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Britain’s new prime minister announced in his first week that he will cut the cost of public transport and electricity, making lower-emission technologies like bus travel, electric vehicles and heat pumps more affordable for voters. But some of the funding for those policies will come from the budget for international climate finance, the government has said, raising concerns about fairness.

Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham took over from Keir Starmer as Labour Party leader and prime minister on Monday, appointing climate advocates Ed Miliband as foreign and development minister and Miatta Fahnbulleh as climate and energy minister.

On Tuesday, Burnham said his government would cut the value added tax (VAT) households and some small businesses pay on their electricity bills from 5% to zero from October 1, saving households £45 ($60) a year.

On Wednesday, he said the maximum fare bus companies in England can charge for a single journey will be reduced from £3 ($4) to £2 from January 1, 2027. The government said the subsidies to achieve this would be mostly funded by switching money set aside for overseas climate finance projects from grants to loans. It did not give further information in its announcement, while the UK’s transport minister told Sky News the plan was still being worked out.

Climate Home News has since learned that the money will come from a change in the form of a contribution to a new international fund to protect rainforests. The British government is expected soon to announce £400 million (about $533m) for the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) that was launched by Brazil late last year.

The UK’s finance ministry had originally planned to provide this sum as a grant, but will now offer it as a loan instead. The TFFF plans to invest its seed capital in financial markets and then reimburse wealthy donor governments while paying forest countries to keep their trees standing.

• Jul 3, 2026 News Tropical forest protection fund at risk after UK stalls on pledge The Brazil-led TFFF was launched at COP30 as an innovative financial model to keep rainforests standing, but is still short on startup cash Read more
• May 14, 2026 Finance UK halves Green Climate Fund contribution, as it spends more on security After promising £1.6 billion to the UN’s flagship climate fund in 2023, the UK government has now said it will only hand over half as much Read more
• Jun 24, 2026 News EU, UK lead push for electrification as “powerful weapon” against fossil fuels A group of dozens of countries seeks to build momentum for a COP31 pledge to electrify 35% of global energy use by 2035 as an alternative to fossil fuels Read more

The floated changes to the climate finance budget were immediately criticised by groups working on climate justice for developing countries, including Bond, the UK network for NGOs, which described the decision as “disappointing”.

“Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not the answer and pitches marginalised communities in the UK against marginalised communities in lower-income and climate-vulnerable countries,” BOND CEO Romilly Greenhill said in a statement. “Climate finance must not worsen the debt burden of countries that are already suffering the worst – and most costly – impacts of a climate crisis they did not cause.”

Hunt for money

Burnham promoted both policies as measures to combat the rising cost of living and “give people breathing space”, with climate campaigners and industry groups noting they are also likely to reduce the UK’s climate-heating emissions by encouraging bus travel and the use of electric vehicles and heating.

But the hurried policy announcements sparked thorny questions remain over how they will be paid for. The government said Tuesday’s VAT cut for electricity would be funded by scrapping the previous government’s digital ID programme, but Darren Jones, a former minister involved with that policy, said it had been “unfunded” – a statement that dominated media coverage.

A day later, the government said the new bus fare cap would cost £454 million ($606m). Transport minister Heidi Alexander told Sky News that £54 million would be taken from an under-spend in the budget of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and £400 million would come from changing unspecified international climate finance from grants to loans. The details “still need to be worked through”, she said, adding that the government “had wanted to make an announcement today”.

Mohamed Adow, director of Nairobi-based think-tank Power Shift Africa, said “climate finance was never meant to be a pot of money that governments raid when they need to pay for domestic spending”.

Speaking on television, minister Alexander added, “We’re not wanting to fleece anyone here, and we actually want to maximise the development potential of this money that is available.”

Mohamed Adow speaking on the official final day of COP29. (Photo: UNFCCC/Kiara Worth)

Aside from the controversy over their funding, the policies themselves were widely welcomed by climate campaigners. Jess Ralston, energy lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said the tax cut on electricity bills “could help households to switch to electric heat pumps, protecting UK homes from becoming ever more exposed to the whims of Putin and Trump when turning on their gas boiler”.

The last few months have seen global momentum build behind electrification, spurred by the US-Iran war disrupting oil and gas supplies and driving up prices. The Turkish and Australian COP31 presidencies have announced a global target to boost electrification, backed by the European Union, Canada, Philippines, UK and others.

Campaigners call for lower power prices

While reaction to the VAT cut was supportive, some questioned whether £45 a year of savings per household is enough and called for more measures to cut electricity bills.

Friends of the Earth’s energy lead Imogen Dow said those on the lowest incomes should be given cheaper electricity through a “social tariff” and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank – which is close to the Labour Party – said levies on energy bills should be shifted to general taxation.

Matthew Paterson, a politics professor at Manchester University, told Climate Home News that the most effective way to reduce electricity bills is to take on the UK’s private electricity companies, while consumer-oriented measures like the VAT cut are “tinkering around the edges”.

Jarrod Birch, head of policy and public affairs for the EV charging industry association Charge UK, said that while the policy would make home-charging cheaper, people who charge their vehicles at public points will still have to pay 20% VAT. The UK’s tax authority is fighting a court ruling that ordered it to reduce the tax motorists pay on public chargers to the current household rate of 5%.

Further measures will be the responsibility of Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Miatta Fahnbulleh, who is relatively new to politics after a career at left-wing, pro-climate think tanks the IPPR and the New Economics Foundation.

Fahnbulleh and Healey leave 10 Downing Street following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first cabinet meeting, on July 21, 2026 in London, England. (Photo: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images)

Michael Jacobs, political economy professor at Sheffield University and former adviser to UK Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, said Fahnbulleh would be a “climate advocate” who would continue the “progressive climate agenda” of her predecessor Ed Miliband.

“She’s a very creative policy wonk so I expect there to be lots of policy innovation under her,” he said, “I think she will be looking at new ways to encourage take-up of heat pumps and domestic batteries.”

Aid budget in Miliband’s hands

Despite reports he could be made finance minister, Miliband has been appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Miliband has attended many climate COP meetings over several decades, most recently representing the UK at COP29 and COP30, and has been targeted by the right-wing media for his support for climate action and opposition to new oil and gas drilling in the UK’s part of the North Sea.

In his new role, Miliband will be responsible for the UK’s overseas aid budget including its international climate finance, which the Starmer government had slashed to fund increases in defence spending.

UK cuts support for climate action abroad to fund military instead

Jacobs said he expected Miliband to prioritise climate and development in the UK’s foreign policy and to push Burnham and new finance minister John Healey to reverse Starmer’s aid cuts.

But there are fears Healey could try to cut the aid budget further to fund the military. Healey was a surprise pick for Chancellor of the Exchequer and grabbed headlines when he resigned as Starmer’s defence minister in June over what he saw as insufficient defence spending.

This article was updated after publication on July 24, clarifying how the UK plans to free up $400 million from its climate finance budget.

