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This article In danger of statelessness, Bhutanese refugees build power against deportation was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

When Robin Gurung was 3 years old, his family was forced out of Bhutan. Today, as a 37-year-old organizer and co-founder of Asian Refugees United, or ARU, the reality of that exile remains carved into the landscape. On a recent trip to India’s border with Bhutan, just 20 miles from his family’s former home, Gurung encountered a sign reading, “Please do not cross the borderline.” In a photograph he took, the blue-tinted mountains of Bhutan rise in the distance behind the sign. Yet Gurung still could not cross that border line. 

The photograph captured the strange closeness of a place that had shaped his life from a distance: the country that forced his family out. He spent nearly two decades in a U.N. refugee camp in Nepal before coming to the United States in January 2012 to rebuild his life.  Now, he helps lead a community-wide effort to defend former Bhutanese refugees who are suddenly facing detention and deportation in the country they have come to call home.

Gurung kept his exact location private. “I am not scared, but I am very cautious,” he said when I asked whether he feared retaliation for his advocacy work. During our interview, he joined me from a dimly lit room during a power outage. We first connected on Facebook Messenger, but a weak connection forced us to switch to WhatsApp. From there, he spoke about the advocacy and organizing work he and his colleagues at ARU have led to protect the rights and future of the resettled Bhutanese community.

The border was close, but so was the history it represented. Gurung knew what it meant to lose a home because his family had lived through it. He also knew what it meant to rebuild after displacement. That history now informs his response as members of the same refugee community face a new threat of displacement in the U.S.

As of the filing of this report, upward of 75 former Bhutanese refugees have been deported to Bhutan, only to be taken to the Indo-Nepal border and left stateless once again.

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A primary motivation for Gurung’s advocacy work stems from his own history and his acute awareness of how his grandfather, alongside thousands of others, had endured severe injustice at the hands of the Bhutanese regime. “It is actually a privilege to advocate on behalf of the community.”

Gurung’s family was among 100,000 Lhotshampa, a Nepali-speaking ethnic minority in southern Bhutan, who were driven from their homes during a campaign of discriminatory citizenship policies, arrests, torture and forced evictions.

In the early 1990s, Gurung’s grandfather endured 18 months of imprisonment and severe torture that broke his jaw and left him so badly injured that others assumed he had died. After his release, he spent time in a hospital, where his injuries had changed him so much that his own son barely recognized him. The family fled Bhutan in early 1992. Gurung remembers fragments of their escape: leaving behind their dog, Bittu, and riding on a truck as they crossed out of the country. His grandfather never fully recovered from the torture and later died at a regional hospital in Morang, Nepal.

After years in refugee camps in Nepal, Gurung and thousands of others eventually found a new home through a third-country resettlement program. Beginning in 2008, countries, including the U.S., resettled more than 90,000 Bhutanese refugees. For many, resettlement offered the possibility of finally leaving displacement behind.

That sense of security shattered in March 2025, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, began detaining former Bhutanese refugees in the U.S. For people who had already lost citizenship and spent years in refugee camps, deportation carries a deeper threat. It raises the possibility of returning to the statelessness that began with their expulsion from Bhutan.

But fear has not defined the community’s response. Across the diaspora, ARU has worked to turn individual emergencies into collective action.

When ICE came knocking

ARU formed to build community power and intergenerational leadership among Asian refugee communities. Before the deportation campaign began, the organization worked on political engagement through a partnership with civil rights group Asian Law Caucus, and as a coalition member of the Asian American Leaders Table, a grassroots network uniting local groups to build collective political power. 

That organizing infrastructure became critical when the detention began.

In the second week of March 2025, while launching a youth program and media studio, Gurung learned that ICE had detained community members. Days later, as he drove to the United Nations to renew his annual pass, Bhutanese community activist Bishwa Chhetri sat in the passenger seat calling community leaders and members across Pennsylvania and Ohio, where many of those detained lived, to find out more about the detentions.

The calls revealed the scale of the crisis, but they also exposed a problem: The community had no national system for coordinating information, legal support or immediate assistance to families.

Chhetri said that there was a severe lack of organized mechanisms to track factual information on ICE detentions. In addition, “finding legal representation was a bit of trouble,” he noted, emphasizing that a vast majority of the detainees had no legal representation at all. Recognizing the overwhelming scale of the situation, he and his peers quickly concluded that a single organization could not manage the emergency on its own. Although some community groups in Pennsylvania and Ohio got involved during the early phase, ARU eventually became the sole organization within the community dedicated to carrying out this specialized advocacy work.

What began as an emergency response soon became an organizing project. After returning home from New York, Gurung reached out to the Asian Law Caucus and launched a rapid response partnership. Regarding this collaboration, Aisa Villarosa, manager of the Asian American Leaders Table at Asian Law Caucus, said, “Without community organizers like ARU, the law and lawyers alone cannot provide the holistic support, empowerment, education and creativity to explore every possible avenue for justice.” Rather than simply referring cases to lawyers, ARU built a community-based system around the legal response. Organizers reached families quickly, explained developments in familiar languages and helped people navigate an unfamiliar system.

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The approach reflected a central principle of ARU’s work: People most affected by state violence should have a leading role in fighting it.

“I was exercising these freedoms because of the movement leaders from the generation before me, so I feel a sense of responsibility and gratitude to continue doing the same,” Gurung said. “If we don’t fight back, those in power will continue to suppress others — power has to be checked and balanced because we need to create a system of accountability.”

