Pacific trade deal ‘will make mockery of UK’s climate ambitions’

Fiona Harvey and Helena Horton
Mon, 3 April 2023

Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images

The UK’s membership of a Pacific trade agreement will result in more deforestation overseas, endanger animal welfare and “make a mockery” of the government’s environmental commitments, campaigners have said.

Ministers signed an agreement late last week for the UK to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trading bloc of 11 nations including Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico.

The government said membership of the bloc would add about £1.8bn a year to the UK’s economy and free up trade for products such as whisky and pork. But environmental groups have raised concerns about the implications of the trade deal after the UK agreed to scrap European tariffs on palm oil as a condition for entry into the Pacific deal.

Last week Kemi Badenoch, the trade secretary, told Sky News that “you have to make trade-offs” in signing trade deals, and that palm oil was “a great product” and “not some illegal substance”. She added: “There are other crops in the EU that are causing deforestation that fit within EU rules.” The remarks enraged environmental and animal welfare groups, which warned that the deal would encourage deforestation overseas, particularly in south-east Asia, and could allow for the import of cheap low-quality meat produced under conditions that would be illegal here.

Palm oil produced in Malaysia is of particular concern as tariffs on the product, currently at 12%, will be eliminated and imports could increase, including from areas that have been deforested. Research by conservation groups over years has shown palm oil is closely associated with deforestation, the loss of habitats for rare species including the orangutan, and devastating forest fires.

Daniela Montalto, a forest campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “The UK has no safeguards in place to ensure it is not importing or financing palm oil operations that damage critical forests, peatlands, Indigenous lands and habitats for threatened species including orangutans. Cutting palm oil tariffs will only incentivise further destruction and runs completely counter to the government’s promise to embed the environment at the very heart of trade. It is beyond outrageous.”

At the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021, the UK government spearheaded a global forests initiative, aimed at halting deforestation, and ministers have also brought in new rules to prevent goods from deforested areas being sold in the UK.

Montalto said: “[The Pacific trade deal] makes a total mockery of the UK government’s legislation to tackle deforestation in UK supply chains and runs completely counter to the government’s promise to put the environment at the very heart of trade.”

Angela Francis, the director of policy solutions at WWF, said: “By joining the CPTPP, the UK government is encouraging hugely destructive agriculture, which would be illegal in the UK, into our market. This announcement risks more imports of food produced in ways that drive deforestation, us harmful pesticides, or rely on unregulated fishing practices – all of which undermine the high standards UK producers are already required to meet.”

Animal welfare would also suffer, according to the RSPCA. Many members of the CPTPP use methods of production that would be illegal in the UK, including sow stalls and battery eggs, as well as antibiotic use, hormone treatment and pesticides that are outlawed here. There are no explicit references to animal welfare standards in the trade bloc’s formal conditions, according to the charity, which fears that products using these methods could be unwittingly bought by UK consumers.

David Bowles, the head of public affairs at the RSPCA, said: “The UK joining this transpacific trade bloc is another potential nail in the coffin for animal welfare standards back home. We now fear there will be nothing to stop those products [produced with lower standards] being imported into the UK.”

He added: “We were hoping that this transpacific agreement would result in a far better outcome in terms of animal welfare than the standalone trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, but this looks like another catastrophic own goal for animal welfare.”

Badenoch claimed doubling the amount of palm oil the UK imports from Malaysia would not have an impact on deforestation, adding that “you have to make trade-offs” when doing a deal and said the UK currently bought 1% of Malaysia’s palm oil exports but “moving to 2% from 1% is not what is going to cause deforestation”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Business and Trade told the Guardian: “The UK is committed to tackling illegal deforestation within our supply chains, and our agreement to join CPTPP does not change that. We will always support the sustainable production of palm oil, and at accession we will publish a joint statement with Malaysia to protect forests. Existing UK tariffs on Malaysian palm oil are already low, and the UK accounted for around 1% of Malaysia’s global palm oil exports last year, with deforestation related to palm oil in Malaysia falling 60% since 2012.”

War-torn Myanmar hit by 1,000pc leap in malaria cases

Sarah Newey
Mon, 3 April 2023

The Moei river, which marks the porous border between Thailand and Myanmar - Sarah Newey

Malaria has surged by more than 1,000 per cent in eastern Myanmar since 2020, a blow in a region pushing to eliminate the deadly parasitic disease by 2030.

Across Kayin state – a mountainous, forested province also known as Karen – 4,510 cases were reported in January 2023, compared to just 399 over the same period in 2020. Last year, roughly 32,000 cases were reported overall – in both 2019 and 2020, that figure hovered at around 8,000.

According to the figures from the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), the recent jump upends years of low and declining transmission in the state – which shares a long, porous border with Thailand.

At a small clinic south of Phop Phra, on the Thai side of the winding Moei River that separates the two countries, health workers told the Telegraph that although the case-load remains far smaller than in the 1990s, they now see malaria cases on an almost daily basis.

“The situation has really changed, it’s not a development we wanted to see,” says Eh Moo, head of the clinic’s antenatal unit, which offers healthcare for migrants and refugees from Myanmar. “It’s not as bad as 30 years ago, when I started working here, but the increase suggests transmission is changing, especially on the Burma side of the border.”

