Red Cross fears 'enormous suffering' in 2023

Issued on: 14/12/2022 

The ICRC cited Somalia as a country of particular concern 

© YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

Geneva (AFP) – The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross warned Wednesday "an enormous level of suffering" awaits the world in 2023 with famine spreading.

Mirjana Spoljaric, who took over at the ICRC in October, told a Geneva press conference: "We expect an enormous level of suffering.

"As the world is trending at the moment we don't see any easing of the humanitarian pressures, they will be immense potentially," she said.

"There is a possibility that we will see very high levels of hunger in many parts of the world and insecurity in general."

Not only will prices be high for food, it will "simply not be available in the same amounts due to a lack of fertilisers and due to, again, the impact of climate change."

She cited Somalia as a country of particular concern.

"In our four hospitals we have seen a tenfold increase of wounds caused by violence, violent, armed violence, conflict and we are also witnessing a three fold increase of malnutrition in children.

"The situation is extremely alarming," Spoljaric said, adding her next trip would be to the Horn of Africa were some 20 million people are suffering from malnutrition.

The ICRC is seeking 2.8 billion euros for next year, up on last year's 2.4 billion.

But the ICRC chief said it might not be enough, "depending on how the situation evolves".

© 2022 AFP

WHO eyes end to Covid and Mpox emergencies in 2023

Issued on: 14/12/2022 

On Mpox -- formerly known as monkeypox -- Tedros said the global outbreak had taken the world by surprise 

 Handout / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/AFP

Geneva (AFP) – The World Health Organization said Wednesday it hopes that Covid-19 and Mpox will no longer be public health emergencies in 2023 as both diseases end their most dangerous phase.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said one of the chief lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic was that countries had to respond quickly to surprise outbreaks.

On Covid-19, he said the weekly death toll was now around a fifth of what it was a year ago.

"Last week, less than 10,000 people lost their lives. That's still 10,000 too many and there is still a lot that all countries can do to save lives," he told a press conference.

"But we have come a long way. We are hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency."

The WHO's emergency committee, which advises Tedros on declarations of public health emergencies of international concern (PHEIC), will being discussing what the end of the emergency phase might look like when they meet in January, he added.

"This virus will not go away. It's here to stay and all countries will need to learn to manage it alongside other respiratory illnesses," he said.

"We still face many uncertainties and challenges in 2023. Only one in five people in low-income countries has been vaccinated.

"Access to diagnostics and life-saving treatments for Covid-19 remains unacceptably unaffordable and unequal. The burden of post-Covid-19 condition is only likely to increase and large gaps in surveillance remain."

On Mpox -- formerly known as monkeypox -- Tedros said the global outbreak had taken the world by surprise.

More than 82,000 cases have been reported from 110 countries, although the mortality rate has remained low, with 65 deaths.

"Thankfully, the number of weekly reported cases has declined more than 90 percent since I declared a PHEIC in July," said Tedros.

"If the current trend continues, we're hopeful that next year we'll also be able to declare an end to this emergency."

© 2022 AFP

China COVID 'explosion' began before restrictions eased: WHO

Millions of vulnerable elderly people are still not fully vaccinated.

The flare-up in COVID-19 cases in China was well underway before the government began easing restrictions, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Officials in China warned that cases are rising rapidly in Beijing after the government abruptly abandoned its zero-COVID policy, scrapping mass testing and quarantines after nearly three years of attempting to stamp out the virus.

"The explosion of cases in China is not due to the lifting of COVID restrictions. The explosion of cases in China had started long before any easing of the zero-COVID policy," WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan told reporters.

"There's a narrative that, in some way, China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden, the disease is out of control," he added at the UN health agency's headquarters in Geneva.

"The disease was spreading intensively because the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease.

"I believe the Chinese authorities have decided strategically that that, for them, is not the best option anymore," he said, referring to the control measures.

Ryan said the Omicron variant of the virus, which was first detected around a year ago, meant China-style restrictions were not as useful as they had been against previous strains circulating when vaccination coverage was low.

"The super-transmissibility of Omicron really took away the opportunity for using public health and social measures aimed at full containment of the virus," he told a press conference with the UN correspondents' association.

Ryan said such measures had been primarily used to protect health systems while vaccination levels increased, but now their usefulness had changed.

"There is data from places like Hong Kong that show that the inactivated Chinese vaccines, with the addition of a third dose, performed very, very well. But it did require that third dose to show that effect," he said.