Young community members in their 20s stepped into organizing roles. They translated for elders, tracked detentions, communicated with relatives, arranged transportation and accompanied people to court. What started as an improvised response gradually became a network capable of mobilizing when another person was detained.

Building a community defense network

ARU granted me access to an August 14 virtual staff meeting, offering a direct look at the day-to-day logistics of this rapidly expanding defense network. On screen, seven young organizers, including Gurung, sat before webcams, coordinating cases across regional hubs in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Their conversation moved fluidly between Nepali and English, blending the language of home with the cold shorthand of the legal system: “FOIA,” “public defender.” At one point, a team member used the word “habeas,” prompting another organizer to ask what it meant. The first organizer paused to explain it in plain language, even though he had no legal training himself.

The exchange captured something essential about the group: They were learning the language of a system they had not been formally trained to navigate, teaching one another as they went. Between key clicks and routine case updates, the stakes came into sharp focus: A juvenile in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was being tried as an adult and facing up to five years; families were reaching out in panic; green card holders were confronting the possibility of an eventual deportation. 

As this rapid response effort grew, ARU faced another lingering challenge. Fear and confusion were spreading just as fast through the community as the detentions themselves.

To counter this, the organization held virtual mass meetings, organized Know Your Rights sessions and conducted outreach in ways that reflected the linguistic and cultural realities of former Bhutanese refugees. Volunteers also became a bridge between families and legal organizations.

“We had to be alert 24/7 to be available for the families of deportees,” Gurung recalled. “In the meantime, media visibility was imperative.”

The intensity came with a personal cost. “It was mentally too much pressure, but we had no choice,” Gurung said. Having struggled with his own mental health issues since 2024, Gurung experienced a severe mental health crisis during the height of the organizing campaign in 2025, even as new cases continued to emerge. 

His experience points to a broader reality of grassroots defense work. The people creating safety for their communities often do so without the institutional resources available to larger organizations.

The partnership with the Asian Law Caucus helped address some of that gap. Attorneys provided legal expertise while community organizers reached families, built trust and helped connect legal strategies to the realities people faced.

For ARU, the distinction between legal defense and community organizing remained fluid. A family facing deportation might need an attorney, but it might also need someone to translate, arrange transportation or accompany a relative through court.

Mohan Karki’s case illustrates that reality. ICE detained Karki in mid-2025 and separated him from his pregnant wife. She decided to fight the removal order. ARU organizers, including Gurung, traveled to Ohio to pick her up and drove her to federal court proceedings in Michigan. While Karki remained in custody, she gave birth to their baby in June 2025 and continued attending court hearings through December.

“When I first met her, I was very much inspired,” Gurung said. “She had to give birth while her husband was in custody.”

For organizers, cases like Karki’s show why community defense cannot stop at the courtroom door. Families need sustained support as they navigate a system that can reshape their lives overnight.

From individual cases to a broader movement

Those experiences have also pushed ARU beyond individual deportation cases. The organization has built relationships with groups working on statelessness, including United Stateless, connecting the experiences of former Bhutanese refugees to a broader movement of people who lack recognized citizenship or face the threat of statelessness. 

For Gurung, that connection is personal.

“This was very personal in terms of knowing what it means to become stateless, what it means to become a refugee,” Gurung said. “We came to this country after being well-vetted. The idea of deportation to Bhutan was not safe for community members — that idea was very wrong.”

Robin Gurung pictured at the India-Bhutan border with Bhutanese mountains in the background. (Robin Gurung)

The campaign, Gurung said, is about more than protecting individual families. It is also about preventing one generation’s displacement from becoming another generation’s future. Highlighting the systemic barriers that worsen this crisis, Villarosa points out that the U.S. immigration laws and courts lack a uniform, comprehensive definition of statelessness.

“If we don’t fight back, we are giving license to those in power to decide our fate,” he said.

That belief has pushed ARU toward broader coalition building while keeping the Bhutanese community at the center of its work. The organization is strengthening relationships with groups confronting related forms of state violence and working to ensure that the experiences of former Bhutanese refugees inform wider organizing around statelessness and immigrant rights.

That work now shapes ARU’s next phase.

What comes next?

More than a year after the first detentions, ARU continues its rapid response work while building longer-term community power. Gurung said ARU continues to respond to developments affecting former Bhutanese refugees while coordinating a coalition effort to bring Bhutanese organizations together around a joint response.

Community education has also become a central priority. ARU is working to educate and organize community members so they have the knowledge and collective capacity to respond when new challenges arise.

The organization is also pursuing legal and international advocacy. A Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, lawsuit by the Asian Law Caucus remains underway, seeking government records, policies and communications from ICE and the Department of State regarding the sudden detention and deportation of Bhutanese-American refugees. Alongside this domestic legal pressure, representatives from ARU recently met with U.N. Refugee Agency officials from Geneva, Washington, D.C., and the Asia branch to address the ongoing crisis and statelessness risks facing former Bhutanese refugees. 

Locally, ARU is participating in a collective effort to pass a Welcoming County resolution in central Pennsylvania’s Dauphin County that would prevent cooperation with ICE.

These efforts show how a rapid response campaign can grow into a broader organizing strategy. ARU is combining community education, coalition building, legal action, international advocacy and local policy work to challenge the conditions that leave families vulnerable.

Still, the community has built something that did not exist when the first detention calls arrived. Organizers have established rapid response channels, trained community members, accompanied families through court and connected the Bhutanese struggle to broader movements addressing statelessness.

