'Whole meeting is doomed': David Suzuki on COP26

Brooklyn Neustaeter

CTVNews.ca Writer
Published Friday, November 12, 2021 


TORONTO -- Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki says promises made at COP26 don't carry much weight in the fight against climate change as he believes the pledges don't go far enough in protecting the Earth's atmosphere.

World leaders have pledged a variety of climate measures at this year's summit, including working to curb deforestation and methane emissions. Many of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's pledges at the UN climate talks in Glasgow reflected promises he made during the federal election campaign earlier this year, such as a global carbon tax and a cap on Canadian oil and gas emissions.

The latest draft proposals from COP26, released Friday, call on countries to accelerate "the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels." Suzuki told CTV's Your Morning on Friday that this is the first instance that all of the attending countries have agreed to use the term "fossil fuels" in the documentation.

"I hear this morning they're celebrating because for the first time in 26 meetings they've got fossil fuels actually in their documents that they're going to end with. I mean, is this progress?" Suzuki said.
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Suzuki was invited to this year's summit, but says he "didn't see really the point of going" given the lack of progress that is made at the talks.

"The whole meeting is doomed because it doesn't start out from the basic premise that all human beings on the planet belong to a single species," he said.

"So can we not start with the fundamental fact that we get this gift from nature, which is clean air, and we have a responsibility to care for it? Not use it as a garbage can for everything we burn and dump into the air," he said.

If countries don't build their climate promises with this premise in mind, Suzuki says they will continue to prioritize national interests and the economy over the health of their citizens.

"Nobody's focused on the fundamental fact that we have an emergency. Human beings have changed the chemistry of the atmosphere," he said.

Scientists say 1.5 C -- the aspirational goal set down in the 2015 Paris Agreement -- is the most the Earth’s temperature can afford to rise to avoid a "catastrophic" increase in intense heatwaves, droughts, storms, floods and crop failures that parts of the world are already experiencing.

To meet this goal, the United Nations wants to achieve "net zero," where no more greenhouse gases are emitted than can simultaneously be absorbed, by 2050.

However, it says that will be impossible unless emissions, mostly of carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil and gas, are cut by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030.

According to Climate Action Tracker research group, the national pledges submitted so far to cut greenhouse gases by 2030 would allow the Earth's temperature to rise 2.4 C from pre-industrial levels by 2100.

"Civilization simply will not be able to survive that," Suzuki said.

He added that countries will be in "total climate chaos" if the Earth's temperature reaches 2.4 C, and says leaders aren't dealing with that at these meetings.

Canada's oil and gas sector accounts for approximately 26 per cent of the country's total emissions, and Canada is also one of the world's top public financiers of fossil fuels averaging more than $13 billion per year, according to the Climate Action Network.

While Canada has promised to reduce these numbers, Suzuki says he has little faith that these pledges will be met given the country's history with climate pledges. He noted that the federal government has promised to reduce emissions before, and did not meet those goals.

"I don't have any hope that we're going to try to meet it because it's all done within a political context," Suzuki said, adding that leaders don't care enough about how global warming will impact humans and are more concerned about the costs associated with lowering emissions.

In the fight against climate change, Suzuki said Canada needs to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and declare an emergency, as it did with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The question is, are we committed to deal with this the way we did against COVID? And we're not out of the COVID crisis yet, but COVID is nothing compared to what climate is going to do to us if we don't take it as an emergency," Suzuki said.

With files from The Associated Press

Royal Canadian Legion responds to 'unacceptable' pandemic protests in B.C. on Remembrance Day

VANCOUVER -

The Royal Canadian Legion has responded to the "unacceptable" protests that shifted some of the focus away from B.C. veterans and their families on Remembrance Day.

Anti-vaccination activists organized public events to spread their views on vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 safety measures at cenotaphs in both Kelowna and Kamloops on Thursday, upsetting some who had come out to observe the sombre national holiday.

The B.C./Yukon Command of the Royal Canadian Legion issued a statement Friday noting that the protests took place as many official services were kept small or held virtually as a result of the pandemic.

'It's just so perverse': Vaccine opponents seize on Remembrance Day to spread message in several B.C. cities

"It is unfortunate that some took this as an opportunity to distract others from grief, remembrance, and their intention to honour our veterans," the statement said.

In Kelowna, protesters set up a microphone to address people gathered at the cenotaph to pay their respects, with one speaker telling the crowd, "If they have asked you for your papers, they have already forgotten."

Sean Smith, a veteran who was at the cenotaph with his father, told CTV News the outrageous display caused him to lose his temper.

"I've been going to Remembrance Day ceremonies for 45 years and I've never gotten to a point where I had to get angry about anything, but I lost my cool," he said.

Kelowna RCMP called the disruption “a step too far” and said criminal charges could be laid under S. 176 of the Criminal Code.

“There was a group of people gathering for a social, moral or benevolent purpose and they were interrupted,” said Insp. Adam MacIntosh of the Kelowna RCMP.

“If criminal charges are appropriate, I will do everything I can to push it forward to Crown.”

Mounties asked anyone with video from the Kelowna incident to share it with them in the hopes of gathering more evidence. Recordings can be submitted to the RCMP via email.

In Kamloops, a public event was organized at the Riverside Park Cenotaph – where the official ceremony normally takes place – that involved remarks against vaccine mandates and a few expletives, according to witnesses who felt duped into attending.

"It's just so perverse," said Jay Michi, a lawyer who took his two young daughters to the park expecting a regular ceremony.

The graffiti that defaced a wall of honour in Cranbrook on Thursday was also unacceptable, the Royal Canadian Legion said. The message read: "The real heroes are the vaccinated."

"We are saddened that anyone would feel it necessary to distract from the sacrifice of our veterans and their families with political agendas – especially on Remembrance Day," said Val MacGregor, president of the B.C./Yukon Command, in a statement.

An image also circulated on social media Thursday showing one man holding a sign criticizing vaccine passport requirements at the official Remembrance Day ceremony in North Vancouver.

North Vancouver RCMP told CTV News the man, who is known to carry signs like that in the city, attended alone and did not disrupt the service.

New Brunswick students boycott online learning in solidarity with CUPE strikers

Alyson Samson
CTV News Atlantic Video Journalist
Updated Nov. 12, 2021

As the second week of the CUPE strike continues in New Brunswick, some students were boycotting online learning on Friday.

FREDERICTON -

As the second week of the CUPE strike continues in New Brunswick, some students were boycotting online learning on Friday.

"It's all things that we already know, we don't learn anything, it's not amusing, we kind of just waste our time," said Grade 6 student Renata Solano.

Ecole Sainte-Anne students came out to support local CUPE members.

