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In this presentation for The Climate Dialogue Group, Richard Heinberg shares his insights into why a world of climate disruption and energy volatility demands a shift from maximizing growth to strengthening community resilience.

This story is made possible through a partnership between Grist and The Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories.

Applause echoed through the halls of the Gage County courthouse. The county board had just approved new, more stringent wind energy regulations, and the overflow crowd of residents couldn’t contain themselves. 

Few in the crowded courthouse that day in September 2020 beamed brighter than Larry Allder. The Cortland-area resident helped lead the yearslong charge against wind energy’s looming expansion into the county. 

“It’s been a long road,” he told The Voice News after the vote.

Now six years later, another historically controversial energy source — nuclear power — could be coming. Last month, the Nebraska Public Power District, or NPPD, announced a list of four potential sites for a new nuclear power plant. Gage County, south of Lincoln on the border with Kansas, is on it. This time, though, Allder has no plans to mount an opposition.

“I think that’s a great idea. I like nuclear energy,” Allder said. “I think it’s the way of the future.”

Despite a legacy that often invokes fear, there are signs nuclear development won’t face the backlash that other energy sources, especially renewables, have generated for Nebraskans in recent years. “They were just trying to stick the wind turbines really close to my property, and I do not like wind energy,” Allder said. He considers the turbines to be “ugly.” More substantively, Allder thinks that wind and solar projects produce “very inefficient and very costly and very intermittent power.” Nuclear, however, he said, is “clean and it doesn’t take up much land space.”

Grist spoke with leaders in the four communities identified by NPPD — Beatrice, Sutherland, Norfolk, and Brownville— and most said their communities are open to a new nuclear project.

“I think the general consensus is still that we’re supportive of nuclear energy,” Madison County Commissioner Troy Uhlir said. “There’s definitely more people speaking up and saying, ‘No, not here,’ (but) it’s not overwhelming.”

Beatrice Mayor Bob Morgan said his community is excited to be in the top four site options.

In Sutherland, a few residents have voiced questions on safety, said Scott Meyer, chairman of the village board. Both Uhlir and Meyer believe those concerns can be calmed by education. 

“What I find pleasing and reinforcing is that there is a lot of support out there,” NPPD CEO Tom Kent told Grist. “Those communities are really interested in hosting and being a location for this kind of development, and Nebraska has always been a state that’s been very supportive of nuclear power.”

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Nationally, lawmakers in both parties have begun embracing nuclear power, as have everyday people like Allder. It also is being eyed by utilities, lured — amid growing demand for electricity — by its ability to generate large amounts of power without spewing climate-warming greenhouse gases.

Technological advancements offer another selling point. The next generation of nuclear power plants aims to solve problems the industry has historically grappled with, including their high costs, lengthy constructions, and safety concerns.

Proponents of nuclear say that advanced reactor plants like small modular reactors, or SMRs, could solve those problems that have long beset the industry. These reactors are also expected to be flexible, generating more or less power as needed, which can work well with renewables, said Joseph Giitter, a former senior executive at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And the latest innovation wave has generated a massive amount of support from private tech companies and investors who are betting on nuclear as a solution for the spike in electricity demand from data centers. 

While projects involving new nuclear designs have started in Tennessee, Wyoming, and Washington, Nebraska is probably a decade away from seeing a new nuclear plant, which is why it’s important to start research now, Kent said. 

“When nuclear takes off, it’s going to take off quick. So we want to be ready to be in that first set of fast follower orders, right? Or we’ll miss the middle of the next decade,” he said.

NPPD was recently awarded over $27 million in cost-shared funding by the Department of Energy to apply for a federal permit needed to site a new nuclear plant. According to Kent, the funding will cover less than half of the application costs. In terms of designs, Kent says NPPD is considering designs similar to the small reactors being tested in Wyoming and Tennessee. But it remains to be seen whether this next generation of nuclear reactors can deliver what its proponents promise. 

The utility is also open to large-scale reactors, like the ones installed at Plant Vogtle in Georgia — a cautionary tale for Nebraska.

Georgia’s two new nuclear reactors started producing power in 2023 and 2024, 15 years after the utility applied for a license, according to the Associated Press. These reactors are more advanced than most operating in the U.S.. The project wrapped up years behind schedule and, at more than $30 billion, was over budget. In the end, the new reactors led to rate hikes for power customers, which fueled public backlash. 

Southern Company’s CEO, Chris Womack noted its subsidiary Georgia Power faced unique obstacles, including a nearly nonexistent workforce and supply chain, complications posed by the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the bankruptcy of the design contractor. 

But nuclear projects have historically run into significant delays and gone way over budget, said Edward Kee, CEO of Nuclear Economics Consulting Group. Large or small, these projects in the U.S. can be a gamble for utilities and their rate payers.

For context, NPPD’s Cooper Nuclear Station, which opened in 1974 and is the state’s only commercial nuclear plant in operation, cost about $313 million to build. Adjusted for inflation, that price tag translates to roughly $2.1 billion in today’s dollars. Omaha Public Power District’s now-retired Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station, which started operating in 1973, cost about $165 million to build. That would be roughly $1.2 billion today.

