree scenario. The findings show shares of fossil fuel reserves — 58% for oil, 59% of natural gas and 89% of coal in 2050 — considered economic today would be unextractable under a global 1.5-degree target.

Despite what is required to avoid critical climate changes, researchers say countries still have a long way to go, which means that immediate action is necessary. In doing so, Pye said that fossil fuel producers and investors need to realize that further extraction is no longer suitable for the planet. Developed nations also need to help those that are still industrializing to halt the trend.

"There's a lot that developed countries can do to help support a just transition," Pye said. "And that's the only way that we're going to get buy-in from a broader range of countries to actually diversify economies away from oil and gas."

Alberta teachers association reaches pension agreement with AIMCo, ending lawsuit against province

Agreement takes place immediately, replacing ministerial order

Sarah Rieger · CBC News · Posted: Sep 08, 2021

The ATA and AIMCo have reached an agreement over management of teachers' pensions. 

(Josee St-Onge/ CBC)

The Alberta Teachers' Association has reached an agreement with the provincial government-owned investment manager that it says will give teachers a final say over investment decisions affecting their pensions.

The agreement replaces a ministerial order that had allowed government-owned Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) to reject any changes proposed by the Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund (ATRF).

"This is a huge victory for teachers and the Association," said ATA president Jason Schilling in a release on Wednesday.

"Teachers mounted a strong, wide-reaching, relentless campaign in defence of their pensions, which provided the ATRF with the backing they needed to negotiate an effective agreement that protects the interests of teachers."

Teachers repeatedly expressed concerns following the passing of Bill 22 in 2019, which transferred their pension investments under AIMCo's management.

Teachers association to take legal action against Alberta government over pension dispute

CEO leaving AIMCo in wake of $2.1-billion investment loss

The pension fund's previous CEO left last year after the fund reported more than $2 billion in investment losses. Some union leaders had also expressed concerns the investment manager was making decisions to prop up oil companies.

In fall 2020, AIMCo pulled out of negotiations with the ATRF when the two groups were unable to agree on key terms, and shortly after, Finance Minister Travis Toews passed a ministerial order that allowed AIMCo to veto the teachers' fund investment directions and said AIMCo would be the arbiter of disputes between the parties.

The ATA sued over the order, arguing it not only broke the law but contradicted previous assurances made by Toews that teachers would retain control of their pensions.

The new agreement, which will replace Toews' order, removes AIMCO's veto, which in turn prompted the ATA to drop its lawsuit against the government.

The court challenge had been heard in Court of Queen's Bench the previous week, and Schilling said in a release that he believed the timing was no coincidence, "noting that the judge remarked at one point that she was not buying the Government of Alberta's arguments related to certain sections of the [agreement.]"

Finance minister glad to see agreement

Sandra Johnston, ATRF board chair, said in a statement that the negotiated agreement "respects the role of ATRF."

She said it has the right accountability mechanisms, including protections and remedies ATRF will use if needed.

Opposition NDP Labour Critic Christina Gray said teachers and other public servants should have the right to choose who manages their retirement savings. "Until that time, the UCP has created a forced monopoly that gives AIMCo 'hostage' clients, regardless of their performance. This isn't fair," she said in an emailed release.

The finance minister said in an emailed statement that he's pleased to see an agreement was reached.

"Having AIMCo manage the investments of the ATRF eliminates duplication and reduces the cost of investment services for Albertans and teachers. This was our ultimate goal," Toews said.

AIMCo's new CEO Evan Siddall said he and his colleagues will now devote their attention to smoothly transitioning ATRF's assets.

"Today's agreement marks a point of departure for AIMCo as a multi-client investment manager," said Siddall.

The agreement takes place immediately, and the pension fund's assets are set to be transferred by the end of December.

Alberta teachers' union claims victory after reaching pension fund agreement with AIMCo

The Alberta Teachers' Association said the new terms remove a clause giving AIMCo a veto over investments, and president Jason Schilling called it a "huge victory for teachers" in a Wednesday release

Author of the article: Lisa Johnson
Publishing date:Sep 08, 2021 • 

Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling. 