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CUPE NB's challenge to back-to-work order for health-care workers will be heard in court Monday

"It really was important to show our support. This has been going on for two weeks, the strike has been going on and it's really time to say enough is enough,” said Eliot Burgeron, a Grade 12 student.

"It's really been used more as a tool, not to better our education, but a tool to avoid the negotiations with the CUPE workers and really what we want here is better conditions, better salaries, everything that CUPE is asking for we want for them to give and then we'll be ready to go back to school. But as long as the strike is on, the school is off.”

Students have been learning online, from home since Nov. 1.

"Online learning takes such a toll on our mental health and our motivation to learn and it's such a slap in the face that we're doing online school when we have the resources to be in person. We don't have COVID stopping us from being in person,” said Josh Dukuze, who is in Grade 12.

The call to boycott school on Friday in support of CUPE members was circulated online earlier this week.

"We shouldn't be used as an excuse so that (Premier Blaine) Higgs can get away without bargaining and just putting if off by saying our curriculums are advancing. We really want to show our support here to CUPE and that we respect them and we hope that they get what they deserve,” said Hayden Mills, a Grade 12 student at Ecole Sainte-Anne.

Opposition leaders, much like the students say they hope to see a resolution to the strike soon.

"That's no way to learn. The online system in a crisis situation. When you have a lockdown that's one thing, when there's no alternative. But the alternative is, to open schools. We've got the teachers, we've got the education assistants who are designated as essential,” said David Coon, Leader of New Brunswick Green Party.

Negotiations continued on Friday.

"The parents are struggling to make the decision of what to do, do they stay home or go to work? And that's why we've been very, very, very aggressive in pushing the premier to get back to the negotiating table,” said Roger Melanson, Leader of New Brunswick Liberal Party.

For now only time will tell if students will be back in the classroom Monday morning.

 New Brunswick

Province, CUPE set to discuss new offer

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Announcement follows talks between union, government that began Thursday

Miriam Lafontaine · CBC News · Posted: Nov 13, 2021

CUPE workers picketing in Fredericton on Saturday. (Gary Moore)

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the provincial government will offer a new contract Saturday to seven of the 10 locals currently on strike. 

"Today the negotiation process is continuing," the union's bargaining team said in a short statement. "Employer representatives will be meeting and presenting an offer to each of the CUPE locals in Parts 1, 2, and 3."

They include locals 1190, 1251, 1252, 1253, 1418, 1840 and 2745. 

Thousands of public servants, including school bus drivers, educational support staff and workers in transportation, corrections and the community college system, have been on strike for more than two weeks.

Talks resumed on Thursday.

CUPE spokesperson Simon Ouellette said discussions with the province went until around 1 a.m. Saturday.

While he couldn't elaborate, he did say that since the announcement that's he's feeling much "more optimistic than yesterday."

The discussions between both parties have centred on pensions for two of the CUPE locals. Locals 1253 and 2745 represent about 3,000 school custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers, school library assistants and administrative support, as well as educational assistants.

• CUPE, province head back to the table as strike enters third week

"Government made its final offer and is requesting it be presented to the membership for a vote," Erika Jutras, a spokesperson for the Finance and Treasury Board, said in a release Saturday. 

"It is government's sincere hope that workers will be back on the job Monday and schools will be open early next week."

Local representing N.B. Liquor employees still bargaining 

Talks also continue between CUPE Local 963, which represents workers at N.B. Liquor. 

President Jamie Agnew said there will be talks Saturday afternoon. 

• N.B. Liquor employees poised to strike a week from now if deal not reached

Employees could strike as soon as Tuesday if there is no agreement. 

Soaring Inflation Means Tougher Wage Talks, Canadian Unions Warn

Theophilos Argitis and Shelly Hagan
Fri., November 12, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s largest private sector union has a message for the country’s employers: Prepare to share the burden of higher inflation.

Jerry Dias, who runs the 315,000-member-strong Unifor trade union, says the era of sub-2% wage gains that’s prevailed in collective agreements for much of the past decade will no longer do in the face of a sharp increase in consumer prices that is swelling the cost of living.

Workers “expect that their wages are at least going to pick up with the rate of inflation,” Dias said this week in a phone interview. “Things are changing. No question about it.”

It’s the sort of big talk expected from a labor leader, but the threat is beginning to ring increasingly true.

Pay is inching higher with average annual wage gains in collective agreements breaking the 2% threshold in the third quarter for only the second time since 2012, according to government data. Wage increases have averaged 1.6% over the past decade.

Recent deals suggest gains are only accelerating. Casino workers in Belleville, Ontario -- a small city between Montreal and Toronto -- just negotiated a 13% pay increase over three years.

Increasing strike activity, meanwhile, indicates organized labor is emboldened at a time when staff shortages are a preoccupation for business. There were 44 work stoppages underway in September, the most in one month since 2018. Only this week, thousands of workers at a Cargill Inc. plant in the western province of Alberta threatened to go on strike just as the price of red meat touches records.

With annual inflation seen hitting 5% in coming months -- a three-decade high -- any escalation of wage expectations in collective bargaining will be closely monitored by policy makers. Canada has a relatively high unionization rate, at about 30% of employed workers, versus about 10% in the U.S.

As workers seek to make up for lost purchasing power, the fear is the inflation shock will lead to higher salary demands that become entrenched through automatic cost-of-living adjustments, starting a wage-price spiral that will be difficult to tame. It’s a long-term risk that officials at the Bank of Canada are already clambering to mitigate by assuring Canadians they are serious about inflation.

“We are going to keep inflation under control,” Governor Tiff Macklem said in an interview with CTV News last week.

With the central bank projecting consumer price gains will average 3.4% over the next two years, workers are facing one of the biggest drops in real incomes since the high inflation years of the 1970s. By 2023, officials are projecting inflation will be at a more comfortable 2.3%. But that would still be above Macklem’s 2% target.

Curiously enough, high unionization rates may turn out to be a big help for policy makers in the short-term, acting as a buffer in the fight against price pressures. Collective bargaining is, after all, a slow ship to turn.

Most workers are bound to three-to-five year contracts, meaning they have no immediate recourse to offset higher prices. After decades of quiet on the inflation front made it a non-issue for unions, few of the existing agreements have cost-of-living adjustments.

Bargaining teams also have little recent experience with how to handle -- or even understand -- surging inflation. Often, they are willing to give up some pay gains in return for non-wage benefits.

Workers in the public sector, meanwhile, are negotiating with governments wary of spending more after running record deficits during the pandemic.

All these factors suggest there’s little prospect the current wave of wage agreements will fully compensate workers for any transitory inflation.

Non-union workers are doing better. Their average wages have grown at almost double the pace of unionized workers, posting increases of 9% over the past two years, according to data from Statistics Canada’s monthly labor force survey.