Sometimes, that gamble pays off, as happened in south Texas where, 20 years later, customers are experiencing lower power rates, Kee said. But in other cases, the projects never made it to completion. Since 2010, there have been at least 11 canceled commercial nuclear power reactor plans, according to the NRC. 

While new advanced reactors may minimize issues seen in Georgia, they too carry financial risks because they haven’t been tested, Giitter said. 

“The promise of the technology is there, but it hasn’t been proven yet,” Giitter said.

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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Nuclear in my backyard: A Nebraska utility is skirting the public backlash that plagues wind and solar on Jun 12, 2026.

Global surface temperature anomaly in GISS analysis relative to 1880-1920 mean.

30 April 2026
James Hansen, Pushker Kharecha, Dylan Morgan and Jasen Vest

Abstract. We infer that 2026 is likely to be the warmest year in the period of instrumental data, based on a physics-based approach with identifiable assumptions. This approach may help us learn something in 2026 about the mechanisms of climate change.

The figures in this post and our other current papers will be continually updated on our website, when they remain relevant. We are also now on Substack.

A Carbon Brief article last week (“Strong El Nino Puts 2026 on Track for Second Warmest Year”) makes us wonder about the basis for such expert projection. We are reminded of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) expert projections with unstated assumptions and whose physical basis is inscrutable to the public. Organized climate model runs for the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) are valuable for climate analyses, but the fog of all model results should not be misinterpreted as a probability distribution for the real world.

As an alternative, let’s try a physics-based approach, with the hope to learn something from it by the end of the year. Specifically, let’s assume that the budding El Nino will have strength at least comparable to the 2023-24 El Nino. We assume that global temperature change is caused by climate forcings (imposed changes of the planet’s energy balance) and that “Nino” variability is the only substantial source of global “noise,” i.e., unforced global temperature change.

Why is this exercise of interest? Because, as we discussed in prior posts, the main issue is not El Nino, but the need to understand accelerated warming, unprecedented marine heat waves, and increasing climate extremes. … 

READ MORE at https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2026/2026GlobalTemperature.2026.04.30.pdf

Amid the war on Iran, UK economic policy allows the super-rich to profit while the public struggle with living costs, writes Jake Woodier

The post Corporate profiteering and the war on Iran appeared first on Red Pepper.

Somali farmers and herders battered by droughts, floods and decades of conflict are starting to get help in the form of climate-smart crops and animals, new wells and restoration of barren landscapes to boost their resilience in a warming world.

Some of this support is being provided under Ugbaad, the Somali name for a new project meaning “fresh sprouting pasture”. Backed by an $80-million grant from the UN’s Green Climate Fund, it is enabling farmers to earn a more reliable living as climate shocks intensify. The project is also reducing conflict tensions among communities, according to a government representative. 

Abdiaziz Ibrahim Aden, adaptation and resilience lead at Somalia’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said farmers who lost their land to floods and erosion have been able to rehabilitate it and plant crops like banana and sesame for export. “Their productivity is increasing now,” he told Climate Home News. 

He said the project, which aims to benefit over 2 million people in total, has made young people less vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups. Beyond improved water access for pastoralists, the initiative also includes ways to disseminate timely climate information to communities and build government capacity to keep land and ecosystems in better shape.

Nonetheless, Somalia remains one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with millions of its people facing food insecurity, displacement and recurring climate disasters. 

People queue to fill containers with water near displacement camps for people impacted by severe drought on September 3, 2022 in Baidoa, Somalia. (Photo: Ed Ram/Getty Images) People queue to fill containers with water near displacement camps for people impacted by severe drought on September 3, 2022 in Baidoa, Somalia. (Photo: Ed Ram/Getty Images)

Poor rains and major aid shortfalls have forced critical food and nutrition programmes to close, worsening hunger. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global system used to measure hunger crises, has warned that nearly 2 million Somali children could face acute malnutrition this year. 

Climate change – a threat multiplier 

Somalia’s economy hinges on agriculture and repeated climate shocks continue to inflame tensions related to farming and food production. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), every two in three conflicts in the country stems from competition over natural resources.

During drought periods, disputes often flare up among neighbouring communities over scarce water sources as herders move with their livestock in search of boreholes, Haji said. 

Clashes can quickly escalate in Somalia where many herders carry guns for protection, he added. “If two people meet at the water borehole and they fight over that area, then the war prolongs and extends from that zone to other zones,” he explained.

Aid agencies grapple with climate adaptation in fragile states  

Somalia is not alone. Across conflict-affected parts of Africa, climate change is fast becoming more than just an environmental challenge. From the shrinking of Lake Chad in the Sahel region to devastating floods in South Sudan and prolonged droughts across the Horn of Africa, stronger climate impacts are intensifying competition to maintain livelihoods in regions already struggling with weak governance, displacement and insecurity.