The post Will new UK PM’s green measures at home cause climate finance pain overseas? appeared first on Climate Home News.

This article is part of Food Tank’s primer series, “Food Tank Explains.” Each installment unpacks the ideas, innovations, and challenges shaping today’s food and agriculture systems, offering clear insights into complex topics. To explore more articles in the series, click here.

Organic farming intends to maintain and improve healthy soils, support ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity through a combination of cultural, biological, and mechanical farming practices.

Although organic agriculture is defined, regulated, and certified differently across countries and institutions, a core value of organic farming is working in harmony with nature. Organic standards typically prohibit or strictly limit many synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and synthetic growth hormones.

Instead, farmers build soil fertility with practices like composting, cover cropping, and crop rotation. Healthy soils support plants that are more resistant to pest pressure and can attract populations of beneficial insects, according to the Rodale Institute.

More serious pest problems are managed with methods like applying pheromones to disturb pest mating cycles, or mechanical controls like trapping. Organic livestock standards also generally require greater access to the outdoors and practices that support animal welfare.

Because of bans or limits on artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, organic systems often require less fossil fuel-derived inputs. This means they also have a lower carbon footprint compared to conventional agriculture. In a 40-year trial, Rodale Institute found that organic farming systems used 45 percent less energy than conventional systems while maintaining crop yields.

Organic practices that foster soil health also help increase carbon sequestration. A review of 400 studies comparing thousands of farms shows that organic systems contain higher levels of stable soil organic carbon and produce lower nitrous oxide emissions than conventional agriculture. And according to Soil Association research, organic farms have on average 44 percent more soil carbon, and 50 percent more wildlife.

Yazen Al Komadi, an organic farmer based in the United Arab Emirates, likes to show the tangible benefits of organic farming systems to his farm’s visitors. “We’re not trying to use scare tactics about sustainability or chemicals,” he tells Food Tank. Instead, he encourages them to feel the difference in their soil, admire the insects living under their feet, and take in crop diversity.

Research also suggests that organic farming can make agricultural systems more resilient. By increasing organic matter in the soil, organic farming improves water infiltration by 15–20 percent, helping crops better withstand drought and heavy rainfall, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. In the Rodale Institute’s Farming Systems Trial, organic crop yields were as much as 40 percent higher than conventional yields during drought years.

“I think that folks are realizing that what you do to the planet, you do to yourself,” Matthew Dillon, the Co-CEO of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), tells Food Tank. “I want us to think about organic not just as an investment in any given season, but an investment in the future generations.”

Organic certification requirements vary across countries, but they generally establish standards for how food is produced, processed, and labeled. In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program requires crops to be grown on land that has been free of prohibited substances for at least three years before harvest.

Farmers must prioritize practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, and biological pest management, while genetic engineering, sewage sludge, and ionizing radiation are prohibited. Livestock must receive certified organic feed, year-round access to the outdoors, and preventive health care. Products bearing the USDA Organic seal must contain at least 95 percent certified organic ingredients.

As U.S. eaters become increasingly concerned about the overuse and misuse of pesticides, interest in alternative practices is growing, says Kathleen Merrigan, Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. “I think [that] will cause more and more people to look at organic and I think that’s a great thing,” she tells Food Tank.

Under the European Commission Organic Farming regulations, artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides are banned unless explicitly pre-approved by the European Commission, and crops are required to be rotated. Soil Association Certification is the United Kingdom’s leading organic certifier, certifying around 70 percent of all organic food.

Canada regulates organic claims only for products traded across provincial or international borders. Across much of Africa, organic certification remains closely tied to export markets, and national legal frameworks range from comprehensive legislation to voluntary standards that continue to evolve.

Global temperatures are rising, precipitation patterns are changing, and pest populations are developing pesticide resistance. That’s why the Rodale Institute believes now is the time to transition to organic practices.

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 Divaris Shirichena, Unsplash

The post Food Tank Explains: Organic Agriculture appeared first on Food Tank.

• July 22, 2026

Climate Blind, Weakly Regulated And Costly: SANPC Bill Is Not In Public Interest

The Green Connection recently submitted written comments to Parliament calling for the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC) Bill to be withdrawn. The eco-justice organisation warns that the proposed legislation could deepen South Africa’s dependence on oil and gas, while simultaneously weakening public oversight and exposing taxpayers to major environmental clean up costs. The Bill would establish a single state owned oil and gas company – consolidating iGas, PetroSA and the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) responsible for oil and gas exploration, production, storage, transport and sales, including through new liquefied natural gas infrastructure in South Africa and abroad.

“The Bill would place an exceptionally broad range of oil and gas functions in the hands of a single state-owned entity – making strong oversight, transparency and public accountability essential. That level of power is especially concerning because the Bill is climate-blind at precisely the moment when South Africa’s laws and international commitments require climate accountability."

"It is not only shocking but very concerning that the Bill does not refer to climate change, not once, despite South Africa having recently enacted a Climate Change Act. Section 7 of the Act - which came into operation in March 2025 - requires government departments to review and if necessary revise, coordinate and harmonise their laws and policies to ensure that the risks of climate change are taken into consideration, and to give effect to the principles and objects of the Act (including climate change mitigation and adaptation). Ignoring climate change in a Bill of this magnitude is not merely an oversight because, fundamentally, it undermines the whole-of-government approach that South Africa has committed to."

"By failing to acknowledge the climate crisis, the Bill risks locking the country into long-term fossil fuel infrastructure when public policy should be accelerating a fair shift away from oil and gas." Lisa Makaula The Green Connection Advocacy and Programmes Lead

Makaula also highlights a separate but equally important concern relating to PetroSA’s substantial legacy decommissioning and rehabilitation liabilities. She says, “These obligations are estimated to cost around R10 billion, yet only about R3 billion has reportedly been set aside. And since the Bill is contradictory on whether these liabilities will transfer to the new SANPC, along with PetroSA’s valuable rights and assets, or if it will be left behind in an underfunded PetroSA severed from its revenue streams, taxpayers could eventually end up footing these very expensive bills.”

Notably, in an April 2024 media statement the then-Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (now the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources) indicated that to kickstart the operations of the new entity, a ‘lease and assign model’ was being proposed to ‘strategically select what is leased and assigned to the SANPC by ring-fencing or isolating PetroSA’s legacy assets such as decommissioning liability and current operating challenges of the Gas to Liquid Refinery’.

The Green Connection further cautions that future oil and gas revenues could bypass the national budget. The State is entitled to a 20% carried interest in future oil and gas projects – a direct stake in production, separate from taxes and royalties. Under the Bill, revenue from this stake would flow directly to the new company to fund its operations, instead of being paid into the National Revenue Fund where Parliament normally determines how public money is spent. The organisation recommends that any such revenues be paid into the National Revenue Fund, or into a transparent,
ring-fenced statutory fund dedicated to the just transition, decommissioning and rehabilitation.

