Environment

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/32316532

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Indonesia is home to the world’s largest nickel reserve, totaling 5.2 billion tons of ore and 57 million tons of metal, equivalent to 42 percent of the world’s nickel reserves. These resources are scattered mostly in Sulawesi and Maluku, in the eastern part of Indonesia. One of the richest mines is located in Joko’s hometown, Bahodopi district in Sulawesi.

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Nickel mining in Sulawesi began in the early 2000s, but it took off in the last decade after a surge in the global demand for nickel, a critical component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The worldwide transition to EVs is fueled by the pressing demand for eco-friendly transportation and a decreased reliance on fossil fuels. Capitalizing on its vast nickel reserves, Indonesia set its sights on becoming a major player in the global market by 2027.

In 2013, Indonesia-based mining conglomerates PT Bintang Delapan Investment and PT Sulawesi Mining Investment joined forces with a Chinese mining company called Tsingshan Holding Group Company Limited (青山控股集团有限公司) to build the largest nickel-processing center in Southeast Asia, the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP). The project received blessings from political leaders in both countries. In October of that year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono oversaw the signing of a cooperation agreement for the industrial park.

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The seawater around his village has now turned brown, depleting the fish in the bay. With no income from fishing, Lapola decided to work for the mine. Polluted water has forced many of the villages’ young people to switch from fishing to mining.

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Katsaing, Chairman of the Prosperous Indonesian Workers Union, stated that many workers have been complaining about poor work conditions: lack of safety measures, long hours of work, unfair work agreements, and low salaries. Katsaing mentioned that many work agreements only last for three months, leaving workers, who are mostly only high school graduates, in precarious positions

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Ani, a young mother of two from Fatufia village, suffered because the dust and air pollution made her second child sick with acute respiratory problems that forced her to regularly visit health facilities for almost two years. Rest of the World reported that, according to the community health center of Bahodopi, since 2018, upper respiratory infections have been the most prevalent disease in the district, totaling nearly 7,000 cases. Health workers attribute this to dust from the industrial complex.

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Environmental issues are still unresolved in Morowali. Aside from the damage caused by the mining itself, IMIP’s smelters [Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, IMIP, is the largest nickel-processing center in Southeast Asia operated by in Indonesia and China] are powered by a coal-fired power plant that creates significant carbon emissions. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, each 1 GW coal-fired power plant produces 5 million tons of CO2. Residents have also long been complaining about water and air pollution, health issues, and deforestation in their community.

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A report by Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS) (pdf), a German policy lobby group, stated that nickel-processing plants at IMIP release pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and coal ash — all of which pose serious health risks when inhaled. Inhabitants suffer from respiratory problems because of the dust and itchy skin caused by polluted water. Worse, many can’t afford to access health facilities.

After a decade of operating, IMIP is now home to more than 50 smelters and around 84,000 workers, including 10 percent from China. Spanning ​​more than 4,000 hectares, the complex features its own airport, seaport, high-end hotels, staff dormitories, and other essential facilities. IMIP produces a total of 4.76 million tons of Nickel Pig Iron (NPI), with the majority exported to China.

Its iron grip over nickel resources helped China dominate the global EV manufacturing industry and isn't poised to loosen any time soon.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/20013316

China's glacier area has shrunk by 26% since 1960 due to rapid global warming, with 7,000 small glaciers disappearing completely and glacial retreat intensifying in recent years, official data released in March showed.

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As the important water towers continue to shrink, less availability of freshwater is expected to contribute to greater competition for water resources, environmental groups have warned. Glacier retreat also poses new disaster risks.

China's glaciers are located mainly in the west and north of the country, in the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, and the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai.

Data published on March 21 on the website of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed that China's total glacier area was around 46,000 square kilometres, with around 69,000 glaciers in 2020.

This compares to around 59,000 square kilometres and around 46,000 glaciers in China between 1960 and 1980, the study showed.

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The Tibetan plateau is known as the world's Third Pole for the amount of ice long locked in the high-altitude wilderness.

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The dramatic ice loss, from the Arctic to the Alps, from South America to the Tibetan Plateau, is expected to accelerate as climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, pushes global temperatures higher.

This would likely exacerbate economic, environmental and social problems across the world as sea levels rise and these key water sources dwindle, [a UNESCO report says].

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19965216

Archived

Here is the report (pdf)

The world’s appetite for energy rose at a faster-than-average pace in 2024, resulting in higher demand for all energy sources, including oil, natural gas, coal, renewables and nuclear power, the World Energy Report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) show.

