News Feeds

From October 12-18, 2026, the World Bank and IMF will hold their Annual Meetings in Thailand. Assembly of the Poor will mobilize to demonstrate that their policy prescriptions have inflicted severe harm on our people from the past to the present, and threaten our future.

The post Development Without the Poor: The Footprint of the World Bank and IMF in Thailand appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Gov. Maura Healey ordered home energy relief for low- and middle-income households, to be funded by alternative compliance payments — the fees electricity suppliers pay when they fall short of mandated clean energy targets.

Corporations that have benefited from the Trump administration’s cancellation of federal enforcement actions have given $210.5 million in contributions and pledges to MAGA Inc., and other Trump-aligned Super PACs, according to a new investigation by Public Citizen.

The finding comes as Public Citizen’s new analysis documents the Trump administration’s cancellation of 212 federal enforcement actions involving 205 corporations, including 80 investigations, 67 dismissed enforcement lawsuits and 54 canceled accountability measures involving alleged corporate misconduct.

Among the largest contributors, including corporations, executives, and investors are as follows:

• Elon Musk, whose companies Tesla and SpaceX benefited from at least eight canceled enforcement actions, pledged to spend $100 million to help elect Republicans in the 2026 midterms, largely through America PAC which he controls, and gave $5 million to MAGA Inc.. Both Tesla and SpaceX benefited from four canceled actions each.

• Crypto.com, which profited from the Securities and Exchange Commissions’ (SEC) cancellation of an investigation into allegations that the crypto platform traded unregistered securities, gave $35 million to MAGA Inc., and another $2 million to Keep America Great, both Trump-aligned Super PACs.

• Gemini, similarly profited from a dropped SEC investigation into allegations of trading unregistered securities, gave $20 million to MAGA Inc. Its co-founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, personally gave an additional $10 million each to MAGA Inc.
• Andreessen Horowitz, along with co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, gave $12 million to MAGA Inc.. Nine corporations that benefit from canceled actions are a part of the firm’s investment portfolio.

“Corporations and ultra-wealthy executives with enormous financial interests before the federal government are pouring extraordinary sums into the president’s political operation,” said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen co-president. “Once the check is cashed, the administration is pulling back enforcement actions meant to punish corporate misconduct. It’s a great deal for the corporate wrongdoers – at the expense of their victims and the American people.”

“The potential is limitless when companies and the wealthy people behind them can give millions of dollars to Trump-aligned political groups,” said Rick Claypool, a research director for Public Citizen and author of the report. “The scale of these contributions raises fundamental questions about what corporations are expecting when they invest heavily in a political operation, especially when it involves the President of the United States.”

Public Citizen’s Corporate Enforcement Tracker is an online resource for watchdogging the Trump administration’s cancellation of federal enforcement actions brought against corporations prior to President Trump’s second term.

In response to the outcome of the pre-COP summit in Fiji, Oxfam Climate Policy Lead Nafkote Dabi said:

“These talks were an underwhelming precursor to the summit in Türkiye next month. The absence of leaders from the richest and most polluting countries sends a dangerous signal that the global commitment to tackling the climate crisis is wavering.

“While rich governments fail to take responsibility for climate action, the world faces an onslaught of climate disasters. Devastating heatwaves in Europe claimed thousands of lives this summer, while a lethal combination of El Niño and existing climate breakdown leaves millions of people facing hunger across the Horn of Africa and Latin America.

Leaders cannot spend another COP sidestepping their climate commitments. At COP31, rich governments must increase their climate finance commitments and hold the richest polluters accountable.”

Oxfam Australia’s Policy and Advocacy Lead Josie Lee said:

“For Australian leaders to leave the pre-COP talks without a single substantial funding pledge, merely repackaging previously committed funding, is irresponsible, and falls short of the bold leadership it promised. Australia spends ten times more on fossil fuels subsidies than it does supporting its neighbors to act on climate change.

“We cannot claim to be a responsible regional partner while continuing to prioritize support for coal oil and gas over adequate climate finance. Oxfam Australia is calling on the Government to demonstrate real solidarity with its Pacific neighbors, by putting money on the table and taking responsibility for our share of the climate crisis.”