As if to prove her point she walks out to the waiting area, where a dozen women and children are perched on wooden benches, and asks if anyone there was infected. A 21-year-old pregnant woman raises her hand, the team in the lab has just confirmed the fever she’s been suffering from is malaria.

“See, every day we’re confirming new cases,” says Eh Moo. “It’s a worrying trend.”

But it is the situation a few hundred miles away, in Hpapun Township in northern Kayin state, that has most alarmed experts. There, the surge in December has been linked to the spread of the dangerous Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite.

Not only does this cause more severe infections than the Plasmodium vivax parasite – which makes up the majority of cases in this region – but it is prone to develop resistance to critical treatments.

“Of course, you don’t want to have P. vivax, but it won’t kill you, it’s less dangerous,” said Prof François Nosten, a professor of tropical medicine and director of SMRU. “What we are really concerned about is P. falciparum – it’s more severe, it’s much more drug resistant, and that’s a problem. That’s why we want to eliminate it.”

Myanmar has two annual malaria peaks: during the rainy season between May and September, and a shorter but more intense period in the cold season, between November and December.

In December 2022, 1,413 malaria infections in an area of northern Kayin state were linked to P. falciparum infections, followed by 833 in January. It’s a significant increase: just 213 were detected in December 2022 – falling to 103 at the same point in 2020, and only 39 in 2019.

It’s not exactly clear why P. falciparum has spread more widely in this part of the state, though recent events may have played a role.

Malaria transmission first picked up during the pandemic, when measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 made it harder to access some communities and disrupted supply chains and healthcare services.

Since then, the uncertain security situation in Myanmar has made it more challenging to respond to the increase, and has also pushed many displaced people into the forested areas where mosquitoes thrive.

Malaria is not the only disease where trends are going in the wrong direction. At the sprawling Mae Tao Clinic just outside Mae Sot, which has been providing healthcare for Burmese migrants and refugees since 1989, health workers have also reported an increase in conditions including tuberculosis, severe HIV and malnutrition in new arrivals.

“Overall the situation is getting worse and worse, as access to services are interrupted… we are seeing almost a collapse of the health system [in Myanmar],” said Dr Cynthia Maung, who founded the clinic after fleeing political upheaval in Myanmar in the late 1980s. “So we see more severe cases of HIV, or child malnutrition or other noncommunicable diseases.”

But the jump in malaria cases, especially the increased transmission of the P. falciparum parasite, is a particular blow.

Dr Cynthia Maung, head of the Mae Tao clinic near Mae Sot, which provides healthcare for Burmese migrants and refugees - Sarah Newey

A waiting room at the Mae Tao Clinic - Sarah Newey

Across the Mekong subregion – Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and southern China – cases have fallen dramatically over recent decades, and health officials have been optimistic about hitting targets to eliminate malaria by 2030.

This is considered especially critical because, since the 1950s, parasites resistant to antimalarial drugs have consistently emerged in the Greater Mekong subregion and then been exported to other regions of the world – including Africa.

“Why did we embark on eliminating P. falciparum in this area? It’s not just for the love of humankind, it’s because the parasite in this area is very drug resistant,” said Prof Nosten. “The only way to prevent it becoming more drug resistant is to eliminate it. I think we have to stay focused on that objective.”

He added that, in northern Kayin state, the parasites spreading malaria are already resistant to artemisinin, but there’s no evidence right now that other, newer drugs are becoming less effective.

But that could change at any moment, making it more critical than ever to diagnose and treat the disease rapidly to reduce the risk of onward transmission. This is more important than rolling out bed nets to sleep under, as many of the mosquitos in this area bite during the day or early evening.

“We have to be cautious, because the resistance to artemether-lumefantrine, ACT, [a combination of malaria drugs] which everyone uses in Myanmar, could emerge and it’s difficult to pick up emergence because it’s difficult to do evaluation studies,” said Prof Nosten. “So we have to be careful not to be caught off guard.”

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UK

NHS consultants to be balloted over strike action

Daniel Keane
Mon, 3 April 2023

The threatened strike action in Scotland would be similar to the ongoing walkouts by junior doctor in England (File picture) (PA Wire)

NHS consultants will be balloted over strike action next month, the British Medical Association has announced.

Senior doctors will vote from May 15 on whether to strike over pay in a move that could deepen the NHS crisis.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has agreed to pay talks with the union to avert potential strike action.

It comes after more than 17,000 NHS consultants in England (86 per cent) voted decisively in favour of strike action in a consultative ballot.

In a separate dispute, junior doctor members of the British Medical Association (BMA) will stage a four-day strike next week that is expected to seriously disrupt NHS services.

Around 60,000 junior doctors in England will walk out for 96 hours from April 11 after talks broke down with Mr Barclay last week.

NHS trusts across the country will begin notifying patients on Monday of delays to treatment as a result of industrial action. The last junior doctors strike, held over three days in March, led to the cancellation or postponement of 175,000 procedures and appointments.

The disruption next week is likely to be particularly severe as it will follow the longer Easter weekend, when more NHS staff are likely to be on leave.

In a letter to the Sunday Times, the chief executives of England’s ten biggest teaching hospitals warned that the industrial action would cause “significant distress and delays” for patients and urged both sides to open pay talks immediately.

The Shelford Group, which includes hospital leaders in London, Oxford and Manchester, said the strikes would be disruptive “on a scale significantly beyond that of previous rounds of industrial action”.