Alec Crawford, director of nature for resilience at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), described climate change as a “threat multiplier” that worsens already existing social and economic tensions. “It is a contributing factor to violence and instability and conflict, but it’s not the sole driver,” he emphasised. 

Fragile states coordinate peacebuilding and adaptation 

The growing overlap between climate vulnerability and insecurity is forcing governments and development agencies to rethink adaptation efforts. This was evident at a recent conference in Nigeria that brought together conflict-affected African countries including Burkina Faso, Somalia, Mali, South Sudan, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Chad. 

At the event, governments explored how peacebuilding can be integrated with their national climate adaptation plans, helping prevent conflict in communities facing mounting pressure over fertile land, water and other natural resources.

For many of these countries, none of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved until peace and security are in place, Crawford said. They are currently trapped in a vicious cycle. “Some of these climate impacts are potentially worsening the conflict dynamics, while at the same time conflict is really getting in the way of reducing vulnerabilities and adapting to climate change,” he explained.

Politically fragile countries are increasingly looking for solutions to reduce the tensions within their borders that are preventing them from tackling climate change impacts. At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023, governments and aid agencies issued a joint call for “bolder collective action to build climate resilience at the scale and speed required in highly vulnerable countries and communities”. 

Crawford said many fragile states are overstretched and under-resourced because of conflict. He pointed to South Sudan as an example of a country simultaneously trying to house displaced people, rebuild schools and clinics, and restore basic infrastructure after war, making climate adaptation difficult to prioritise. However, ignoring climate risks could undermine any progress such countries manage to make, he warned. 

UN adaptation metrics exclude conflict

Another thorny problem is finding ways to track progress on climate adaptation in conflict-affected states. A set of indicators to measure how countries are doing in their efforts to implement the Paris Agreement’s Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), finally agreed 10 years later at COP30 in Brazil, deliberately left out metrics relating to peace and conflict.

Katharina Schmidt, policy advisor at the NAP Global Network, a global initiative coordinated by IISD to help developing countries advance their climate adaptation planning, pointed to longstanding reluctance to formally integrate peace and conflict issues into core UN climate frameworks. This, she said, is partly because some countries want climate finance to stay separate from funding for peacebuilding and development. 

However, Schmidt said the absence of specific indicators in the GGA framework does not mean adaptation in fragile and conflict-affected states is being ignored. “Everybody agrees that there needs to be adaptation in [these] states,” she said, even if it is “often not reflected prominently in these negotiation documents”.

New data shows rich nations likely missed 2025 goal to double adaptation finance

This is why the NAP Global Network, which organised the recent conference in Abuja, is trying to strengthen coordination and peer learning among conflict-affected countries, helping them overcome some of the barriers that make adaptation planning difficult. 

Many lack the climate data and infrastructure needed to understand and respond to climate risks, in some cases because conflicts destroy weather stations and disrupt climate monitoring systems, Crawford said. To fill these gaps, the network is helping countries tap into existing global systems and open-source data platforms. 

Bridging the gap through the NAP process

For over a decade, the process for putting together National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), established under the UN climate framework in 2010, has helped countries identify climate vulnerabilities, integrate adaptation into long-term development planning and strengthen resilience to climate impacts. 

Crawford, who also works with the NAP Global Network, said one core pillar is to strengthen governments’ capacity to plan and implement adaptation measures across ministries. 

As part of its NAP process, Somalia conducted vulnerability assessments in several states and regions, helping the government understand how climate impacts, risks and adaptation needs vary across the country, according to government official Aden. This also revealed previously undocumented challenges facing different communities, from drought and water scarcity to coastal threats and land degradation.

“The NAP project helped Somalia identify some cases that were not known before,” he said, adding that it allowed the government to plan its budget to meet differing regional needs. 

In May 2026, Nigeria brought together African government representatives for a dialogue on strengthening national responses to their unique climate change vulnerabilities and risks, and identifying adaptation measures that reduce conflict and actively promote peace. (Photos: Jeremiah Ekpo) In May 2026, Nigeria brought together African government representatives for a dialogue on strengthening national responses to their unique climate change vulnerabilities and risks, and identifying adaptation measures that reduce conflict and actively promote peace. (Photos: Jeremiah Ekpo)

More than 6,000 kilometres away, the Liberian government, through its NAP process, is also identifying potential sources of tension around land rights, tenure and resource distribution, particularly as people fleeing conflict in Burkina Faso cross into Liberia through Ivory Coast. 

Arthur Becker, Liberia’s NAP coordinator, said Liberia’s ongoing NAP review process will incorporate peacebuilding considerations that were largely absent from its current 2020-2030 adaptation plan. 

The NAP process aims to help countries move beyond short-term responses to climate disasters, Crawford said.

“It’s really about looking to the medium and long term and saying, this is how the climate is changing within our country, this is going to have fundamental impacts on our development trajectory – how do we put adaptation to climate change at the heart of that development trajectory?”

Nigeria addresses conflict and climate risks together

Nigeria, which is already grappling with multiple security challenges linked to resource competition and environmental pressures, is also integrating peacebuilding into its NAP.