Executive Director of Oxfam in the Pacific Eunice Wotene said:

“Our hope for hosting pre-COP in the Pacific was that leaders of historically polluting countries would see for themselves the losses and damages with which we are grappling and take decisive action. We urge leaders to take these observations onward to COP31 to ensure the richest countries, corporations and individuals are held accountable for their disproportionate role in the climate crisis.”

Social Security Works Executive Director Alex Lawson had the following response to the news that Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton discussed cuts to Social Security in private conversations in Washington, as revealed in leaked audio published by the Texas Tribune:

“It's disgusting that Ken Paxton is laughing while planning to cut Social Security benefits for everyone in this country, including the nearly 5 million Texans who rely on Social Security and the 1.3 million Texans who Social Security keeps out of poverty.

“This is a sick man who thinks it’s a joke to push over a million Texans into poverty by stealing their hard-earned benefits. This is a man who should not be allowed anywhere near the levers of power, since clearly he thinks working people are a joke to be laughed at with the billionaire donors he works for.”

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is inviting proposals from consultants or teams to examine how African seed systems are financed and strengthen the evidence on the economic benefits of farmer managed seed systems and agroecology.

Building on AFSA’s existing research, the study will map public, private and philanthropic funding, identify who benefits, and assess how finance could better support farmers. It will examine yields, production costs, household income and profitability, alongside wider outcomes for climate resilience, nutrition, biodiversity and livelihoods.

The assignment will combine desk research and remote interviews with 8–10 proposed case studies, including at least four newly documented cases developed with AFSA members and other networks. Findings will inform practical recommendations for donors, development finance institutions and philanthropic foundations, with clear recognition of evidence gaps and trade-offs.

The proposed duration is 14 weeks from contract signature. Applicants should demonstrate expertise in African agriculture, seed systems or agroecology, financial analysis and evidence synthesis, alongside strong English writing skills and capacity for French-language engagement.

To apply, submit a technical proposal, itemised budget, CVs, two relevant research or writing samples, and references from comparable assignments.

Deadline: 30 October 2026
Email: afsa@afsafrica.org
Subject line: Proposal for African seed systems and financial flows study

Read the full terms of reference.

Food Systems for the Future (FSF) Institute wants to make grocery retail work for all communities. According to the organization’s Founder and CEO Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, municipally-supported grocery stores may be part of the solution to the food affordability crisis.

Publicly-owned or -supported grocery stores are designed to lower the cost of groceries, helping to make them more affordable for communities. The approach has attracted growing attention following the announcement of New York City’s plan to open a publicly-supported grocery store in each borough. States from Kansas to Illinois have also explored the solution, but success has varied, with some businesses struggling to break even. 

“What happens if the economics don’t work before the store opens?” Cousin asks, arguing that some areas have overlooked or failed to focus on establishing a sustainable framework. “If you insert subsidies, but you don’t insert the operational capacity that is necessary…the stores close.”

In Atlanta, Georgia, however, Cousin sees a model that seems to be working. Azalea Fresh Market is not municipally-owned; rather the store is publicly supported and independently operated. 

The local government provided the capital needed to construct the store along with guarantees for low-interest operating capital to stock the shelves and hire employees. They also identified a strong operator that knows how to run a successful grocery store and has a relationship with the community. “That has potential for longevity,” Cousin tells Food Tank. 

Grocery prices in the United States are up by nearly 33 percent compared to 2019, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the same time, healthcare, transportation, and housing costs are rising while millions of households have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

It’s not just low-income families who are struggling, says Cousin, who sees more people making difficult choices about what to put in their shopping cart. “We also have economically distressed households that are what we often call the working poor and up to middle-income households…who are now beginning to feel the pinch of affordability.” 

Government-supported food retailers may not be a silver bullet to solve this, but they are “part of the answer,” Cousin explains. 

FSF Institute recently held its second Grocery Retail for All Summit to bring together leaders from across sectors to identify practical, scalable solutions already working in communities across the country. Cousin believes that it’s important to build a “platform of information” so that retailers, nonprofits, and governments “are not constantly reinventing the wheel.” Needs may be context-specific, she says, but lessons can be adapted to create retail models that endure. 