“There are several strong reasons that Parliament should withdraw the SANPC Bill. However, if it should proceed, the Bill must be fundamentally amended to protect the public interest, strengthen oversight and ensure that any oil and gas revenues support the just transition – not further fossil fuel expansion,” Lisa Makaula The Green Connection Advocacy and Programmes Lead

Compared with an earlier 2023 version of the Bill, several oversight safeguards appear to have been removed. These include requirements for government approval of subsidiaries, foreign transactions and new funding sources, as well as stronger checks on the appointment and removal of senior executives. The Green Connection says these changes are concerning in light of South Africa’s recent experience of state capture and corruption at state-owned entities.

The submission also raises additional governance and process concerns, including the absence of dedicated board representation for affected communities or civil society, weak rules for disqualifying unsuitable board members, unclear whistle-blower protections and reduced checks on senior appointments. The Green Connection has asked Parliament to confirm whether the Bill should have been referred to the provinces because of its potential environmental and community impacts, and whether it should first have been considered by NEDLAC, given its significance for economic policy, labour, business and communities.

“Coastal communities and small-scale fishers are already living with the consequences of risky ocean and energy decisions. Any new state-owned energy company must be accountable to the people most affected by its decisions. Communities should not be left out of governance, consultation or the benefits of public resources.” Neville Van Rooy The Green Connection Outreach Ambassador

The Green Connection has requested the opportunity to make an oral submission when public hearings are held.

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The Green Connection administrator February 28, 2025 Latest News Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South).

February 28, 2025 Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South). Just

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November 17, 2024 WITH CLIMATE TALKS UNDERWAY, WHY MUST CIVIL SOCIETY STILL FIGHT TOTALENERGIES’ FOSSIL FUEL DRILLING IN COURT? As

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The Green Connection administrator February 28, 2025 Latest News Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South).

February 28, 2025 Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South). Just

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The Green Connection administrator November 6, 2024 Past News TO PROTECT OCEANS AND LIVELIHOODS, WESTERN CAPE HIGH COURT SET TO HEAR ANOTHER CASE AGAINST TOTALENERGIES DRILLING PLANS IN SOUTH AFRICAN WATERS

November 6, 2024 TO PROTECT OCEANS AND LIVELIHOODS, WESTERN CAPE HIGH COURT SET TO HEAR ANOTHER CASE AGAINST TOTALENERGIES DRILLING

The Green Connection administrator November 17, 2024 Past News WITH CLIMATE TALKS UNDERWAY, WHY MUST CIVIL SOCIETY STILL FIGHT TOTALENERGIES’ FOSSIL FUEL DRILLING IN COURT?

November 17, 2024 WITH CLIMATE TALKS UNDERWAY, WHY MUST CIVIL SOCIETY STILL FIGHT TOTALENERGIES’ FOSSIL FUEL DRILLING IN COURT? As

The Green Connection administrator January 24, 2025 Past News Eskom’s Proposed Retail Tariff Plan: The Green Connection Joins Calls For Energy Justice And Stakeholder Engagement

January 24, 2025 Eskom’s Proposed Retail Tariff Plan: The Green Connection Joins Calls For Energy Justice And Stakeholder Engagement. Photo

The Green Connection administrator February 28, 2025 Latest News Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South).

February 28, 2025 Eco-Justice Organizations Reject Draft Scoping Report For Offshore Drilling On SA’S West Coast (TEEPSA DWOB South). Just

The post Climate Blind, Weakly Regulated And Costly: SANPC Bill Is Not In Public Interest appeared first on The Green Connection.

Headline News:

• “Amazon Forest Fires Fell To All-Time Low In 2025, But Could A Super El Niño Halt Progress?” • Forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon fell to a historic low in 2025 after peaking the previous year, according to a report. MapBiomas found that 3.1 million hectares were burned last year – the smallest area since records began in 1985. [Euronews]

Brazilian Amazon forest (Ian Talmacs, Unsplash)

• “35.5%! LONGi Again Breaks World Record For Crystalline Silicon-Perovskite Tandem Solar Cell Efficiency” • LONGi has announced that its independently developed crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell achieved a conversion efficiency of 35.5%. Certified by the European Solar Test Installation, this sets a new world record. [CleanTechnica]
• “Germany Adds 1.1 GW Of Offshore Wind In H1” • Germany added 1.1 GW of offshore wind capacity in the first six months of 2026, taking its installed offshore wind fleet above the 10-GW mark to 10.8 GW, industry data showed. A total of 84 turbines with a combined capacity of 1,077 MW were commissioned between January and June. [reNews]
• “RWE Notches First Power At Nordseecluster A” • Electricity has been fed into the German grid for the first time from RWE’s 660-MW Nordseecluster A offshore wind farm, a milestone that came just weeks after installation of the first turbine. RWE said installation of Vestas 15-MW turbines is well underway. Full grid connection is scheduled for early 2027. [reNews]
• “Groups Take First Step Toward Lawsuit Against TVA Over Clean Air Act Violations” • The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club, sent a notice of intent to sue to the TVA, warning it that construction of a new methane gas plant near the site of its 70-year-old coal plant violates the Clean Air Act. [CleanTechnica]

For more news, please visit geoharvey – Daily News about Energy and Climate Change.

A majority of Utah’s residents opposed shrinking Bears Ears National Monument before President Donald Trump drastically slashed its size last week, according to multiple polls conducted over the past few years. Those findings contrast with statements from Utah’s political leaders who argued that the cuts reflected what Utahns want.

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments by roughly 90 percent each. He announced the change flanked by members of Utah’s congressional delegation and Governor Spencer Cox, all of them Republicans. Trump’s proclamation said the move “will better align the use of these public lands with the public interest,” citing the region’s deposits of critical minerals such as copper, nickel, and uranium, among others. 

On Monday, hundreds gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion in Salt Lake City to protest the cuts, part of efforts organized by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance across the state to pressure lawmakers. 

The two monuments, which totaled about 3.3 million acres in southern Utah before Trump’s executive orders, were created by Democratic presidents despite protests from Utah’s elected Republican leaders.

During the signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Utah Representative Celeste Maloy, a Republican, said that supporters of shrinking the monuments  included “the locals who are worried about losing multiple uses on these federal lands,” and said that Trump was “listening to the people of Utah” in reducing the size of both monuments.

“It was very unfair to the people of Utah,” Trump said, “and now fairness has been brought back.”

But separate polls conducted before Trump shrank the monuments show that most Utahns and residents of other Mountain West states favored keeping their existing designations.

“It is very contradictive of our findings,” said Michaelann Nelson, a professor of environmental rhetoric at the Utah State University campus in Price. “They’re kind of picking and choosing which Utahns they’re paying attention to and listening to.”

In surveys conducted in 2024 and 2025, researchers with Utah State University found that 61 percent of Utahns either supported or strongly supported preserving Bears Ears as a national monument, with just 19 percent opposed or strongly opposed. Some 53 percent of respondents opposed or strongly opposed reducing Bears Ears, while 26 percent supported the idea. The remaining 21 percent neither supported nor opposed shrinking the monument.