PHOTO BY SHAUGHN BUTTS /Postmedia, file

The Alberta Teachers’ Association is claiming victory after reaching an agreement last week to keep full control of the investment strategies guiding teacher pensions.

The new investment management agreement between the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF) and the government-owned investment manager Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) replaces a previous order quietly signed by Finance Minister Travis Toews in December.

In a Wednesday news release, the ATRF said the new agreement allows its board to maintain “control over the strategic investment policy for the pension plans’ assets and that AIMCo must implement that policy.”

The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) said the new terms remove a clause giving AIMCo a veto over investments, and president Jason Schilling called it a “huge victory for teachers” in a Wednesday release.

“Teachers mounted a strong, wide-reaching, relentless campaign in defence of their pensions, which provided the ATRF with the backing they needed to negotiate an effective agreement that protects the interests of teachers,” said Schilling.

With Toews’ ministerial order no longer in force, the teachers’ association said it’s dropping its legal challenge, filed in March, that argued for the government decree to be thrown out by the courts.

It came after the UCP government’s Bill 22, implemented in November 2019, legislated the transfer of investment control of 82,000 practising and retired teachers’ pensions to AIMCo from ATRF by next December, along with control of three other large public sector pension plans.

Toews has said repeatedly that public sector pension boards, including the ATRF, would continue to control their own investment strategies and decisions. In January, his office said the order dictating AIMCo’s investment management agreement with the ATRF was a necessary, temporary measure.

On Wednesday, Toews said in a statement the government is pleased to see AIMCo and the ATRF come to a deal.

“Having AIMCo manage the investments of the ATRF eliminates duplication and reduces the cost of investment services for Albertans and teachers. This was our ultimate goal,” said Toews.

Toews did not respond to a question from Postmedia about whether or not the ATA’s legal challenge was a factor.

However, Schilling attributed the new deal in part to the prospect of the government losing in court.

“Our court challenge against the imposed (investment management agreement) — backed up by significant pressure from teachers — changed the game. I believe that we were on our way to winning in court. Under the new CEO (Evan Siddall), AIMCo appears to realize that they need to be responsive to clients and that they will be held accountable for their duty to teachers as the investment manager,” said Schilling.

NDP Opposition labour critic Christina Gray said in a statement Wednesday it was an important win for teachers and their pension fund, but other public sector funds moving under the umbrella of AIMCo because of Bill 22 deserve to choose their own management firms.

“Until that time, the UCP has created a forced monopoly that gives AIMCo ‘hostage’ clients, regardless of their performance. This isn’t fair. Albertans expect their government to fund classrooms, not spend money fighting teachers in court,” said Gray.

Siddall, who took the reins of AIMCo in July, said in a Wednesday release the investment manager’s top priority is to help clients secure long-term prosperity for the people they represent, and it will now focus on a smooth transition of ATRF’s assets.

“Today’s agreement marks a point of departure for AIMCo as a multi-client investment manager,” said Siddall.

SEND EXCESS VACCINES TO POOR COUNTRIES
COVID-19 booster shots likely not needed for most Canadians, experts say

Brooke Taylor

CTVNews.ca Writer
Wednesday, September 8, 2021

TORONTO -- While some countries are already committed to providing COVID-19 booster shots to their populations, Canada has not yet released a third dose plan and some experts say it’s still too early to tell if a booster is necessary for the general population.

In August, Israel began providing booster shots to all those who had been vaccinated, and just days ago, Israel’s COVID-19 chief said it was time to start preparing to roll out fourth doses, but whether or not booster shots are needed lacks evidence.

 In Canada, Quebec is offering booster shots for the immunocompromised and for travellers whose mixed dosing isn’t recognized in other countries. Alberta and Ontario are also rolling out third shots for eligible immunocompromised populations.

“The answer is: we don't know for sure yet,” Rodney Russell, professor of immunology and virology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday.

What virologists and immunologists do know is that older and at-risk populations tend to have a worse response to vaccines, and not just COVID-19 vaccines, he added.

“Anybody who's over 80, anybody who falls in that frail category, they generally don't respond well to vaccines, even before COVID,” he added. “We've known for years that older people don't respond well to vaccines.”