For Gurung, that work remains rooted in the freedoms he gained after nearly two decades in a refugee camp.

“It is a rollercoaster ride,” Gurung said, describing the challenges and complexities of ARU’s ongoing advocacy work.

Reflecting on why he continues organizing, he returns to the experience of people whose freedoms were denied for years, much like his own.

“Having spent close to two decades in refugee camps in Nepal without rights, I finally gained my freedom,” he said. “When a fellow community member faces deportation, it motivates me to keep fighting for their rights as well.”

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Those freedoms came after decades of displacement. Now, community members who understand the cost of losing them are fighting to protect them. ARU’s response continues to evolve, but its central strategy remains clear: build collective power so families facing state violence do not have to face it alone.

Standing just 20 miles from the home he lost, Gurung was reminded of how easily a line on a map can divide a life. Today, as ICE attempts to redraw those same boundaries of exile in the U.S., ARU is drawing a line of its own. By transforming personal trauma into collective defense, they are making one thing absolute: their community will not be forced backward, and no one will ever face statelessness alone.

This article In danger of statelessness, Bhutanese refugees build power against deportation was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

Rachael Marsh, chief legal officer at the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, said in an emailed statement to Utility Dive that the group supported the repeal of the carbon capture and storage-based standards.

According to a new blog post by The Wilderness Society, the Trump administration’s behind-the-scenes push to trade away a piece of Yosemite National Park to a private developer isn’t an isolated move—it’s one of at least seven similar efforts to privatize or dispose of public land.

Examples include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service handing SpaceX a chunk of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Interior’s removal of protections for 2.1 million acres of Alaska public land to clear the way for the Ambler Road mining project, and a federal housing task force identifying Bureau of Land Management land within 10 miles of any town of more than 5,000 people for potential disposal.

The push to privatize part of Yosemite National Park was first reported in late August by NOTUS (now the Washington Sun), which said that Interior is negotiating a swap that would give developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital a private access road to a planned resort in exchange for equivalent-value land elsewhere in California.

The Yosemite deal, The Wilderness Society wrote, sets “yet another chilling precedent of public land decisions made by the administration to directly benefit special interests.“

EPA removes limits on pollution from power plants

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced it will no longer regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas plants. The move finalizes the reversal of a Biden-era rule that estimates it would have saved thousands of lives, and begins the process of completely rescinding all remaining GHG emissions standards for power plants. The EPA said that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants have “no material impact on global climate change,” despite the fact that US electricity generation is responsible for a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

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America’s public lands are among our nation’s greatest treasures. Protecting them requires more than celebrating them. It requires defending the science, scientific workforce, and public institutions that make stewardship possible.”

—Julian Reyes, Chief of Staff at the Union of Concerned Scientists, The Equation

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The Roadless Rule is in danger. Click the link in our bio and tell the Forest Service you value America’s last wild landscapes before the public comment period closes on Sept. 21.

 

(Featured image: Yosemite Falls at Yosemite National Park in California. webmink, Flickr)

The post Yosemite land swap is part of a bigger pattern of public lands giveaways appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

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Olivia Sanderfoot hadn’t been too worried about the wildfire risk warnings on the morning of January 7, 2025. Such alerts were a part of California life. But when her husband texted her a photo of...

Newsom signs landmark law requiring full disclosure of diaper chemicals Monica Amarelo September 15, 2026

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed into law a bill that will give parents more information to protect their babies from harmful chemical exposures. The first-in-the-nation law requires manufacturers of children’s diapers sold, distributed or manufactured in California to fully disclose their ingredients on product packaging and online.

Assembly Bill 1901, authored by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), was co-sponsored by the Environmental Working Group, Consumer Reports, Children Now and the Center for Environmental Health.

“As new parents, my wife and I were shocked to see the lack of transparency about the ingredients used in the one product that is touching our son’s skin every hour of every day for the first few years of his life – his diapers,” said Berman.

“By requiring diaper manufacturers to disclose the ingredients they use, AB 1901 creates a new industry-wide standard of transparency for children’s diapers.

“Thanks to Governor Newsom signing AB 1901 into law, parents in California will now have the information they need to make the best choice for their child.” Berman added.

Newborns and toddlers especially vulnerable

The average child wears diapers for their first two to three years of life – without interruption for the first year or more – resulting in more than 8,000 diaper changes. Yet the federal government does not require disposable diapers to carry ingredient labels of any kind.

Manufacturers are not required to inform regulators about the chemicals used to make their diapers. Instead, they can hide dozens of chemicals behind umbrella terms like “fragrance,” “adhesives,” or “colors” – potentially toxic mystery cocktails. This situation has left parents with no way of knowing what chemicals sit against their baby’s skin day after day.

A Consumer Reports examination of 37 diaper products found that seven disclosed little to no ingredient information at all, underscoring the size of the problem AB 1901 is designed to address.

“A newborn’s skin is thinner, more permeable and still developing, which means it absorbs chemicals more readily than an adult’s does, and diapers are in constant contact with that skin, around the clock, for years,” said Sydney Swanson, a senior science analyst at EWG.

“Parents have had no way of knowing what their baby is being exposed to. Every hour of every day, an infant’s skin comes into contact with whatever industry decided not to tell us about. Parents can read a nutrition label or a shampoo label but not this,” she added. 

“Now diapers will include ingredient labels that are similar to labels required of other baby products,” Swanson said.