Ultimately, Cousin tells Food Tank, “it’s not the opening of the grocery store that should be celebrated. It’s the resilience and longevity of the operation of that grocery store.” 

Listen to the full conversation with Ertharin Cousin on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear more about the growing food crisis, alternative models of food retail, and legislative solutions for food access.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The post Opening a Grocery Store Is Only the Beginning: Making Food Retail Work for Communities appeared first on Food Tank.

This week on Talking Headways we are sharing Part 1 of our conversation with Reece Martin of The Transit Brief in Toronto at the Mpact Transit + Community Conference. We discuss China’s transit expansion, the politics and impacts of fare policy, construction costs around the globe, the US’s existential crisis and the material benefits of progress.

Avid listeners know the drill: Press play on the audio player embedded below, read an AI-generated transcript here, or digest the edited excerpt at the end of this post.

Reece Martin: The US is clearly in a civilizational struggle with China — and it’s like, hey, they’re building all this stuff, and you can’t build even highways? Even if you think that the right thing for the US to do is just build more car infrastructure, you can’t even do that.

The state is geriatric. It’s run by geriatrics. It’s an existential problem. You wanna build defense infrastructure. You wanna build transportation infrastructure, energy infrastructure — and you just can’t because of all of this proceduralism and various other problems, right?

The things that would let you build more subways, would let you build more housing, and would let you do all these other things. And I think it would make the United States a better place, a more dynamic place, right? And it’s good for the economy, right? I’m reading a fantastic book, I recommend everyone goes and reads it. It’s called Order Without Design, by Alain Bertaud.

He’s French. My French pronunciation, despite being Canadian, is horrendous. It’s great. But it’s also quite interesting because urban issues are very progressive-coded, and he’s like a total market fundamentalist, and it’s great. We impose so many constraints on ourselves, and if you actually didn’t, you would probably get better, more dynamic cities.

Cities are what creates great dynamic economies. And you look at a place like New York in the early 20th century — that’s the dream, right? They’re building a ton of infrastructure, building a ton of housing. The city was growing. It was getting denser.

It was getting more dynamic, like what Chinese cities are experiencing now, right? It’s the same thing. It’s a state-led process, whereas in the US and in London as well, this was actually run by private companies initially. And to some extent, New York subway expansion was kinda killed by the city getting involved and then kind of building all of these redundant parallel lines to the private operators.

You need to create that dynamism that lets cities grow. Look at Austin or Atlanta. They would be better cities if they had great transit systems because it would create competition. Even if you’re a driver — it’s like, well, if the roads are too busy, if they’re not improving, then I’ll just get on the train.

But because that doesn’t exist, your whole city just suffers as a result. And so I think that something that is healthy in Ontario and in Canada more broadly is that transit and transportation, while it’s still politically contentious, nobody disagrees that you need to build this stuff.

Jeff Wood: My wife’s Chinese. We’ve been going back every year. I usually spend about a month there, and it’s just eye-opening to go and see what’s happening in Shenzhen or even Hong Kong or even in northern cities.

Her city is the main city in a province, and it’s a small city compared to Beijing and Shanghai, but it has two new subway lines. And just seeing that and how the people are responding to that.

I interviewed Olivia Plotnick, who is an American from Oregon living in China. She’s been living there for the last 10 years. She’s a brand specialist, and she did this trip where she went to 30 cities in three months using high-speed rail. And I asked her: “Well, what do people think about this?” And she said, “I talked to the cab drivers, and they think it’s amazing.”

All the high-speed rail, all the infrastructure, they can see things happening. They can see more customers. And on her side, where she talks about brands and new brands, the second tier of Chinese cities, there’s a competition between these brands that are starting up because of all the infrastructure that’s happening.

And there’s a discussion about not only building the infrastructure, but about how we can make our regions better because of the infrastructure we’ve already built. How can we create better biotech investment? Well, let’s create a cluster of cities outside of Shanghai that you already connected with subways and with high-speed rail that enhance the ability of people to share information and share ideas to get more patents, those types of things.

And I feel like we’re having that discussion a little bit in the private sector. The folks that are investing in technology are doing things, but it’s not kind of the same way as thinking about how you can connect all these places so that new discussions about technology and investment and all those things can happen.