Labor leaders are taking notice.

They say their members are ratcheting up the pressure, bargaining committees across the country are starting to express a renewed interest in negotiating cost-of-living expenses, and union officials are busy coming up with research and strategies.

“Unions are aware we have fallen behind based on the inflation numbers, so we are mindful and our members remind us of it,” said Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, an umbrella group of unions. “Even though they’ve had wage increase they aren’t keeping up with the hydro bill and grocery bill, and that’s a frequent discussion when it comes to making proposals with employers.”

None of this is lost on the Bank of Canada.

Macklem has been on a public-relations offensive to tamp down inflationary expectations, including hints he’s prepared to start raising borrowing costs early next year. But if labor leaders lose confidence in the central bank’s promises, the support unions are currently providing on the inflation front could turn into an albatross.

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COP26 summit ends with agreement endorsed by almost 200 countries, but skepticism remains

PAUL WALDIE

EUROPE CORRESPONDENT
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
Demonstrators join the Fridays for Future march on Nov. 5, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. Global negotiators reached an agreement late Saturday at the UN conference after a one-day delay and three draft proposals.

JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES

The COP26 climate summit in Glasgow has ended with nearly 200 countries endorsing an agreement to cut carbon emissions, scale back the use of coal and fossil fuels and provide more support to developing nations to help them adapt to global warming.

The agreement, called the Glasgow Climate Pact, came late Saturday at the United Nations conference after a one-day delay and three draft proposals. It builds on the 2015 Paris climate treaty by listing a series of decisions and resolutions that all countries have agreed to adopt. They include accelerating national action plans to limit global warming.

The overall objective of the pact is to cap the rise in the global temperature at 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, which scientists say is critical to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, called the pact a “powerful statement” that raised global ambitions to protect the planet. “Not everyone in public life gets to make choices about life and death,” he said during a plenary session on Saturday. “Not everyone gets to make choices that actually affect an entire planet. We here are privileged today to do exactly that.”

However, the deal received only lukewarm backing from delegates representing dozens of poorer countries. They said it contains far too many compromises and fails to commit developed countries to paying for the damage climate change has already done to the developing world.

The deal “does not bring hope to our hearts, but serves as yet another conversation where we put our homes on the line while those who have other options decide how quickly they want to act,” said Shauna Aminath, the minister of environment for the Maldives.

“I need some more reassurance from our developed-country partners,” said Gabon’s environment minister, Lee White. “Africa risks being destabilized by climate change. It’s already, in certain of our countries, a matter of life and death. Already we are seeing some of our nations failing.”

There were also questions about whether the agreement will achieve its main objective: meeting the 1.5-degree target.

As part of the COP process, more than 100 countries, including Canada, have pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 or 2050, although China’s target is 2060 and India’s is 2070. However, a recent report from Climate Action Tracker, a coalition of scientists from around the world, said the goals are little more than “false hope.” The group said that, based on the commitments made at COP26, the Earth is set to warm by 2.4 degrees by 2100. Even if every country fully met its targets, a 1.8-degree rise was likely, the report added.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, centre, walks with, from left, Brazil's Joaquim Alvaro Pereira Leite, European Union's Frans Timmermans and China's Xie Zhenhua before the closing plenary session at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 13, 2021.

ALASTAIR GRANT/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

New Zealand’s Climate Change Minister, James Shaw, acknowledged on Saturday that the Glasgow Pact likely won’t meet the goal. “Is it enough to hold temperatures to 1.5C? I don’t think I can say it does,” he told the summit.

Despite the reservations, many delegates said the pact represented a significant step forward in the battle against climate change. “Glasgow has delivered a strong message of hope,” said Seve Paeniu, Tuvalu’s Minister of Finance, as he held up a photograph of his three grandchildren. “Glasgow has delivered a strong message of ambition. What is left now is for us to deliver on that promise.”

One of the biggest issues during the summit has been how far developed nations should go in helping vulnerable countries recover from the effects of global warming. This kind of reparation, known as “loss and damage,” has been a controversial topic for years at UN summits and it has never been included in a COP agreement.

The U.S., Canada and many other developed countries have resisted calls from developing countries for a special “loss and damages fund,” which according to some studies could reach US$400-billion a year by 2030. They argue the groundwork hasn’t been laid to determine how the fund would operate, and whether a non-government organization or the private sector would be involved.

“I really don’t think we are at the stage where we can start talking about separate funds,” Canada’s Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, said Friday. He added that Canada was “happy to see conversation move forward.”

The Glasgow Pact includes provisions to fund a UN agency, the Santiago Network, which will work on developing technical and financial assistance for loss and damage associated with climate change. And the pact calls for further discussion of a financial mechanism for dealing with the issue.

Developed nations have also faced criticism for failing to meet a deadline to mobilize US$100-billion annually to help poorer countries develop plans to mitigate global warming. The pledge, which is separate from reparations, was supposed to have been met by 2020, but likely won’t be fulfilled until 2023.

Saturday’s agreement re-commits countries to the financial pledge and calls for meetings to take place every two years to discuss financial support. It also urges developed countries to “at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing country parties.”

Another key issue throughout the summit has been the future of coal and fossil fuels. Many nations wanted the pact to call for countries to phase out those energy sources.

However, after objections from several countries the wording was softened to call for phasing out “unabated coal power” and “inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels, recognizing the need for support towards a just transition.” In a late intervention on Saturday, India’s Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav, weakened the language further by changing “phase out” to “phase down.”

Mr. Yadav’s intervention drew criticism from the European Union and several countries. COP26 President Alok Sharma apologized for the late change but urged delegates to support the revised pact, which in the end they did.

Unabated coal refers to coal power generation that doesn’t use technology, such as carbon capture and storage, to reduce emissions. Energy companies have argued that using that technology means they can burn coal and control carbon emissions, but environmentalists say the technology has yet to fully develop and it shouldn’t be used as an excuse to continue emissions.

Climate campaigners said that while the Glasgow Pact has some positive features, it fails to reflect the urgency of the climate crisis. “Clearly some world leaders think they aren’t living on the same planet as the rest of us,” said Gabriela Bucher, the international executive director of Oxfam. “It seems no amount of fires, rising sea levels or droughts will bring them to their senses to stop increasing emissions at the expense of humanity.”

Jennifer Morgan of Greenpeace added: “It’s meek, it’s weak and the 1.5C goal is only just alive, but a signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending. And that matters.”

It could have been worse, but our leaders failed us at Cop26. That’s the truth of it.