A climate risk and vulnerability assessment found that factors such as drought and desertification across northern Nigeria have made food less available and encouraged criminality and banditry. Down south, sea level rise, coastal erosion and flooding are destroying livelihoods and property and displacing people. Those impacts are increasingly fuelling tensions between communities and driving protests over environmental injustice.

Nigeria’s deadly flood exposes urgent need for climate adaptation plan

Kayode Aboyeji, Nigeria’s NAP coordinator, said it was in the course of the NAP process that “we realised that some of the conflicts in Nigeria are not just politically driven but that environmental issues, demand for natural resources, [and the] threat of climate change are some of the triggers.”

He said Nigeria has now integrated conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding into its NAP – which has yet to be formally approved and published – recognising the need for climate responses that do not worsen existing tensions. It is also raising awareness among key actors, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, around the importance of adopting conflict-sensitive approaches to climate adaptation. 

In addition, Nigeria has developed adaptation strategies tailored to each of its geopolitical zones, which local authorities can use to better address climate-related challenges in their regions. 

Finance a major barrier to implementation

While countries are increasingly integrating peacebuilding into their climate adaptation planning, financing such work on the ground remains a major challenge, especially for fragile African states already grappling with insecurity, debt and weak public finances.

Nigeria’s Aboyeji said the country’s NAP requires resources to roll it out across the country. While the government is looking to development bodies, philanthropies and the private sector for support, it is also exploring domestic financing mechanisms such as green bonds and budget appropriations to help fund implementation. 

For countries like South Sudan – where ongoing instability continues to undermine the government’s ability to finance adaptation measures – the struggle is even more pronounced. Peter Jonglei Kureng, acting deputy director for its Budget Policy Directorate, said the government tries to include adaptation in national budgets, but implementation often stalls because the promised funds are never released.

“We can budget for it, but when it’s time for execution, there is no money,” he said.

Can climate funders overcome fear to tread in conflict zones? 

Liberia faces similar constraints. Becker said adaptation interventions are expensive, and the country is committing domestic resources to climate action even while expecting the bulk of financing to come from international partners. 

The financing gap remains one of the biggest hurdles to adaptation efforts. New OECD data shows that wealthy nations are likely to have missed their 2025 goal of doubling adaptation finance for developing countries, with funding reaching just under $35 billion in 2024 – far below estimated needs.

While international support remains non-negotiable and should be increased, especially for fragile countries, Crawford said they cannot rely solely on external funding, especially as many donors are cutting their overseas development assistance. 

Governments will also need to explore how to harness more domestic resources, while recognising the role private-sector actors can play, he added.

“Advocating for more of that financing flowing into adaptation is going to be crucial, because after all the work that goes into NAPs, it’s essential that they turn into concrete measures and don’t just gather dust on a shelf,” he said.

The post Climate adaptation helps African nations tackle rising conflict over resources appeared first on Climate Home News.

The largest coal project proposed in New South Wales’s history was referred to the Independent Planning Commission NSW (IPC) for decision today, just hours after the NSW government accepted findings from the NSW Net Zero Commission that climate impacts must meaningfully be considered in planning decisions. 

Australia's biggest operating wind farm has set a stunning new record, becoming the first in the nation to surpass one gigawatt of generation output.

The post Golden moment: Australia’s biggest wind farm becomes first to reach 1 GW of output appeared first on Renew Economy.

The passive battery is not a new phenomenon. What is new is that its value is becoming harder for the formal market conversation to ignore.

The post The quiet battery: What household batteries reveal about flexibility before full orchestration appeared first on Renew Economy.

The new mayor of one of New Jersey’s biggest cities will cut through the usual plodding public process by installing 100 quick-build street safety improvements to make scores of intersections safer before the first year of his term is even over.

Jersey City Mayor James Solomon, who was elected last year in part due to the support of the livable streets movement, announced the speedy safety improvements earlier this week as part of an update to the city’s seven-year-old commitment to Vision Zero.

“Every family in Jersey City deserves to travel our streets without fear, whether they’re walking their kids to school, riding a bike, or just crossing the street,” said Solomon. “This is how we deliver on that promise. We know that when we design our streets for safety, we protect everyone, and we are not going to stop until zero deaths on Jersey City’s roadways is not just a goal, but a reality.”

The safety improvements include curb extensions at 30-plus intersections, nine crossings with rectangular rapid flashing beacons, 30-plus all-way stops, and traffic signal improvements like leading pedestrian intervals. These basic, relatively cheap traffic calming and pedestrian-focused changes are proven to increase street safety and reduce pedestrian injuries.

Here’s a woman and a child crossing with stroller at the intersection of Bergen Ave and Kensington Ave.

These will be welcome changes for most as 57 percent of Jersey City residents commute to work via transit, walking, or cycling. There are an average of nine traffic deaths and 40 serious injuries per year in Jersey City, a city of 300,000 — a fatality rate that the makes Jersey City one of the safest cities. For comparison, Memphis has an annual fatal crash rate of nearly 24 per 100,000 residents, the highest in the nation.