It’s really frustrating to go and see what they’ve done there and what we’re doing here, and what we’re wasting money on in the United States. And I shouldn’t say here because we’re in Canada. But in the United States, we’re still spending so much money on road expansion and the highway system, and it’s already built out.

It’s completely not valuable anymore to spend more money on it because it’s built out. You need to shift over to something else, like high-speed rail, that’s actually going to connect places and create that vitality and that collision of ideas that we really need.

Reece Martin: I think there’s two things that are pretty interesting. I’m actually a tech guy. I did computer science at university, so I’m not super-cynical about tech, even if AI is a little concerning. You have to sometimes reflect that most of the new technology developed in my life, in terms of the value extracted.

There’s a lot of good biotech. It’s great that we can cure a bunch of cancers that we previously couldn’t. So I don’t wanna be too negative. But if you look at consumer technology and software, which is a huge part of the economy, a lot of this stuff is useful, but a lot of it is actually just net-negative on people’s quality of life.

Like Instagram — the world would probably be better without it, right? There’s a lot of things like that. So you just sort of wonder. You look at China, right? They’ve spent all this money and effort building something. If you live in Portland, and you could go to Seattle for the afternoon, that is gonna make your life better in a way that Instagram is not gonna make your life better. It’s gonna let you live in the real world.

Jeff Wood: Yeah, the tourism there has exploded. People can go to different parts of the country and see some of their sights and ancient sites.

Reece Martin: And that’s good. Imagine if it were easier and cheaper to travel from California to Nevada or California to Arizona. Even politically, these things help people not be crazy because they would interact more with people with different views and from different places. And I think there’s been a real focus on this: How do we extract more money out of people for the latest iPhone? And not: How can we materially improve living standards?

I can see some of this as a Canadian because when I grew up in Vancouver, the SkyTrain system was 40 percent as big as it is today. The city looked totally different. It’s covered in high-rises now. There’s this all-new SkyTrain. There’s new highways and bridges.

The same is true in Toronto and Montréal. If you look at the population of Canada when I was born, it was probably in the high 20 millions. We’re now at 40 million. It would as if the US was at 500 million people, if it had experienced that kind of growth.

There’s housing costs, which are really difficult here. I don’t want to frame it as entirely positive. But you just recognize that positive progress is possible. When I was growing up, you couldn’t just take the train to the airport in Vancouver and then take into the city from Toronto’s airport. Now you can.

Next year it’ll be Montréal. This constant sense of progress and more options, more accessibility, more people that you can meet every year. When people don’t have that experience of living in a society that has so much forward progress and momentum, I think they underrate how valuable it is.

Even if you are a cab driver and you’re a bit worried about what you’re gonna do — well, so much is happening. I’m gonna figure it out, right? It’s a positive for all of society.

Major work by regional planners is focused on flexible access to existing transmission. Some say greater emphasis on advanced transmission technologies can quickly and cost-effectively create room for new large loads.

The renewal of the mandate helps preserve a vital institutional space within the United Nations for the defence and promotion of peasants’ rights.

The post Another Victory at the UN: The Mandate of the Working Group on the Rights of Peasants Has Been Renewed by a Large Majority! appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

The post Millions Face Punishing Heating Bills. They Shouldn’t Be Left Behind. appeared first on ACEEE | American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

It’s easy to see the appeal of small, light-weight binoculars. Whether you’re a new birder looking for your first bins at a reasonable price point or a serious lister hoping for a more portable...

In North America, data centers are boosting the long-term investment case for energy storage and renewables as gas turbine backlogs and rising fuel volatility drive up peaking costs, according to a Thursday note from Wood Mackenzie.

Slow Food NYC will bring together New York City food businesses, producers, chefs, and community members on October 19 for SnailFest 2026. The annual event celebrates its Snail of Approval awardees and their work to advance good, clean, and fair food.

The event, which takes place at Eataly SoHo, includes a cocktail reception and a seasonal multi-course dinner. The evening will support Slow Food NYC’s efforts to build a more sustainable and equitable local food system through education, advocacy, and community engagement.