Utah Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, Autumn Gillard of the Piute Indian Tribe of Utah, and others join a rally to protect public lands at the Utah Capitol in January 2025.
Francisco Kjolseth / The Salt Lake Tribune

Nearly half — 46 percent — opposed Utah pursuing legal action to overturn the Bears Ears National Monument designation, which was initially created by President Barack Obama in 2016 under the Antiquities Act. It included 1.35 million acres, but has now been reduced to about 121,000 acres.

Grand Staircase-Escalante wasn’t included in the Utah State University study. President Bill Clinton designated that monument in 1996, and it eventually reached nearly 1.9 million acres after some adjustments by Congress. After Trump’s order to cut the monument last week, it now includes just over 181,500 acres.

Nelson, the lead author of the poll, said she focused her surveys on Bears Ears because it was newer and a bigger focus of Utah politicians’ ire at the time. But she expects Utahns’ sentiments toward Grand Staircase-Escalante are similar.

“In some ways, perhaps [Utahns would be] even more in favor of Grand Staircase,” Nelson said, “just because we’ve existed with it for more than 20 years.”

Jessica Schad, a professor of sociology and the director of the Utah State’s Community and Natural Resources Institute, oversaw the survey efforts. She suspects Utahns’ attitudes toward monuments haven’t shifted much in the months since researchers polled them.

“It seems like this issue has become really politicized,” Schad said, “and our politicians aren’t taking into account what residents are preferring.”

The poll included 468 respondents in Utah, and the university tapped sociologists based in rural parts of the state so the results didn’t overrepresent residents in the more urban Wasatch Front, home to Salt Lake City. “We use high-quality, really rigorous survey methods,” Schad said.

Other surveys conducted across eight Mountain West states showed similar sentiments about national monuments to the Utah State University poll. A total of 91 percent of voters in these states wanted existing national monuments kept in place as of January, compared to 88 percent last year and 80 percent in 2017, according to the annual Conservation in the West Poll conducted by Colorado College.

This year’s study included interviews with voters in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. About 24 percent of respondents lived in rural areas or small towns, 24 percent lived in cities, and the rest lived in suburbs. Politically, 36 percent identified as Republicans, including 35 percent who said they supported MAGA; another 36 percent were independent, and 28 percent were Democrats.

The survey found support for existing national monuments nationwide was strong across party affiliations, backed by 87 percent of Republicans, 92 percent of independents, and 96 percent of Democrats. The share of MAGA supporters who wanted to keep existing national monument designations in place grew from 81 percent in 2025 to 87 percent this year.

“We’ve asked about this many times over the years,” said Lori Weigel, a principal with New Bridge Strategies, a Republican public opinion research group that assists Colorado College with its annual poll. “What we have seen very consistently in the data is that people want additional protections for these public lands.”

The poll also found that voters from both parties wanted to prioritize “conservation, recreation, and renewables over fossil fuel development,” according to a statement accompanying the results. A separate December 2024 survey by New Bridge Strategies found 71 percent of Utah voters supported keeping Bears Ears protected as a national monument, and 74 percent felt the same about Grand Staircase-Escalante. Another 75 percent of Utahns surveyed backed a president’s ability to create more national monuments.

Utah’s politicians, including Cox and Senator Mike Lee, have asserted Democratic presidents went too far in designating the two monuments. The 1906 Antiquities Act allows presidents to protect sites of historic and scientific interest as national monuments, but directs presidents to preserve “the smallest area compatible with the proper care” of those lands.

“These multimillion-acre monuments that are bigger than the state of Delaware certainly do not fit that designation,” Cox said at Monday’s event with Trump.

The designations have brought more visitors to the Bears Ears and Escalante areas, a statement issued by the Utah Senate notes. That puts a strain on land management agencies and law enforcement, causing “degradation” at the sites.

When Trump downsized the two monuments during his first term in 2017, records showed mining companies had lobbied administration officials to reduce the boundaries of Bears Ears. The president’s latest orders both cite a need to mine domestic supplies of critical minerals on public lands as part of the justification for reducing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

During the signing ceremony last week, Trump complained that the previous monument boundaries closed off access to recreation, too. “You can’t do anything. You can’t go hunting. You can’t go fishing. You can’t do anything. You can virtually not even walk on it,” he said.

But the fact is that hunting, fishing, driving off-road vehicles on designated trails, and other recreation are allowed in both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante — activities that are sometimes prohibited at other national monuments. Bears Ears also had an intertribal commission that federal agencies consulted for management of the monument and protection of its resources. Trump’s order disbanded that body.

Nearly 90 percent of Utahns supported Native American tribes having a strong role in managing ancestral lands, according to the 2024 New Bridge Strategies survey, and 81 percent said that the incoming Trump administration should keep agreements with tribes in place for managing Bears Ears.

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This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Most Utahns want to protect their national monuments. Trump had other plans. on Jul 22, 2026.

As the UK emerges from an unprecedented three heatwaves, one of them a record-breaking heatstorm, with public concern rising along with temperatures, the new Prime Minister must put climate breakdown firmly on his agenda.

The impacts of a strengthening El Niño and the war in Iran highlight in the Greater Horn of Africa, an area already beset by prolonged crisis and conflict, factors that are combining with others to potentially create a major, multicountry polycrisis.

As PFAS “forever chemicals” poison water, food, and air worldwide, progress on regulating their use has been significantly delayed – but things are changing.

banyak pengguna internet mencari pengalaman bermain yang cepat, nyaman, dan mudah diakses dari perangkat mobile. Salah satu nama yang belakangan sering menjadi perbincangan di komunitas pecinta game slot adalah Yakuza Honor. Bukan hanya karena tampilannya yang modern, tetapi juga karena dianggap memiliki kombinasi fitur yang ramah pengguna dan pengalaman bermain yang lebih dinamis.

Sebagai pusatnya slot gacor Yakuza Honor, platform ini dikenal menghadirkan berbagai pilihan permainan dengan tema menarik, mulai dari nuansa Asia modern hingga konsep petualangan yang penuh efek visual. Bagi pengguna baru, tampilan antarmuka yang sederhana menjadi nilai tambah karena memudahkan proses navigasi tanpa perlu memahami banyak menu yang rumit.

Pengalaman Pengguna yang Menjadi Prioritas

Dalam dunia digital saat ini, pengalaman pengguna menjadi faktor utama. Banyak pemain menginginkan proses login yang cepat, akses yang stabil, serta tampilan yang responsif di smartphone maupun desktop. Yakuza Honor menjawab kebutuhan tersebut dengan desain yang ringan dan mudah digunakan.

Berdasarkan pengalaman umum pengguna platform hiburan digital, kenyamanan akses sering kali lebih menentukan dibanding sekadar banyaknya pilihan permainan. Ketika sebuah platform dapat dibuka dengan cepat, memiliki menu yang jelas, dan minim gangguan teknis, pengguna cenderung merasa lebih betah untuk kembali menggunakannya.