They wrote: “We estimate we will postpone tens of thousands of clinic appointments, diagnostic tests and operations in our ten trusts alone; national figures will greatly exceed this.”

The BMA is seeking a pay rise of 26 per cent for junior doctors to restore a real-terms fall in income since 2008. A Foundation Year 1 doctor earns around £29,000 per year, rising to £34,000 a year later.

Speaking after the consultative ballot for consultants, Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA consultants committee, said: “In my 25 years in the NHS, I have never seen consultants more demoralised, frustrated and in despair over this Government’s refusal to support the NHS workforce and the patients they serve.

“The Government is refusing to listen to consultants’ concerns, driving many out of the NHS entirely.

“Things will only worsen unless we take a stand.”

Scientists in Arctic race to preserve 'ice memory'


Ursula HYZY
Mon, 3 April 2023


Scientists camped in the Arctic are set to start drilling to save samples of ancient ice for analysis before the frozen layers melt away due to climate change, mission organisers said on Monday.

Italian, French and Norwegian researchers are in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in what they called a race against time to preserve crucial ice records for analysing past environmental conditions -- planning to ship them all the way to the Antarctic for storage.

"Glaciers at high latitudes, such as those in the Arctic, have begun to melt at a high rate," said paleoclimatologist Carlo Barbante, vice-chairman of the Ice Memory Foundation that is running the mission.


"We want to recover and preserve, for future generations of scientists, these extraordinary archives of our Planet's climate before all the information they contain is completely lost."

The eight specialists on the mission have set up camp at an altitude of 1,100 metres on the crevasse-ridden Holtedahlfonna ice field and plan to start drilling on Tuesday, Ice Memory said.

They will extract ice in a series of tubes from as far as 125 metres (137 yards) below the surface, containing frozen geochemical traces dating back three centuries.

Analysis of chemicals in deep "ice cores" provides scientists with valuable data about past environmental conditions.

But experts warn that meltwater is leaking down and altering the geochemical records preserved in ancient ice beneath.

Ice scientists "are seeing their primary material disappear forever from the surface of the planet", Jerome Chapellaz, president of the foundation, told AFP.

"It is our responsibility as glaciologists of this generation to make sure a bit of it is preserved."

Human-caused carbon emissions have warmed the planet by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century. Studies indicate that the Arctic is warming between two and four times faster than the global average.

- Antarctic 'ice sanctuary' -

One set of the ice tubes extracted will be used for immediate analysis while a second set will be sent to Antarctica for storage in an "ice memory sanctuary" under the snow, where the samples will be preserved for future generations of scientists.

From their remote source, the ice cores will be transported by sea to Europe and later to the other end of the globe, for storage at a Franco-Italian Antarctic research station.

There, on territory protected by the Antarctic Treaty, they will be stored under the snow at minus 50C, where no power is needed to keep them cool.

"In coming decades, researchers will have new ideas and techniques to give voice to these archives," the researchers said in a statement.

"For instance, they may be able to isolate other information contained in the ice of which we are not aware today."

The team in Svalbard will work for three weeks in temperatures as low as minus 25C (-13 Farenheit), cutting and pulling out a series of cylinders of ice 10cm (four inches) wide.

The 700,000-euro ($760,000) mission, partly funded by the Italian research ministry, follows a series of earlier ice core extractions by the foundation, including operations in the Alps and the Andes.

Further core-drilling missions are planned in the coming years in Tajikistan and the Himalayas.

A study published in the journal Science in January said that half of the Earth's 215,000 mountain glaciers are expected to disappear by the end of this century due to climate change caused by humans -- even if the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is reached.

Germany and the EU are falling for corporate lobbyists' hydrogen hoax

Hydrogen is their escape route for protecting polluting assets and delaying climate action.

Belén Balanyá, Researcher and campaigner, Corporate Europe Observatory
Mon, 3 April 2023 


Flashback to May last year: captains of industry, including RWE and Shell, have been invited by German Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger to Australia to talk hydrogen with bankers, investors and politicians.

Gleeful about the potential future imports, the delegation sang a song — specially composed for the occasion — about this lucrative gas.

Corporations have reason to celebrate. Corporate Europe Observatory’s new report shows how business has successfully helped to shape Germany's stance on this hot topic through privileged access, revolving doors and big spending on PR consultancies.

Why Germany? There is a reason

Germany is hugely influential in setting the broader EU agenda. Take last week’s painful negotiations to finalise the phase-out of combustion engine cars by 2035.

Germany refused to sign until a workaround was put on the table: as a result, these vehicles can still be sold post-2035 if running on e-fuels.

Hydrogen sets the stage for next EU fight between defenders and detractors of nuclear energy


Nuclear, hydrogen and bioenergy: What does the EU’s new renewables deal mean for member states?

The German e-fuels loophole catered to the demands of guzzling car makers — including Porsche and 170 other companies — grouped in the eFuel Alliance, who openly state that their goal is "for eFuels to gain political acceptance and regulatory approval as a significant contributor to sustainable climate protection.”

E-fuels, based on hydrogen and CO2, are vastly inefficient. With an estimated 16% energy efficiency in comparison with 72% in electric vehicles, they are not exactly part of the climate solution.