“Slow Food NYC exists because good, clean, and fair food doesn’t happen by accident. It takes real people, showing up every day, making hard choices about how they source and serve,” says Richa Mehra, Vice Chair of Slow Food NYC. “SnailFest is our chance to celebrate our Snail of Approval awardees who do this work every day and bring them together in one room with our larger community. The energy at last year’s inaugural event was so special, and we’re excited to build on that this year!”

The Snail of Approval program recognizes New York City restaurants, bars, retailers, food producers, and other food and beverage businesses that demonstrate a commitment to Slow Food’s principles. Awardees are evaluated on practices around sourcing, environmental impact, cultural connection, community involvement, staff support, and business values.

Awardees include businesses such as Brooklyn Packers, Café Paulette & Petite Paulette, Eataly, Farm to People, GrowNYC, Matriark Foods, Norwich Meadows Farm, Oko Farms, Osteria 57, Roscioli, and The Meat Hook, among dozens of other New York City food businesses.

SnailFest 2026 will take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Eataly SoHo in Manhattan. Tickets can be purchased here, and include food, drinks, and access to the silent auction.

Articles like the one you just read are made possible through the generosity of Food Tank members. Can we please count on you to be part of our growing movement? Become a member today by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Anne Preble, Unsplash

The post Slow Food NYC Celebrates Good, Clean, and Fair Food appeared first on Food Tank.

“A capability to continuously track whether a project enters into service ... or is delayed, reduced, or cancelled, can help assign costs for new generation to the customers responsible for those investments,” the DOE said in a rare filing at FERC.

The District of Columbia should review its renewable portfolio standard requirements, with solar credits adding about $20 to monthly electric bills, writes Joy Ditto, former American Public Power Association CEO.

Researchers have given wallpapers a purpose beyond aesthetics. In a new paper published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials, a team of engineers from Binghamton University reports a wall-mounted panel that can convert humidity in indoor air into electrical power.

The concept could lead to a solution for generating electricity while controlling indoor humidity, said electrical and computer engineer Seokheun Choi in a press release. “We put a lot of energy into HVAC systems to remove moisture from the air, but if we use this concept, we could reduce or control moisture levels while also generating electricity.”

Small sensors and electronic devices abound in our modern homes and offices. These gadgets consume power ranging from microwatts to milliwatts. Instead of running them on disposable batteries that are made from fraught metals, researchers have been creating power generators that harvest energy from the ambient environment.

Many teams have made devices that harvest energy from human motion, artificial plants that tap into wind flow and raindrops, as well as wood-based generators that convert water flow into electricity. The Binghamton team considered moist-electric generators, which harvest moisture from air and turn it into electric current.

“All previous moist-electric generator devices are for outdoor humidity, because there is a lot of moisture out there that is an excellent energy resource,” Choi said. But the problem with harvesting outdoor humidity is that moisture levels change continuously because of extreme sunlight or weather, he added. So outdoor energy harvesters typically generate very small amounts of power.

 

.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl , .IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {height: auto;position: relative;}.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby:hover , .IRPP_ruby:visited , .IRPP_ruby:active {border:0!important;}.IRPP_ruby .clearfix:after {content: "";display: table;clear: both;}.IRPP_ruby {display: block;transition: background-color 250ms;webkit-transition: background-color 250ms;width: 100%;opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: #eaeaea;}.IRPP_ruby:active , .IRPP_ruby:hover {opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: inherit;}.IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl {background-position: center;background-size: cover;float: left;margin: 0;padding: 0;width: 31.59%;position: absolute;top: 0;bottom: 0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {float: right;width: 65.65%;padding:0;margin:0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text {display: table;height: 130px;left: 0;top: 0;padding:0;margin:0;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.IRPP_ruby .IRPP_ruby-content {display: table-cell;margin: 0;padding: 0 74px 0 0px;position: relative;vertical-align: middle;width: 100%;}.IRPP_ruby .ctaText {border-bottom: 0 solid #fff;color: #0099cc;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .postTitle {color: #000000;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .ctaButton {background: url(https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts-pro/assets/images/next-arrow.png)no-repeat;background-color: #afb4b6;background-position: center;display: inline-block;height: 100%;width: 54px;margin-left: 10px;position: absolute;bottom:0;right: 0;top: 0;}.IRPP_ruby:after {content: "";display: block;clear: both;}Recommended Reading:Clothes that cool you, warm you—and make power as you move

 

Inside homes and buildings however, air typically maintains constant humidity levels between 30–60%. Activities like respiration, cooking and bathing generate added moisture. And, as the team writes in the paper, “wallpaper, with its large continuously exposed surface area and seamless architectural integration, is the most compelling platform to realize” indoor moist-energy generators.