Countries who take this crisis seriously must seize the initiative, and make the rest pariahs

John Kerry, the US presidential envoy for climate, walks off stage as the Cop26 talks went into extra time. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

John Vidal
Sat 13 Nov 2021 

Where now? Governments have agreed a weak climate deal which gets us a smidgen closer to holding temperatures to a rise of 1.5C. But as regards all the most important pledges to phase out coal, reduce subsidies and protect forests, Glasgow failed.

The fossil fuel lobby, led by India, held its line, dramatically succeeding in watering down – at the last minute and without due, transparent process – the move to ‘phase out’ coal power, pledging instead to ‘phase down’. The poor came away with next to nothing, there was little urgency and we are still heading for catastrophe. Any chance of halving fast-rising emissions by 2030 – the declared aim of the talks – is now negligible.

The UN climate process must be reformed to become more nimble. It is slow and measured and requires consensus and compromise. This is usually admirable, but it works against the scale and speed of action needed in a global emergency like this when millions of lives are at stake and every year of inaction counts.

Soon we may have to accept that even when faced with flood, fire and famine, some countries will never act in the wider interest and will hinder the progress of others.

So, short of locking leaders in a room and not letting them out until they have agreed something better, the only way 1.5C can be achieved must now be for those countries who want progress to work outside the UN process. That China and the US will meet next week is possibly the most positive development of the meeting.

Leaders may not agree, but they can force the changes they could not make in Glasgow. Because most climate actions devolve to lower tiers of government, mayors, local authorities, counties and states can be enabled to slash transport and building emissions and help households.


Cities act on climate while nations delay, Sadiq Khan tells Cop26

Most are well able and willing to take the initiatives that prime ministers and presidents resist. Glasgow will have helped give them the confidence and legitimacy to propose new ideas, and to act together. All it needs is backing and money.

Equally, governments can take the gloves off, treat the few countries who are preventing climate action as criminals and reward those who do with trade deals, contracts, investments and aid.

Other strands of possible future action became apparent in the Glasgow halls. One was for an emergency Marshall-style “plan for the planet” to catapult ambitious countries into a sustainable future.
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If trillions of dollars can be found to sort out the banking crisis or the Covid pandemic in a few weeks, then it can surely be found to help countries transition into a low carbon world, starting with the $100bn (£75bn) a year that rich countries offered the climate vulnerable in 2009.

The shameful refusal of the rich to keep their promise to the world’s poor poisoned climate negotiations for a decade and may go down in history as one of the biggest diplomatic blunders of the age.

Besides, it is pointed out, there is no shortage of money for action. There are now more than 2,700 billionaires, 600 more than one year ago. They, too, can be cajoled, bullied and taxed to make them act in everyone’s interests and commit to restore damaged nature.

And finally, the World Health Organization must declare an immediate health emergency, making the link between the pandemic and the climate crisis, and explaining to politicians that climate change really is a life or death issue and will soon become the greatest challenge to human health that the world has ever known.

World leaders failed us again in Glasgow, but the summit showed that countries with the vision to act in the interests of all will shape the future and benefit the most.

Cop26 ends in climate agreement despite India watering down coal resolution


Glasgow climate pact adopted despite last-minute intervention by India to water down language on phasing out dirtiest fossil fuel

Cop26: the goal of 1.5C of climate heating is alive, but only just
Delegates pose for a photo at the end of the Cop26 climate conference. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters


Fiona Harvey, Damian Carrington and Libby Brooks
Sat 13 Nov 2021 

Countries have agreed a deal on the climate crisis that its backers said would keep within reach the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C, the key threshold of safety set out in the 2015 Paris agreement.

The negotiations carried on late into Saturday evening, as governments squabbled over provisions on phasing out coal, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and providing money to the poor world.

The “Glasgow climate pact” was adopted despite a last-minute intervention by India to water down language on “phasing out” coal to merely “phasing down”.

The pledges on emissions cuts made at the two-week Cop26 summit in Glasgow fell well short of those required to limit temperatures to 1.5C, according to scientific advice. Instead, all countries have agreed to return to the negotiating table next year, at a conference in Egypt, and re-examine their national plans, with a view to increasing their ambition on cuts.

Alok Sharma, the UK cabinet minister who presided over the fortnight-long Cop26 talks in Glasgow, acknowledged the scale of the task remaining: “We can now say with credibility that we have kept 1.5C alive. But, its pulse is weak and it will only survive if we keep our promises and translate commitments into rapid action.

“Before this conference, the world asked: do the parties here in Glasgow have the courage to rise to the scale of the challenge? We have responded. History has been made here in Glasgow.”

António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, also warned that further urgent work was needed: “Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread. We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe. It is time to go into emergency mode – or our chance of reaching net zero [emissions] will itself be zero.”

The return to negotiations next year, to begin an annual process of revising national targets on greenhouse gases, will be a fraught process, as some countries contend that they are already doing their utmost. Even the small step of agreeing to revise the plans was only achieved after overcoming stiff opposition, yet revision is essential if the world is to avoid surpassing the 1.5C threshold.

One of the fiercest disagreements in the final hours was over the wording of an intention to abandon coal, which was watered down from a “phase-out” to a “phase-down”. Yet it marked the first time that such a resolution had been made under the UN climate process.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said: “It’s meek, it’s weak and the 1.5C goal is only just alive, but a signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending. And that matters.”

Poor countries were also left frustrated at the pact, which they said did not address their concerns about “loss and damage”. This refers to the destruction caused by extreme weather, which is now hitting vulnerable countries far harder and more frequently than had been predicted.

Current climate finance, which is provided to countries to help them invest in green technology and other emissions-cutting efforts, and to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis, is already falling short of promises, and even if fulfilled would be insufficient to cover these heavy losses and humanitarian disasters. By 2050, these hits could amount to a fifth of GDP for some poor countries, according to estimates from the charity Christian Aid.

But rich nations have been reluctant to agree any mechanism for providing funding for loss and damage, in part because some of the debate has been framed in terms of “compensation”, which rich countries cannot countenance.

Many observers called on countries to step up their efforts in the next year. Mary Robinson, former UN commissioner for human rights and chair of The Elders group of leaders and former statespeople, said: “Cop26 has made some progress, but nowhere near enough to avoid climate disaster. While millions around the world are already in crisis, not enough leaders came to Glasgow with a crisis mindset. People will see this as a historically shameful dereliction of duty. Leaders have extended by a year this window of opportunity to avert the worst of the climate crisis. The world urgently needs them to step up more decisively next year.”

Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, representing the High Ambition Coalition of developed and developing countries, said: “This package is not perfect. The coal change and a weak outcome on loss and damage are blows. But it is real progress and elements of [it] are a lifeline for my country. We must not discount the crucial wins covered in this package.”

Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based thinktank Power Shift Africa, took a harsher view: “The needs of the world’s vulnerable people have been sacrificed on the altar of the rich world’s selfishness. The outcome here reflects a Cop held in the rich world and the outcome contains the priorities of the rich world.”

Many poor nations accepted defeat on their pleas to put stronger provisions on loss and damage into the text, in the closing hours of the conference, in order to allow the broader deal to go through.

Making the concession, Lia Nicholson, lead negotiator for Antigua and Barbuda, which chairs the 37-strong Alliance of Small Island States, said: “We are extremely disappointed and we will express our grievance in due course.”

Adow added: “We are leaving empty-handed but morally stronger, and hopeful that we can sustain the momentum in the coming year to deliver meaningful support which will allow the vulnerable to deal with the irreversible impacts of climate change, created by the polluting world, who are failing to take responsibility.”

The Cop also resolved several outstanding technical issues that had prevented aspects of the 2015 Paris climate agreement from coming into operation. These issues, on carbon trading and the “transparency” with which countries monitor and report their emissions, have dogged the annual climate meetings for six years but compromises were finally reached, which earned applause for Sharma.

Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: “After six years, this is a significant accomplishment.”

One of the most contentious clauses in the final decision was a vaguely worded resolution to phase down “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies. Energy experts are clear that phasing out coal will be essential to stay within 1.5C of global heating, but the opposition to the inclusion of the reference to a phase out – particularly from major coal-using countries including China, India and South Africa – showed how hard it will be to gain a global end to the dirtiest fossil fuel in time to avoid a 1.5C rise.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian that more than 40% of the world’s existing 8,500 coal plants would have to close by 2030, and no new ones could be built, to stay within the limit. He said: “I would very much hope that advanced economies take a leading role and become an example for the emerging world. If they don’t do it, if they don’t show an example for the emerging world, they shouldn’t expect the emerging world to do it.”

The Observer view on the Cop26 agreement

Observer editorial

Countries still lack the radical ambition to avert disaster – this accord goes nowhere near far enough

Greenpeace demonstrators raise a banner at Cop26, but the geopolitical context always made it unlikely sufficient progress would be made. 

Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Sat 13 Nov 2021 23.35 GMT

On Glasgow Green, there lies a stone that commemorates the spot where the engineer James Watt in 1765 conceived the idea for a separate condenser for the steam engine. It is Watt’s invention, which revolutionised the efficiency of the steam engine, that means Glasgow can lay claim to be the place from which the Industrial Revolution sprang.

Just over a quarter of a millennium later, delegates from all over the world meeting in the same city have agreed the text of a critical international agreement to try to bind countries into the action required to slow the catastrophic global heating that the Industrial Revolution set in train.

It does not go anywhere near far enough. In recent years, scientists have warned that the goal in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global temperature rises to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels is not sufficiently ambitious.

The implications of the world heating beyond 1.5C are much worse than previously thought. Even 1.5C would still result in significantly more extreme weather events – and some irreversible changes such as sea level rises, the melting of Arctic ice and the warming and acidification of the oceans – but those impacts will be more manageable.

The challenges going into Cop26 in Glasgow were immense. Global temperatures have already risen by about 1.1C, and global emissions of CO2 continue to rise. In order to limit heating to 1.5C, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that global greenhouse gas emissions must peak in the next four years, and coal- and gas-fired plants must close within the next decade.

This requires a huge shift in global commitments: before Glasgow, the non-binding commitments countries have signed up to put the world on course to warm up by 2.7C, according to the UN – a level of overheating that would result in tens of millions of people dying as a result of drought, and large swaths of the planet becoming completely uninhabitable.

The geopolitical context always made it unlikely sufficient progress would be made at Glasgow to inspire confidence that a limit of 1.5C of warming will be achieved. Xi Jinping, president of China – the world’s largest emitter – did not attend in person.

Wealthier countries have failed to honour commitments made 12 years ago that developing countries would receive $100bn a year to help them adapt, and the UK’s cuts to international aid have eroded its moral standing as host of the conference.

Countries’ competing objectives – the desire of some states to keep drilling for oil even as others’ continuing existence is dependent on imminently halting the extraction of fossil fuels – were always going to make for a difficult set of negotiations, but the pandemic has sharpened the divide between richer and poorer nations, as some countries have vaccinated virtually all their citizens while others have barely started.

It is widely acknowledged that the UK went into the conference underprepared, as the government’s diplomatic efforts have been primarily focused on Brexit in recent years, rather than on laying the ground for the negotiations of the past two weeks.
At the 11th hour, the already-weak resolution on the phasing-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies was watered down

The best that can be said about Cop26 is that it has kept the possibility of limiting global heating to 1.5C alive, if only by a thread. The worst outcome of this conference would have been if countries had agreed to next reopen their commitments to reduce emissions only in five years’ time, as was agreed in Paris in 2015. This would have been nothing short of a disaster.

It would have firmly put the world on the path to catastrophic and irreversible overheating – involving the deaths of tens of millions of people and the total obliteration of some countries as a result of rising sea levels. It would have thrown away humanity’s last chance of avoiding this fate.

Instead, countries have agreed to come back to revisit their commitments in a year’s time, and every year after that. Something radical will need to shift in the next year or two in order to achieve the commitments that are urgently needed to limit warming to 1.5C.

Take the UK’s net zero strategy, for example, which falls far short of what is needed in order for it to achieve its stated goal of net zero emissions by 2050. It has been estimated we need to be investing about 1% of GDP to meet this; but the government has committed just a fraction of that, and the strategy is further undermined by the government reneging on its own policy commitments, including its recent scrapping of the green homes schemes and the delay in the phase-out of gas boilers.

Cop26: the goal of 1.5C of climate heating is alive, but only just

The UK’s strategy is far from the worst in terms of its failure to be powered by strong government commitments, which serves only to convey the scale of what is still needed from countries across the world.

However, the US-China bilateral agreement, if thin in terms of commitments, is a real sign of diplomatic progress. More than 100 countries have committed to end deforestation by 2030; five of the richest countries have pledged $1.7bn to support the conservation efforts of indigenous people; and the US and EU have signed up to an initiative to cut methane emissions.

But it is not enough. There are too many gaps, too few commitments, insufficient willpower. At the 11th hour, the already-weak resolution on the phasing-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies was watered down even further so as to make it virtually meaningless.

Countries pleaded in the final plenary sessions that they can go no further, but go further they must. Disaster is not yet certain; but humanity’s “code red” is still blaring. The cost of ignoring it is unthinkable.

Last-minute coal compromise in climate deal disappoints many at COP26

'Shocking' intervention by India waters down language on coal emissions

The Associated Press · Posted: Nov 13, 2021 

Almost 200 nations attending the UN Climate Change conference in Glasgow accepted a contentious climate compromise aimed at keeping alive a key target to limit global warming, but it contained a last-minute change that some high officials called a watering down of crucial language about coal. 5:12


Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled Our Changing Planet to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.

