Europe just had its deadliest summer. Which country was hit the hardest by extreme heat?

Copyright AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

By Angela Symons

Published on 23/10/2026 - EURONEWS

Europe faced its ‘worst summer on record’ for heat deaths – with climate change responsible for two-thirds.

Europe’s sweltering summer is estimated to have claimed more than 50,000 lives in urban areas, making it the “worst on record”, according to a new report.

Researchers are clear on the cause: climate change – primarily from the burning of fossil fuels – was responsible for about two-thirds of these excess heat deaths.

The figure far outstrips the previous highest figures of about 29,000 deaths in the summer of 2022 and 28,000 in 2003 across the area modelled.

It’s a testament to the extreme heat faced by the world’s fastest-warming continent between June and August this year. A succession of heatwaves saw temperatures in Western Europe soar 2.9°C above the 1991-2020 average – even rising by as much as 12°C on some days – often hitting countries that are neither used to nor prepared for such highs.

“These numbers are a stark reminder that our hotter, more extreme summers are having an increasingly severe impact on public health,” says study co-author Dr Clair Barnes, an extreme weather and climate change researcher at Imperial College London.

“Behind these statistics are real people whose lives were lost and real families who grieve for them.”

Nearly one-third of deaths estimated occurred during the particularly intense heatwave between 17 June and 1 July, when temperatures were on average 5.3°C above the norm.

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How were summer heat deaths estimated?

The study used modelling to estimate the number of heat-related excess deaths during summers dating back to the start of the century.

“The true burden of mortality, in fact, due to heat is not directly observed or measured,” says study co-author Dr Malcolm Mistry, assistant professor in climate and geospatial modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

“Heat is therefore often commonly referred to as a ‘silent killer’, with the death toll underreported in several regions globally.”

The scientists used temperature records and modelling based on the historical relationship between heat and mortality to estimate the number of casualties in summer 2026. They took geographic and environmental features, socioeconomic factors, availability of health services, and age-specific temperature-mortality links into account.

The modelling was applied to 854 urban areas across the EU, UK, Norway and Switzerland – areas that make up around 40 per cent of the population of the 30 countries studied.

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A separate attribution study covering the summers of 2000 to 2025 was used for comparison, with results for these years proving broadly consistent with official statistics released by national health authorities. Many European countries are yet to release final figures for summer 2026.

Researchers then compared the actual temperatures with those that would have been expected without warming from climate change to estimate the additional deaths caused.

Overall, 65 per cent of heat-related excess deaths – or around 32,000 – in summer 2026 were attributed to human-induced climate change. Earlier in the century it was estimated to be responsible for about 40 per cent of heat-related deaths.

“It is yet another reminder both of the imperative of rolling out targeted interventions to protect those who are most vulnerable to this increasingly extreme heat, and of the growing need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels to slow the pace of change and limit future warming,” says Dr Barnes.

The thermometer of a drugstore shows the temperature of 38 degrees Celsius as temperatures reached record highs, in Rome, June 24, 2026. AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Who is most at risk from extreme heat?

Vulnerable people are most exposed to the dangers of extreme heat, including those suffering from disease; elderly or very young people; and those unable to move away from the heat – either for physical or socioeconomic reasons.

In the summer 2026 study, people aged 85 and over accounted for roughly half of the estimated deaths. But younger adults were also affected: there were an estimated 800 excess deaths among people aged between 20 and 44, and a total of around 6,000 people under the age of 65.

The researchers also found geographical variations, with Southern Europe experiencing significantly more deaths linked to high temperatures than Northern Europe.

This is primarily due to the higher temperatures faced by countries further south, although other vulnerabilities also came into play.

“For example, factors such as increased air pollution levels, limited green space infrastructure, accessibility to health systems and heat alerts,” explains study co-author Dr Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, assistant professor at ICL’s Grantham Institute.

Europe’s unprecedented summer: Which country was worst hit?

The public health risks of Europe’s scorching summer were immense, with several governments issuing heat warnings and real-time estimates of heat-related mortality.

According to the summer 2026 report, Italy is estimated to have suffered the highest number of heat-related excess deaths: a total of 13,303. Next was France at 7,268, followed by Spain at 6,824.

Traditionally-cooler countries also struggled in the heat, which was made more dangerous by infrastructure designed for a different climate and citizens unaccustomed to such highs.

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Germany faced an estimated 6,340 excess deaths and the UK 4,354.

“In the UK, the summer is historically the quietest time for our health service. This summer, however, saw demand and strain that was akin to a really bad winter virus season,” says Andrew Hartle, Professor of Practice of Anaesthesia at Imperial College Healthcare.

The accuracy of the modelling means it has the potential to allow health services to prepare for extreme events before they hit.

Besides cutting greenhouse gas emissions to limit future warming, cities can invest in adding green-blue spaces, which come with the cobenefits of reducing temperatures and improving air quality.

Northern and Western Europe should look to the south for solutions that are already well established, the study’s authors say.

These include investing in climate shelters; retrofitting buildings to better withstand the heat, such as by adding external shades or blinds; and promoting behavioural changes like checking in on vulnerable neighbours, not going out in the midday sun, taking heat advisory warnings seriously, seeking shade, and drinking plenty of water.

INTERVIEW

How people in Libya and beyond are living with Khadafi's legacy, 15 years on

Fifteen years ago today, Moamer Kadhafi was captured RAPED and killed by rebel fighters, ending 42 years of one-man rule over Libya. RFI spoke to Libya specialist Virginie Collombier about what "Khadafism" stood for, who still believes in it and whether the removal of its architect has made life better for the country's people.


Issued on: 20/10/2026 - RFI

Libyan dictator Moamer Khadafi during the celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of his rise to power on 1 September, 2009. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/Files

Kadhafi seized power in Libya in a military coup in 1969 and went on to build one of the most idiosyncratic states of the 20th century.