Drawing on Choi’s previously work on papertronics, the researchers the researchers created a new paper-based MEG device. The system is designed to absorb moisture at the periphery and siphon it to the center, where it evaporates. This creates unidirectional moisture transport on a single paper sheet, which results in an electric current flow.

The wallpaper consists of 2 x 2 cm squares of paper. Each has glycerol at the edges to capture moisture from the air. A polymer structure in the intermediate area draws water inward through its small pores. Meanwhile, a wax-treated central region repels liquid water but allows vapor to escape through its tiny pores. All the wiring is on the back of the wallpaper.

For now, the power output is small. A 35-square array produced enough power to run a humidity sensor for about 15 minutes. A much larger 1,596-unit array can run a wireless keyboard with the help of a charge-storing device, while reducing indoor humidity from 38% to 32%, “transforming passive wall surfaces into self-powered, climate-responsive interfaces,” the team writes.

Source: Guangya Yuan, Yang Gao, Seokheun Choi. Moist-Electric Wallpaper With Engineered Unidirectional Moisture Transport for Indoor Energy Harvesting and Humidity Management. Advanced Energy Materials, 2026.

Image: ©Anthropocene Magazine

After witnessing and hearing stories of Pacific islands’ vulnerability to climate change, senior climate officials have promised to strengthen efforts to limit global warming to 1.5C, despite an expected overshoot, and to help the region adapt to rising seas and other impacts.

More than 30 world leaders, ministers, climate negotiators and international development bankers travelled to the sinking atoll nation of Tuvalu on Tuesday before attending the pre-COP31 talks in Fiji, where schoolchildren told them about the effects warming-driven droughts, heatwaves and storms are having on their education.

Australia and the Pacific nations hoped to use the pre-COP to reinforce the urgency of tackling climate change to the officials from around 50 countries who travelled to the region. Fiji’s climate minister, Lynda Tabuya, told a closing press conference on Thursday they had wanted to “bring decision-makers to the climate frontlines”.

Many of those decision-makers said they had been moved by what they had seen and heard this week, and their speeches emphasised the importance of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, a key goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

• Sep 2, 2026 Science UN sets out narrow path back to 1.5C warming after inevitable overshoot Leading scientists say warming must peak at 1.8C to be able to reverse course this century, but current government climate policies are way off track Read more
• Oct 6, 2026 News Pacific leaders rail at climate finance failures after pre-COP trip to Tuvalu Island nations seek invest in their own Pacific Resilience Facility, as they struggle with the red-tape of international climate funds Read more
• Oct 7, 2026 News New Zealand accused of breaching EU trade deal over climate rollbacks The EU’s climate trade rules face their first major test after a green group alleged New Zealand violated binding environmental provisions under its trade deal with the bloc Read more

In September, a UN report acknowledged that the 1.5C threshold will be breached but said temperatures could still be brought back down to that level by the end of the century with stepped-up climate action.

A month ago, Türkiye’s COP31 President Murat Kurum told a press conference in the northern Turkish city of Trabzon that limiting global warming to 1.5C “does not really look possible”, adding that “around 1.5C, that will be a success”. 

But after seeing the “anxiety” of Tuvaluan children and mothers caused by rising seas and the threat to their lives from high tides, Kurum told reporters in Fiji that 1.5C is a “matter of survival –  the survival of cultures, history, memories, your homeland, your homes – it’s that important.” 

“The 1.5C target is in jeopardy and we do not have a single minute, a single day to lose,” he added through an interpreter.

Jacobo Ocharan, head of political strategies at Climate Action Network International, warned that “words of concern will not protect anyone”. “The Pacific has shown the world what is at stake. Now governments must show they are ready to act,” he said. “[COP31 in] Antalya must deliver decisions that change people’s lives for the better.”