And he stressed: "The increased intensity of transmission was occurring long before there was any change in the policy."

Chinese leaders are determined to press ahead even though the country is facing a surge in cases that experts fear it is ill-equipped to manage.

Millions of vulnerable elderly people are still not fully vaccinated and underfunded hospitals lack the resources to deal with an influx of infected patients.

© 2022 AFP

WHO pleased to see China ease harsh zero COVID policies

Barcelona invests for masculinity workshops

 Questioning our preconceived notions about gender can be crucial to overcoming bias. Last year, a Centre for New Masculinities opened in Barcelona, Spain aiming to break down old - and often harmful - models of manhood. FRANCE 24's correspondents Sarah Morris and Céline Schmitt went to visit one of their workshops for future Dads.

Saakashvili: Georgia's ailing ex-leader starts new hunger strike

Saakashvili was sent to jail after he smuggled himself back into Georgia last year

By Rayhan Demytrie
BBC News, Tbilisi

Jailed Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has vowed to go on hunger strike again after a court hearing into his jail term was postponed.

Saakashvili, 54, has been in a Georgian jail for more than a year, convicted of abuse of power while in office.

He has not been seen in public since April, and has reportedly suffered significant weight loss and is unable to move without assistance.

Wednesday's hearing was cancelled because no video link was set up.

The court in Tbilisi had been due to consider whether to suspend his sentence or release him on humanitarian grounds for medical treatment abroad. Saakashvili's lawyer told the BBC the government was afraid to reveal the real state he was now in.

Saakashvili hopes the international community will press Georgia to release him. "SOS. I am dying, I have very little time left," he wrote earlier in a hand-written note to the French president.

He has already staged two hunger strikes against his imprisonment. He was transferred to the private Vivamedi Clinic in Tbilisi in May 2022 and has been confined to a room there.

In a statement on Wednesday he said his right to trial had been refused, so he was forced to respond.

"I am aware of all the risks, considering my health condition, but I will be on hunger strike until I get guarantees that I will be involved in my process, at least with a video link."

Empathy, an organisation supporting victims of torture in Georgia, alleged on 1 December that he had been diagnosed with illnesses "incompatible with imprisonment" and that Georgian and foreign medical experts had found evidence of heavy-metal poisoning.

Hair samples revealed high levels of mercury.

But the Georgian government denies Saakashvili's life is in danger.

"We will not allow anyone, no matter who they are, to put themselves above the law," Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told local media on 7 December.

"I heard a lot that Saakashvilli is depressed and does not like the environment. Which prisoner likes the prison environment?" he said.

The former president has inflamed tensions in Georgia between his supporters and those who want him punished for crimes committed in office.

Mikheil Saakashvilli rose to power after Georgia's so-called Rose Revolution in 2003 and was credited with introducing major reforms and helping to steer the country towards a more Western system of democracy. But in his final years in office, he was accused of turning increasingly authoritarian.

He led the country until his party's defeat in elections in 2012, then later left Georgia to avoid facing prosecution.

Saakashvili was tried in absentia and sentenced to six years in 2018 for abuses of power. There are additional criminal cases against the former president, including illegally crossing the state border last September, after he smuggled himself back into Georgia.

But his supporters believe his prosecution is a transparent political vendetta.

Saakashvilli had a very public falling-out with Georgia's powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia.

Mikheil Saakashvili/Facebook
I am sick, but tomorrow I want to attend the court that decides my life or death. thank you everyone! I love youMikheil Saakashvili
Scrawled letter written last week


Mr Ivanishvili founded the governing party, Georgian Dream, and is widely believed to maintain influence in politics.

The opposition United National Movement, founded by Saakashvili, has accused the current administration of being pro-Kremlin for failing to openly criticise Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Georgia's government argues its approach to its northern neighbour is pragmatic and accuses the opposition of seeking to entangle Georgia in Russia's war.

Saakashvili describes himself as a prisoner of President Vladimir Putin.

"All my life I fought for freedom and reforms in Georgia and Ukraine against Russia's imperialist policy. Putin considers me one of his main enemies," Saakashvili wrote in his note to the French president.

IMAGE SOURCE,GEORGIA INTERIOR MINISTRY/REUTERSImage caption,
Saakashvili was detained in October 2021 when he made a surprise return to Georgia

The Russian leader infamously threatened to hang Saakashvili "by his balls" during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war over the Georgian region of South Ossetia, which is now occupied by Russia.