Memahami Istilah “Slot Gacor”

Istilah “slot gacor” populer di kalangan komunitas pemain online dan biasanya merujuk pada permainan yang dianggap sedang memberikan hasil yang lebih sering muncul dalam periode tertentu. Namun, penting untuk dipahami bahwa setiap permainan slot menggunakan sistem Random Number Generator (RNG) yang bekerja secara acak.

Artinya, tidak ada metode pasti untuk menjamin kemenangan. Pemahaman ini penting sebagai bagian dari literasi digital dan permainan yang bertanggung jawab. Platform yang baik justru memberikan informasi yang transparan mengenai mekanisme permainan, fitur bonus, serta aturan yang berlaku.

Keunggulan yang Banyak Dibicarakan

Ada beberapa alasan mengapa Yakuza Honor sering disebut sebagai pusat slot gacor oleh komunitasnya:

• Akses mobile yang optimal untuk pengguna Android dan iOS.
• Pilihan tema permainan yang beragam sehingga tidak cepat membosankan.
• Navigasi sederhana yang cocok untuk pemula maupun pemain berpengalaman.
• Update permainan yang rutin sehingga pengguna selalu menemukan konten baru.

Faktor-faktor tersebut lebih berkaitan dengan kualitas pengalaman bermain dibanding klaim kemenangan tertentu. Pendekatan seperti ini sejalan dengan prinsip E-E-A-T karena menempatkan informasi yang realistis dan dapat dipahami pengguna.

Pentingnya Bermain Secara Bertanggung Jawab

Sebagai bagian dari hiburan digital, permainan slot sebaiknya dipandang sebagai sarana rekreasi, bukan sumber pendapatan utama. Menentukan batas waktu bermain dan mengelola anggaran dengan bijak merupakan langkah penting untuk menjaga pengalaman tetap positif.

Pengguna juga disarankan memilih platform yang memiliki informasi layanan yang jelas, dukungan pelanggan yang mudah dihubungi, serta kebijakan penggunaan yang transparan. Hal-hal tersebut menjadi indikator penting dalam menilai kredibilitas sebuah layanan digital.

Kesimpulan

Yakuza Honor berhasil menarik perhatian banyak pengguna karena menghadirkan pengalaman bermain yang praktis, modern, dan mudah diakses. Sebagai pusatnya slot gacor Yakuza Honor, daya tarik utamanya tidak hanya terletak pada popularitas permainan, tetapi juga pada kenyamanan akses, variasi konten, dan fokus terhadap pengalaman pengguna.

Dengan memahami cara kerja permainan secara objektif dan menerapkan prinsip bermain yang bertanggung jawab, pengguna dapat menikmati hiburan digital dengan lebih aman dan nyaman. Pendekatan inilah yang membuat Yakuza Honor terus menjadi salah satu nama yang paling sering diperbincangkan di komunitas slot online saat ini.

Initiative Will Reduce Emissions in Hard-to-Electrify Sectors Including Transportation and Industry

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today announced $8 million is now available to advance innovative alternative fuel solutions in New York through the State’s Advanced Fuels & Thermal Energy program. This initiative supports the development of resources and infrastructure for low-carbon fuels, such as clean hydrogen or ammonia, which can reduce emissions in hard-to-electrify sectors of the economy, such as heavy-duty transportation and industry, or provide zero-emission backup power.

NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen M. Harris said, “Investing in emerging fuels shows promise to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in transportation, manufacturing and other energy-intensive industries. NYSERDA is doing its due diligence by exploring the best concepts and designs to integrate clean hydrogen, ammonia and other fuels to provide zero-emission energy to reach areas of our economy that are hard to electrify.”

Public Service Commission Chair and CEO Rory M. Christian said, “This funding recognizes that advancing the deployment of alternative fuels can address a critical technological gap and strengthen the state’s economy. Supporting innovation which targets hard-to-electrify uses and sectors is in line with Governor Hochul’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy policy.”

NYSERDA’s competitive Large-Scale Non-Drop-In Alternative Fuel-Based Resources and Infrastructure solicitation seeks eligible proposals from individuals or teams of developers, firms, manufacturers and researchers to develop, pilot, or demonstrate clean fuels including hydrogen, ammonia, or other alternative fuel projects requiring new or upgraded equipment or infrastructure for production, distribution and storage.

NYSERDA will accept proposals in two technical areas: (1) Large Scale Alternative Fuel-Based Resources, such as multi-megawatt fuel cells and (2) Alternative Fuel Cell Infrastructure, including fuel production, storage, and distribution systems. Funding is available in two categories: (1) Product Development or (2) Pilot and Demonstration.

Proposals must be submitted with the selection of one primary technical area and one funding area to be considered, and will be evaluated based on technical innovation, project plan, budget, risks, market plan, team capability, and benefits to New York State, including to disadvantaged communities as identified by the Climate Justice Working Group. Projects must demonstrate compliance with applicable safety, regulatory, and industry standards and have a minimum of 50% cost-share from non-NYSERDA funding sources.

Proposals are due by September 28, 2026, by 3:00 p.m. ET.  A complete list of all eligibility rules and evaluation criteria can be found in the solicitation summary on NYSERDA’s website.

Additionally, all applicants have the option of submitting a Letter of Intent to NYSERDA to receive feedback on the eligibility, not merits, of their proposal prior to submitting a final version. Proposers interested in submitting the optional Letter of Intent must do so any time prior to September 7, 2026, by 3:00 p.m. ET.

Today’s announcement supports NYSERDA’s Innovation and Research (I&R) program, which invests over $96 million per year to attract world-class energy innovators, reduce risk for private investors and remove barriers to clean energy adoption in New York State, leveraging $15 in additional investment for every $1 spent. NYSERDA has partnered with over 900 companies that have helped make more than 300 products commercially available for consumers, businesses and utilities.

Funding for this program is provided through the New York State Public Service Commission’s 2025 Innovation and Research Order, which funds statewide clean energy innovation and research programs from 2026 through 2030.

New York State’s Climate Agenda
New York State’s climate agenda calls for an affordable and just transition to a clean energy economy that creates family-sustaining jobs, promotes economic growth through green investments, and directs a minimum of 40 percent of the benefits to disadvantaged communities. New York is advancing a suite of efforts to achieve an emissions-free economy, including in the energy, buildings, transportation, and waste sectors. The State is also working to disburse the historic $2 billion Sustainable Future Program, which will deliver targeted funding to lower emissions, reduce household energy costs, and spur green job growth.

NYSERDA
Since 1975, NYSERDA has been working to advance New York’s energy system and economy. As a public benefit corporation, NYSERDA has served as an objective source for information and technical expertise to drive innovation and investment. NYSERDA professionals have worked to protect the environment and help New Yorkers increase energy efficiency, save money, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. To learn more about NYSERDA’s programs and funding opportunities, visit nyserda.ny.gov.