Almost 200 nations at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow accepted a contentious climate compromise Saturday aimed at keeping alive a key target to limit global warming, but it contained a last-minute change that some officials called a watering down of crucial language about coal.

Several countries, including small island states, said they were deeply disappointed by the change to "phase down," rather than "phase out" coal power, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Have questions about COP26 or climate science, policy or politics? Email us: ask@cbc.ca. Your input helps inform our coverage.

"Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe."

Nation after nation had complained earlier on the final day of two weeks of talks at the UN climate change conference about how the deal isn't enough, but they said it was better than nothing and provides incremental progress, if not success.

Delegates mingle during the UN climate conference in Glasgow on Saturday. Though nation after nation complained Saturday that the climate deal reached isn't enough, they said it was better than nothing and provides incremental progress, if not success. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

In the end, the summit broke ground by singling out coal, however weakly, by setting the rules for international trading of carbon credits, and by telling big polluters to return next year with improved pledges for cutting emissions.

But domestic priorities both political and economic again kept nations from committing to the fast, big cuts that scientists say are needed to keep warming below dangerous levels that would produce extreme weather and rising seas capable of erasing some island nations.
India pushed for coal changes

Ahead of the conference, the United Nations had set three criteria for success, and none of them were achieved. The UN's criteria included pledges to cut carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030, $100 billion US in financial aid from rich nations to poor, and ensuring that half of that money went to helping the developing world adapt to the worst effects of climate change.

Negotiators from Switzerland and Mexico called the coal language change against the rules because it came so late. However, they said they had no choice but to hold their noses and go along with it.

"We did not achieve these goals at this conference," Guterres said. "But we have some building blocks for progress."

WATCH | Why we need to set climate targets even if we miss them:

Canada and the rest of the world are falling short of meeting climate targets. Does that mean all is lost? Here’s a closer look at why it’s important to set climate targets even if we don’t hit them. 5:42

Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the change will make it harder to achieve the international goal to limit warming to 1.5 C since pre-industrial times — the more stringent threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said governments had no choice but to accept India's coal language change: "If we hadn't done that we wouldn't have had an agreement."

But he insisted the deal was good news for the world.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry gestures as he speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on Saturday. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

"We are in fact closer than we have ever been before to avoiding climate chaos and securing [cleaner] air, safer water and [a] healthier planet," he said later at a news conference.

Many other nations and climate campaigners pointed to India for making demands that weakened the final agreement.

"India's last-minute change to the language to phase down but not phase out coal is quite shocking," said Australian climate scientist Bill Hare, who tracks world emission pledges for the science-based Climate Action Tracker. "India has long been a blocker on climate action, but I have never seen it done so publicly."

Farmers say they're ready to cut the carbon in Canada's diet — but they need government help

Others approached the deal from a more positive perspective. In addition to the revised coal language, the Glasgow Climate Pact included enough financial incentives to almost satisfy poorer nations and solved a long-standing problem to pave the way for carbon trading.

The agreement also says big carbon polluting nations must submit stronger emission cutting pledges by the end of 2022.

'It's meek, it's weak'

Negotiators said the deal preserved, albeit barely, the overarching goal of limiting Earth's warming by the end of the century to 1.5 C. The world has already warmed 1.1 C compared to preindustrial times.

Governments used the word "progress" more than 20 times, but rarely used the word "success," and when they did, it was mostly in reference to reaching a conclusion, not the details in the agreement.

COP President Alok Sharma said the deal drives "progress on coal, cars, cash and trees" and is "something meaningful for our people and our planet."

Environmental activists were measured in their not-quite-glowing assessments, issued before India's last-minute change.

"It's meek, it's weak and the 1.5 C goal is only just alive, but a signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending. And that matters," said Greenpeace international executive director Jennifer Morgan.

Former Irish president Mary Robinson, speaking for a group of retired leaders called The Elders, said the pact represents "some progress, but nowhere near enough to avoid climate disaster."

"People will see this as a historically shameful dereliction of duty."

'For heaven's sake, don't kill this moment'

Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav argued against a provision on phasing out coal, saying that developing countries were "entitled to the responsible use of fossil fuels."

He blamed "unsustainable lifestyles and wasteful consumption patterns" in rich countries for causing global warming.

After Yadav first raised the spectre of changing the coal language, a frustrated Frans Timmermans, the European Union vice-president and climate envoy, begged negotiators to unite for future generations.

India's Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav, is seen at COP26 on Saturday. Yadav successfully argued against a provision on phasing out coal and suggested a change in language many found disappointing. (Phil Noble/Reuters)

"For heaven's sake, don't kill this moment," Timmermans pleaded. "Please embrace this text so that we bring hope to the hearts of our children and grandchildren."

Helen Mountford, vice-president of the World Resources Institute think-tank, said India's demand may not matter as much as feared because the economics of cheaper, renewable fuel is making coal increasingly obsolete.

"Coal is dead. Coal is being phased out," she said. "It's a shame that they watered it down."

ANALYSIS Even a climate crisis can't stop the world's appetite for burning coal

Kerry and several other negotiators noted that good compromises leave everyone slightly unsatisfied.

"Paris built the arena and Glasgow starts the race," the veteran U.S. diplomat said. "And tonight the starting gun was fired."

Chinese negotiator Zhao Yingmin echoed that sentiment.


What did young climate activists think of COP26?
07:28

"I think our biggest success is to finalize the rulebook," Zhao told the Associated Press. "Now we can start implementing it and delivering it on our achieved consensus."

Among those highlighting the cost of failure was Aminath Shauna, the Maldives' minister for environment, climate change and technology.

Shauna pointed out that to stay within the warming limit nations agreed to six years ago in Paris, the world must cut CO2 emissions essentially in half in 98 months. She said the developing word needs the rich world to step up.

AUDIO Indigenous youth, Kitchener advocate share experiences from COP26

"The difference between 1.5 and 2 C is a death sentence for us," she said. "We didn't cause the climate crisis. No matter what we do, it won't reverse this."

Yassmin Fouad Abdelaziz, Egypt's environment minister, said next year's talks to be held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh would focus on aid and compensation for poor countries.

As negotiators left the final session after congratulating themselves, they passed a young lone protester who sat silently with red blood-like writing on crossed arms that said: "We are watching."

Vincent van Gogh watercolor seized by Nazis sells for record $35M


"Meules de blé" was completed in 1888, during Vincent van Gogh's time in Arles, France. Image courtesy of Christie's

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A watercolor painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh that was seized by Nazis has sold at auction for $35.86 million, setting a new record for the medium, Christie's auction house announced.