• The report finds that global energy demand rose by 2.2% last year – lower than GDP growth of 3.2% but considerably faster than the average annual demand increase of 1.3% between 2013 and 2023. Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80% of the increase in global energy demand in 2024.

• The acceleration in global energy demand growth in 2024 was led by the power sector, with global electricity consumption surging by nearly 1,100 terawatt-hours, or 4.3%. This was nearly double the annual average over the past decade.

• The sharp increase in the world’s electricity use last year was driven by record global temperatures, which boosted demand for cooling in many countries, as well as by rising consumption from industry, the electrification of transport, and the growth of data centres and artificial intelligence.

• 80% of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024 was provided by renewable sources and nuclear, as renewable power capacity installed worldwide rose to around 700 gigawatts, setting a new annual record for the 22nd consecutive year, and Nuclear power capacity additions reached their fifth highest level in the past three decades. Therefore, renewables and nuclear power together contributed 40% of total generation for the first time.

• Gas demand also picked up substantially, while oil and coal consumption increased more slowly than in 2023.

• CO2 emissions from the energy sector continued to increase in 2024 but at a slower rate than in 2023. A key driver was record-high temperatures: if global weather patterns in 2023 had repeated in 2024, around half of the increase in global emissions would have been avoided.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19962518

Here you can download the study (pdf)

A high number of climate change policies in China does not sufficiently translate to high policy intensity and strong actions, a new study suggests.

It analyzes 358 national climate policies published from 2016 to 2022 in China, the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter. Especially in high-emitting sectors, China’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets (“objectives”) cover a relatively small number of actors and actions (“scope”), according to the study.

Summary:

• This is evident in sectors like energy, electricity and heating, which, despite being the largest emitters and having numerous policies, only have moderate policy intensity scores. This disconnect indicates that policy proliferation without policy strength may not effectively advance climate actions.
• A growing number of policy outputs in China are likely to signal increased government focus on specific climate-related issues, but the relevant actions may not be ambitious enough. For instance, the energy, electricity, and heating sector, despite being the largest emitter and receiving significant policy attention (high policy density), only achieved a moderate policy intensity score.
• "This disconnect underscores that policy proliferation without corresponding policy strength may not effectively advance climate goals," the study authors write.
• The lack of clear objectives and comprehensive scope in high-emitting sectors like transportation and buildings is likely to hinder the effectiveness of policy implementation, indicating a need for more targeted and ambitious policy design
• The findings reveal that higher policy density does not equate to stronger action. Significant variation also exists in alignment with China’s NDCs, especially in high-emitting sectors. Moreover, despite a relatively balanced mix of regulatory, economic, and informational instruments, this balance does not guarantee intensity.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19768743

**The clear signs of human-induced climate change reached new heights in 2024, with some of the consequences being irreversible over hundreds if not thousands of years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which also underlined the massive economic and social upheavals from extreme weather. **

Here you can download the report and supplements.

WMO’s State of the Global Climate report confirmed that 2024 was likely the first calendar year to be more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial era, with a global mean near-surface temperature of 1.55 ± 0.13 °C above the 1850-1900 average. This is the warmest year in the 175-year observational record.

WMO’s flagship report showed that:

• Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide are at the highest levels in the last 800,000 years.
• Globally each of the past ten years were individually the ten warmest years on record.
• Each of the past eight years has set a new record for ocean heat content.
• The 18 lowest Arctic sea-ice extents on record were all in the past 18 years.
• The three lowest Antarctic ice extents were in the past three years.
• The largest three-year loss of glacier mass on record occurred in the past three years.
• The rate of sea level rise has doubled since satellite measurements began.

“Our planet is issuing more distress signals -- but this report shows that limiting long-term global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible. Leaders must step up to make it happen -- seizing the benefits of cheap, clean renewables for their people and economies - - with new National climate plans due this year, ” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

“While a single year above 1.5 °C of warming does not indicate that the long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement are out of reach, it is a wake-up call that we are increasing the risks to our lives, economies and to the planet,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/30936240

Archived

In the past 50 years, China has built around 500 new cities. The country’s sprawling new urban areas have been instrumental to its economic surge, but it’s not all rosy. In fact, a lot of these new buildings are empty.