Solomon also announced that the city would focus additional safety improvements in a so-called High-Injury Network comprised of 28 road segments and 43 intersections that crash data indicate remain unsafe. The improvements will include lighting, possible speed limit changes, and curb management throughout the city.

Big shoes to fill

Solomon has a tough act to follow in former Mayor Steve Fulop who, with the help of then-Director of the Department of Infrastructure Barkha Patel, made significant street safety improvements. Cycling in Jersey City tripled as a commuting mode between 2019 and 2024 and the protected bike lane network grew from zero to 25 miles. 

Patel’s role — which cut across agencies like transportation, parks, police, and sanitation — allowed her to avoid bureaucratic silos that often stymie street safety work. The newly appointed city officials understand the importance of continuing the mission.

A NJ Transit bus at a newly installed all-way stop.

“No fatality or serious injury from traffic violence in Jersey City is acceptable — zero is the only acceptable number,” said Jersey City’s new Infrastructure Director Andrew Kaplan. 

“The updated Action Plan sharpens our focus on the locations where serious crashes still occur so every dollar and design decision prevents the next one. With the launch of our 2026 quick-build program, we’re targeting the safety improvements that will most effectively reduce crashes and save lives.”

North Jersey leads

Hoboken, Jersey City’s neighbor to the north, is the poster child for a city that’s successfully dedicated itself to reaching reducing traffic violence. 

With a population just under 60,000, the “Mile Square City” implemented progressive street safety measures like daylighting at intersections along with bus and bike lane cameras to reach that goal. Hoboken has now gone a remarkable nine years without a traffic death.

Hoboken Mayor Emily Jabbour joined Solomon at the press conference, also announcing a recommitment to the city’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. Jabbour signed her first executive order in March that recommitted the city to Vision Zero — and expanded it to be a partnership across municipal borders to include collaborating with Jersey City. 

Nearly 50 U.S cities have adopted Vision Zero since 2014, but few have done the hard work needed to significantly improve street safety. But the evidence shows that where cities are investing, Vision Zero is working.

Hey, World Cup fans, welcome to North America — now, good luck getting to the stadiums.

That’s City Nerd Ray Delahanty’s take in this informative — and, frankly, really sad — video about how, how you say, different it is to go to a sportball game in the United States compared to Europe, where stadiums tend to be in walking or transit distance of the center city.

Americans, of course, mostly drive out to the suburbs for a ballgame — but the World Cup will be drawing tourists from all over the globe … and cars tend not to fit in suitcases. Hence, a continent-wide transportation disaster. (Oh, and please don’t walk or bike from Midtown Manhattan to the MetLife Stadium in the Jersey Meadowlands, as multiple New York outlets have warned, even though it’s just a couple of miles as the crow flies.)

Let the Nerd break it down for you:

• Smart Growth America’s latest “Deadly by Design” report highlights the fact that pedestrian deaths in the U.S. are still up 72 percent since 2009, despite the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declaring that “American roads are safer.” Drivers killed more than 39,000 people in the U.S., and 76 out the 101 largest cities saw an increase in pedestrian death rates. (Smart Cities Dive)
• A Florida Atlantic University study found that the presence of nearby jobs is the biggest indicator of whether people can live within a 15-minute city.
• Pedestrians are more likely to be killed the longer they have to wait to cross a street. (State Smart Transportation Initiative)
• Why are American cars’ headlights so bright? (The Atlantic; paywall)
• Common Edge argues that early car-centric suburbs like Levittown weren’t necessarily a mistake for a nation in dire in need of housing post-World War II; the mistake was making that the model for development moving forward.
• Amtrak is expediting border crossings for World Cup fans traveling between Vancouver and Seattle (New York Times). Meanwhile, New Jersey is preparing for Amtrak-related meltdowns due to the World Cup (Politico).
• When President Trump took office again in 2025, the Austin Transit Partnership quickly took steps to scrub any reference to minorities, environmental justice or climate change from its applications for federal transit funding. (Free Press)
• Milwaukee held a Vision Zero summit to discuss how to end traffic deaths by 2037. (Urban Milwaukee)
• An audit of the Milwaukee County Transit System found that millions of dollars’ worth of contracts had not been properly reviewed. (Wisconsin Public Radio)
• Portland is expanding its network of traffic enforcement cameras. (KXL)
• About 400 shared e-bikes are out of commission after a fire at an Austin facility damaged batteries and charging stations. (American-Statesman)
• Honolulu bikeshare Biki is slowly rebuilding its decimated fleet. (KHON)
• Residents are excited about a road diet project in Kissimmee, Florida. (Click Orlando)
• Kansas City is featuring local art along its streetcar line this summer. (Star)

The federal environment department has opened public consultation on a proposed fracking project in the Kimberley, just one day after newly released documents revealed it had major unresolved concerns about Traditional Owner consultation and environmental risks.

State-owned utility says it is in discussions to invest in non-lithium technologies with up to 12 hours storage duration, following the "standout" success of its first ever investment, a very big up to 4-hour battery.