Workers at the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) coal mine and the wider communities of Singleton and Muswellbrook have been left without a mine exit strategy to manage the social and economic consequences of mine closure after mine operator Glencore and the NSW Department of Planning quietly scrapped a condition requiring the company to develop one.

A call for unity and awareness Channel Comment brendan 22nd July 2026 Teaser Media

TORONTO— ADAM THORN, clean growth director at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the latest U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods: “Recent U.S. trade actions are another reminder that Canada's economy and auto sector are...

The system that enables and protects the power of landlords, and has made our homes into investment toys for the rich, needs to be dismantled in its entirety.

The post Exposing the renoviction playbook first appeared on Spring.

This post is sponsored by Ride Illinois.

Thanks to StreetsblogMASS Editor Christian MilNeil for his reporting on the Louisa Gag case, and input for this piece.

The last two months have been heartbreaking for sustainable transportation professionals and advocates in Chicago and Boston, where two hauntingly similar bike crashes took the lives of well-loved Complete Streets planners Riley O’Neil and Louisa Gag. But there’s reason to be hopeful that these tragedies will spur new political support for Vision Zero efforts in these cities, and possibly have a ripple effect across the country.

O’Neil’s and Gag’s stories

O’Neil, 35, was a planner with the Chicago Department of Transportation. In the afternoon of Friday, June 5, he was cycling home from work on a non-protected bike lane on Halsted Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood, when a car driver opened his door without checking for bike traffic. O’Neil swerved to avoid the door but clipped it, and was thrown under the rear wheels of an oncoming semi. If the bikeway he was riding in had been a curbside protected lane, he would still be alive.

The aftermath of Riley O’Neil’s crash on June 5 in Chicago’s Bridgeport. Photo: Austin Busch

O’Neil’s friend and colleague fellow CDOT planner David Powe posted a eulogy the next day. “Riley O’Neil led Chicago’s bike parking program for several years and completely transformed it,” he wrote. “More recently, he was helping lead both CDOT’s school zone safety work and bus priority projects. He cared deeply about making biking, rolling, walking, and riding better for everyone.”

“Riley could get anyone excited about making Chicago better,” Powe added. “He never met a person he couldn’t immediately connect with. His enthusiasm and love for bikes, transit, infrastructure, and public service was contagious.” Powe said CDOT would start calling the bike parking racks “Riley Racks” as a tribute.

Just over a month after O’Neil’s death, on the morning Thursday, July 9, there were terrible parallels in Louisa Gag’s case. A year older than O’Neil at 36, she also served as a planner at her city’s transportation department. Gag previously worked for several years as a public policy advocate with the Boston area’s LivableStreets Alliance. She was also commuting by bike that day, riding to work in a paint-only bike lane on Tremont Street in Boston’s Mission Hill community. And, like O’Neil, Gag died in a truck collision. The Boston Globe reported today that a recycling truck driver maneuvered around another vehicle before striking her.

The truck driver hit Louisa Gag on July 9 in the bike lane to the right in Boston’s Mission Hill. Image: Google Maps

According to StreetsblogMASS, Gag spent most of her career on efforts to make Boston Streets more livable. As an advocate, she worked on projects to promote Vision Zero and hold the City accountable for following through on its 2017 long-range transportation plan. At the Boston Transportation Department, she was involved in initiatives like the Lower Roxbury Slow Streets project, and the expansion of the Bluebikes bike-share network.

“She was the type of person who was so at ease with herself, and grounded in some way that anyone around her would immediately feel more OK,” Gag’s BTD colleague Jen Rowe told StreetsblogMASS. “And she worked to cultivate that to support the people she worked with… She loved people, and everyone on our team.”

Safe Streets advocates respond in Chicago and Boston

Three days after O’Neil’s death, on June 8, hundreds of Chicagoans hit the streets for a memorial ride and “die-in” at his crash site, organized by the grassroots group, Chicago, Bike Grid Now! They urged City leaders to create a continuous network of safe, low-stress cycling routes. “A preventable incident, not an ‘accident,’ has brought us here today,” said Eli Orozco of the neighborhood bike group Gage Park Cyclists in a speech at the start of the event, also mentioning four other recent Chicago bike and e-scooter crash victims. “There is no reason why families should have ever been destroyed with loss.”

The June 8 “die-in” at the Chicago crash site. Photo: John Greenfield

A week later on June 15, dozens of advocates again gathered in Bridgeport for CBGN!’s “Bike Protest for a Bike Grid,” riding to local City Council member Alderwoman Nicole Lee’s office to lobby for safety upgrades on Halsted and elsewhere in her district.

And more recently, the Bridgeport Alliance, a community group which advocates for traffic safety, launched a letter writing campaign so Ald. Lee’s constituents can ask her to support bold street redesigns. The petition has almost 400 signees.

Likewise in Boston, advocates are demanding action on Vision Zero in the wake of Gag’s killing. In a July 14 StreetsblogMASS op-ed, several residents in Boston’s Forest Hills neighborhood blamed the City’s foot-dragging for the recent crash death. “This week, the consequences of inaction were brought home painfully when one of our neighbors, Louisa Gag, was killed by a driver while commuting to work,” they wrote. “Louisa died a block away from a stretch of Tremont Street near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA station where earlier this year, Boston’s Acting Chief of Streets, Nick Gove, postponed a major traffic calming and center-running busway project.”

Not unlike Chicago’s “die-in,” Yesterday hundreds of Bostonians converged on the plaza of their City Hall to honor Gag, and put pressure on politicians.

Mourners fill Boston’s City Hall Plaza for the July 16 vigil. Photo: Christian MilNeil, StreetsblogMASS

Reactions from local elected officials

In the Windy City, politicians have been taking notice of the Riley O’Neil case, and its significance for Chicago. “Riley O’Neil was an incredible public servant who contributed deeply to the work of making our city a safer and more sustainable place,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson on social media. “A member of the Complete Streets team, Riley was a valued and dedicated advocate whose work touched communities across Chicago.” That statement was later included on the permanent display panel of the “The Riley O’Neil Memorial Station” for Divvy bike-share cycles, located across the street from City Hall.

Ald. Lee as the June 8 memorial ride in Chicago takes off. Photo: John Greenfield

And six of Chicago’s 50 City Council members showed in Bridgeport for the June 8 memorial, with five of them riding bikes. While Ald. Lee didn’t bicycle that day, as the ride departed, she indicated to me that she’s open to a street redesign on Halsted and other roads in her district. “It’s going to take all of us working together to get physical infrastructure that protects people better,” she said, mentioning that her own nephew was recently injured on his bicycle by a negligent driver in Chicago’s nearby Chinatown.

Meanwhile, Boston’s Mayor Wu made a surprise appearance at the Government Center event. According to StreetsblogMASS, prior to her speech, Gag’s former LivableStreets Alliance boss Stacy Thompson, who was emceeing, asked the frustrated Vision Zero advocates present to follow the fallen cyclist’s example by listening respectfully.