Right now, there’s not a lot of evidence on booster shots to know for sure who will need them and when.

“The evidence for booster shots for vulnerable or at-risk populations in Canada is still coming in,” Charlene Chu, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, told CTVNews.ca in an email.

There’s also a general lack of evidence on the impacts a third dose will have among the general population, she added, so it’s still unclear what effect a third dose might have on a younger, healthier person.

With other countries moving ahead with their booster programs, Canada may soon have the evidence it needs to determine who might need a booster shot, but the experts agree that it will most likely only be people with poor immune responses who will be able to get a third dose.

“In time, evidence from other parts of the world, like Israel where everyone over 30 is able to get a third booster, may help us understand the effects of a third booster for the general population,” said Chu.

Deciding whether a third dose is potentially beneficial for the general population is more complicated than looking at breakthrough cases and antibodies.

HOW ANTIBODIES AND VARIANTS FACTOR IN

“What level of antibodies you need isn't known, we still haven't established one and even the latest conversations I've had with vaccine researchers across Canada, we don't know what the cutoff is,” said Russell.

To complicate that further, the level of antibodies detectable in the bloodstream will likely differ between age groups, as well as among those who have auto-immune disorders or have received cancer treatment, he added.

And antibody levels are supposed to go down after a vaccine or infection, Russell said, explaining that T cells and B cells are key.

“It's B cells and T cells that can make more antibodies and T cells that can help make antibodies and fight the virus infection,” he said.

Even the variants of COVID-19 that have had antibody-evading mutations haven’t taken off quite the way he expected, they’ve been outdone by the Delta variant which doesn’t have the antibody-evading mutation.

It would take a lot of mutations for the current COVID-19 vaccines to provide no protection, said Russell, since the vaccine has given our bodies a map of the virus’ spike protein.

“That protein probably has 20 spots on it that the immune system sees,” he said. “It would need to change all 20 spots for the immune system to not see it, and by that time the spike protein wouldn’t be itself anymore, it wouldn’t look the same, it probably wouldn’t even work that well.”

Scientific understanding of the vaccines’ abilities to prevent infection is better now, giving a more realistic efficacy to work with. They protect about 60 to 70 per cent from actual infection, but more than 90 per cent avoid severe illness and hospitalization, added Russell.

“The goal now, because these vaccines don't keep everyone from getting infected, the goal is really to give people some immunity to help them fight it when they get it,” he said. “We've got to stop talking about protection from infection now because these vaccines don't keep everyone from getting infected and the variants are making sure of that.”

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS SO FAR

For Chu, it’s important to keep in mind the evidence we do have on the vaccine doses.

“The evidence shows that the double dose of COVID-19 vaccination remains very effective against hospitalizations. It’s unclear how effective a third shot will be for the broader general population,” said Chu.

There is some evidence, she added, that the elderly populations living in long-term care could benefit from a third dose, but it’s important to keep in mind that these populations are at much higher risk of COVID-19 than an elderly person not living in a congregate setting.

“For LTC home residents and those who are immunocompromised, I think it will be helpful for these populations. Especially if LTC homes continue without mandatory vaccination mandates,” she said.

Some evidence suggests a fading immune response in these populations, but Chu said there needs to be careful interpretation of the results.

“With respect to the evidence, there have been a couple of studies about older adults living in LTC and waning vaccination effects. We have to be cautious extrapolating findings in this group of older adults to the general population because people in long-term care are very immunologically vulnerable and they living in a congregate setting which also has risk,” she said.

Any third-dose plan Canada comes up with needs to be able to address the different needs of various populations.

“The approach to managing this population, and other similar immunocompromised populations, should be different than the general population,” said Chu.

While Canada and other wealthy countries mull over their plans for booster shots, The World Health Organization (WHO) warned against administering boosters until much more of the world’s population had received even one. 

 

“The majority of the world, especially low and middle-income countries, do not have access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Chu. “More than four billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, with 80 per cent going to middle- or high-income countries, according to the WHO. New variants will continue to emerge from these parts of the world if we do not address this inequity.”