By 2021, over 17% of the urban homes built in China since 2001 remained unoccupied. Although official data is lacking, that figure has undoubtedly only grown since 2021. By some estimates, there are between 20 million and 65 million empty houses in China, enough to house entire countries. This is a big problem, both economically and environmentally

A new study published in Nature Communications estimates that these unused homes collectively release 55.81 million tons of carbon dioxide annually — a staggering 6.9% of all emissions from China’s residential sector, or more than countries like Portugal or Mongolia.

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This also led to a boom in real estate investment which in turn, has had a predictable (but problematic) side effect: people started to see housing more as an asset than a place to live.

We’ve seen this story before. In countries like the United States before the 2008 financial crisis or Japan in the 1980s, speculative real estate investment created massive bubbles that eventually collapsed, leaving economic turmoil in their wake.

However, in the new study, researchers didn’t look at this. Instead, Hefan Zheng and colleagues from Tsinghua University, Beijing, looked at the environmental impact of these houses.

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Unused homes are not just an economic inefficiency — they are a major environmental liability.

The carbon footprint of these empty homes stems from two main sources.

• The production of cement, steel, and other materials used in these buildings accounts for much of their environmental impact. Each square meter of newly built housing emits hundreds of kilograms of CO₂.

• The other source is heat. Even when unoccupied, many of these homes consume energy. In northern China, where central heating systems operate city-wide, many empty homes still receive heating, wasting vast amounts of energy. In 2020, these unused homes produced about as much CO₂ as a mid-sized country.

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The scale of unused housing in China results from a mix of policy incentives, economic speculation, and urban planning misalignment. In particular, some of the investments seem to have been misguided.

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In addition to the economic ticking bomb that empty houses pose, the houses also pose an environmental conundrum. If China is serious about decarbonizing its residential sector, reducing unused housing should be a priority.

The most straightforward approach could be a tax. Introducing taxes on empty properties would discourage speculative holding and push owners to rent or sell unoccupied homes, making the entire system more efficient. Some cities could offer incentives to convert unused apartments into affordable housing or public rental units.

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However, if inaction prevails, these ghost homes will continue haunting China’s real estate market and its climate ambitions.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/33064194

More than a thousand people have been evacuated near forest of Ofunato in northern region of Iwate

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/01/japan-battles-largest-wildfire-in-decades

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19123746

TLDR (but the report is worth your click as it contains a lot of very illuminating diagrams and tables):

• The historical overview, spanning from 1750 to 2023, reveals that 67% of global fossil fuel and cement emissions can be traced to 181 entities, with over one-third of these emissions attributed to just 26 producers.

• In 2023, the database traced 33.7 GtCO₂e of emissions to the 169 active entities, marking a 0.7% increase from 2022. Notably, just 36 companies were linked to over half of global fossil fuel and cement CO₂ emissions that year.

• The top 20 highest carbon-producing entities in 2023 are dominated by state-owned enterprises, with 16 of the 20 being state-owned. This list also underscores the significant role of Chinese entities, with the eight entities on the list responsible for 17.3% of global emissions in 2023.

• Coal companies also feature prominently, with seven on the list, six from China and one from India, highlighting Asia's continued reliance on coal.

• A significant update in this year’s analysis is the disaggregation of coal emissions previously aggregated at the national level for China, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Attributing these emissions to individual companies, many of which are state-owned, further emphasizes the dominant role of state-owned enterprises.

• In fact, state-owned entities have emerged as the largest emitters by type in 2023, with 67 state-owned entities linked to 22.3 GtCO₂e, more than double the 10.2 GtCO₂e attributed to 99 investor-owned entities.

• Coal remained the largest contributor to emissions in 2023, with its share of total emissions increasing, while cement emissions saw the largest relative rise. In contrast, natural gas emissions declined slightly, and oil emissions remained stable.

• Regionally, Africa and Europe made some progress in emissions reductions, with most companies in these regions decreasing emissions and overall emissions dropping across all fuels. All other regions saw total emissions increase from 2022, with the majority of companies in those regions, except the Middle East, linked to higher emissions.

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17602752

Archived version

In June, the world’s largest solar plant opened in China—a 3.5 gigawatt (GW) behemoth. Covering 32,947 acres, it can produce enough energy alone to power Luxembourg. News sites and pro-solar groups hailed the project as a milestone, showcasing the country’s leadership in renewable energy and adding to a growing consensus that China could peak emissions ahead of schedule.

Nearly none, though, highlighted one obvious detail: the location of the plant, in the far western regions of Xinjiang, near the regional capital of Ürümqi. It’s the homeland of the Uyghurs, where, since 2018, what many consider a genocide has been taking place.

