In today’s edition:
⚡️ Alaska oil and gas restrictions
🚜 Change to agri subsidies
🌳 A rainforest rescue
⚡️ Energy (1-minute read)
Joe Biden administration to restrict Alaska oil and gas drilling … what to make of it?
A look back: Drilling in the pristine Alaskan Arctic is an emotive subject. The Biden administration’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) in March led to outrage amongst environmentalists (Full story here)
What’s new: This week, the Biden administration said it would limit development on 13mn acres of NPR land and ban it outright on another 10mn acres. (a move signalled it would make when it greenlit Conoco’s Willow project in a sort of good news-bad news sandwich)
Much ado’ about … Willow notwithstanding (a project that has been decades in the making), It seems the announcement may be a little style over substance. Because ultimately — whatever the restrictions — no one really wants to drill in the Arctic.
What do you mean? Many of the leases for the development of the NPR are held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority after a scant display of corporate interest during the lease sale (there were three bidders). Whatever the region’s untapped hydrocarbon riches, exploration in the Arctic is too expensive, too controversial and too much of a headache for large Oil and Gas companies to be interested in pursuing. (full story here).
🚜 AgriTech (1-minute read)
Investors urge G20 to harvest change in agricultural subsidies
Headline: For the first time, 32 investors managing $7.3 trillion in assets have called on the G20 (a group of countries comprising the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies) to align agricultural subsidies with climate and nature goals by the decade’s end.
Details: In 2021, a UN report highlighted that approximately 87% of the $540 billion in annual subsidies to agricultural producers had measures that posed a risk to nature and human health. The investors urged G20 leaders to lead by example and ensure climate change and biodiversity commitments — agreed upon in the Paris Agreement and Montreal Biodiversity Agreement — are met by linking financial support for the agricultural sector with environmental obligations.
Addressing the issue: Recommendations include shifting financial incentives towards adopting regenerative agriculture practices, reducing subsidies for high-emission products like dairy and red meat, and increasing funding to support affected workers during the transition. (Full story here).
🌳 Nature (1-minute read)
A rainforest rescue for the Amazon’s indigenous guardians
Headline: Brazil’s President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has officially recognised 2 indigenous territories granting them legal protection as reservations. This recognition prohibits mining activities on the land and requires specific authorisation for commercial farming and logging.
Details: The recognition also ensures non-Indigenous people are banned from engaging in economic activity in the designated areas, which helps Indigenous people defend their communities against illegal loggers, gold miners and cattle ranchers. Environmentalists believe Indigenous groups are the best guardians of the rainforest, and deforestation data shows that the forests on their reservations are the best conserved.
Race against time: However, the protection of further indigenous territories faces a race against time, with the Brazilian Congress pushing legislation to restrict the recognition of Indigenous land claims — a move backed by the country’s powerful farm lobby. (Full story here).
💭 Little Bytes
Quote: “This enables investment in deforestation-free commodities for agricultural food supply… Africa is not like Indonesia or Brazil, where we’ve seen a lot of unsustainable practices that they’re now trying to correct.” Kavita Sinha, director of the Green Climate Fund’s private sector facility.
Stat: 13,700 public schools in the US that didn’t need cooling in 1970 will either have or need it by 2025 — The Center for Climate Integrity
Watch: 3 startups using AI to solve global challenges
🗞 In other news…
India announced the launch of a global biofuel alliance at a G20 summit in New Delhi to boost the use of cleaner fuels. The alliance, with the United States and Brazil as its founding members, would help accelerate global efforts to meet net zero emissions targets by facilitating trade in biofuels derived from plant and animal waste sources. (Full story here).
Climate and sport: World Rugby has brought in special measures to mitigate a French heat wave, including a two-minute break midway through each half. (Full story here).
UN publishes the first official overview of collective progress towards climate targets since the Paris Agreement, as it again warns the world is on track to exceed the 1.5C temperature goal – eight years since countries around the world signed the Paris Agreement. (Full story here).
The fifth round of the UK government’s Contracts for Difference scheme attracts minimal interest from offshore wind developers as the industry continues to wrestle with soaring inflation. (Full story here).
The world’s biggest global climate fund has approved a $189 million commitment to support adopting regenerative agriculture practices across 11 African countries that don’t cause deforestation. (Full story here).
Two geothermal sites in southwest England are proceeding toward financial close after receiving government contracts in a renewables auction. Three geothermal projects were successful in the auction for the first time, a big step forward for a technology deemed too expensive for decades. (Full story here).
🎣 Gone Phishing
Three of these stories are true, one we’ve made up. Guess which:
Great Wall of China damaged by workers looking for shortcut
Cathedral restoration halted after ancient treasure unearthed
Rescuers move 5,000lb concrete slab to save kitten
Man arrested for trying to cross Atlantic in a giant hamster wheel