Chemicals found in diapers

Actress and activist Hilary Swank, who lobbied for AB 1901 alongside EWG, said she was moved to act after learning while pregnant with her twins that just because a product is marketed as safe doesn’t guarantee it actually is.

Recent tests have found diapers may contain volatile organic compounds and phthalates, linked to hormone disruption and reproductive and developmental harm. 

Research shows that quaternary ammonium compounds, or quats, sometimes used in wetness indicators, are linked to reproductive effects, skin irritation and asthma, as well as dyes and bleaching agents that can cause allergic reactions or skin and respiratory irritation. 

Because babies’ skin is thinner, more permeable and still developing, they are especially vulnerable to potential harms from these chemical exposures. 

Many children with special needs rely on diapers for years, prolonging the exposure risk. When manufacturers hide their ingredients, caregivers may feel fearful and sidelined. 

 “Transparency isn’t about causing fear but about replacing uncertainty with the facts parents need to protect their children,” said Susan Little, California legislative director. 

“And because an infant’s thin skin absorbs chemicals more easily, hidden ingredients like phthalates can trigger a lifetime of health challenges.

“We thank Gov. Newsom for prioritizing children’s health and signing this bill. California parents shouldn’t need a chemistry degree to buy a diaper. They deserve to know exactly what is touching their child’s skin, and disclosure is the essential first step to getting them that,” said Little.

Making baby products safer

California has already shown that more transparency about what’s in baby products can help spur changes that reduce hazardous ingredients and their health threats. 

After the state required public disclosure of results of heavy metal tests of baby food, in 2025, manufacturers responded by reducing heavy metal contamination levels in many product categories. 

AB 1901 applies that same principle to diapers while giving parents and caregivers more informed choices. With Newsom’s signature, it is now a landmark law requiring full diaper ingredient transparency. Online disclosure will begin on January 1, 2029, and disclosure on the package will begin July 1, 2029.

The new California law goes further than any existing state: New York’s 2023 law requires ingredient disclosure only on the package, while California’s new law requires manufacturers to disclose each ingredient's name, its Chemical Abstract Service number and its specific function, both online and on packaging. 

The New York law that requires on-label disclosure of all diaper ingredients shows that greater transparency is achievable.

“Stronger regulation and full disclosure are needed, and that’s why we’re grateful this bill is now law to protect children’s health,” said Little. 

EWG has created a Guide to Safer Diapers to help parents and caregivers navigate the market in the meantime, and diapers earning the EWG Verified® mark meet our strict standards for ingredient transparency and health.

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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.

Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has a mission to create a fair and just marketplace for all. Widely known for our rigorous research and testing of products and services, we also survey millions of consumers each year, report extensively on marketplace issues, and advocate for consumer rights and protections around safety as well as digital rights, financial fairness, and sustainability. CR is independent and nonprofit.

The Center for Environmental Health believes everything people consume, from the water they drink to the toys their children handle, should put health first. We insist on laws and policies that protect the public from harm, work to make communities more aware of risks, and push to transform corporate behavior. CEH advances environmental health and justice for the greater good, from the courtroom to the boardroom.

Children Now harnesses collective power to achieve transformational and systemic results for California’s kids as one of the country’s most impactful kids’ nonprofits. Led by experienced policy and government relations teams spanning health, education, early childhood, child welfare, and a range of other areas, Children Now learns from kids and families where they need support and lift up solutions to policymakers with the power to act.

Areas of Focus Household & Consumer Products Family Health Children’s Health Toxic Chemicals Phthalates California New law will require companies to reveal what’s really in the diapers touching babies’ skin Press Contact Monica Amarelo monica@ewg.org (202) 939-9140 September 28, 2026

Newsom signs landmark bill easing Californians’ access to clean, affordable ‘balcony solar’ Anthony Lacey September 15, 2026

SACRAMENTO – The Environmental Working Group today applauds Gov. Gavin Newsom for signing legislation that will help Californians to invest in clean energy and tackle sky-high energy bills, by making it easier to install small, affordable “balcony solar” systems.

Senate Bill 868, known as the Plug and Play Solar Act, eliminates the red tape that has kept these systems from use in apartments, condos and single-family homes. The new law also ensures the systems comply with strict safety standards.

The bill was authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by EWG and the Abundance Network.

“This new law will deliver cleaner power, greater energy independence and real savings for consumers,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California. “We applaud Sen. Wiener, Gov. Newsom and the many elected leaders who helped make this commonsense clean energy solution a reality.”

Lifting regulatory barriers

Balcony solar is thriving in Europe. In Germany more than 4 million systems have been installed, and efforts to ease their deployment are gathering steam in other countries.

But in the U.S., regulatory barriers have kept this technology out of reach for many. California has now removed those barriers while ensuring the systems meet rigorous safety standards.

California is the tenth state to legalize balcony solar and, in so doing, has doubled the size of the U.S. market with this one bill.

Image

Homeowners and renters will now be able to buy qualified portable balcony solar panels from retailers and plug them in without first having to get an interconnection agreement from their utility. The cost and time involved with getting that agreement has been a barrier to greater deployment of these systems.

Using language sought by the utilities, the Assembly added a provision ending the interconnection exemption on January 1, 2030. The law gives the market four years to take off while giving the Legislature an opportunity to remove the sunset provision.

Solving an urgent public health problem

EWG recently released a report showing California is experiencing more frequent and dangerous heat days, with extreme heat events up 55% statewide, threatening public health and safety without access to cooling. But soaring utility bills mean millions of people can’t afford the air conditioning that could keep them safe.