Eduard Saakashvili warned journalists at the European Parliament this week that his father's health was in decline and that he was growing weaker: "A person who used to be energetic, ambitious, charismatic, restless is slowly fading away.

"Add that to the medical reports and we see a dire picture… from mistreatment and inadequate care... We cannot allow my father Mikheil Saakashvili to die in prison."

He called on the Georgian government to allow his father to receive treatment abroad.

Earlier, the US ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, said the government of Georgia was responsible for meeting Saakashvili's medical needs and ensuring his rights.

When asked about his responsibility for the former president's well-being, Prime Minister Garibashvili said it was in the hands of God.

"Our lives are given to God, so I can't really be responsible for anyone's life," he said.

'1984,' GEORGE ORWELL'S NOVEL OF REPRESSION, TOPS RUSSIAN BESTSELLER LISTS

George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984," set in an imagined future where totalitarian rulers deprive their citizens of all agency in order to maintain support for senseless wars, has topped electronic bestseller lists in Russia.

The novel is the most popular fiction download of 2022 on the platform of the Russian online bookseller LitRes, and the second most popular download in any category.

The English author's novel was published in 1949, when Nazism had just been defeated and the West's Cold War with its erstwhile ally Josef Stalin and the Soviet communist bloc he now led was just beginning. The book was banned in the Soviet Union until 1988.

Orwell said he had used Stalin's dictatorship as a model for the personality cult of the all-seeing Big Brother, whose "thought police" force cowed citizens to engage in "doublethink" in order to believe that "War is peace, freedom is slavery."

But some see contemporary echoes in the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has eradicated political opposition and critical media from the public sphere in his two decades in power, as well as rehabilitating the memory of Stalin.

Tiananmen, Orwell and Trump

His invasion of Ukraine in February prompted new laws that made it a crime to publish any information about the war that was at variance with official statements. The Kremlin shuns the very word "war," referring instead to its "special military operation".

Officials in Moscow continue to assert that Russia bears no malice toward Ukraine, did not attack its neighbor, and is not occupying Ukrainian territories that it has seized and annexed.

Last week, Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison on charges of spreading "false information" about the army -- for discussing evidence uncovered by Western journalists of Russian atrocities in Bucha, near Kyiv, which Russia said had been fabricated.

And last month the Kremlin's spokesman said there had been no attacks on civilian targets, despite wave after wave of bombardment of Ukrainian power facilities that have left millions without heat or light in the depths of winter.

However, the Russian translator of a brand new edition of "1984" sees the parallels with Orwell's novel elsewhere.

"Orwell could not have dreamt in his worst nightmares that the era of 'liberal totalitarianism' or 'totalitarian liberalism' would come in the West, and that people -- separate, rather isolated individuals -- would behave like a raging herd," Darya Tselovalnikova told the publishing house AST in May, CNN reports.

Polish fish farm fights 'myth of Russian caviar'

Issued on: 14/12/2022 

With Russian caviar banned by sanctions or boycotted by clients, producers elsewhere are battling the myth that the delicacy is still primarily Russian in origin 

© Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

Rus (Poland) (AFP) – With Moscow blacklisted since it invaded Ukraine, Europe's main producer of caviar wants to put an end, once and for all, to the delicacy's traditional association with Russia.

"For most people, caviar means Russia, but that hasn't been the case for a long time now," said Agata Lakomiak-Winnicka, marketing and sales manager for Poland's Antonius Caviar.

Based in the northeastern village of Rus, the company is one of the world's top makers of the luxury food, having produced 42 tonnes of black caviar last year -- more than any one firm in Italy or France and almost as much as those in China.

"We used to get clients who couldn't locate Poland on a map. Today we're on a whole different level," Lakomiak-Winnicka said.

The company exports mostly to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, France and Denmark and also supplies Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.

Retail prices range from 1,200 to 2,400 euros ($1,275-2,550) for sturgeon caviar and up to 8,000 euros for the albino kind.

The company's challenge now, one faced by producers worldwide, is the battle against "the myth of Russian caviar".

"Take any box of caviar that reads 'Russian tradition' or 'Russian method' and you'll see that 99 percent of the time it doesn't actually come from Russia," Lakomiak-Winnicka said.
Russia boycott

Traditionally, caviar was made from eggs from wild sturgeon in the Caspian and Black seas with the best-known producers in Russia and Iran.