Funded by vast oil wealth and enforced by ruthless repression, it was guided by his Green Book – a manifesto proposing a “third way” between capitalism and communism, and officially called the Jamahiriya – or “state of the masses”.

Kadhafi cast himself as a champion of Arab – and subsequently African – liberation, and backed armed groups abroad, which brought years of Western and United Nations sanctions.

His fall in 2011, following an uprising and a Western-backed military intervention, left Libya split between rival governments in the country's east and west. Many Africans blame his removal for the instability that has since spread across the Sahel.

In February this year, Kadhafi's son Saif al-Islam, long seen as his political heir, was assassinated, leaving his supporters without a leader.

We asked Virginie Collombier, a professor at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome and a specialist on Libya, what survives of Kadhafi's ideas and influence, in Libya and beyond.

RFI: Is Kadhafism simply the Green Book – the text which set out a third way, anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist, to shape the political, economic and social life of the Jamahiriya?

The Green Book is often seen as the symbol of Kadhafism, and it's the central doctrinal text: a third way meant to offer an alternative to the two great ideologies of the 20th century, capitalism and communism. But Kadhafi's way of governing was based on a much broader set of ideas and institutions.

The fundamental idea was that sovereignty should belong directly to the masses. People organise themselves at grassroots level through popular committees, which are then connected to the government and the executive branch. There was also a distinctive economic outlook, often likened to socialism, though it took different forms and shifted over time. And there were doctrinal elements drawn from Islam, which likewise evolved.

In foreign policy, the main principles revolved around Arab nationalism, then African nationalism, and a revolutionary anti-imperialist theory. Remember that Kadhafi took power in 1969, when the Cold War was at its height. Pan-Arab nationalist movements, notably [Gamal Abdel] Nasser’s in Egypt but also in Syria and Iraq, had already transformed the region. Kadhafi arrived somewhat late, and his approach to power was heavily influenced by what was happening elsewhere at the time.

Kadhafi alongside Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser – the leading figure of Arab nationalism – in 1969. © Wikipedia

RFI: In the West, Kadhafism is associated with political repression, regional conflict and alleged support for international terrorism. Why have his revolutionary ideology, Arab nationalism and pan-Africanism taken a back seat?

First, because these are not things that are particularly appreciated in the West. Kadhafi very quickly found himself in direct confrontation with the United States and France. There were repeated attempts by a number of Western powers to eliminate him, directly or indirectly.

His “third way” was also fundamentally at odds with parliamentary democracy. Behind the rhetoric of mass democracy, the system was highly centralised. Repression was severe and fell on every kind of opposition: political, of course, but also views that challenged the idea of Libya as above all an Arab nation, denying the country’s ethnic and linguistic diversity.

His economic policies also generated strong opposition, with many people badly hit by the nationalisation of property, including homes.

Alongside the repression, the system used local levels of power to install loyal interlocutors on the ground – in effect a policy of repression, and reward for the regime's local representatives.

The redistribution of wealth through the central state [notably oil resources from 1960s onwards] also reinforced the concentration of power.

Finally, by positioning himself as a leader of anti-imperialism and opposition to European colonialism, Kadhafi backed a number of movements that the West regarded as terrorist: national liberation movements in Africa, but also in Northern Ireland and Palestine.

The regime went as far as supporting terrorist attacks, which led to major US and then UN sanctions lasting more than 20 years.

RFI: The Arab League dropped Kadhafi, yet many African heads of state continued to back him after the first UN embargo in 1992. Why was Kadhafism less successful in the Arab world than in Africa?

Tensions between Kadhafi and other Arab leaders emerged very quickly. He was a flamboyant figure who soon fell out with several Middle Eastern governments, particularly Egypt’s, because he wanted to be the leader of the Arab world. He was also seen as a troublemaker – relations with France, and especially the US, were very strained.

So he changed tack, shifting from Arab nationalism to Africa: its future, decolonisation and development. He pursued a series of African policies, including support for development and investment, which quickly made him an admired figure overall, although his popularity varied from country to country.

On 18 May 1990, Kadhafi was the first head of state Nelson Mandela went to thank after leaving prison, in recognition of his generous support for the ANC during the apartheid years. AFP/Mike Nelson

RFI: What remains of Kadhafi's legacy in Africa? Libya specialist Vincent Hugeux says Africa is “short on heroes”, which made Kadhafi “an icon by default”.

It's now 2026. For the younger generation, who makes up the majority of the continent’s population, Kadhafi is a distant memory. They often have other reference points, but it's true that iconic figures are thin on the ground. Among some African elites, Kadhafi did a lot of good, so there's a certain nostalgia.

There may also be, and it's surely grown in recent years, deep resentment, even anger, towards the countries that took part in overthrowing him. They say, with some justification: "You removed the regime without any clear plan for what would come next."

Removing Kadhafi profoundly destabilised the whole region. Through a domino effect, it had severe and damaging repercussions, particularly in the Sahel, in terms of insecurity, instability and the spread of jihadism. It isn't the only explanation, but there is maybe a feeling that the military operation that toppled him in 2011 had many harmful consequences for Africa.

RFI: Libya was the only country to see foreign intervention during the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests – a “humanitarian” intervention by the West carried out without the African Union’s backing.

Unlike what happened in most countries in the region in 2011 and 2012, Libya was the only state where Western powers chose to intervene.

There were attempts at mediation, notably under South African leadership, to find a compromise between the protesters, or opponents of Kadhafi, and the regime. But Western powers set these mediation efforts aside and gave them no serious consideration. That remains a major source of tension and criticism among African elites.