Thompson addresses the crowd at the July 16 memorial in Boston. Photo: Christian MilNeil, StreetsblogMASS

Mayor Wu was contrite. “We owe Louisa more than our grief,” she said. “We owe her our action. We have to do better.” She listed a number of ways “the City is taking action,” including a full analysis of the street design of the crash site, with plans to make that standard practice. She also promised better enforcement of bikeways and crosswalks; more protected bike lane installation and maintenance; and the assignment of two of her key staff members “to accelerate the policies, planning, and capital delivery work that will make our streets safer.”

StreetsblogMASS Editor Christian MilNeil told me, “It’s still early days here but people are fired up, and there may be a shakeup at our City transportation department.”

The ripple effect

There are signs that O’Neil’s and Gag’s stories are attracting the attention of decision-makers across the country. For example, the New York City-based National Association of City Transportation Officials honored each of them in blog posts.

“Transportation planning often involves navigating complex political landscapes and conflicting stakeholder demands,” NACTO said in its tribute to O’Neil. “When facing challenging issues or difficult days with aldermen and community members, Riley’s colleagues turned to him. He was a master of cutting through bureaucracy without creating unnecessary conflict. He maintained an infectious positive attitude, thought creatively, and found collaborative paths forward where others saw roadblocks.”

A shrine to Riley O’Neil at the Chicago crash site. Photo: John Greenfield

“Louisa’s work for the City of Boston focused on improving bike-share and street safety, including growing the Bluebikes system by adding 100 new stations across the city and leading engagement for street redesigns in the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods,” NACTO said in its memorial. “Beyond the technical work, Louisa was an integral force in spreading community bike joy, taking over the organization of Boston’s annual Bike to Work Day Festival and teaching Bostonians how to bike.”

A memorial for Louisa Gag at the Boston crash site. Photo: Christian MilNeil, StreetsblogMASS

Let’s hope that more politicians and city planners – from Seattle to Miami, and from Los Angeles to Portland, ME – take notice of these stories, and are inspired to support progressive street designs and policies to prevent future heartbreak. If that happens, the deaths of Riley O’Neil and Louisa Gag will not have been in vain.

If you value Streetsblog Chicago’s livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Thank you.

• A hundred years ago, American passenger trains were the fastest in the world, and some were even faster than Amtrak is today. So what happened? Long story short, reduced federal funding and freight carriers’ greed. (Planetizen)
• A new study shows that bikeshares do reduce air pollution, especially in big cities that weren’t bike friendly and had poor transit systems to begin with, because they offer an alternative to driving. (Transport Policy)
• Streetsblog editor in chief Gersh Kuntzman takes on the Trump administration’s Orwellian claims about the dangers of bike lanes.
• Privately, most Republican elected officials aren’t climate change deniers, but they lack a political incentive to do anything about it. (Heatmap)
• A new edition of “Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns” has been released. (Common Edge)
• Oklahoma City officials are proposing a penny sales tax referendum that would raise $130 million a year for transit expansion. (Voice)
• Next week Detroit will hold its last public hearing on capping I-75. (Michigan Chronicle)
• Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s proposed budget puts almost $75 million toward fixing potholes, sidewalks and stormwater drainage. (News4Jax)
• Cameras mounted on Philadelphia buses and trolleys have issued more than 200,000 tickets over the past year, increasing speeds by 3 to 6 percent. (Axios)
• A proposed Amtrak route connecting Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus would help disabled Ohioans reach jobs and medical care. (Plain Dealer)
• The Colorado Connector train would provide two round-trips between Pueblo and Fort Collins within five years if voters approve a sales tax. (Colorado Newsline)
• Portland did in fact set a new Guinness World Record for largest mass e-bike rate, at 1,060, more than doubling the previous record of 405 in Seattle. (KPTV)
• Police in Connecticut “arrested” a tortoise they caught jaywalking, no doubt trying to take a shortcut to beat the hare. (WTNH)

This summer, the Government of Canada launched its National Strategy for an Electrified Canadian Economy, highlighting the need to double Canada’s electricity capacity and accelerate electrification over the next two decades. The Government of...

Reports of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese companies’ overseas investments in the mining and refining of minerals needed for the clean energy transition are on the rise, research by a monitoring group has found.

The number of recorded allegations of harm at projects tied to Chinese firms have increased every year since 2021, rising to 148 in 2025, according to the Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC). On Wednesday it released new data showing that a total of 434 allegations of abuse were made against Chinese-backed projects over the five-year period in projects across the world.

The world’s top cleantech manufacturer, China is also the leading financier of critical minerals projects worldwide. The country has committed more than $120 billion in foreign direct investment into mineral mining and processing since 2023, Australian think-tank Climate Energy Finance recently found.

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“China plays a central role in global transition mineral supply chains, and as such has a unique opportunity to raise the bar on human rights and community engagement at every stage of mining,” said Michael Clements, BHRC’s executive director.  

“While there have been encouraging developments, from stronger regulations to more company engagement, there remains a gap between human rights commitment and action,” he said.

The report comes as communities affected by Chinese-backed mineral projects have filed the first two cases to a Beijing-based mediation mechanism intended to bring willing Chinese companies to the discussion table with affected communities.

Allegations of harms on the rise

BHRC’s latest analysis – including data for the period 2023-2025 – covered mining, smelting and refining projects for 11 minerals considered key to manufacturing clean energy technologies such as batteries, EVs and solar panels needed to move away from climate-heating fossil fuels.

The highest number of abuses was recorded in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of nickel, which is used to make EV batteries. After the Indonesian government banned exports of raw nickel, Chinese firms invested billions of dollars to develop a large-scale nickel smelting and processing industry in the Southeast Asian country, largely powered by coal.  

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Other countries with a high number of recorded harms include the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Chinese firms dominate cobalt and copper production; Myanmar, where unregulated rare earths mining has caused widespread environmental destruction; Serbia, where Chinese-backed mining of some of Europe’s most significant copper and gold deposits is swallowing land and homes, and Zimbabwe, where Chinese investments have turned the nation into Africa’s top lithium producer.

Growing risks for people and nature

Allegations tracked by BHRC included negative impacts on local livelihoods, health and land rights, workers’ health and safety and work-related deaths, as well as water pollution and environmental contamination. In addition, 18 people were attacked for raising concerns about Chinese transition mineral projects between 2023 and 2025.

The report shows that 10 Chinese companies, including Zijin Mining, Tsingshan Group and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, accounted for nearly two-thirds of all allegations recorded in the last five years. It found that some Chinese companies “still appear to turn a blind eye to these issues” but noted that several others have been more responsive to allegations of abuse. However, even among companies with human rights policies, implementation remains a challenge, BHRC warned.