But years of overfishing and pollution left the sturgeon at risk of extinction, and it is now a protected species.

Most caviar today is produced on fish farms and has nothing to do with Russia.

But consumers still associate the two -- a challenge for those who out of solidarity for Ukraine no longer want to buy Russian.

Most caviar is now farmed, with the sturgeon at Antonius Caviar's farms swim around in canals fed by the crystal clear water of a nearby river © Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

"Because of the war... clients ask about the provenance of the caviar," said Wiktoria Yerystova-Rostkowska, who owns a Russian shop outside Warsaw.

"They want good caviar but it can't be Russian," she told AFP, adding that she sources hers from Germany.

The EU and United States have banned Russian caviar as part of their sanctions against Moscow, but it was already practically impossible to buy due to restrictions to protect wild sturgeon.
Aquaculture

The green and black boxes of caviar are on display in the shop window.

Featuring a drawing of the fish, the label reads "malossol" -- the Russian for "lightly salted" and the name of the traditional method used to preserve caviar.

Yerystova-Rostkowska said the boycott of Russian products has left her struggling to stay open.

"It's no longer profitable. I'm down 80 percent in revenue," she said.

A mature female sturgeon can grow to more than a metre (three feet) in length 

© Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

Lakomiak-Winnicka for her part sees the boycott as an opportunity.

"It's a chance to explain that caviar no longer comes from Russia," she said.

It has been years since wild Russian caviar was available on the international market.

"The Caspian Sea no longer has any importance in caviar production," said Antonius head Marek Szczukowski.

"The vast majority of caviar sold around the world is derived from aquaculture," including in Russia, he added.
Sturgeon 'on vacation'

On the Antonius fish farm in Rus, thousands of sturgeon -- some more than a metre (three feet) in length -- swim around in canals fed by the crystal clear water of a nearby river.

The company initially farmed trout there, but because of climate change they switched to sturgeon, which prefer warmer water.

"The sturgeon are on vacation here, like they're in Hawaii," Szczukowski said.

The label reads: 'Proudly produced in Poland' to ensure clients know it doesn't come from Russia © Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

The caviar is harvested after the fish reach maturity, with the entire operation taking under 20 minutes.

Workers extract the caviar, wash and salt it, then box it up.

The label reads: "Proudly produced in Poland".

It used to also include the word "Russian" -- to denote the fish species -- but from now on it will just say "sturgeon caviar".

"At the express request of clients, we're changing the labels, leaving no room for doubt," Lakomiak-Winnicka said.

© 2022 AFP

US leads technology investment in Africa at Biden summit


Shaun TANDON
Wed, December 14, 2022


President Joe Biden was set Wednesday to unveil a long-term commitment to African leaders as the United States laid out a major investment push in technology in the continent, where China's infrastructure spending has made it a top player.

Biden will deliver an address on Africa to some 49 leaders who have gathered in Washington for the continent-wide summit, the first held by a US president since Barack Obama in 2014.

The White House said Biden will stress the importance of Africa, back a greater role for the African Union, and outline some $55 billion in support for the continent over the next few years.

After an initial announcement on training health workers, the White House said Wednesday that the United States will commit $350 million and mobilize $450 million in financing for digital development in Africa.

Improving connectivity will both spur development and advance social equality while creating more opportunities for US companies, the White House said.

China in the past decade has surpassed the United States on investing in Africa, mostly through highly visible infrastructure projects, often funded through loans that have totaled more than $120 billion since the start of the century.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday warned African leaders that both China as well as Russia were "destabilizing" the continent, saying Beijing's mega-contracts lacked transparency.
- Investing in technology -

US and African businesses laid out details of $15 billion in new trade on the second day of the forum, with a heavy push on the goal of digital development.

Cisco and partner Cybastion said they would commit $858 million to bolster cybersecurity through 10 contracts across Africa, addressing a vulnerability that has held up online development.

The ABD Group said it would commit $500 million starting in Ivory Coast to adopt cloud technology through data centers that can work with major US technology firms.

Technology leader Microsoft said it would employ satellites to bring internet access to some 10 million people, half of them in Africa, hoping to bridge a digital divide that has held back the continent.

The project will prioritize internet access in areas of Egypt, Senegal and Angola that have not had access to the internet, often due to unreliable electricity.