Balcony solar is one solution, helping lower electricity costs and making it cheaper to run vital cooling. With 2027 shaping up to be the hottest year on record, the new law can’t come soon enough.

“These small, easy-to-use solar panels will give everyone, including renters, the relief they desperately need on our outrageous energy bills,” said Wiener. 

“Electricity costs have reached ridiculous levels here in California, and now that the Plug and Play Solar Act is law, Californians have a much-needed tool to provide relief. It’s time to put money back in the pockets of Californians,” he added.

Golden State electricity rates have nearly doubled over the past decade, leaving it with the nation’s second-highest energy prices. The Plug and Play Solar Act provides consumers with a straightforward way to take control of their energy bills.

A single 400-watt balcony solar system can cover roughly 14% of the average apartment’s electricity usage, providing savings of about $250 per year. While the cost of balcony solar starts around $500 today, with broader adoption enabled by SB 868, EWG expects costs to fall, making solar even more accessible to renters and low-income households.

Safety requirements

SB 868 also ensures these plug-and-play systems meet strict safety standards. All systems must be certified by the global independent safety science company UL, or Underwriters Laboratories, or an equivalent national testing lab. To protect utility workers, systems must automatically shut off within seconds if the grid goes down.

System size is capped at 1,200 watts, enough to power everyday appliances, such as fridges, lights, Wi-Fi routers and AC units.

California is not the first state to remove barriers to balcony solar. Utah became the first, in 2025, and several other states have enacted laws to do the same.

With Newsom’s signature, California becomes the 10th state opening its door to this simple, consumer-friendly solar technology – and brings balcony solar to one of the nation’s largest clean-energy markets.

“With Gov. Newsom’s signature making SB 868 law, California can now use the power of its enormous market to dramatically accelerate the adoption of this technology. It will cut energy costs, expand access to clean power and tackle climate change,” added Del Chiaro.

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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. Visit www.ewg.org for more information.

Areas of Focus Energy Renewable Energy California New law ends red tape, unlocking utility bill savings potential for millions Press Contact Alex Formuzis alex@ewg.org (202) 667-6982 September 30, 2026

24 September | New York

A strategy discussion at New York Climate Week 2026, bringing together frontline actors fighting data centers in communities and the policy advocates fighting for guardrails to prevent their economic, social, and climate harms. In this time of relentless attacks on people and planet, our strength is our aligned action. Just as the carbon bubble analysis equipped a generation of climate activists, bringing together community, economic, and political AI expertise can strengthen the fight on the ground.

If interested in attending, please contact events@carbontracker.org

SPEAKERS & TOPICS

• The AI bubble could burst — and take the economy with it
  • Matthew Scherer, Open Markets Institute
• Federal principles for data centers and AI governance
  • Clara Vondrich and J.B. Branch, Public Citizen
• The Investor Dilemma
  • Danielle Fugere, As You Sow
• How communities are stopping data centers
  • Abre’ Conner, NAACP
• Private equity financing of data centers
  • Ashlee Thomas, Private Equity Stakeholder Project
• Big Tech: now Big Oil’s #1 Accomplice
  • Holly Alpine, Embedded Emissions
• Data Centers and Democracy
  • Saul Levin, Hum podcast

The post NYCW 2026: AI Data Center Roundtable appeared first on Carbon Tracker Initiative.

24 September | New York

A breakfast strategy session at New York Climate Week 2026, aligning Amazon, Congo Basin and Coral Triangle strategies ahead of COP31. The aim: moving Fossil Free Zones from community-led demands into formalised, low-cost policy tools that governments can integrate into national energy transition and deforestation roadmaps.

PROGRAMME & SPEAKERS

If interested in attending, please contact events@carbontracker.org

The post NYCW 2026: Fossil Free Zones Breakfast appeared first on Carbon Tracker Initiative.

24 September | New York

What can we celebrate? What can we challenge?

A Laudato Si’ and Carbon Tracker panel at Climate Week NYC 2026. With overshoot of 1.5°C now called unavoidable and a stable climate recognised as a legal obligation, we ask what the Season of Creation gives us to celebrate, what it demands we challenge, and whether honest realism or optimism better serves the fight ahead.

If interested in attending, please contact events@carbontracker.org

THEMES FOR DISCUSSION

1. Limiting overshoot
   • UNEP’s September 2026 report: at least 1.8°C even in the most optimistic future. “There are no good
     outcomes above 1.5°C.”
2. A stable climate as a human right
   • The ICJ advisory opinion of July 2025, endorsed by the UN General Assembly 141–8 in May 2026,
     with the COP31 host among the abstentions.
3. A decade of COPs without “fossil fuels”
   • From Paris to COP30, outcomes that consistently omitted the phrase, and the Santa Marta coalition of
     the willing formed in response.
4. The growing cost of delay
   • Over 35,000 excess deaths across Europe in the summer 2026 heatwaves; seven of nine planetary
     boundaries already exceeded.
5. Optimism or realism?
   • “What if we stop pretending?” against communities that rise to the occasion, and Laudato Si’s reminder
     that the cry of the Earth is the cry of the poor.

SPEAKERS

 

The post NYCW 2026: Season of Creation appeared first on Carbon Tracker Initiative.

Dear Board Members of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage,

For more than a decade, we—civil society, local communities, and peoples’ movements—fought hard for this Fund to be established. Having experienced the devastating impacts of the climate crisis for many years, we knew and warned governments that the crisis was escalating due to delayed and inadequate climate action, including the refusal of Global North countries to deliver adequate climate finance. We also warned that the escalation would bring greater suffering to peoples and communities in the Global South who did nothing to cause the crisis. 