An aerial view of the Haru Oni Demonstration Plant, a synthetic fuel plant that started operations in Punta Arenas, Chile, December 2022 - HIF GLOBAL / AFP

In fact, e-fuels, based on hydrogen and CO2, are vastly inefficient. With an estimated 16% energy efficiency in comparison with 72% in electric vehicles, they are not exactly part of the climate solution.

Meanwhile, in Chile, the Haru Oni project — run by a consortium including Porsche, ExxonMobil and German Siemens– produces hydrogen-based e-fuel for Germany.

In contrast with scientific warnings about the negative impacts of green hydrogen projects in the region, Porsche absurdly claims that “classic and modern sports cars can be part of the solution to lower emissions”.
A way out for big polluters

Over 100 German businesses — many of them linked to fossils and other polluting industries — have been identified as key players along the green hydrogen value chain.

As decarbonisation poses an existential risk, they have jumped on the hydrogen bandwagon as a ‘clean’ way to lock in combustion engines, pipelines, power plants and airports.

Hydrogen is their escape route for protecting polluting assets and delaying climate action.

Germany is set to become Europe’s biggest hydrogen importer, with an estimated share of up to 70% of future combined EU/UK imports.

A hydrogen train has left the station of Wehrheim near Frankfurt, 17 March 2023 - AP Photo/Michael Probst

Hydrogen has become a silver bullet for EU and German decision-makers. Germany is set to become Europe’s biggest hydrogen importer, with an estimated share of up to 70% of future combined EU/UK imports.

And the bloc’s REPowerEU plan set the EU’s 2030 targets for green hydrogen at 20 million tonnes, half via domestic production and half imported.

EU strikes REPowerEU deal to break free of its dependence on Russian fossil fuels

This is unrealistic: less than 0.04 million tonnes of green hydrogen were produced globally in 2021.
But what's the dirty truth about hydrogen?

The hydrogen hype glosses over reality. First, 99% of today’s globally produced hydrogen is the so-called "grey" hydrogen made from fossil fuels, with annual CO2 emissions exceeding those of Germany in its entirety.

"Blue" hydrogen, promoted as a "low-carbon" alternative, also has a mega-climate footprint.

Hydrogen fuel could double your energy bills - and isn’t as green as you think, research warns

Brussels wants hydrogen to help fuel the future, but can it be done in time to meet climate goals?

It is the product of fossil gas with emissions collected through carbon capture and storage, which is a flawed, risky, expensive and thus far failed technofix.

Fossil industry PR spins blue hydrogen as a step in the transition to a green hydrogen future, despite evidence that it was primarily concocted as a lifeline for dirty gas companies.

Germany’s embrace of blue hydrogen is a major win for the hydrogen lobby.

Germany's Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck attends a press conference on Danish-German cooperation on hydrogen infrastructure in Copenhagen, 23 March 2023 - Ida Marie Odgaard/AP

Germany’s embrace of blue hydrogen is a major win for the hydrogen lobby. The recently leaked version of the country’s revised hydrogen strategy explicitly foresees the use and public funding of blue hydrogen.

And corporations are grateful.

“It is a blessing that we have this Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs,” said the chair of energy lobby group BDEW last year in reference to the ministry led by Robert Habeck from the Greens.

In his first seven months after taking office, Habeck and top government officials met with gas lobbyists once a day on average. BDEW’s member companies are responsible for 90% of Germany’s fossil gas sales.
Hydrogen projects allow for climate colonialism, too

Even a green hydrogen economy is a chimaera. Produced from renewable energy, green hydrogen is energy inefficient, it's a potent indirect greenhouse gas, and large-scale production requires vast amounts of land, water and renewable energy.

Why the world’s first hydrogen rail may not be as environmentally friendly as it seems

Germany joins green hydrogen pipeline partnership with France, Spain and Portugal

Germany has established hydrogen alliances and partnerships with at least 26 potential export countries, many of them in the Global South

Saudi Arabia’s planned megacity Neom ... is a shocking case of human rights violations: ancient tribes have been forcibly evicted from their land, and several protestors have been sentenced to death.

The design plan for the 500-metre tall parallel structures, known collectively as The Line, in the heart of the Red Sea megacity NEOM - NEOM/AFP

Such hydrogen colonialism is a recipe for human rights abuses: a mapping of 27 mostly African countries did not identify a single hydrogen project that included prior consultation with the community.

Saudi Arabia’s planned megacity Neom, where ThyssenKrupp will install a huge electrolyser to produce hydrogen for export, is a shocking case of human rights violations: ancient tribes have been forcibly evicted from their land, and several protestors have been sentenced to death.
You can't dupe people with the hoax

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently issued a dire global warning for a "last chance for climate action".

But the EU — often pushed by Germany — is blocking any progress.

Under pressure from Berlin, the EU relaxes its ban on combustion engines after 2035

The EU's new debate: Are e-fuels a viable and green alternative to the combustion engine?

The loophole in the ban on combustion engines, the gas and hydrogen package, the revised Renewable Energy Directive, the Hydrogen Bank, the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act will all boost the hydrogen bubble and corporate profits at the expense of global justice, energy democracy and effective climate action.

Climate and social justice movements have not been duped by the hydrogen hoax.

Decision-makers must stop listening to the very industry that has caused creating the climate and energy crisis.