Microsoft president Brad Smith said that the company has been impressed by its engineers in Nairobi and Lagos.

In Africa, "there is no shortage of talent, but there is a huge shortage of opportunity," Smith told AFP.

Smith said he saw wide support in Africa for bringing internet access, saying many governments have leapfrogged over their Western counterparts in ease of regulation as the continent did not have the same "extraordinary web of licensing regimes" in place from the past.
- Support for democracy -

Unlike China, which has had a hands-off policy toward countries where it invests, the United States has also emphasized democracy, with Biden planning to press leaders up for election next year to ensure free and fair polls.


Secretary of State Antony Blinken took part in the signing of a $504 million compact with Benin and Niger under the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which funds projects in countries that meet key standards on good governance.

The deal aims to connect Benin's port of Cotonou with landlocked Niger's capital Niamey, with the United States estimating benefits to 1.6 million people.

"For a long time we've considered this to be our natural port," Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum said.

He hailed the partnership with the United States and promised "institutional reforms" to support trade.

In a veiled allusion to China, Blinken said that the deal will not "saddle governments with debt."

"Projects will bear the hallmarks of America's partnership. They'll be transparent. There'll be high quality. They'll be accountable to the people that they mean to serve," Blinken said.

US launches bid to bring power to African hospitals

The Rutshuru hospital supported by MSF (Doctors Without Borders), seen in July 2022, is the only functional health facility in war-battered area of the Democratic Republic of Congo 

© ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP/File

Issued on: 14/12/2022 - 

Washington (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday announced a $150 million initiative to bring power to hospitals in Africa, hoping to address a key challenge holding up health care on the continent.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the five-year program aimed at bringing electricity as well as internet access to at least 10,000 health facilities across sub-Saharan Africa.

Funded through partnerships with the private sector, the so-called Health Electrification and Telecommunication Alliance will focus on renewable energy in keeping with US promises on climate change.

USAID estimated that more than 100,000 public health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa lacked reliable electricity, which is also a prerequisite to internet access.

"Millions of people seeking care and treatment are at risk because they cannot depend on refrigeration for medical commodities like vaccines, the presence of lights for births or emergency surgeries at night or the digital connectivity for communications and records management that modern medicine relies on," USAID said in a statement.

"In short, insufficient power denies access to life-saving care."

Communities will also be able to sell excess electricity from power generation, providing jobs, USAID said.

The electricity push is one of a slew of announcements at the US-Africa summit led by President Joe Biden, the first continent-wide meeting by a US leader in eight years.

The United States at the summit pledged $55 billion over three years to support Africa. Private companies have also promised to step up efforts to improve electricity and internet access on the continent.

The Biden administration has sought to draw a contrast with China, which has surpassed the United States as Africa's top investor led by major infrastructure projects that often come through loans.

© 2022 AFP

First US-Africa summit in 8 years

The White House is rolling out the red carpet to African leaders from 49 countries. Joe Biden is hosting the first US-Africa summit in 8 years, seeking to win back influence in the region that's taken a back seat to other US priorities. As it got underway Tuesday, the US Defense Secretary warned that China and Russia are "destabilizing" the continent. FRANCE 24's International affairs editor Philip Turle tell us more about what's on the agenda.

 

US-Africa summit: Washington opens its wallet as it looks to boost influence

For the US-Africa summit, Washington is hosting around fifty African leaders, some of whom are highly criticised for their respect of human rights, and is promising billions of dollars in aid with the stated aim of regaining influence on the continent. This summit is the second after the one organised in 2014 under the presidency of Barack Obama. The United States denounced on Tuesday the "destabilising" role of China and Russia in Africa. FRANCE 24's correspondent in Dakar, Sam Bradpiece, tells us more.

 

Leaders of 45 African countries are attending to US-Africa summit

It is Day Two of a US-Africa summit in Washington. Leaders of 45 African countries are attending. The US is expected to commit 55 billon dollars to the continent over the next three years...tackle issues like food insecurity...but also the influence of Russia and China. FRANCE 24's Liza Kaminov tells us more.

Study explains surprise surge in methane during pandemic lockdown


Issued on: 14/12/2022 

Lockdowns cut air pollution from transport in 2020, but that helped methane concentrations to build up researchers said 

© Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP/File


Paris (AFP) – A mysterious surge in planet-heating atmospheric methane in 2020 despite Covid lockdowns that reduced many human-caused sources can be explained by a greater release from nature and, surprisingly, reduced air pollution, scientists said Wednesday.