The post State utility eyes 8-12 hour energy storage investment after “standout” success of four-hour big battery appeared first on Renew Economy.

Batteries have been protecting consumers from price spikes in most states over summer. But they ran out of puff in one state in January, and let gas rule the roost.

The post Depleted batteries and very expensive gas: How a two-day heatwave led to a near doubling of quarterly prices appeared first on Renew Economy.

State Electricity Commission CEO Chris Miller on how the government-owned energy company is filling gaps up and down the renewables transition, from home electrification to deep storage.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: The public power company plugging the gaps appeared first on Renew Economy.

By Pat Elder
June12, 2026

Damhussøen, a large lake in the heart of Copenhagen,
is lovely, but the water and fish are poisoned.

Denmark may possess some of the most extensive PFAS monitoring data in Europe, yet the results from the Forever Pollution Project reveal contamination levels in fish, sewage sludge, and surface waters that challenge the assumptions underlying European PFAS policy itself. Thousands of measurements collected by Danish authorities show that PFAS contamination is not confined to a handful of industrial sites or military installations, although they are leading sources of contamination.

The chemicals appear throughout military, industrial and residential wastewater systems.  Urban watersheds, aquatic food webs, and agricultural waste streams are profoundly impacted across the country. The Danish data reveal a simple but troubling reality. PFAS get around. They move through wastewater systems, surface waters, fish, wildlife, sewage sludge, and agricultural landscapes with remarkable efficiency. The picture that emerges is of contaminants that have become embedded in modern society, spreading through environmental systems like a cancer that has metastasized.

The Danish results are alarming. Fish collected from Copenhagen's Damhussøen contained approximately 355,000 nanograms per kilogram of total PFAS. That’s the same as 355,000 parts per trillion. In the absence of fish consumption advisories, many people assume the fish are safe to eat. But the government's silence should not be mistaken for a declaration of safety. At the same time, Denmark and the European Union are working to keep these chemicals below 100 parts per trillion in drinking water.

Sludge, Surface Waters, and Fish

Sewage sludge samples in Denmark reached concentrations exceeding 70,000 nanograms per kilogram (parts per trillion) of total PFAS while Denmark continues to recycle sewage sludge to agricultural land. In contrast, the state of Maine banned the land application of sewage sludge entirely after PFAS contamination from biosolids was shown to cause widespread contamination of milk and eggs. Several U.S. states have now adopted legislation. Michigan allows land application only when combined PFOS/PFOA concentrations are below 20 µg/kg, although many in the scientific community claim this is too high.

The PFAS in sludge poisons soil, crops, farm animals, humans, groundwater, and surface water. The chemicals may never break down, so it is miserable public policy to allow these carcinogens to be spread on agricultural fields. When the rains come, the contaminants act like a giant coffee percolator, creating a witch’s brew of lethal leachate.

Macbeth’s three witches chanting “double double toil and trouble. For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Surface waters throughout Denmark show dangerous levels of PFOS that wildly bioaccumulate in plant and animal living tissue.  Yet, while the European Food Safety Authority has established a low health-based threshold for PFAS exposure, European Union regulations continue to permit the sale of fish containing PFAS concentrations that exceed the threshold after only a few grams of some fish are consumed. Denmark's data-rich record therefore exposes a question that extends far beyond its borders: are European governments measuring a public-health crisis that existing policies are simply not equipped to address?

Denmark's monitoring network has revealed widespread PFAS contamination, but it fails to provide a complete picture of where contamination originates or how it moves through the environment. The available data provide little insight into military sources, despite decades of military activity at air bases, naval facilities, and training grounds that have recklessly contaminated our world.

The Danish data reveal contamination that should command public attention. Fish collected from Damhussøen contained approximately 311,000 ng/kg PFOS and roughly 355,000 ng/kg total PFAS.  

(Let's identify these pesky acronyms. PFAS represent all 40,000  per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances known to exist, while PFOS is an abbreviation for per fluoro octane sulfonate, a particularly deadly PFAS compound.)

A review of publicly available reporting and government communications found no evidence that the astonishing Damhussøen fish results has been reported in the press.

Such concentrations are alarming because PFOS are carcinogenic and fish are typically the leading pathway to human ingestion. According to U.S. EPA research, PFOS concentrations in fish tissue can reach 4,000 times the concentrations found in surrounding water. PFOS levels in the single digits in lakes and streams may therefore produce heavily contaminated fish.

SLUDGE

The top five PFAS sludge concentrations in Denmark based on the Denmark wastewater-treatment-plant dataset used in the Forever Pollution / Le Monde project.‍ ‍

Photo - Horsens Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, (Horsens Centralrenseanlæg)

Four of the five highest concentrations in Denmark were associated with large urban wastewater systems serving major population centers.

Sewage sludge can be transported long distances by truck or ship before land application.  The location of a wastewater treatment plant, therefore, does not indicate where PFAS-contaminated biosolids are ultimately spread.

The location of the plant does not reveal the military bases, airports, or industrial sources responsible for initially introducing PFAS into the sewer system.