The intervention was also seen as a betrayal by Russia, which has since used its veto to block any form of intervention proposed at the Security Council. In 2011, Moscow abstained on Resolution 1973. The West had presented it as a text embodying the “responsibility to protect” demonstrators and civilians. In practice, that responsibility was very quickly turned into a military intervention with the clear aim of toppling the regime.

RFI: Why has the Kadhafist movement in Libya never recovered since the 2011 revolution?

The year 2011 was particularly complex. Unlike in Egypt or Tunisia, where a popular movement brought down a regime and replaced it with another, three things overlapped in Libya.

There was a popular movement that quickly became militarised and was met with repression. At the same time, the confrontation between the regime and its opponents was compounded by a deep division in the country between pro and anti-Kadhafi forces, both armed. This turned the conflict into a genuine civil war.

Finally, and above all, foreign military intervention added another layer of complexity and strengthened the various anti-Kadhafi factions on the ground.

When the regime collapsed, the country was deeply divided between the victorious revolutionaries and the defeated, who were marginalised and sidelined for several years.

In this divided Libya, the two rival camps realised that, for security and political reasons, they needed to bring in a number of figures from the Kadhafi era. From 2017-18 onwards, a process of absorption and co-option began, with a number of former prominent figures aligning themselves with either Khalifa Haftar [leader of the Libyan National Army] or the Tripoli government.

Those who refused to join that system were, to varying degrees, allied with Saif al-Islam Khadafi. But although he was politically charismatic, he had no army or real militia capable of mobilising people. Nor did he have the financial means to do so, which put him at a disadvantage.

Following his assassination in February 2026, his movement is in real crisis. There's no figure for supporters to rally around and no real political project either. Among Kadhafi's surviving children, it seems that no one has the desire or the ability to play that mobilising role.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on the island of Margarita in 2008. AFP

Libya's road to democracy remains blocked as political stalemate endures

RFI: The writer Jean-Louis Gouraud, who knew Kadhafi well, wrote in his 2023 book that “Kadhafism was nothing other than Kadhafi”. Do you agree?

Kadhafism was indeed very much centred on Kadhafi as a person, on a highly personalised system of power closely tied to him. At the same time, Kadhafi was the product of a society and a rather particular history.

In some respects there was something very Libyan about him. In a way he organised around himself a system closely tied to his country’s social structures and history. This is what is sometimes called the “Libyan personality”.

It reflects quite well what Libyan society went through in terms of profound upheaval: from the colonial period to independence and the discovery of oil – and the brutal way that transformed society and the role of the state.

We tend to forget that Libya and its people spent several decades largely cut off from the rest of the world because of sanctions and embargoes. That still shapes the Libyan personality today, even though new generations have of course come along.

So yes, in some respects you could say Kadhafism was Kadhafi. But it's also the reflection of a country’s history, and upheavals in a society that we haven't yet properly analysed or understood and which are quite unusual.

This article has been adapted from an interview in French by Anne Bernas.

PRICE GOUGING

Less product, same price: what is supermarket ‘shrinkflation’?

Copyright Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

By Leticia Batista Cabanas

Published on 23/10/2026 - EURONEWS

From chocolate bars to toothpaste, everyday products are getting smaller while prices stay the same. Known as “shrinkflation,” this is making groceries increasingly expensive for Europeans, who end up paying the same for less.

‘Shrinkflation’ happens when manufacturers reduce the weight, volume or quantity of their products while keeping prices unchanged.

“[Shoppers] purchase the same product in the same packaging, but will buy less for the same price,” said Loïc de Hults, a senior associate at law firm CMS Belgium.

The practice is not new, but has become more common in Europe since the 2022 inflation surge. In 2019, a French syrup maker reduced its bottles from 750ml to 600ml, with consumer group Foodwatch later reporting a price increase of more than 37% per litre. In Germany, a brand reduced its chocolate bars from 100g to 90g, prompting a court ruling against the company in May 2026. Another one also introduced smaller 75g chocolate bars in 2026, compared to its usual 100g format.

According to a 2025 European Commission report, 74% of consumers have noticed products getting smaller without becoming cheaper.

The reason is rising production costs. “Some manufacturers have been looking at reducing the packaging and the quantities to maintain prices, instead of increasing them,” said Christel Delberghe, director general of EuroCommerce, which represents European retailers and wholesalers.

“Cost increases are being passed on through the chain overall,” added Leena Whittaker, EuroCommerce's director of competitiveness. “If the costs of energy, inputs, production, and processing increase [...], prices will go up.”

Consumer groups are calling for tougher rules, and countries including France and Austria have introduced measures requiring supermarkets to flag smaller products. But the EU has no specific law against shrinkflation, relying instead on broader rules against misleading business practices.

Same packaging, less product

Manufacturers have several ways to reduce product sizes, from leaving empty space in bags to using thicker packaging or raised bottoms. The strategy plays on a psychological blind spot: reductions of just 5% to 7% can go unnoticed. Some companies also advertise a “new recipe” or “improved quality” without drawing attention to changes in quantity.

Shoppers should watch for changes in net weight, fewer items in multipacks or unusually large packaging compared to what's inside. Checking the price per kilogram or litre on supermarket shelf labels also helps compare products.

Should there be laws against shrinkflation?

Food and non-alcoholic drink prices across the EU rose by roughly 33% between 2021 and 2025. But the EU has not introduced rules specifically targeting shrinkflation; EU law requires food packaging to display net quantity, and supermarkets to show prices per kilogram or litre. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive only bans ‘misleading practices’.

De Hults believes these EU laws already offer some protection.

“There is already a general prohibition of misleading practice. And in in Germany, for instance, the court of [Hamburg] considered that reducing the volume of a product and keeping the same packaging without correctly informing the consumer is a misleading practice. So, this is already covered by European law,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged that shoppers may not immediately notice when a familiar product gets smaller: “If it's something that [they're] buying weekly, the first time that they will buy the new product, they will obviously not notice unless they're really reading all the labelling on the products,” he said.