The painting, Meules de blé (Wheat Stacks), was completed in Arles, France, in 1888, two years before the famed post-impressionist painter's death.

Christie's estimated the painting would sell for between $20 million and $30 million on Thursday, but the artwork exceeded those expectations. It was a new record for a van Gogh painting on paper.

It was part of the auction house's sale of "The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism" along with the "20th Century Evening Sale" in New York City. Together the two sales realized $751.9 million.

"It was a pleasure and much awaited moment to welcome our clients back at Rockefeller Center in our immersive auction experience," said Adrien Meyer, global head of private sales and co-chairman of Impressionist & Modern Art.

"The extraordinary Edwin L. Cox collection generated a palpable energy in the room with 21 phones on the first lot setting the tone. There was competitive bidding throughout the sale highlighted by sensational results for the trio of van Gogh's far exceeding their estimates, with Meules de blé establishing a new record for the artist in medium."

Meules de blé was one of the first in a series of harvest paintings van Gogh executed during his 1888 summer in Arles. Thursday's auction was the first time the watercolor was publicly exhibited since it was included in a 1905 retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

"It has become something quite different from in the spring, but I certainly have no less love for nature that is starting to get scorched as early as now," he said in a letter at the time. "There's old gold, bronze, copper in everything now, you might say, and that, with the green blue of the sky heated white-hot, produces a delightful color which is exceedingly harmonious."

The watercolor was eventually owned by Vincent van Gogh's brother, Theo van Gogh, followed by art collector Gustave Fayet and then by industrialist Max Meirowsky. Under persecution from the Nazis for being Jewish, Meirowsky sold his art collection and fled Germany, at which time Meules de blé became part of the art collection of Miriam Caroline Alexandrine de Rothschild in France.

Her art collection was seized by the Nazis during their occupation of France and she was never able to recover the painting after the end of the war, according to Christie's.

Tough science, market demands make better batteries an elusive goal

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are working to develop solid-state batteries they hope will outperform current lithium ion technologies. Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory

Nov. 12 (UPI) -- With the proliferation of wearable electronics, drones and electric cars -- and the race to halt climate change hastening -- demand for better, cheaper, lighter, smaller, safer batteries is soaring.

To meet those demands, researchers, startups, automakers, governments and many others are counting on a few breakthroughs to pan out.

"If we're going to decarbonize the economy, we're going to need a much better battery," Venkat Srinivasan, director of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science at Argonne National Laboratory, told UPI.

Twenty years ago, mostly electric car enthusiasts were clamoring for a better battery. Today, global capital is driving that call -- including massive efforts aimed at vehicles -- keen to the growing demand for carbon-neutral technologies.

As such, billions of dollars have been pouring into the green economy, and battery startups are rapidly proliferating. Many of them inevitably will pin their hopes on a promising new cathode material or electrolyte chemistry, but it's likely to take longer to bring those to market than anybody wants.

Complicated science, many metrics

Every week, science journals publish a handful of papers promising a new and improved battery. More often than not, these early successes fail to hold up under further testing.

"The main challenge is that to go from a lab breakthrough to a fully validated, commercialized product requires 15 to 20 different metrics be met," Matthew McDowell, a material scientist and associate professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, told UPI.

"Usually, when we're talking about laboratory breakthroughs, we're talking about researchers working on just one or two metrics," McDowell said.

As a fictional example, say a researcher or team of researchers discovers a new cathode material that can release an accumulated charge more quickly and efficiently than current technologies. The research team may tout their discovery in a peer-reviewed paper.

When subjected to further tests, however, it becomes clear that after a certain number of rapid charge-discharge cycles, the battery's cathode breaks down. And when the battery is tested in cold weather, the decline is more severe.

Unfortunately, improvements to a battery's power capacity often come at the expense of its structural integrity. Battery researchers are constantly managing tradeoffs -- most of which are hard to foresee, only revealing themselves after years of research.

Over the last several years, research labs and battery companies were excited by the performance of cathodes made using the mineral manganese, but more recently, studies have shown manganese begins to dissolve with each cycle, eventually disrupting a battery's reaction chemistry

Efficiency, cost both matter

Scientists must ask themselves numerous questions before they invest time and capital into a new battery technology, no matter how promising.

Beyond metrics, to have a chance at life beyond the lab, new technologies must be able to perform under real world conditions, be produced at scale and meet a variety of longevity and safety standards. Most importantly, they must hit all those marks at a competitive price.

"When companies are considering new battery technologies, they're looking at several metrics: dollars per watt hour, dollars per watt kilogram and dollars per watt volume," Kevin Eberman, material scientist and product development manager at 3M, told UPI.

"They're also looking at its lifespan metrics, both charge cycles and time. It's especially hard to simulate and study accurately the combination of those last two metrics," Eberman said.

Some new battery technologies may be able to withstand thousands of charge cycles, but begin to break down after a year or two, regardless of how often they're used.

Complicating matters, markets, industries and applications each have specific needs. For some, energy density may reign supreme. For others, size and weight may be the top priority.

"Every application has a unique set of metrics that it needs to satisfy," Srinivasan said. "You have to really think about what the markets needs."

In other words, the kinds of batteries and battery performance metrics electric or hybrid car makers are looking for are different than those that will appeal to a company that makes medical imaging technology, fitness watches or drones.

Market demands

For battery technology breakthroughs to make it to market, they must meet the needs of the market, but Srinivasan said it's important for research labs not to become beholden to market trends.

Markets move fast, consumers change their minds and trends shift -- but science tends to happen slowly.

"In the 2000s, most of us thought we would be driving hybrids, but by 2010, we decided we wanted plug-in vehicles," Srinivasan said.

"During the early days, everyone wanted a battery with lots of power. So you see papers coming out saying, 'My battery has amazing power.' But by the time the papers were coming out, car companies could see consumers wanted bigger batteries providing cars longer ranges," he said.

It's also important for scientists to avoid tunnel vision. Whether they're working in an academic lab or for a startup company, researchers must be flexible.

"You don't want to set out thinking about making a battery for an electric vehicle," Srinivasan said. "You'll inevitably fail."

Companies and researchers working on battery breakthroughs need to be willing to sell to smaller markets as they develop burgeoning technologies.

"Companies need to ask: Is there a first market that allows our technology to mature, to give us momentum and buy us some time?" Srinivasan said.

"Instead of selling to car manufacturers right away, where margins are so thin, a better strategy is selling to a smaller niche market where you can make some money and do some learning and additionally testing. Scaling up manufacturing takes time and learning curves take time," he said.

Because the demands of consumers and manufacturers can change so rapidly, technologies that appeared underwhelming at first -- a new battery chemistry that was safe and stable, but not all that powerful, for example -- might become more desirable as trends shift.