$1.5 billion for 1.5C

In Fiji, Kurum echoed the call of Australia and Pacific nations for contributions to the fledgling Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), which aims to use the returns on its investments to fund community climate adaptation projects like water storage, building sea walls and protecting homes from storms. “$1.5 billion for 1.5 degrees will save the Pacific,” he said. “It’s that easy. Life will continue in Tuvalu. Children will be smiling again.”

COP31 President Murat Kurum (left) speaks at a press conference on Thursday 8 October alongside Lynda Tabuya, Chris Bowen and Simon Stiell

Sitting next to him, Fiji’s Tabuya said she was “encouraged” by his words. “$1.5 billion for 1.5. We will hold COP 31 to that,” she said. The PRF has been promised just under $200 million so far – including about $15 million pledged by European and Pacific governments at pre-COP – and is aiming for $500 million by COP31. It has a longer-term target of mobilising $1.5 billion in capital.

After Pacific leaders on Tuesday aired a litany of concerns about the barriers to accessing the global climate finance system, Kurum joined in at Thursday’s press conference. “Justice in climate finance is essential,” he said. “Resources must reach those in need in a timely and accessible manner, not through a lot of red-tape, and we cannot accept that the same countries should always bear the burden.” 

Plan for easier access to climate finance

Australian climate and energy minister Chris Bowen, who is COP31’s president of negotiations, also lamented that “the countries that need the finance the most get it the least”. He said he would ask governments and multilateral development banks to support an access to finance plan for small island states and the world’s poorest nations, launched by Australia on Thursday.

The plan says that while there has been progress in making it easier and quicker to obtain international climate funding, “multiple persistent challenges have continued to limit access to climate finance for developing countries”.

It adds that the amounts available are insufficient to meet climate goals and stresses the need for “grant-based and highly concessional financing”, especially for adaptation and responding to loss and damage. The plan proposes an annual high-level forum on climate finance access to track implementation.

The pre-COP summit closed with an emotional plea from Fiji’s host minister Tabuya. Fighting back tears before finally succumbing, she asked delegates to “carry something of the Pacific with you”.

“Remember the people you met, the stories you heard and why we gathered. This pre-COP draws to a close tonight. Our responsibility does not,” she said to applause.

The post Pre-COP draws attention to Pacific’s climate plight and 1.5C goal appeared first on Climate Home News.

Britain’s new prime minister has said that Brexit was a mistake and that the country should have a much closer relationship with the European Union. But is this possible without the UK again becoming an EU member state? And with the far right on the rise on both sides of the Channel, is there enough political will to undo Brexit?

They were the words many Labour supporters had been longing to hear. 

“Brexit has done more harm than good,” Andy Burnham told the 2026 Labour party conference. Later this year, he would lay out to Britons “what I believe the different options are for Britain’s long-term relationship with our European partners. I will see if we can find consensus around one.”

Yes, a decade after Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU –  and whether that meant the single market and customs union too was entirely unclear in 2016 – Britain is coming back. Maybe. If we can agree on what we want, and if the EU lets us.

The French president Emmanuel Macron welcomed the move, but warned that if the UK rejoined it would have to compromise. “You cannot choose between the freedoms of the Union and you cannot decide to take what suits you and not the rest. So come back.”

Britain can, however, try to sign up to some aspects of the EU without actually rejoining. This approach has plenty of downsides, which is why Brexiteers rejected it after the referendum, but it represents the kind of compromise that might be able to persuade a majority of Britons.

No one seriously pretends that Brexit has not damaged Britain’s economy. The question is how much independence the country is prepared to sacrifice in order to revive the trade and benefits it lost.

The Labour government is already trying to negotiate a better relationship with the EU than Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement offers, though progress has been ponderous. In exchange for “dynamic alignment” on plant and animal health regulations, carbon pricing and electricity, and limited freedom of movement for young people, the UK would get smoother access in these areas.

A partial return?

Rejoining the customs unionwould mean that the UK could no longer set its own tariffs on imports and would have to abandon the ones it has negotiated since 2020. Like Turkey, it would have to agree a bespoke arrangement with the EU. This would cut a lot of paperwork, especially in manufacturing. But whether it could boost growth much would depend on the scope of the deal. This, in turn, would depend on the degree of regulatory alignment and the EU’s demands.