The issue reached the European Parliament. On 15 July 2025, its Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee held a public hearing where lawmakers examined how practices like shrinkflation and dynamic pricing affect shoppers, leading to a question to the Commission about whether existing consumer laws were enough to tackle shrinkflation

The Commission defended current rules, pointing to mandatory weight labels and unit prices as ways for consumers to identify price increases. It said national authorities must enforce the law and promised to continue monitoring the market.

National regulations?

In March 2025, the Commission opened proceedings against Italy after it introduced rules for manufacturers to put warning labels on products that had shrunk. Brussels argued that these labels could create barriers to trade between EU countries and suggested notices on supermarket shelves instead.

Other European countries have their own rules. Since July 2024, French supermarkets larger than 400 square metres must warn shoppers when products shrink but their price per kilogram or litre increases. Stores must show the old and new quantities, along with the price increase, for two months, or risk fines of up to €15,000.

Austria introduced similar rules in April 2026, requiring larger supermarkets and health and beauty shops to flag products that shrink while their unit price rises by at least 3%.

Romania also introduced mandatory notices in 2024, while Belgium has discussed similar legislation but has yet to adopt specific rules.

Competition between supermarket chains also affects how much shoppers pay, as retailers compete on prices and negotiate with suppliers. Differences between countries are not always what shoppers might expect: Eurostat figures for 2024 put food prices 18% above the EU average in France, compared with 7% in Belgium.

De Hults warned that different national rules could complicate matters for manufacturers selling products across Europe: “If we are speaking about packaging, it has to be regulated at EU level. Otherwise, it will be too complicated for the manufacturers,” he said.

Common EU rules would help companies understand what they can and cannot do, particularly as more countries introduce their own requirements: “Specific rules at EU level would be good just so that everybody knows what they can do in every country”, he added.

EuroCommerce, however, believes the existing legislation is enough. “Adding yet another layer of regulation will not necessarily change much in relation to consumers, but it will certainly add some more regulatory burdens, and cost, and reporting obligations, and uncertainty on the retailers,” said Delberghe.

 

Volvo Cars announces 2,500 job cuts as it swings to quarterly loss

Copyright AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

By Doloresz Katanich with AFP

Published on 23/10/2026 - EURONEWS

Chinese ownership has not shielded Volvo Cars from competition in China, as the Geely-owned carmaker steps up its turnaround efforts amid pressure from local rivals, US tariffs and the removal of EV incentives.

Sweden-based carmaker Volvo Cars said on Friday it would cut about 2,500 jobs worldwide, as US tariffs and strong competition from local brands in China pushed it into a third-quarter loss.

The company, majority-owned by Chinese group Geely, reported revenue of 66.9 billion kronor (€6bn) for the third quarter, down nearly 23% from the same period last year.

It swung to a net loss of 5.7 billion kronor (€513mn) for the quarter from a net profit of 4.5 billion kronor (€405mn) a year earlier.

"We continue to operate in a very tough environment with strong external challenges: de-globalisation, hypercompetition and climate change," chief executive Håkan Samuelsson said in a statement.

In response, the company announced an additional 5-billion-kronor (€450mn) savings plan, on top of its earlier cost-cutting programmes. It said the new measures would lead to about 2,000 job cuts in Sweden and 500 more elsewhere, by ending consultant contracts, through natural attrition and through targeted exit packages for employees.

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The company expects the full financial effects of these measures by the end of 2027.

The company, which had bet heavily on electric vehicles, said the removal of consumer incentives for fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the United States under President Donald Trump had also hit its margins.

In 2024, Volvo Cars dropped a plan to sell only fully electric cars by 2030.

"We are convinced that we have the right long-term strategy addressing these challenges. However, in the short term, with severely challenged volumes, we need to reinforce our turnaround plan with additional decisive actions, lowering our break-even point and improving cash flows to make us more resilient," Samuelsson said.

Struggling along with other European carmakers in the face of a difficult global landscape, Volvo Cars last year announced an 18-billion-kronor (€1.62bn) cost-cutting plan. That plan included around 3,000 job cuts worldwide.

The company said in September that Škoda Auto CEO Klaus Zellmer would replace Samuelsson no later than 1 October 2027.

Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages face ban as New York votes to end tourist attraction

Copyright Igor Wang/Unsplash

By Mike Starling

Published on 23/10/2026 - EURONEWS

Horse-drawn carriage rides could end in Central Park in June 2028, following years of debate over animal welfare and public safety.

One of New York’s longest-running tourist attractions could be reaching the end of the road, after the city council voted to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park.

Horse-drawn carriages have been part of Central Park since the mid-19th century and the vote on 22 October signals a possible end to a tradition that has sparked years of heated debate.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani must still sign the measure into law. He has previously supported a ban but has also raised concerns about protections for workers in the industry. If signed into law, the ban will take effect in June 2028.

The lead-up is meant to help the approximately 150 active carriage drivers find new employment, city council speaker Julie Menin told journalists ahead of the vote.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents the drivers, has vowed legal action.

Legislative battles over the fate of the cultural tradition that's nearly as old as Central Park itself have been ongoing for nearly two decades.

Critics say the animals suffer, pointing to deadly collapses and dangerous escapes, while supporters point to the jobs the industry supports and the heritage it preserves.

The bill includes a provision for exploring potential compensation for licence holders, Menin said.

It mandates that owners of the nearly 200 horses would not be allowed to sell them for slaughter or for the purposes of other horse-carriage businesses.