Focusing on science

While it's important that lab directors and research and development heads have a sense of the market, it's best to let scientists focus on science.

"On the research side, it's vital to really maintain a focus on technological fundamentals, rather than market trends," McDowell said.

Currently, the vast majority of battery-powered products -- whether smartphones, medical devices or cars -- rely on lithium ion technology.

Lots of researchers are working on improving the performance of lithium ion batteries, but most scientists agree that a decarbonized economy will require new kinds of batteries.

As leaders at federal agencies and technology companies allocate R&D resources, they must weigh today's battery needs with those of tomorrow.

"You have to think about every timescale of innovation," Srinivasan said. "You don't want to focus solely on the Hail Mary solution, but you also don't want to focus all your energy on the near term solution."

The energy density of lithium ion batteries has doubled since their introduction, and Srinivasan thinks there's room for another doubling. But others are less optimistic.

"We are coming pretty rapidly to the energy density limit of lithium ion batteries," McDowell said. "It's extremely impressive how good they are and how cheap they've gotten, but there is a pressing need to develop next-generation technologies."

Those next-generation technologies aren't likely to dethrone lithium ion batteries for a while -- on the order decades, according to McDowell -- but the work on alternative chemistries, like sodium-ion and lithium-sulfur, already has begun.

Even with automakers pledging billions of dollars for battery and electric vehicle R&D spending, established companies mostly will avoid the moonshot ideas. Established companies have too much scar tissue.


"It's really hard to overcome the apprehension that comes with experience," Eberman said. "You know so much about why it's a bad idea to take the risk."

But the experimentation from which scientific breakthroughs are born necessitates risk. According to Eberman, those that take such risks, with all the apparent challenges, will need to "know just enough to be dangerous."

Nigerian interfaith women's group awarded Aachen Peace Prize

Countering violence with peace is the goal of the Women's Interfaith Council, which represents thousands of Muslim and Christian women in Kaduna, Nigeria. The group has been awarded the Aachen Peace Prize for their work.

The women of the WIC work toward peace in Nigeria


"We were so happy, we are still happy and will continue to be happy," exclaimed Daharatu Ahmed Aliyu. "And now we are international superstars!" Elizabeth Majinya Abuk added, laughing.

The two women arrived in Germany from Nigeria two days before they will receive the Aachen Peace Prize on behalf of their organization, the Women's Interfaith Council (WIC).

The organization is being honored for its work in the Nigerian state of Kaduna, where Christians and Muslims stand together for peaceful coexistence.


Kaduna, where the WIC is active, is located in central Nigeria

"A society that neglects women can never develop, can never advance," said Sister Veronica Onyeanisi, who took over the general management of the WIC in 2019.

"So we try to give women a voice so that they can make a positive contribution to society."

Kaduna, in the northwest of the country, is the third-largest state in Nigeria with an estimated 8.3 million inhabitants, according to data from the national statistics agency. About 60% of the population is Muslim and 40% Christian.
Kaduna: Once united

"Life in Kaduna was once very beautiful," said Sister Veronica. "People lived together peacefully, partying together, until religious fanatics and politicians decided to use religion to divide people."

Religious fighting had forced many Muslims to settle in the northern part of the state and Christians in the south. Attacks, acts of violence and kidnappings occur regularly.

Just a few months ago, schoolchildren and students were kidnapped during several incidents, which happened in quick succession, sometimes involving more than 100 young people, sometimes a dozen. Bandits also tried to extort ransom money.

WIC was founded in 2010 to counter the effects of the escalating violence. The organization's women visit victims of attacks, providing them with personal support and organizing further training for other women and young people.

WIC also offers support through a community, ensuring that women of both religions unite and celebrate important holidays together.

Mothers praying for the return of kidnapped students in July 2021. Kidnappings like this are frequent in Kaduna.

Religion used only as a pretext

According to the WIC, the terrorists and bandits use religion to exercise power.

"The Holy Bible and the Holy Quran speak of peaceful coexistence. Why don't the leaders teach what is in the Scriptures?" Sister Veronica asked.

That particular question prompted the WIC to organize seminars in which the basics of Islam and Christianity are explained to attendees.

"Then when people tell them the wrong thing, they can say, 'No, that's not what the Scriptures say,'" Sister Veronica added.

The WIC is made up of several thousand women who are organized in 23 individual associations. Many are personally affected by violence, such as Elizabeth Majinya Abuk, who coordinates the Christian organizations in the WIC.

Before the WIC was founded, Abuk worked with Christian women's associations in Kaduna. When WIC approached her to join the group, she initially hesitated. She had just been dealt a severe blow. Her sister and her family were brutally killed in a robbery.

But Abuk has a "passion for peace," as she put it. And this helped her not to give up, not to lose faith in the good cause, although further strokes of fate followed in the following years. Most of her family members are currently displaced in their own country, she said.

Many Nigerians in the north have been displaced by the conflict

"I don't want what happened to my family to happen to another person. And that's why I pursue with all my strength, with all my thoughts the goal that we have to live together peacefully," said Abuk.

Daharatu Ahmed Aliyu — who represents the Muslim associations — never doubted her work: "Everything has its time. It is not easy, there are so many challenges," she said.

Aliyu remembers the early days when, as a journalist, she initially reported on the development of the WIC. A colleague in the editorial office thought it was a joke that Christians and Muslims wanted to unite. "When the time comes for the crisis to end, it will end," said Aliyu with confidence.
Including men

In order to achieve their goals, they also have to bring on board some men, who usually have the main say in Kaduna's society.

Before they start any project, the women visit traditional and religious leaders.

"We are concerned about some of us because of their experiences with other non-governmental organizations," said Sister Veronica. But the women at WIC can be very convincing: "You know, God has given women a gift that no one else has. Women can be there for anyone, no matter how tough the person is."

The WIC women meet groups and families and offer psycho-social support

Elizabeth Abuk added that the WIC starts at an early stage by working with young people in order to break down prejudices between religions and genders. Abuk is certain that if young men could take on leadership roles, they would do better.

From the point of view of the board of directors of the Aachen Peace Prize, the commitment of women is "very worthy of the award," as Lea Heuser, board member and press spokeswoman for the association, told DW.

Heuser emphasized the "great solidarity of self-affected women towards other women who are exposed to massive violence and a massive patriarchal system, but who, despite their own traumas and experiences of violence, stand up against it, support each other in very solidarity and live this solidarity across all borders."

And the result of the work speak for itself: Other states have already contacted WIC and asked for help because they too want to create interreligious women's councils, said Sister Veronica.

This article was adapted from German by Abu-Bakarr Jalloh.