Methane stays in the atmosphere only a fraction as long as carbon dioxide, but is far more efficient at trapping heat and is responsible for roughly 30 percent of the global rise in temperatures to date.

Released from the oil and gas, waste and agriculture sectors, as well as through biological processes in wetlands, the powerful greenhouse gas is a key target for efforts to curb global warming.

But a new study published in the journal Nature suggests that cutting methane may be even more of a challenge -- and more urgent -- than is currently understood.

Researchers in China, France, the US and Norway found that efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution will affect the atmospheric process that scrubs methane from the air. That means the planet-heating gas will linger longer and accumulate faster.

If the world is to meet the challenge of keeping warming to under 2 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era, "we will have to act even more quickly and even more strongly to reduce methane", said Philippe Ciais who co-led the research at France's Laboratory for the Sciences of Climate and Environment (LSCE).

The researchers focused on the mystery of the concentrations of methane in the atmosphere in 2020, which had their biggest increase on record even as Covid-19 lockdowns saw carbon dioxide emissions fall.

'Bad news'

What they found is potentially two pieces of "bad news" for climate change, said co-author Marielle Saunois of (LSCE).

Firstly, they looked at inventories to assess fossil fuel and agricultural methane emissions and found that human sources of methane did indeed fall slightly in 2020.

Then they used ecosystem models to estimate that warmer and wetter conditions over parts of the northern hemisphere caused a surge in emissions from wetlands.

That confirms other research and is worrying because the more methane released, the more warming, potentially creating a feedback loop largely outside of human control.

But that is only half of the story, the researchers found.

Researchers also looked at changes in atmospheric chemistry, because this provides a "sink" for methane, effectively cleaning it out of the air in a relatively short period by converting it to water and CO2 when it reacts with the hydroxyl radical (OH).

These hydroxyl radicals are present in tiny quantities and have a lifetime of less than a second, but they remove about 85 percent of methane from the atmosphere.

They are the "Pac-Man of the atmosphere", said Ciais: "As soon as they see something they eat it and then disappear."

'Dramatic'

The researchers simulated changes in OH using human sources of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide emissions that altogether affect the production and loss of hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere.

They found that OH concentrations decreased by around 1.6 percent in 2020 from the year before, largely because of a fall in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions caused by the Covid lockdowns. Nitrogen oxide is emitted into the air primarily from burning fuel.

A 20 percent reduction in NOx could increase methane twice as fast, Cias told a press briefing, adding: "This has surprised us greatly."

The researchers said their study helps to solve the riddle of the rise in methane in the atmosphere in 2020.

But they acknowledged that more work would have to be done to answer the next mystery: why the rise in methane concentrations hit a new record in 2021.

Ciais said lower nitrogen oxide emissions from transport in the United States and India, as well as continued low levels of air travel due to the pandemic may have played a part.

Euan Nisbet, a professor of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway University who was not involved in the research, said the jump in methane in 2020 was a "major shock".

"Even more worrying is the rise in methane in 2021 -- this was after the major Coronavirus shutdowns when the economy was recovering," he told AFP.

"As yet we don't have detailed studies but something very dramatic seems to be going on."

© 2022 AFP

WHY THEY LEFT CANADA

HSBC updates climate policy to stop funding new oil and gas

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT - AP

The logo of the HSBC is seen on a building in Hong Kong, Nov. 16, 2021. Banking giant HSBC announced Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields as part of its updated climate strategy. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, announced Wednesday it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields as part of its updated climate strategy.

Climate campaigners welcomed the moved saying HSBC provided a new baseline for other major banks but urged the bank to go further.

The bank said it would still provide financing to existing fossil fuel projects “in line with current and future declining global oil and gas demand.” It would also continue to provide finance and advisory services to energy sector clients but will assess the companies’ plans to transition to clean energy.

“It sets a new minimum level of ambition for all banks committed to net zero,” said Jeanne Martin from the campaign group ShareAction. But she added the change “doesn’t deal with the much larger proportion of finance it (HSBC) still provides to companies that have oil and gas expansion plans.” She called for new proposals to address the issue of corporate-level financing for energy companies “as soon as possible.”

Climate experts said the move was nevertheless a big deal.