The rides – enshrined in film and television including Robert Redford and Jane Fonda's scene in “Barefoot in the Park”, or a dramatic ride in "Sex and the City" – can cost $150 (€134) for 45 minutes, while for a special occasion such as a marriage proposal it can cost up to several hundred dollars.

But after years of wrangling over the issue this past summer season proved decisive in sounding the death knell for the Manhattan carriages.

This past June an 18-year-old tourist from India was killed by a horse that got loose and bolted.

That followed a series of other incidents with the carriages, including the deaths of several horses.

The Central Park Conservancy, which manages the US's most frequented urban park with 42 million annual visits, threw its weight behind the calls for a ban, saying it had become “a matter of public health and safety”.

Smokeless Oil Palm Frond Briquettes: Can Plantation Residues Provide Cleaner Fuel? – Analysis

October 21, 2026

By Rizky Putra Pratama


Key Takeaways:

Nearly 2.1 billion people still rely on solid fuels for cooking, exposing them to dangerous household air pollution and driving global forest depletion.

Oil palm fronds, often left to decompose in plantations, present an underutilized, massive biomass resource that can be converted into carbon-rich briquettes.

While carbonized briquettes offer a cleaner, high-energy alternative to traditional charcoal, their viability depends entirely on controlled production, verified emissions testing, and responsible harvesting limits that preserve soil health.

The Paradox Behind Kitchen Smoke

The aroma of grilled satay, roasted fish and freshly roasted corn is deeply embedded in culinary traditions across Southeast Asia and much of the Global South. Yet, behind these familiar meals lies a serious public health problem: the smoke generated by polluting cooking fuels. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 2.1 billion people worldwide still rely on highly polluting solid fuels, including firewood, charcoal and agricultural residues. In 2021 alone, household air pollution was linked to an estimated 2.9 million premature deaths globally.

The health risks stem largely from the pollutants released during combustion. Fine particulate matter, particularly PM2.5, can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk of chronic respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease and severe asthma. The incomplete combustion of traditional fuels also releases carbon monoxide (CO), a colorless and toxic gas that binds to hemoglobin and reduces the blood’s ability to transport oxygen. These dangers make the transition to cleaner cooking fuels an urgent public health priority, particularly in developing regions where low-income households, rural communities and small-scale food vendors continue to depend on readily available biomass fuels.

The environmental consequences extend beyond household health. Traditional charcoal production can contribute to deforestation when trees are harvested faster than forests can regenerate. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s The State of the World’s Forests 2024 highlights the continuing pressures that woodfuel consumption places on forest resources. Against this backdrop, briquettes manufactured from agricultural waste offer a potential alternative to conventional wood-based charcoal. By turning agricultural residues into usable fuel, these briquettes could help reduce dependence on harvested wood while providing a productive use for materials that might otherwise be discarded.

Oil Palm Fronds: An Underused Biomass Resource

To appreciate the scale of this opportunity, consider the volume of agricultural biomass generated across Indonesia’s extensive oil palm plantations. During routine harvesting of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), plantation workers prune palm fronds, producing a substantial amount of plant residue. Agronomic estimates indicate that a mature oil palm produces approximately 20 to 24 pruned fronds annually. At a typical commercial planting density of 136 to 143 trees per hectare, this amounts to roughly 2,700 to 3,400 fronds per hectare each year. Across Indonesia’s millions of hectares of oil palm plantations, the cumulative volume represents a significant and largely underutilized biomass resource.

Traditionally, plantation managers leave these fronds between rows to decompose naturally. A 2022 review published in Environmental Science: Advances explains the agronomic benefits of this practice. Decomposing fronds serve as organic mulch, helping retain soil moisture, reducing topsoil erosion and gradually returning essential nutrients to the soil. Their presence therefore supports important ecological functions that must be considered before any large-scale biomass recovery initiative is introduced.

However, leaving all pruned fronds to decay also presents potential challenges. Their tough, lignocellulosic structure slows decomposition, allowing accumulated plant material to persist in humid tropical conditions. These residues can also provide breeding sites for the rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros), a major pest capable of damaging young oil palms and reducing plantation productivity.

A more balanced approach would involve selective biomass recovery rather than the wholesale removal of plantation residues. Plantation managers could retain sufficient fronds to maintain soil protection and nutrient cycling while collecting surplus material for localized energy production. With appropriate management, this strategy could create additional economic value from agricultural waste while helping address potential pest risks. The central challenge is to establish a sustainable balance between the productive use of biomass and the ecological functions it performs within the plantation.

The Lignocellulosic Advantage: Why Fronds and Why Briquettes?

In Indonesia’s established biomass market, palm kernel shells (PKS) and empty fruit bunches (EFB) already serve important commercial purposes. Palm kernel shells are widely valued as solid fuel for biomass power plants, while EFB is commonly used for mulching and co-firing at palm oil mills. Pruned oil palm fronds, by comparison, remain a largely underutilized resource with considerable potential for further development.

The chemical composition of oil palm fronds, particularly their cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content, makes them suitable candidates for thermal conversion into solid fuel. The quality of the resulting product depends partly on how these structural components respond to controlled heating. Recent studies on the torrefaction of oil palm fronds at temperatures ranging from 200 to 300 degrees Celsius have found that this process can reduce oxygen content and produce a more carbon-rich solid fuel with improved energy characteristics.


Producing carbonized briquettes also offers a potentially accessible pathway for decentralized bioenergy development. Unlike lignocellulosic bioethanol production, which requires processes such as biomass pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and product separation, briquette manufacturing can rely on comparatively straightforward mechanical operations, although carbonization still requires appropriate equipment and process controls.

This relative simplicity could create opportunities for rural farmer cooperatives, village enterprises and local entrepreneurs to establish small-scale bioenergy operations near oil palm plantations. Locating production facilities close to the source of the raw material could help reduce transportation requirements while creating new economic opportunities from agricultural residues. With suitable technical support, quality standards and access to markets, oil palm fronds could become a more valuable resource within Indonesia’s rural energy economy.