This was demonstrated most acutely in the catastrophic flash floods in Nepal. The Nepal disaster is among the most devastating climate-induced disasters since the Fund’s inception, with a massive human toll of over 1,000 people dead, 5,000 people missing, 7,500 homes destroyed, and thousands estranged from their communities, livelihoods, and cultures. These impacts have left Nepal, a Least Developed Country contributing only 0.1% of global CO2 emissions, downtrodden by a crisis it did not create.

Nepal cannot and should not address this disaster alone. Recovery costs have been initially estimated at $4 to $5 billion—already 10% of Nepal’s GDP. Without adequate loss and damage finance from the FRLD, the country’s domestic resources will be overwhelmed and exhausted, and its sustainable development stalled or reversed. This disaster requires the highest degree of international cooperation and solidarity, particularly from Global North governments that are historically most responsible for the climate crisis.

Yet two weeks after the disaster, the FRLD has yet to deliver finance to Nepal. Beyond bureaucratic barriers and inefficiency, a deeper problem is the FRLD’s lack of resources to deliver a response that matches the scale of need. With only $370 million allocated to the Barbados Implementation Modalities (including oversight fees), and around $65 million left for other disbursements, the Fund’s response is doomed to be woefully insufficient. The Nepal disaster is the clearest demonstration of why the FRLD must be rapidly filled at scale with new, additional, predictable, and grant-based public finance from Global North governments. A fund designed to respond to loss and damage cannot function effectively if every major disaster forces vulnerable countries to compete against one another for a grossly inadequate pool of resources.

In line with the above, we express our support for the request tendered by the Government of Nepal to the FRLD for a special decision on a rapid response to the disaster. We also support the letter submitted by Board Members from the Least Developed Countries, African States, and Asia-Pacific States calling for an extraordinary meeting to allocate and immediately disburse rapid response funding for Nepal. This funding must be completely grant-based.

Further, we demand that Global North governments immediately deliver billions in new, additional, public, and grants-based contributions to the Fund and rapidly convert their existing pledges, in line with Decision B.9/D.10. This will enable the Fund to provide support to Nepal that more adequately meets the scale of need, immediately respond to future climate emergencies in other Global South countries, and ensure continuity of operations.

As your partners in this Fund, we reaffirm our commitment to fulfilling our responsibilities as observers. We stand ready to platform civil society and local communities in Nepal, and participate actively in the Fund’s proceedings on the Nepal disaster. We hope the Board stands equally ready to act with the highest regard for our shared principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities, and a full-scale, just, and rapid response to loss and damage. This requires Global North governments to fulfill their legal obligations to deliver climate finance to Nepal and the Global South—now.

Signed by 160+ organizations,

Note: More organisations are signing on to this letter as it is being submitted to Board Members. To sign on, kindly fill out this form.

International/Regional

Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)

Oxfam International

ActionAid International

Oil Change International

LDC Watch

South Asia Peasant Coalition (SAPC)

South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)

Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

Satat Sampada Climate Foundation

Climate and Health Alliance

Third World Network

350.org

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

ACE Observatory

Habitat Defenders Africa

Plan International

Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bio-resources (ANSAB)

The Federation of Associations connected to the Humana People to People Movement

Loss and Damage Collaboration

Germanwatch e.V.

Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)

Heinrich Boell Foundation Washington, DC

Recourse

Save the Children International

Nepal

All Nepal Peasants’ Federation (ANPFa) 

Federation of Agricultural and Plantation Workers-Nepal (FAPWUN)

General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) 

Nepal Health Volunteers Association (NEVA)

All Nepal Women Association (ANWA) 

Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)

The Small Earth Nepal

Nepal Street Vendors’ Trade Union(NEST)

Nepal Security Labour Trade Union (NESTU)

National Alliance for Human Rights and Social Justice – Nepal (Human Rights Alliance)

Jagaran Nepal

Whole Industry Trade Union, Nepal (WHIN)

The Union of Trekking Travels, Rafting and Airlines Workers (UNITRAV)

Trade Union Policy Institute (TUPI)

Center for Development and Diplomacy Nepal (CDDN)

Home Workers’ Trade Union of Nepal (HUN)

NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN)

Nepal Climate Centre

Nepal Peace Building Initiative (NPI)

Power Shift Nepal

Harin Nepal

ActionAid Nepal

Peoples Movement for Climate Justice, Nepal (PMCJ)

Independent Transport-Workers’ Association of Nepal (ITWAN)

Human Rights and Environment Development Centre (HuRENDEC-Nepal)

ICT, Media and Press Professionals Union-Nepal (IMPRESSION Nepal)

Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN)

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN)

Green Foundation Nepal 

Himawanti Nepal

Human Rights, Social Awareness and Development Centre (HUSADEC)

Prakriti Resources Centre

Care Nepal

Tewa

Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP)

Triyog Alumni Society

Clean Energy Nepal

Nepalese Youth for Climate Action

CliMates Nepal

National Indigenous Disabled Association Nepal (NIDWAN)

Karnali Integrated Rural development and Research Centre (KIRDARC) Nepal

Food-First Information & Action Network, Nepal (FIAN Nepal) 

Save the Children Nepal

Nepal Institute of Peace

Oxfam Nepal

Czop-National Campaign

बालChildren As Zones of Peace National Campaign (CZOP)