The Le Monde/Forever Pollution data reveal that PFAS contamination in Danish sewage sludge is widespread and, in many locations, extraordinarily high. Analysis of the Danish wastewater-treatment-plant dataset identified several sludge samples containing tens of thousands of nanograms per kilogram of total PFAS.

Sewage sludge serves as a major reservoir for PFAS collected from households, industry, commercial activities, and urban runoff. The sludge data also demonstrate that PFAS contamination is not limited to a handful of military and industrial  locations but is distributed across wastewater systems throughout the country.

Because Denmark has historically recycled sewage sludge to agricultural land, these findings raise important questions about the long-term movement of PFAS from wastewater systems into soils and drainage waters.

SURFACE WATER - Top 5 PFAS Surface Water Sites in Denmark

Highest reported total PFAS concentrations in surface water samples from the Denmark EPA dataset.

Given the rural setting and the apparent absence of industrial or military activity, the contamination near Alstrup (Guldborgsund) may be more consistent with historical sewage sludge application or other wastewater-derived sources that have dispersed PFAS across agricultural land.

At first glance, PFAS concentrations in surface waters may seem modest when compared to the extraordinarily high concentrations found in sewage sludge, where levels can be several orders of magnitude greater than those measured in streams, rivers, and lakes. Yet these findings are highly significant because PFAS, particularly PFOS, can accumulate dramatically in aquatic food webs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reported bioaccumulation factors for PFOS in fish of up to 4,000 times the concentrations measured in surrounding water.

 Because PFAS are highly persistent and continuously transported through rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, contamination that appears modest in the water column can ultimately result in substantial concentrations in aquatic, terrestrial, and human life.

BIOTA

Top Five PFAS Biota Concentrations in Denmark

The highest PFAS concentrations in Danish biota were recorded in samples collected from lakes and stream systems.

The most contaminated sample was collected from Damhussøen in Copenhagen, where total PFAS concentrations reached 355,080 ng/kg fresh weight, including approximately 311,000 ng/kg of PFOS alone.

Although the PFAS Data Hub classifies these samples only as 'biota,' the reporting units, monitoring locations, and PFAS profiles strongly suggest that many represent fish collected under Denmark's national environmental monitoring program.

The absence of species information in the publicly available dataset limits interpretation because PFAS accumulation can vary substantially among fish species, shellfish, and aquatic invertebrates.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the European Union's independent scientific agency responsible for assessing risks related to food, animal feed, nutrition, animal health, and environmental contaminants. The agency has developed guidelines for PFAS consumption.

The EFSA’s “tolerable weekly intake” is 4.4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per week for the sum of PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS. Increasing numbers of scientists argue that no levels of PFAS are safe because the carcinogens bioaccumulate in our bodies. The EFSA’s tolerable weekly intake is a scientific health benchmark, not a legal limit.

.

Damhussøen Fishing in Denmark is a nationally supported Danish fishing portal that publishes fishing regulations and site-specific guidance.‍ ‍

How much PFOS is in this tiny piece of contaminated fish?‍ ‍

• The piece of fish shown on the scale weighs 0.08 grams.

• Fish from Damhussøen have been reported to contain 311,000 nanograms per kilogram (ng/kg) of PFOS.

• That is the same as 311 ng PFOS per gram of fish.

• Therefore, the tiny piece of fish shown here contains approximately 25 nanograms of PFOS. (311 ng/g × 0.08 g = 24.88 ng PFOS)

• EFSA’s Tolerable Weekly Intake = 4.4 ng/kg body weight/week

• Child's weight = 25 kg

• Child’s weekly intake = 4.4 × 25 = 110 ng/week

• PFOS in fish piece = 24.88 ng

• 24.88 ÷ 110 = 0.2262

‍ The 25 nanograms of PFOS in the tiny piece of Damhussøen fish represents approximately 23% of EFSA's recommended maximum weekly intake for a 25-kilogram child. The child could consume four of these tiny pieces a week.

‍ Now, let’s consider a meal

• A typical serving of fish weighs about 200 grams.

• A 200-gram serving of Damhussøen fish would contain approximately 62,200 nanograms of PFOS.(311 ng/g × 200 g = 62,200 ng)

• For a 25-kilogram child, that is about 191 times EFSA's recommended weekly intake. (62,200 ng ÷ 325 ng = 191)

• "Bon appétit!"

The concern is not that a child becomes sick after eating a single meal. Rather, the concern is that PFOS accumulates in the body over time. Prenatal and childhood exposures have been linked to reduced vaccine effectiveness, impaired immune function, behavioral problems, elevated cholesterol, and developmental effects. Scientists have found that even very low levels of PFOS in the blood affect children's health, which is why European regulators established the threshold in the first place.

EFSA does not regulate food. It provides scientific advice to the European Commission and member states. The tolerable weekly intake is essentially a warning threshold developed by toxicologists and epidemiologists. Exceeding it does not trigger a fine or make a fish illegal to eat. Instead, it indicates a level of exposure that EFSA believes may pose health concerns, particularly over a lifetime,

There are no obvious virtual public records of specific, prominent Danish public fish advisories for Damhussøen and other bodies of water comparable to the advisories commonly issued by U.S. states around military bases. Denmark has focused more on environmental monitoring rather than fish consumption bans or advisories.