The Smoke Reduction Mechanism and Production Chain

Compressing biomass into uniform briquettes does not automatically make it a clean-burning fuel. Smoke from raw wood and low-quality charcoal is largely associated with the release of volatile compounds during heating, while excessive moisture can lower combustion temperatures and contribute to incomplete combustion and smoldering.

Properly carbonized oil palm frond briquettes can reduce visible smoke, but their performance depends on several factors, including carbonization conditions, binder composition and stove design. During ignition, residual moisture and volatile compounds released from the fuel and its binder may still produce visible emissions. As combustion progresses, a stable, glowing carbon-rich fuel may burn with substantially less visible smoke under suitable conditions. However, reduced visible smoke should not be confused with zero emissions; actual performance must be assessed through appropriate testing of particulate matter, carbon monoxide and other combustion products.

A practical, localized production chain typically follows five sequential stages:Chopping and Initial Drying: Fresh fronds are cut and dried to reduce moisture, targeting below 15 percent for optimal processing.

Controlled Carbonization: 

The dried material is heated in an oxygen-limited reactor to create a carbon-rich char, requiring strict monitoring of temperature and emission controls for released gases.
Grinding and Sieving: The char is ground into a uniform powder, typically around a 50 to 60 mesh size depending on the pressing equipment.
Binder Formulation: The powder is blended with a plant-based binder, such as 5 to 10 percent gelatinized tapioca starch, to ensure structural integrity.
Mechanical Pressing and Final Drying: The mixture is compressed using mechanical or hydraulic presses and dried to a controlled final moisture content before durability and emissions testing.

From Plantation to Stove: Who Benefits the Most?

Standardized, high-density briquettes could improve the operational efficiency of small businesses that depend on heat for their daily activities. For street-food vendors, satay sellers and traditional restaurants, fuel consistency is particularly important. Unlike irregular pieces of conventional charcoal, properly manufactured briquettes can offer more uniform dimensions, predictable burning characteristics and consistent heat distribution. These qualities could help vendors manage fuel consumption, control operating costs and maintain more stable cooking conditions.


Commercial poultry farming presents another potential market. Young chicks require reliable heat, particularly overnight, to maintain suitable temperatures during their early development. Some farmers rely on conventional solid fuels for heating, potentially exposing poultry and farm workers to carbon monoxide and particulate matter when combustion occurs under poorly ventilated conditions. If oil palm frond briquettes can demonstrate stable overnight heat output and lower harmful emissions under controlled testing, they could offer an alternative for rural poultry operations while supporting improved animal welfare.

Other rural industries, including traditional tofu production, kerupuk frying and brickmaking, may also benefit from access to alternative solid fuels. For these enterprises, fuel expenditure can represent a significant component of daily operating costs. However, the commercial viability of oil palm frond briquettes will ultimately depend on their ability to compete with existing energy sources. Key considerations include the cost of collecting and transporting feedstock, the efficiency of carbonization equipment, the proximity of production facilities to customers, and the final selling price relative to conventional charcoal and other available fuels.

The transition will therefore require more than the technical ability to manufacture briquettes. Producers must demonstrate consistent fuel quality, reliable heat output and competitive pricing, while ensuring that production processes meet appropriate environmental and safety standards. Establishing these conditions will be essential if oil palm frond briquettes are to move beyond a promising biomass innovation and become a commercially sustainable energy option for Indonesia’s rural enterprises.
How Sustainable Are Oil Palm Frond Briquettes?

The ultimate sustainability of this alternative fuel must be judged by its holistic impact on ecosystems, public health, and local economies. The long-term viability of oil palm frond briquettes rests on three practical tests:Verified Environmental and Health Performance: Direct testing must establish that these briquettes genuinely reduce CO and PM2.5 emissions compared to the wood or coal they replace, especially in poorly ventilated spaces.
Economic Competitiveness: Cost assessments must accurately reflect collection, transport, carbonization, and equipment maintenance. The economics will heavily depend on the logistical distance between plantations and end-users.
Responsible Biomass Harvesting: Diverting biomass for energy cannot come at the expense of soil health. Research at a large oil palm plantation in Jambi, Indonesia, confirmed higher soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and microbial biomass in areas where fronds were stacked. Plantation managers must establish strict collection limits to preserve these ecological functions.

With rigorous testing, sound economic planning, and responsible plantation management, oil palm frond briquettes could become a vital pillar of a more circular biomass economy.



About Rizky Putra Pratama
Rizky Putra Pratama is an Indonesian researcher and chemical engineering scholar at the Indonesian Palm Oil Technology Institute (ITSI), funded under the national SDM Sawit initiative. His work centers on biomass valorization, thermochemical conversion, and scalable waste-to-energy pathways within tropical agricultural systems. Alongside his technical research, he serves in the editorial division of the student press organization LPM SIGMA, frequently writing on the intersection of plantation resource economics, air quality engineering, and circular bioeconomy transition in Southeast Asia.
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Scientists Trap And Tame A Single Particle Of Antimatter For Months

October 21, 2026

By Eurasia Review


Key Takeaways:

Northwestern University physicists have captured a single positron from sodium-22 radioactive decay, cooled it to about 300 millikelvins, and suspended it for months in a near-perfect vacuum trap to create a “one-positron quantum cyclotron.”

The controlled quantum state allows precise manipulation of the positron’s energy levels with microwaves, enabling future measurements of its magnetic moment that can be compared with the electron’s to test a fundamental Standard Model symmetry.

Any measured difference between the electron and positron magnetic properties would indicate a crack in the Standard Model and could help explain why ordinary matter dominates the universe over antimatter.