Policemen carry away a demonstrator during a protest in Vienna as the Austrian capital hosts the European Gas Conference, 27 March 2023 - JOE KLAMAR/AFP

At last week’s European Gas Conference in Vienna, thousands of protestors, with African activists at the forefront, stood up against the EU and Germany’s looming hydrogen colonialism and the danger it poses to the planet.

Decision-makers must stop listening to the very industry that has caused creating the climate and energy crisis. More than 100,000 people have demanded the European Parliament kick fossil-fuel lobbyists out of politics — but their voices are not being heard.

_Belén Balanyá is a researcher and campaigner with Corporate Europe Observatory, which she co-founded in 1997. She's focused on exposing the power of the oil and gas industry in the European Union.
_

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BHP and Rio Tinto among Australian heavy industry calling for urgent action on cutting emissions

Adam Morton Climate and environment editor
Mon, 3 April 2023 

Photograph: Brenda Strong/AAP

Some of Australia’s biggest heavy industrial companies – including BHP, Bluescope, Rio Tinto and Woodside – say urgent action is needed from government, investors and business for Australia to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with its goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C.

A joint statement signed by 17 members of the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative (ETI) follows their support for a report in February that found they could cut direct emissions in their supply chains by more than 90% by 2050 without relying heavily on carbon offsets.

It lists several objectives necessary for heavy industry to reach net zero emissions at a pace consistent with limiting heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, including the construction of a “large-scale, cost-competitive, renewable energy system of the future” and the development of “integrated net zero emissions industrial regions”.

Related: The latest IPCC report makes it clear no new fossil fuel projects can be opened. That includes us, Australia | Adam Morton

The signatory companies did not specify what limiting heating to 1.5C should mean for the country’s emissions reduction targets. Scientists have said it demanded an emissions cut of at least 57% and up to 75% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels – well beyond the Albanese government’s 43% target – and reaching net zero much earlier than 2050.

The statement – which was also supported by Westpac, Australian Super, Orica, Wesfarmers, Fortescue Metals and the Australian Industry Group – said the February report prepared by the Climateworks Centre and the CSIRO showed how decarbonisation of heavy industry could be achieved, but that it would require a “significant stretch in ambition”.

The companies said they were “ready to seize this opportunity” and called on others to join them. “We will encourage and support federal and state governments as they develop an economy-wide suite of policies,” they said.

But the goals of the ETI statement appear at odds with the plans of some of the companies that have backed it. Woodside wants to open several large gas and oil fields in Australia and overseas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last month again reported that existing fossil fuel infrastructure across the globe was enough to push the world beyond 1.5C heating and towards the more dangerous climate change that would involve.

The chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, Innes Willox, said 1.5C was an “enormous challenge”, but the IPCC had shown “the costs of failure would be very high and each fraction of a degree matters”. He said emissions caps on business would “certainly have to tighten and apply more broadly over time to make net zero happen in industry and energy”.

The government last week passed changes to one of its signature climate policies, the safeguard mechanism, with support from the Greens and independents. The revamp means many of the country’s major industrial sites will be required to reduce emissions intensity by 4.9% a year, either directly or by buying offsets.

The safeguard mechanism was introduced by the Coalition in 2016. It was promised to put a limit on greenhouse gas emissions from about 200 major industrial facilities.

It applies to facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. Each facility is set an emissions limit, known as a baseline.

The Coalition said companies that emitted above their baseline would have to buy carbon offsets or pay a penalty. In practice, facilities were allowed to change their baselines, few were penalised and industrial emissions continued to increase.

Labor won government planning to revamp the scheme.

It has set new baselines based on emissions intensity – how much a facility releases per unit of production. Baselines will be reduced by up to 4.9% a year.

Companies can choose whether to make onsite emissions cuts or buy offsets, including Australian carbon credit units.

New polluting facilities, including gas and coalmines, are allowed to open and enter the scheme and would be set baselines at “international best practice”. For new gas fields, that means offsetting all CO2 pollution so they are net zero.

Companies that emit less pollution than their baseline allows will be awarded a new type of “safeguard credit”. These within-scheme credits can be sold to other polluting facilities that emit more than their baseline and need offsets.

A deal between Labor and the Greens introduced an absolute "cap" so that total emissions under the scheme can not increase and need to come down over time. The pace of reduction is not stipulated, and will be set by the climate change minister

The changes start on 1 July 2023.

Several manufacturing companies released statements on Monday praising the government for adjusting the safeguard in response to their concerns. The changes included reducing the rate at which some non-fossil fuel businesses would have to cut emissions intensity to just 1% a year, and lifting public support for manufacturing industries from $600m to $1bn.

In a statement to the stock exchange, BlueScope’s chief executive, Mark Vassella, said engagement with the government on the safeguard had been “constructive”, and the company could now focus on finishing a feasibility study for a $1bn blast furnace and other decarbonisation projects at its Port Kembla steelworks.

Mark Irwin, the chief executive of cement and lime business Adbri, said he welcomed the government’s commitment of “additional funding to industries providing critical inputs to clean energy industries including cement and lime”.

Related: Australia passes most significant climate law in a decade amid concern over fossil fuel exports

Orica’s chief executive, Sanjeev Gandhi, said his company strongly supported the government’s reforms and they would lead to it rolling out emissions reduction technology at its manufacturing sites at Newcastle and Gladstone.