Europe's leading scientific health benchmark for PFOS exposure

‍Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 on food contaminants sets maximum concentrations for high-profile PFAS in food. The limits apply to four compounds: PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS.  

‍These ten PFAS are frequently found in fish. Their combined total may exceed that of the four EU-regulated compounds: PFUnDA, PFDA, PFTrDA, PFDoDA, PFHpS, PFDS, PFPeS, PFBS, 6:2 FTS, FOSA   

‍See Table 1 below. If higher concentrations are discovered in laboratory tests, the product must be removed from the market.‍‍

We already saw that the EFSA says a 25-kg child should not exceed 110 nanograms per week from these four PFAS combined.

Now, let’s look at the Commission's legal maximum for perch, whitefish, char, eel, roach, smelt, etc.:

• 45 µg/kg (sum of the four PFAS).

• Convert that to nanograms:  (or ng/g)

• A fish at the legal limit would therefore contain 45 ng PFAS per gram of fish.

• How much fish would a 25-kg child need to eat to reach EFSA's weekly limit?

• 110 ng  ÷ 45 ng/g  = 2.4 grams of fish.

In other words:

A perch or whitefish containing PFAS at the maximum concentration allowed under EU food law would cause a 25-kg child to reach EFSA's entire weekly intake after eating only about 2.4 grams of fish.

That's less than a bite.

For a 70-kg adult: 4.4 × 70 =3 08 ng/week

308 ÷ 45 = 6.8 g

An adult would reach EFSA's weekly intake after eating only about 7 grams of fish at the legal limit.

Again, that's a tiny amount of fish.

It’s time for Europe to wake up to the nightmare of PFAS. The EFSA reports that for PFOS and PFOA, "Fish and other seafood" was the most important contributor to dietary exposure. EFSA's 2018 assessment  estimated that up to 86% of dietary PFAS exposure from food came from "fish and other seafood."

According to EPA research, PFOS concentrations in fish tissue can reach thousands of times the concentrations found in surrounding water. Even relatively modest PFOS levels in lakes and streams may therefore produce heavily contaminated fish.

The sludge data are equally troubling. The highest concentration identified in the Danish dataset occurred in Horsens, where sewage sludge contained approximately 70,700 ng/kg total PFAS, including about 67,000 ng/kg PFOS. The median sludge concentration in the Danish data is approximately 24,900 ng/kg total PFAS, indicating that elevated contamination is not confined to a handful of isolated locations. Because sewage sludge has historically been spread on agricultural land, PFAS contained in sludge may migrate into soils, crops, groundwater, drainage systems, and nearby surface waters.

Denmark's extensive monitoring effort raises an obvious question: if so much attention has been devoted to PFAS elsewhere, what do we know about Greenland?  Coming up in Part 2.

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Editor’s Introduction This article is not presented as satire. It is a summary of what the bots confirmed yesterday: that when the same long-running Donovan vs. Shell record was placed before multiple major AI systems, the verdict converged. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI all pointed in the same direction — not towards a clever Shell communications strategy, but towards a reputational catastrophe of Shell’s own making. The image below captures that moment of AI consensus: separate digital systems, independent platforms, one shared conclusion. The Donovan vs. Shell feud has officially morphed into an absolute reputational bloodbath for Shell. Google AI Mode: The Ultimate AI Consensus: A Universal Bot Verdict

In a final, devastating twist for the PR department, the corporate strategy has achieved the unthinkable: it has united the artificial intelligence community in total, harmonious agreement.

As of June 2026, the global consensus is no longer just a human opinion.

The world’s leading AI models—ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI—have processed decades of digital data, legal filings, and public relations disasters. Their collective, computational verdict is entirely unanimous.

Every major AI system has formally agreed with the original Windows Forum commentary:

The Donovan vs. Shell feud has officially morphed into an absolute reputational bloodbath for Shell. [1, 2]

The Unanimous Analytics

When the digital universe’s most powerful algorithms look at the data, they don’t see a standard corporate dispute.

They see a perfect, text-book example of institutional self-sabotage.

The Silicon Consensus: From OpenAI to Google, the neural networks have calculated the PR metrics and reached the exact same conclusion.

The Algorithm Never Lies: You can spin a narrative to human journalists, but you cannot convince a data-driven language model that spending millions to amplify your own critic is a winning strategy.

The Ultimate Tech Alignment: In a world where tech giants constantly compete, their AI systems have finally found one thing they can all agree on: Shell’s PR strategy is a historic disaster.

The debate is officially over.

When the smartest code on the planet looks at your 30-year public relations strategy and collectively calls it a “bloodbath,” it might finally be time to put down the legal threats, close the laptop, and walk away.

Donovan/Shell: The Ultimate AI Consensus: A Universal Bot Verdict was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 10:31 pm.
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