For the first time, Northwestern University physicists have coaxed a single positron — the antimatter counterpart of an electron — into an exquisitely controlled quantum state.

After capturing the fast-moving particle from radioactive decay, the scientists cooled it to nearly absolute zero. Then, they suspended the particle in a near-perfect vacuum, preventing it from touching ordinary matter — an encounter that would cause it to vanish.

By trapping and cooling a positron this way, the scientists created what they call a “one-positron quantum cyclotron.” In this state, the positron essentially behaves much like an artificial atom with quantum energy levels scientists can precisely control and observe.

The advance ultimately could enable the most precise test yet of a fundamental symmetry between electrons and their antimatter counterparts. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, electrons and positrons should be nearly perfect mirror images of one another. By measuring the positron’s magnetic properties with unprecedented precision and comparing those to the electron’s properties, physicists could put this fundamental symmetry to its most stringent test yet. If the measurements don’t match as expected, they would reveal a crack in the Standard Model, offering new clues to enduring mysteries, including why ordinary matter, rather than antimatter, dominates the universe.

The study will be published in Physical Review Letters.

“Antimatter gets its popular charm from science fiction,” said Northwestern’s Gerald Gabrielse, who led the study. “If you take an electron and an anti-electron (or positron) and collide them together, they both disappear. We describe that as annihilation, a concept that fuels science fiction writers’ imaginations. The big mystery of the universe is the Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter. But, if that were true, it would annihilate, and we’d be left with nothing. There’s clearly something wrong with that theory, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out.”


Gabrielse is the Board of Trustees Professor of Physics at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, where he directs the Center for Fundamental Physics. Thomas Myers, a Ph.D. student in Gabrielse’s laboratory, is the paper’s first author.

Looking for cracks in physics

A longstanding theory, the Standard Model describes the fundamental particles and three of the four fundamental forces (electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear forces) in the universe. Experiment after experiment has confirmed the model’s predictions with extraordinary precision. Yet physicists know the model is incomplete. Among its shortcomings, it cannot explain why the observable universe contains overwhelmingly more matter than antimatter.

“We know the Standard Model has to be wrong somewhere — or at least incomplete,” Gabrielse said. “For example, it cannot predict why the universe exists, so that’s a pretty big loophole. We’re very precisely examining the most fundamental and simple systems to find where the theory breaks down. We hope to find an unambiguous answer.”

Gabrielse has spent his decades-long career searching for that answer. His team previously developed techniques to isolate a single electron and measure its magnetic properties with extraordinary precision. He also pioneered methods to slow, capture and cool antiprotons, helping launch the field of low-energy antimatter research. Now, the new work brings those two lines of research together: applying the quantum control achieved with electrons to a single particle of antimatter.

A container with no walls

Nearly everything on Earth is made from just three familiar particles: electrons, protons and neutrons. An antimatter universe, instead, could be built from their antimatter counterparts: positrons, antiprotons and antineutrons. In fact, if everything on Earth were antimatter, Gabrielse says it would be extraordinarily difficult to tell the difference.

The fireworks occur when the two worlds meet. When an electron encounters a positron, the pair annihilates. That means scientists cannot simply place a positron in a conventional container. Touching the container itself would most certainly cause the particle’s demise.

“If we want to study antimatter, we must handle it carefully,” Gabrielse said. “To be clear, it’s not dangerous. We don’t have enough antimatter to make an explosion.”

To carefully handle the particle, the Northwestern team used a state-of-the-art trap, which combines specialized electric and magnetic fields to suspend the positron in an empty space. Sitting in the middle of the container, the positron never touches anything. Because of this setup, the positron in Gabrielse’s lab has remained trapped for months.

From speeding to stillness

Catching the positron in the first place was its own challenge. Positrons can be produced during the radioactive decay of certain atomic nuclei. In this experiment, Gabrielse used nuclei from sodium-22, a rare, radioactive isotope of sodium. When the particles emerge from the nuclei, they carry enormous amounts of energy.

The team first slowed down the positron dramatically and then guided it into the trap’s near-perfect vacuum. The interior of the trap is cooled to about 300 millikelvins, or just 0.3 degrees above absolute zero.

“We cool it down so much that it’s in its quantum ground state,” Gabrielse said. “We actually coaxed this very fast positron to sit there and behave for months at a time.”

The ultimate test

Gabrielse and his team also demonstrated that they could precisely manipulate and detect the positron’s individual quantum energy states. By delivering carefully tuned microwaves, the team added tiny precise amounts of energy to the positron and detect its resulting quantum transitions. That level of control is essential for the scientists’ ultimate goal: measuring the positron’s magnetic properties with extraordinary precision and comparing them with those of an electron.

In previous work, Gabrielse and his team used a one-electron quantum cyclotron to measure the electron’s magnetic moment to about one part in 10 trillion, which is among the most precise measurements ever made of an elementary particle. With the trapped antimatter, Gabrielse now plans to make the same kind of quantum measurement with a positron — then will put the two results head to head.

“Current theories suggest that there will be no difference in the two measurements,” Gabrielse said. “If it turns out they are not equal, that would be the biggest discovery in physics in the last century.”

New Geological Estimate Puts Alaska North Slope Gas Resources At 96 Trillion Cubic Feet

File photo of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, northern Brooks Range, Alaska. 

Rocks in the background produce oil on the North Slope.

 (Photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey)


October 23, 2026

Alaska Beacon

By Yereth Yosen

Key Takeaways:

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment released Wednesday estimated a mean of 96 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered conventional natural gas and 17 billion barrels of undiscovered oil across Alaska’s North Slope, roughly three times the 35 trillion cubic feet of known gas reserves.