Jagriti Child and YouthConcern Nepal (Jcycn)

Jagriti child and youth concern Nepal 

National Child Friendly Local Governance

Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD)

India

National Hawker Federation 

All India Women’s Hawker Federation

Himalaya Niti Abhiyan 

Environics Trust 

River Basin Friends

Indian Social Action Forum

Samata 

mines minerals & People

Nadi Ghati Morcha

SETU: Centre for Social Knowledge and Action

Forum for Gramsabha

Citizens Welfare Association

CSNEHA Foundation

Adivasi Ekta Parishad

Jan Chetnna Manch

Swadesh Gramotthan Samiti

Rainbow Warriors

Paryavaran Sanrakshan Samiti

Prasar

Narayan Singh Uikey Adivasi Vikash Samiti

Ulgulan Manch

Adivasi Ekta Parishad

Revanchal Dalit Adivasi Sewa Samiti

Adivasi Ekta Parishad

Anchalic Suraksha Committee

Venella Rural Development

Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Mahasabha

Reach Law

Kamgar Ekata Union 

Lohiya Vichar Manch Hawkers Union 

Sahid Bhagatsingh Hawkers Union 

Ekata Hawkers Union

Maharashtra Kantri Hawkers Mahasangh 

All Arunachal Street Vendors Association 

Footpath Dukandar Redipatri Union 

Thela Vyavsayi Ekta Union 

Street Vendors Union, Dungarpur 

Dwarkesh Market Vendors Union Rajsamand 

Jaipur Pink City Street Vendors Association 

Heritage City Thadi Thela Union Jaipur

Hawkers Sangram Samiti 

Kolkata Men’s Hawkers Union 

Roadside Vendors Association, Imphal 

Redi Pateri Hawkers Union, Allahabad 

Mirzapur Street Vendors Union 

Maharashtra Hawkers Federation

Centre for Financial Accountability

Pakistan

Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC)

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF)

Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED)

Labour Education Foundation (LEF)

Climate Action Energy Access Institute (CAEAI)

Punjab Tenants Association

Tameer-e-Nau Women Workers Organization

Sindh Hari Poriyat Committee

Hari Jeddojehad Committee, Sindh

People’s Movement, Sindh

Cholistan Development Council (CDC)

Khoji

Sawera Foundation

Kissan Ikath

The Sustainable Growth Partnership (SGP Balochistan)

Sarawan Area water Partnership (SAWP), Mastung Balochistan

Akhuwat Kissan

Kissan Kerkela

Alternative Law Collective (ALC) 

Philippines

Sanlakas

Oriang Women’s Movement

Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura

Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)

Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)

Transform Asia Gender and Labor Institute

Oxfam Pilipinas

Tebtebba

Youth for Climate Hope

Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)

Aksyon Klima Pilipinas

Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and Environment (NICE)

Klima Center of Manila Observatory

Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC)

Bangladesh

Bangladesh Krishok Federation

Waterkeepers Bangladesh

Doritri Rokhhay Amra (DHORA)

Malaysia

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)

Consumers Association of Penang

Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation (MSN)

Fiji 

Alliance for Future Generations Fiji

Fiji Council of Social Services 

Indonesia

Solidaritas Perempuan (Women’s Solidarity for Human Rights)

Thailand

Climate Watch Thailand

Puerto Rico

Climate Trace Puerto Rico

United States

Climate Refugees

United Kingdom

War on Want

Australia

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA)

The post Open Letter to FRLD Board Members on Nepal Disaster appeared first on Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice.

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At the foot of Njeza Mountain in Zimbabwe’s Mutare district, newly discovered lithium deposits have turned a quiet, small-scale farming enclave into the next frontier of the country’s mineral rush.

But more than a year after residents learned of the project, it remains shrouded in secrecy and has become a source of constant anxiety for farmers living in villages surrounding the proposed mine.

“We don’t know much about this project,” says Kwadzanai Nicholas Mukundidza, a farmer in the area. “We were not consulted, and there is a lot of fear among farmers. These projects are linked to powerful people in [Zimbabwe’s ruling party] ZANU PF. We are afraid we might lose our land, our pastures, our rivers, and our water.”

Farmers were resettled in this part of the country in the early 1980s, during the first phase of Zimbabwe’s land reform program after independence from Britain.

The farmers have every reason to fear the new lithium mining project: Similar mining ventures elsewhere in the country have displaced communities from their lands, polluted water and air, and disrupted livelihoods.

Coveted Minerals, Poisoned Communities

As the world races to secure lithium for the clean energy transition, Zimbabwe has emerged as one of Africa’s largest suppliers, attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment. Chinese companies — many with close ties to Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruthless regime — have acquired much of the country’s lithium sector.

Although President Mnangagwa promised sweeping sociopolitical and economic reforms after seizing power from long-time dictator Robert Mugabe in a 2017 military coup, civic space continues to shrink. Activists, journalists, and community and political leaders have faced intimidation and arrests when challenging powerful political or commercial interests.

In lithium-mining communities this climate of fear has profound environmental consequences.

In Zimbabwe’s Buhera district, for example, Sabi Star Mine’s lithium project has already upended the lives of many local people. James Mupfumi, director of the investigative NGO the Centre for Research and Development, says drinking water around the lithium mine has been contaminated by chemical disposal.

Mupfumi says Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife carried out a fact-finding mission on July 12, when community-based organizations such as Buhera Residents Network Trust gave oral evidence, including testimonies from affected villagers on the dust and water pollution and resulting health problems.