The statements highlighted the gap between major industry and business and the federal Coalition on climate policy. Coalition climate change spokesperson, Ted O’Brien, last week said the safeguard mechanism would “decapitate” the economy. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, told the ABC on Sunday the policy could lead to the cement industry leaving the country and was causing issues for steel businesses.

On Monday, the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said the government’s reforms had delivered the “certainty needed to make major investments in decarbonisation, future-proofing thousands of jobs onshore”.

O’Brien said “big government and big business” had agreed on “a big new tax”, and Australian consumers would be forced to pay.

The safeguard mechanism is not a tax. It requires companies to take steps to reduce emissions, but does not involve the government collecting revenue.

UK
Suffolk electricity grid workers call off strike action after improved 18% pay deal

Sarah Chambers
Mon, 3 April 2023 

Suffolk electricity grid workers call off strike action after improved 18% pay deal - inset, Sharon Graham (Image: Andy Abbott/Unite)

Power workers have called off a planned strike in the East of England after securing an 18% pay deal over two years, say union officials.

Around 1,300 electricity grid workers in London, the South East  and East of England were planning strike action but this has been cancelled after they voted in favour of accepting an improved pay offer, said Unite.

Union officials negotiated an eight per cent deal for last year and 10% for 2023 and said workers would also receive a one-off £750 payment.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This is a well-deserved win for workers who were prepared to take a stand for a fair pay rise.

"Unite is entirely committed to fighting for the jobs, pay and conditions of its members. This victory for UK Power Networks workers is yet another demonstration that Unite’s strategy is delivering for our members."

The workers repair, maintain and administer the domestic electricity grid across the three regions, covering customers in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Greater London, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent. Between them they serve around 8.3m customers.

Unite regional officer Jane Jeffery said:"This victory was achieved through the hard work and solidarity of Unite’s reps and members at UK Power Networks.

"Workers who want better wages and working conditions should join Unite and organise their colleagues to do likewise.”

A UK Power Networks spokeswoman said: “We are delighted that members of Unite have accepted our pay offer and called off proposed industrial action.

“We want to place on record our thanks to all those who represent our workforce for the constructive manner in which these negotiations have been held.

"Accepting this deal - which we have always believed is a fair and generous one - is the best outcome for our employees and our business.”

Worst drought on record forces Tunisia to cut off drinking water for seven hours every night

Angela Symons
Mon, 3 April 2023 


Tunisia is cutting off water supplies to citizens for seven hours a night. The extreme measure is a response to the country's worst drought on record.

The water will be cut off daily from 9pm until 4am, with immediate effect, state water distribution company SONEDE said in a statement on Friday.

The country's agriculture ministry earlier introduced a quota system for drinking water and banned its use in agriculture until 30 September.

Tunisia is battling with a drought that is now in its fourth year.

What’s causing Tunisia’s drought?

Years of drought have dried up Tunisian reservoirs, diminished harvests and pushed the government to raise tap water prices for homes and businesses.

Attributing the unprecedented drought to climate change, SONEDE head Mosbah Hlali called on Tunisians to understand the decision to cut off water supplies.

The Mediterranean region has experienced blistering heat in recent summers and a lack of rainfall in winter. In August 2021, Tunisia experienced record-high temperatures of over 50°C.

The country’s dam capacity has now dropped to around 1 billion cubic metres, or 30 per cent of the maximum, according to senior agriculture ministry official Hamadi Habib.

The Sidi Salem Dam in the north of the country, a key provider of drinking water to several regions, has declined to only 16 per cent of its maximum capacity, official figures show.

Tunisia’s grain harvest will be “disastrous”, with the drought-hit crop declining to 200,000-250,000 tonnes this year from 750,000 tonnes in 2022, senior farmers union official Mohamed Rjaibia told news agency Reuters on Thursday.
How severe are Tunisia’s water restrictions?

As well as cutting off overnight water supplies, Tunisia’s agriculture ministry has banned the use of drinking water to wash cars, water green areas and clean streets and public places.

Violators face a fine and imprisonment for a period of between six days to six months.

Residents say Tunisian authorities have been cutting off drinking water at night in some areas of the capital and other cities for the last two weeks in a bid to cut consumption.

The move has sparked widespread anger.

Why are Tunisia’s beaches disappearing and what does it mean for the country?

The new decision threatens to fuel social tension in a country whose people suffer from poor public services, high inflation and a weak economy.

Farmers have also been urged to stop irrigating vegetable fields with water from dams and in some cases face limits.

Tunisia already has food supply problems due to high global prices and the government’s own financial difficulties, which have reduced its capacity to buy imported food and subsidise farms at home.

The drought has pushed up fodder prices, contributing to a crisis for Tunisia’s dairy industry as farmers sell off herds they can no longer afford to keep, leaving supermarket shelves empty of milk and butter.
Will Europeans face water restrictions this summer?

Europe has been in drought since 2018, according to a recent study from the Graz University of Technology in Austria.

Low winter rain and snowfall have left countries at risk of another extreme summer, the European Commission has warned.

Northern Italy, France and Spain are bracing for restrictions, which last year limited some residents of Catalonia to using water for around four hours a day.

Full 'pink' moon to rise Wednesday night

By Brian Lada, Accuweather.com

A Pink Supermoon sets behind the Statue of Liberty in New York City on Monday, April 26, 2021. This week's supermoon is dubbed the "pink" moon because of its timing close to flower blooming season. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

April is underway, and there is an assortment of upcoming astronomical events ranging from a planetary alignment to spring's inaugural meteor shower. The first big night sky event of the month is about to unfold, and it will be quite easy to spot.