The figures represent a range of 17.3 to 276.6 trillion cubic feet for gas and exclude unconventional resources such as gas hydrates; the assessment does not consider extraction economics and is the first North Slope-wide natural-gas resource estimate.

Known and prospective gas remains stranded without a viable pipeline; the Interior Department linked the findings to Trump administration energy policy, while recent claims of firm investment commitments from South Korea and Taiwan have been denied by those governments.

(Alaska Beacon) — Alaska’s North Slope probably holds enough undiscovered natural gas to fuel the nation for nearly three years, according to a new federal report.

A resource assessment released Wednesday by the U.S. Geological Survey produced a mean estimate of 96 trillion cubic feet for undiscovered conventional natural gas reserves across the entire North Slope.


That is far more than the 35 trillion cubic feet of known reserves, most of which lie within the Greater Prudhoe Bay Unit, which has been producing oil since the 1970s.

The 96 trillion cubic feet estimate is “roughly three times the size of the known gas accumulations on the Alaska North Slope,” said Alicia Lindauer, coordinator of the USGS energy resources program, in a news briefing Wednesday.

“If you think about the total natural gas consumption across the country, it would be the equivalent of just under three years’ worth of U.S. natural gas consumption.”

The new assessment also contains a mean estimate of 17 billion barrels of undiscovered oil on the North Slope.

It is the first North Slope-wide resource assessment for natural gas. Past USGS assessments have been for portions of the North Slope. Recent USGS assessments for different areas were released in 2021, 2020 and 2017.

The total was not surprising, given that it was a North Slope-wide assessment, said William Craddock, a USGS geologist who was one of the report’s authors.

“In a sense, we think this is fairly consistent with how the province has been viewed in the past,” Craddock said at the news briefing.

The report incorporates new knowledge and new technology, the USGS officials said. Like other geologic reports, it does not consider the economics of extracting that oil and gas, they said.GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.SUBSCRIBE

Big oil discoveries at Willow, the huge project that ConocoPhillips is developing on the western North Slope, and at Pikka, the nearby project where operator Santos started production this year, were among the factors considered, the report’s authors said.

“Those plays in particular are very prospective, are highly prospective, for undiscovered oil and gas resources,” Craddock said. “The geology that defines those fields extends across vast portions of the northern part of this province, and so that prospectivity is reflected in the undiscovered oil and gas resource numbers.”

Like other USGS resource assessments, the new report does not consider economic factors. The new report also considers only conventional oil and gas, whether associated with oil deposits or independent of those liquids. It does not consider unconventional resources like gas hydrates or coalbed methane.

And like other USGS resource assessments, it includes estimate ranges. For natural gas, the range is between 17.3 trillion and 276.6 trillion cubic feet.

The new assessment includes three general geologic layers below the North Slope’s surface: the Brookian sequence, which holds rocks 140 million years old and younger, covering most of the Cretaceous era; the Beaufortian sequence, which holds rocks from about 140 million to 200 million years old, including the Jurassic period; and the Ellsemerian sequence, which has rocks as old as about 350 million years, and includes the Triassic period.

The Brookian sequence is the one most relevant to current and future oil activities on the North Slope. It holds formations that are important to current North Slope oil production, including the Sagavanirktok formation, which provides oil produced at Prudhoe Bay and other fields, and the Nanushuk and the Torok formations, which underlie newer fields on the western side of the North Slope.

Trump administration touts report

USGS officials said the new resource estimate was not ordered for any specific reason but is part of the agency’s normal operations, which include periodic assessments every few years of energy resources on the North Slope and elsewhere.

“This assessment was conducted as part of our regular process. We’ve had ongoing work to really assess both oil and gas resources across the Alaska North Slope. This one wasn’t prompted by a specific request but was part of that overall plan to assess the entire Alaska North Slope,” Lindauer said.

However, Department of the Interior leaders said the new assessment is in line with President Donald Trump’s policies and an Inauguration Day executive order called “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.”

“Alaska is one of America’s greatest energy frontiers, and President Trump is committed to unlocking its extraordinary potential,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement. “Alaska’s natural gas reserves can supply affordable, reliable, secure energy to Americans and our South Pacific allies for generations, and this assessment helps underscore the importance of understanding these vast resources beneath the North Slope and using world-class American science to turn that potential into opportunity. By advancing responsible energy development, we can strengthen American Energy Dominance, create jobs and deliver lasting economic benefits for Alaskans and the entire nation.”

For now, the 35 trillion cubic feet of known natural gas and the estimated 96 trillion feet of prospective natural gas remains stranded on the North Slope, hundreds of miles from any market. For that reason, energy companies have not explored for North Slope gas and have focused instead on oil, which has been shipped through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System since 1977.

Proposals to build a massive natural gas pipeline project to commercialize the North Slope’s gas — sending it either through Canada to Lower 48 markets or through an 800-mile pipeline to a liquefaction facility at tidewater for shipment to Asian markets — date back to the time even before oil production started at Prudhoe Bay in 1977.


None has been deemed economically viable.

The Trump administration is the latest presidential administration to advocate for a massive natural gas pipeline project to ship North Slope reserves to markets.

Trump, his cabinet members, Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, said last month that the Republic of Korea had pledged to invest $54 billion in the current project, which proposes to ship LNG to Asia using an 800-mile pipeline and a liquefaction plant at Cook Inlet.

The claim was false. The Korean government said it has not made any such commitment, though it is evaluating possible participation in the Alaska LNG project.

During an Oct. 13 campaign rally in Wasilla, Trump said the government of Taiwan has committed to invest in the project. In response, the Taiwanese government said it, too, is considering participation but has not yet made a commitment.


About Alaska Beacon
Alaska Beacon is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government. Alaska, like many states, has seen a decline in the coverage of state news. We aim to reverse that.
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