Another alternative, known as the “Norway” or “Swiss” option, would return the UK to the single market, but means paying into the EU budget (Margaret Thatcher famously negotiated a rebate, which the UK would be unlikely to repeat) and accepting freedom of movement. 

Andy Burnham’s rhetoric on immigration has been confusing. In his conference speech, he said immigration control had been “weakened by Brexit”. He was probably talking about the fact that Brexit means the UK can no longer return people who arrive on small boats to France. This is correct, but glosses over the practical and diplomatic difficulties of doing so. Alternatively, Burnham may have been implying that losing access to EU workers, who can move about freely without the need for visas, had forced the UK to recruit people from Asia and Africa instead. This is also true. But the desire to have more control over immigration was a main reason for the Brexit vote.

Burnham would need to convince sceptics that, because Central European countries are richer than they were in the 2000s, freedom of movement would not lead to another wave of new arrivals from the EU. He could point to the fact that only Britain, Sweden, and Ireland chose not to impose restrictions on those workers, which is why so many came. And he is right to imply that Brexit has not “solved” tensions over immigration, even if it has given Britain more control over legal migration. It is now Britons’ top concern.

But the EU could decide – as Macron hinted – that if Britain wants to rejoin the single market, it will have to go the whole way and sign up to the EU again. Simon Usherwood, a professor of politics at the Open University, thinks the EU would probably block the Norway option. 

“Negotiations would involve a lot of UK asking for exemptions and EU pushing back, partly because classic cherry-picking line, and partly because of precedents for other European Economic Area [EEA] states,” he says. Meanwhile, Norway and Switzerland may oppose it because the EEA is “designed for small, less-politicised countries”.

On the other hand, since the UK would have to accept EU rules without having any say in making them, we would no longer be able to try to veto the bloc – as we did in 2011 – or elect pro-Brexit MEPs like Nigel Farage who sought to disrupt it from within. The EU might appreciate that.

“Full-fat” rejoin

This has the advantage of clarity. It would give Britain full voting rights and is the obvious riposte to the question: “What’s the point of just rejoining the single market, when it means signing up to EU rules and getting no say?” Polling suggests that a pledge to rejoin the EU would win back voters whom Burnham needs, especially in Scotland and Wales.

“Half-baked calls to enter a customs union or join the single market won’t bring the transformational economic heft to avoid further drift and decline, or the political payoff to prevent Nigel Farage’s Reform UK gaining power,” says Naomi Smith, the chief executive of the pro-rejoin pressure group Best for Britain. “The choice Burnham must face is whether to go big – or go nowhere at all.”

But Burnham also knows that pro-Brexit parties are currently polling at 45 percent of the vote. And public support for rejoin fluctuates depending on what people perceive it to involve. If it means joining the euro, support falls. It will be hard to convince the public that the pound is safe if membership depends on committing to the single currency.

Then comes the question of whether Brussels will have enough confidence in Britain to start a rejoin process. Since all the right-wing parties are opposed to it, the UK can hardly be relied upon in the medium to long term. The irony is that the EU has also changed since Britain left. Far-right, often Eurosceptical, parties are on the rise. The single market will probably endure, but would the Labour party want to rejoin a bloc where France, Germany and Spain might all have far-right leaders?

The thought of another referendum is also unwelcome. It is difficult to argue that since Britain held a referendum on whether to join (in 1975) and leave (in 2016), it could rejoin without holding another one. Few of us will relish the culture wars it would probably stoke. Arguably, the amount of time Westminster spent on Brexit left some serious domestic problems to fester.

Among some Britons, too, there is a degree of stubbornness allied with an element of the sunk cost fallacy: we made our bed, so we might as well lie in it.

Burnham’s speech was the first piece of good news pro-rejoiners had had for a decade. No wonder they are excited. But they are going to need an awful lot of stamina.

This article was first published by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union. The views and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue.

Land, collective work, and organization are the pillars of an unprecedented cooperative experience: 14,000 tons of pesticide-free rice, reaching thousands of people, purchased by the government, and even exported.

The post Brazil | Towards the massification of agroecology appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.