• Jul 9, 2026 Clean Energy Frontier India looks to untapped graphite riches for slice of critical minerals boom Clean energy demand for battery-grade graphite is surging, but India faces hurdles as it positions itself to compete with China’s grip on the supply chain Read more
• Feb 9, 2024 Clean Energy Frontier Indonesia turns traditional Indigenous land into nickel industrial zone Indonesia supplies the EV industry with critical battery materials but the sector’s rapid expansion is infringing the rights of Indigenous peoples Read more
• May 27, 2026 Clean Energy Frontier Recycling could meet half of Europe’s critical mineral needs by 2050 A new report by an EU-funded research project says the bloc could harness its “urban mines” to reduce its dependence on China for energy transition minerals Read more

Zijin Mining and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt repeatedly responded to the allegations of harm by saying they take environmental and social risks seriously and adhere to international standards. Tsingshan Group never responded to BHRC’s requests for comment.

Platform for dialogue between communities and Chinese firms

At the same time, Chinese authorities have made “significant progress” on introducing a more specific framework for managing environmental and social risks in overseas investment, BHRC said.

This includes global consultation on a draft Sustainable Mining Code, adherence to UN guiding principles on business and human rights, and greater emphasis on oversight of companies operating overseas.  

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (CCCMC) set up a mediation and consultation mechanism intended to provide a platform for dialogue between affected communities or civil society groups that have raised concerns and Chinese companies.

More than three years since its launch, the mechanism has now received its first two complaints from local communities and many more are considering filing a case, Margaux Day, executive director at the nonprofit Accountability Counsel, told an event hosted by Climate Home News last month.

“This is incredibly exciting in that it fills a governance and accountability gap where often communities who are seeking to protect their rights and the environment can’t reach someone who will respond to them,” she told the panel discussion at London Climate Action Week.

Climate Home News understands that the complaints were filed by communities in Latin America and Southeast Asia over labour rights and resettlement issues. No information about the cases has yet been made public. The mechanism’s secretariat did not respond to Climate Home News’ questions.

The mechanism was set up after the Chinese regulator for banks and insurers called on investor-level institutions to establish complaints bodies to hear from communities outside of China. But whether the new initiative will prove effective in tackling grievances remains an open question.  

“Real potential” for better mining practices

Participation in the mechanism is voluntary for Chinese firms and it doesn’t have a fact-finding function, nor can it impose provisions for compensation or compliance with human rights standards.

But Day told Climate Home News that, if successful, it could bring companies to negotiate an outcome that is better for people and the planet and leads to more sustainable mining practice.

Chen Yu, an independent China advisor for campaign group Global Witness, agreed that the mechanism holds “real potential”.

“There exists nothing else at a similar level to promote dialogue between communities and Chinese mining companies in particular,” she said.

For companies, the mechanism opens “a channel for problem-solving and dialogue with communities”, she added, as “Chinese companies often remain cautious of approaching affected communities directly, afraid of making the problem bigger”.

However, Chen said the mechanism remains at an early stage of development, faces resourcing challenges and is not yet sufficiently understood by communities in mining areas or Chinese firms.

To help it address some of these challenges, the secretariat is currently seeking technical support from a range of organisations, including civil society groups. But, Chen said, “it will take time for the mechanism to show its value”.

The post Allegations of harms at China-backed transition minerals projects rise appeared first on Climate Home News.

The U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce should reject the Heat Workforce Standards Act (H.R. 6123), scheduled to be marked up today, 65 groups said in a letter sent to the committee. The bill would prohibit the Secretary of Labor from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing a federal heat injury and illness prevention standard, or any substantially similar measure.

“Workers have no control over extreme heat, and many are unable to refuse hazardous assignments without jeopardizing their livelihoods,” the letter reads. “Congress should not respond to an escalating occupational hazard by permanently removing the Department of Labor's authority to address it.”

In the wake of a nationwide heat dome that sent workers to emergency rooms across the country just three weeks ago, the committees should reject any legislation that would permanently prohibit federal workplace heat protections. Data from the Centers for Disease Control’s Heat and Health Tracker show that emergency department visits for heat-related illness rose sharply across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic during the first week of July. Postal carriers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, and manufacturing employees were hospitalized, and in some tragic cases, lost their lives.

Heat-related deaths in the U.S. have more than doubled since 1999, and extreme heat now claims more lives each year than any other weather-related hazard. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that its heat standard would protect approximately 36 million workers. Public Citizen has previously estimated that a comprehensive federal heat standard could prevent at least 50,000 heat-related injuries and illnesses each year.

A unanimous decision by three US Court Of Appeals judges in the District Of Columbia to deny an appeal based on the risks of climate change on nuclear reactor safety is a shocking disregard for the ever worsening weather conditions that could put reactor communities at grave risk, said Beyond Nuclear today, one of the groups that brought the appeal.

The petition denied by the court was brought by Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club, against the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), et al. The NRC is federally mandated to protect public safety. The NEI is the lobbying arm and trade group representing the nuclear power industry.

The petitioners argued that the NRC and industry did not adequately consider how aging components and climate change would affect the risk of severe accidents involving reactor-core damage. Of greatest concern is the extension of operating the licenses of the country’s already aging nuclear power plants well beyond the initial 40-year licensing period and the NRC’s refusal to view the more extreme conditions caused by climate change as risk factors to future safe operation.

“We are stunned by the court’s decision, which let the NRC get away with the generalized claim that large conservatisms in their accident risk analyses can cover the unique and site-specific effects of climate change,” said attorney Diane Curran, who argued the case on behalf of Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club. “The NRC has never provided a shred of evidence to show that it has, in fact, evaluated the effects of climate change on accident risk — so how could it know that?”

Paul Gunter, director of the reactor oversight project at Beyond Nuclear said, “This decision allows the NRC to consider future safety challenges to nuclear plants caused by worsening climate conditions by looking in the rear-view mirror. What we are already experiencing today with raging wildfires and extreme flooding, sea-level rise and more frequent violent storms due to climate change, sends a warning that evaluating reactor safety based on the worst climate conditions of the past is not only unrealistic but reckless.

“Just this past week we have seen extreme climate change-driven conditions with raging wildfires in Canada that could equally easily happen in the hotter United States and catastrophic flooding in Texas," Gunter said. "It is shocking that the court accepted the NRC’s argument that under future climate conditions the chances of a severe accident are ‘small.’ Instead of evaluating the real risks, the court decided to adjudicate whether or not the NRC’s environmental review was ‘reasonably explained.’ This does not serve the interests of public safety,” Gunter said.

Beyond Nuclear is carefully evaluating its legal options and will continue to challenge the extreme license extensions at the Oconee (SC), Peach Bottom (PA) and North Anna (VA) nuclear power plants.

“Oconee is of particularly alarming concern because it sits downstream of two earthen rock-filled dams and two million acre feet of water,” Gunter pointed out. “In bringing this case, we were striving to ensure that this community does not become the tragic test case for a failure to guarantee robust safety regulations at our nation’s nuclear plants for the remainder of their operating lives.”