In fact, the solar plant is just an hour away from where Uyghur-American Rushan Abbas was born and grew up. Now based near Washington, D.C., she has been unable to return home for decades and has had no contact with her family in years.

“By failing to acknowledge the dark realities behind this solar plant near where I was born, raised, and educated, Ürümqi, they are allowing China to present a false narrative,” said Abbas. “This mega-solar plant is a continuation of the broader history of Chinese occupation and exploitation of Uyghurs.”

To Abbas and other Uyghurs living outside of what China calls Xinjiang and what they call East Turkestan, the solar plant doesn’t deserve praise. Rather, it’s the latest in a decades-long effort to Sinicize the region and exploit its resources to benefit Han Chinese migrants. They believe that the state’s flaunting of record-setting solar expansion is part of a broader plan to greenwash the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs and further allow the colonization of their homeland.

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Just because it’s a solar project doesn’t exempt it from the criticisms that plague fossil fuel or infrastructure projects elsewhere.

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Decades of Resource Exploitation in Xinjiang

[...] Uyghurs know this well. Shortly after East Turkestan was occupied by the newly-in-power Chinese Communist Party in 1949, Han Chinese migrants, led by the state-owned Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), began flowing into the newly renamed region, seeking to exploit its natural resources: coal, quartz, silicon, and oil.

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“When the XPCC first entered our region, they promised development but gradually seized lands and water resources, leaving Uyghur farmers unable to sustain their livelihoods,” said Iltebir. “Many were forced to sell their lands to the XPCC and work for them just to survive.”

To this day, Xinjiang is one of China’s main coal- and oil-producing regions. In fact, coal is what fuels China’s solar industry, which produces panels using subsidized Xinjiang coal.

“Historically my homeland has been rich in resources from cotton to coal to rare earth minerals,” said Abbas. “Since the 1950s, the Chinese government has systematically taken control of these resources to fuel its economic ambitions, while displacing and oppressing the local Uyghur population and migrating Han Chinese from China proper.”

Since the arrival of Han Chinese migrants and corporations, the demographics of the region have transformed entirely. In 1953, Uyghurs were 75% of the population, with Han Chinese at just six percent. Today, Uyghurs make up just 44% of the population, having become a minority in their homeland—a figure that continues to decline as China’s genocidal campaign of forced sterilization, family separation, and cultural “re-education” trudges on.

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“Tainted With Human Rights Abuses”

The $2.13 billion Urumqi plant is, like nearly all of the major fossil fuel, mining, and clean tech projects in the region, led by a Chinese consortium: the state-affiliated China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp, PowerChina, and China Green Development Group. In English and Chinese promotional materials, the project proponents highlight its climate impacts—reducing CO2 emissions by 6 million tons and eliminating the demand for 1.9 million tons of coal.

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“It feels hypocritical to be talking about just transition when this specific just transition is tainted with human rights abuses,” said Zumretay Arkin, an ethnic Uyghur who grew up in Canada and now lives in Germany, and director of global advocacy at the World Uyghur Congress.

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A report from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) found that, broadly, clean energy companies are lagging on human rights policies, including issues like land rights, responsible sourcing, and affected community rights. Chinese companies, including Jinko Solar, Goldwin, LONGi, and JA Solar, were the lowest ranked.

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“It’s not like elsewhere, where abuses would be tied to a company or a non-state entity. This is really state-imposed,” said Arkin. “There are directives, policies in place, subsidizing companies that are, for example, using Uyghurs working in forced labor conditions.”

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Echoes of Xinjiang Beyond

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In fact, other mega-solar projects are already being planned or built in Xinjiang and other parts of China—a planned 1.1 GW project in Tibet, and an even bigger 8 GW project in China’s Inner Mongolia region, for example. But they should also raise eyebrows. There are echoes of Xinjiang in both. In Inner Mongolia, the government has eliminated the local language in education. Meanwhile, in Tibet, over 1,000 protestors were arrested earlier this year during a demonstration opposing a hydropower and solar project that would flood villages and destroy six historic monasteries.

To Arkin, this isn’t surprising. “There’s still a lot of lack of awareness around how China is a colonial power and how it has colonized Uyghurs, Tibetans, and southern Mongolians,” said Arkin.

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“I believe anyone who praises China’s pretentious commitment to green energy while failing to address the severe human rights abuses driving the industry, it amounts to complicity in the government’s crimes", said Abbas.

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