“Banks make everything possible, including either the entrenchment of the status quo, that is infrastructure based on fossil fuels, or a transition that’s at the pace and of the kind that science tells us that is needed to address the crisis of climate change,” said Timmons Roberts, a professor at Brown University and director of the Climate Social Science Network. “So big banks making pledges like this are a big deal, a very big deal.”

Roberts said there are incentives to make these pledges, following through is the harder part.

“They’ll need to be vigilant at tracking whether they keep their promise,” he said.

Aditi Sen, climate and energy program director at the Rainforest Action Network, said that each year their research on fossil fuel funding shows banks headquartered in the U.S. are the biggest culprits when it comes to fueling the climate chaos, “yet their commitments are flimsy at best and deliberately negligent at worst.”

The group found that the largest four U.S. banks together account for one quarter of all fossil fuel financing identified over the last six years.

“Today HSBC has made a big step forward on climate, which proves that U.S. banks can step it up to do the same,” Sen added. “Financial institutions writ large play a really, really important role in keeping afloat the fossil fuel economy that we have, but also they have a huge role and an opportunity to drive the shift towards a clean energy economy.”

In a report last year the International Energy Agency said investments in new coal mines, oil and gas wells need to end immediately if the world stood a chance of meeting its commitment in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks has reached $4.6 trillion U.S. dollars in the six years since the adoption of the agreement, with $742 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2021 alone, according to the most recent Rainforest Action Network report.

Earlier this year a group of institutional investors found that several banks — including HSBC — would need to significantly step up their efforts on climate if the Paris goal is to be met.

Bank policies must be reconciled with the climate upheavals and economic threats posed by those upheavals that the banking industry warns about, said U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who is a leading advocate for strong action on climate.

“For a long time the banking industry has been talking out of two sides of its mouth. They’ve been offering these really grim warnings about the bursting of the carbon bubble and the collapse of coastal property values and all of that, while at the same time continuing to behave as if the things that they were saying weren’t true,” he said. “So this aligns HSBC policy with what the banking industry has been saying for a long time, and I think it’s welcome and overdue.”

___

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HSBC to end funding for new oil and gas fields

ALEX TAI/SOPA IMAGES\GETTY IMAGES

By Esme Stallard
BBC News Climate and Science

HSBC has announced it will stop financing new oil and gas fields, as part of its efforts to drive down global greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment groups said the move sends "a strong signal" to fossil fuel giants that investment is waning.

Europe's largest bank said it made the decision after receiving advice from international energy experts.

It comes following previous criticism of HSBC for funding oil and gas projects despite its green pledges.

Jeanne Martin, head of the banking programme at ShareAction, a charity that campaigns for reducing investment for fossil fuels like oil and gas, said: "HSBC's announcement sends a strong signal to fossil fuel giants and governments that banks' appetite for financing new oil and gas fields is diminishing."

The charity called on other banks to follow suit - saying this move sets a "a new minimum level of ambition" for the sector.

In 2020, HSBC made a pledge to be "net zero" - which means not adding to greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere - and investing up to $1 trillion (£806bn) in clean energy.

However, the bank came under criticism earlier this year when it was revealed it had invested an estimated $8.7bn (£6.4bn) into new oil and gas in 2021, according to ShareAction.

In the update to its energy policy, the bank said the decision had been made "follow[ing] consultation with leading scientific and international bodies" who had estimated that current oil and gas fields would meet any demand in 2050 under a "net-zero" scenario.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, 197 countries agreed to try to keep temperature rises "well below" 1.5C to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Experts say that to achieve this, net zero must be reached by 2050.
What does net zero mean and how are countries doing?

HSBC follows Lloyds bank - Britain's biggest domestic bank - which announced a similar decision in October.

Tony Burdon, chief executive at climate finance campaign Make My Money Matter, said: "it's another nail in the coffin for fossil fuel expansion, and a massive signal to other UK banks that the game is up on new oil and gas."

In October, the UK government announced a new round of North Sea oil and gas licences

It is not yet clear if this is the beginning of a trend across the sector, but it comes just months after the UK government announced a new round of licensing for oil and gas production in the North Sea.

New UK oil and gas licences defy climate warnings

HSBC has said it will continue to keep its investments already in oil and gas fields as it "recognises that fossil fuels, especially natural gas, have a role to play in the transition, even though that role will continue to diminish".

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