The full moon will rise on the evening of Wednesday into the morning on Thursday, the first full moon since the vernal equinox on March 20, which marked the official start of astronomical spring.

A common nickname for April's full moon is the Pink Moon, although the moon will not glow in pink hues on Wednesday night.

The nickname can be traced to the emerging flora following the winter months. Specifically, the Pink Moon is named after the wildflower ground phlox, which is one of the first flowers to bloom in North America and has pink and purple petals.

April's full moon is also known as the Frog Moon, Breaking Ice Moon, Sugar Maker Moon and the Broken Snowshoe Moon, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Stargazers can catch the Pink Moon rising in the eastern sky after sunset on Wednesday evening. It will glide across the sky throughout the night before setting in the west around daybreak.

The moon may appear slightly bigger around moonrise and moonset compared to when it is high in the sky, but NASA said that this is simply an optical illusion.

"The moon illusion is the name for this trick our brains play on us," NASA explained. "Photographs prove that the moon is the same width near the horizon as when it's high in the sky, but that's not what we perceive with our eyes."

NASA added that the science isn't settled on why humans perceive the moon to be bigger when it is near the horizon, but regardless, people should enjoy the moon and the beautiful sights in the night sky.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M GNOMES OF ZURICH
Credit Suisse faces anger at final shareholder meeting

By Noele Illien and John O'Donnell
Reuters
April 04, 2023

ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse will face shareholder anger on Tuesday at what will be its final annual general meeting after the bank was rescued last month by Swiss rival UBS.

The hastily-arranged takeover by Zurich-based UBS, for which Switzerland invoked emergency legislation, bypassed Credit Suisse shareholders, who would otherwise have had a say, and largely wiped out the value of their holdings.

Tuesday's shareholder meeting marks an ignominious end for the 167-year-old flagship bank founded by Alfred Escher, a Swiss magnate affectionately dubbed King Alfred I, who helped build the country's railways and then Credit Suisse.

After years of scandal and losses, Credit Suisse came to the brink of collapse before UBS rode to the rescue with a shotgun merger engineered and bankrolled by the Swiss authorities.

The meeting is the first time that Chairman Axel Lehmann and Chief Executive Ulrich Koerner will publicly address shareholders since the takeover was announced.

Credit Suisse had been attempting to put the past behind it and restructure, before a shock triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. sent it into a spiral.

After a run on deposits, the Swiss government turned to UBS, which agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), a fraction of its earlier market value.

One of the world's biggest investors, Norway's sovereign wealth fund said it would vote against the re-election of Lehmann and six other directors, in a public show of protest.

U.S. proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had earlier rebuked the bank's management for "lack of oversight and poor stewardship".

In the lead up to Tuesday, Credit Suisse said it had withdrawn certain proposals from the meeting's agenda.

Those include the discharge of management, which is typically a bellwether of confidence. It also ditched plans for a special bonus linked to the bank's transformation plan.

Credit Suisse's near collapse not only wiped billions of Swiss francs off the value of its shares. It also completely wiped out $17 billion of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) debt.

A group of AT1 investors has hired law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to demand compensation.

Meanwhile, the office of the attorney general on Sunday said Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the Credit Suisse takeover.

The prosecutor is looking into potential breaches of Swiss criminal law by government officials, regulators and executives at the two banks.

Credit Suisse investors slam failures as chairman apologizes

By JAMEY KEATEN

TODAY

1 of 12
Swiss bank Credit Suisse Chairman Axel P. Lehmann speaks during the annual shareholders' meeting of the Swiss banking group, in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Once-venerable Credit Suisse is heading into a possible firestorm Tuesday as shareholders meet for what is shaping up to be their last crack at managers following a colossal collapse of the bank’s stock price over the last decade and as rival UBS is set to gobble up the 167-year-old Swiss lender at a bargain-basement price. (Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP)


ZURICH (AP) — Credit Suisse shareholders on Tuesday upbraided the Swiss bank’s leaders for years of mismanagement, scandal and obfuscation that sent its stock price into the gutter, while executives apologized and insisted that the only way forward for the once-venerable lender was a government-engineered takeover by rival UBS.

A largely polite — if at times boisterous, emotional, angry and even humorous — mood pervaded at the first in-person shareholder meeting in four years and likely the last in the bank’s 167-year history: Credit Suisse is set to be swallowed by its crosstown competitor in the coming months in a deal that was forced through without a shareholder vote.

Despite speech after speech airing concerns ranging from Switzerland’s role in global finance to environmental impact to wiped-out pension savings, shareholders narrowly approved a compensation plan for last year that will pay out millions to executives and board members. Investors also reelected board members who will shepherd the bank into UBS’s arms.

Axel Lehmann, who became Credit Suisse chairman only last year after joining the bank from UBS in 2021, decried “massive outflows” of customer funds in October and a “downward spiral” that culminated last month as a U.S. banking crisis unleashed global financial turmoil.

“The bank could not be saved,” he said, and only two options awaited — a deal or bankruptcy.

“The bitterness, anger and shock of those who are disappointed, overwhelmed and affected by the developments of the past few weeks is palpable,” Lehmann said. “I apologize that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years and for disappointing you.”

The bank’s pending demise has been years in the making, with critics blaming a blend of greedy managers, either unsuspecting or toothless regulators, government officials asleep at the wheel, and international pressure for profits and financial market stability at the expense of Switzerland’s generally staid and conservative culture. At times at Tuesday’s shareholder meeting, U.S. finance and allegations of American bullying were a target.

A couple dozen protesters, including some hoisting a severed boat labeled “Crisis Suisse,” gathered outside the Zurich hockey arena hosting the annual meeting, while shareholders and employees voiced their grievances as they got their last crack at managers.

Stepping to a podium, one blasted “bonus mania,” and another used a metaphor from Christianity to repeatedly ask, “When is enough, enough?”

Yet another held up walnuts as props, saying, “A bag of these is worth about one share.” One young investor took off his shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words “Stop the Swindle” written in red.

Shareholder Guido Röthlisberger said he wore a red tie “to represent the fact that I and plenty of others today are seeing red.”

“I rather feel that I’ve been cheated by these institutions,” he said.

Swiss government officials hastily orchestrated the $3.25 billion takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS two weekends ago after Credit Suisse’s stock plunged and jittery depositors quickly pulled out their money. Political leaders, financial regulators and the central bank feared a teetering Credit Suisse could further roil global financial markets following the collapse of two U.S. banks.

Shareholders did not get to vote on the deal after the government passed an emergency ordinance to bypass the step. Some came to the annual meeting to hear managers explain what went wrong.

“The whole thing — how this happened — makes me a little bit angry,” shareholder Markus Huber said.

Huber, a 56-year-old self-employed handyman, suspected government officials and bank leaders cooked up the deal “in secrecy” and said there should have been greater transparency.

Shareholders felt “a little bit astonished that there hadn’t been warnings out before,” he said.

The takeover, however, wasn’t on the docket for the meeting, the first held in person since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the thousands in the arena, many of them seemingly Swiss retirees, the speeches amounted to a collective outcry about a once-fabled bank gone bust — and with it a bit of Swiss pride.

In 2007, Credit Suisse shares fetched as much nearly 88 Swiss francs (dollars). Today, they’re trading at about 80 cents.

The bank swooned from scandal to scandal in recent years: Bad bets on hedge funds; accusations it didn’t report secret offshore accounts wealthy Americans held to avoid paying U.S. taxes; failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine ring.

The Swiss attorney general’s office says it’s opened a probe into events surrounding Credit Suisse ahead of the UBS takeover. Executives hope that the deal will close in coming months but acknowledged a complex transaction.

For Credit Suisse investors, the deal has meant losses. Shareholders collectively will get 3 billion francs ($3.3 billion) in the combined company, while investors holding about 16 billion francs ($17.3 billion) in higher-risk bonds were wiped out.

Typically, shareholders face losses before those holding bonds if a bank goes under.

Swiss regulators, who will hold a news conference Wednesday, say contracts show the bonds can be written down in a “viability event.”

Global law firm Quinn Emanuel said bondholders have hired the firm to “represent them in discussions with Swiss authorities and possible litigation to recover losses.”

Credit Suisse executives apologize to shareholders in final meeting

By Paul Godfrey

Protestors were out in force in Zurich for Tuesday's final meeting of the shareholders of the 167-year-old Swiss bank. 

Photo by Michael Buholzer/EPA-EFE

April 4 (UPI) -- Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann apologized to investors Tuesday at the bank's final shareholders' meeting as an independent company for the massive hit they took from the emergency takeover by rival UBS.

In the bank's first public comments since the March 19 government-brokered rescue, Lehmann acknowledged it was "a sad day" for investors and said he understood the "bitterness, the anger and the shock of all those who are disappointed, overwhelmed and affected by the developments."

"I apologize that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years, and for disappointing you," Lehmann said.

"Until the end, we fought hard to find a solution, but ultimately there were only two options: deal or bankruptcy. The merger had to go through."

RELATED Swiss prosecutor to investigate UBS takeover of Credit Suisse

The alternative, he said, would have resulted in a total loss for shareholders with unpredictable risks for clients and severe consequences for the economy and global financial markets.

An emotional CEO Ulrich Korner said Credit Suisse ran out of time to implement a turnaround plan embarked upon in October.

"This fills me with sorrow. What has happened over the past few weeks will continue to affect me personally and many others for a long time to come," he said.

UBS could pare Credit Suisse's global workforce by up to 30% with 9,000 job cuts in Switzerland and a further 25,000 around the world.

Anticipating a backlash, police were mobilized outside and inside the 5,000-capacity ice hockey stadium in the Zurich suburb of Oerlikonvenue as protesters and shareholders filed in seeking answers to the debacle.

They will not, however, get a vote on the deal that saw UBS acquire Credit Suisse -- which as of the end of 2022 had assets of around $1.4 trillion -- for just $3.2 billion with investors receiving one UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares they held.

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The deal, which the government, the central bank and regulators insist was necessary to prevent a meltdown of the global banking sector in the wake of the collapse of the United States' Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, has been mired in controversy.

In the two weeks since, the regulator has been forced to defend a decision ordering Credit Suisse to write down $17 billion worth of junior bonds to zero, UBS' CEO has been replaced and the country's top prosecutor launched a criminal probe into the takeover.