“Latest information from Tagarira [in Buhera] community leaders indicates stomach-related challenges from drinking contaminated water. The Tagarira community is the worst affected,” he says.

He adds that at least 120 30-ton trucks use the dust road daily in the area to transport lithium from Sabi Star to Beira through either Beira or Durban ports. Six villages spread along the 30-kilometer (18-mile) dusty stretch from Tagarira to Gaza in Buhera are the worst affected.

A truck carrying lithium from Sabi Star Mine in Buhera, Zimbabwe- Photo: Leonard Mabasa

“These villages have five schools, and an average of 5 to 7 pupils visit the clinic every day seeking treatment for various illnesses caused by dust pollution,” Mupfumi says.

He says there have been very few efforts at dust suppression by the mining company to alleviate the suffering of communities.

“Villages in Tagarira and Mukwasi are also affected by dust from blasting and crushing, and as soon as the dust is cleaned, it soon settles again,” he says.

Official Threats

Buhera Residents Network Trust — an organization representing the interests of local people —presented oral evidence before the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife raising concerns over environmental pollution, water insecurity, worker injuries, community displacement and mining operations at Sabi Star Mine.

The Trust’s leader, Leonard Mabasa, told legislators that the community was not opposed to mining itself and acknowledged that Zimbabwe’s mining sector remained a cornerstone of the national economy, with lithium among the country’s most valuable mineral exports.

 

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But the residents want to ensure that mining is carried out responsibly and that affected communities receive adequate protection. However, after the presentation President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba came out swinging, warning the residents to be “very careful” and not “wreck a good thing for a dime.”

Chengxin Lithium, the company that operates Sabi Star Mine, has maintained that it undertook extensive community engagement before developing the project and provided adequate water, electricity, and sanitation facilities. The company says it compensated villagers who suffered from the mine’s activities.

Charamba’s threatening X post prompted a consortium of Zimbabwe NGOs to issue a statement condemning the intimidation and publicly rallying behind the Buhera residents.

“Communities living alongside mining operations are not enemies of development. They are constitutional rights holders entitled to safe environments, meaningful participation in decisions affecting their lives, and access to effective remedies where harm has occurred. Responsible mining cannot exist without transparency, accountability and respect for human rights,” the NGOs said in the statement.

I asked Mabasa whether he still feels safe after his presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee. He says Zimbabwe Parliamentary privileges — special rights and powers granted to lawmakers so they can do their jobs safely and independently — should protect him from any threats during and after the submissions before Portfolio Committee on Environment Climate and Wildlife, “[But] what happens after that usually becomes too personal and uncontrollable. Smear campaign can make you feel insecure. Certain actions are shrewdly done to psychologically wean you off from the struggle. Safety is delicate. Physical and digital security can be issues of great concern which need not to be breached.”

Community Rights

Mabasa says the community needs to be aware of their economic social cultural rights — which include housing, health, education, and fair work — so compensation on relocation is anchored on “Free Prior Informed Consent.”

“I also think that legal support ecosystem is key for communities to be able to understand the terms and conditions of voluminous documents produced during the … Environmental Social Impact Assessment,” he says. This legal requirement, previously known as an Environmental Impact Assessment, evaluates how major projects affect ecosystems, health, and communities before they start.

Donald Nyarota, communications and advocacy officer for the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), a Zimbabwe-based NGO, says they have observed a degree of fear and reluctance among community members in lithium producing areas to speak openly about their concerns.

“These concerns include environmental pollution, loss of agricultural lands, loss of livelihoods, water and security, particularly displacement,” Nyarota says. “These are issues that communities are afraid to speak about because [they’re linked to] very powerful government officials. Sometimes they just say ‘government officials’ — they don’t even want to name them because of the fear that they could be victimized and conflict with these powerful interests associated with mining operations.”

At CNRG, Nyarota says, they’re addressing these issues through creating spaces where communities can raise their concerns collectively and safely under their “do no harm principle,” where they protect the identity and maintain anonymity of the communities.

Nyarota says they place a lot of emphasis on community-led evidence gathering, where communities send evidence anonymously through their safe and secure social networks.

A Just Transition

Mupfumi says Zimbabwe requires a just energy transition for its green minerals such as lithium.

“There is a need to secure the supply chain from corruption and criminality that are negatively impacting the rights of host communities. These negative impacts also pose a direct threat to climate action,” he says.

Political elites’ participation in the industry, like what is happening in Buhera, Mupfumi says, seeks to mask these violations and shield extraction from accountability.

“It is therefore important that global measures, such as supply-chain exclusion under clean energy laws, are applied to companies operating in Zimbabwe,” he says.

He adds that the processed lithium from these companies enters the global electric vehicle and green-energy battery supply chains, so markets and laws must prevent automotive companies from receiving green subsidies or selling vehicles where their raw materials are linked to human-rights abuses or toxic pollution.

“For communities to fully benefit from lithium resources, extraction must be linked to human rights protection, environmental accountability, transparent supply chains and meaningful community benefits, rather than allowing communities to bear the environmental and social costs of extraction while global markets benefit from the resource,” Mupfumi says.

He says Buhera demonstrates that communities must recognize lithium as a critical mineral whose extraction should contribute to transforming host communities in line with a just energy transition, rather than leaving them to bear the social and environmental costs.

“This makes community unity, transparency and accountability critical, particularly in securing fair benefits, protecting rights and ensuring responsible extraction. Communities must also recognize their vulnerability under Zimbabwe’s insecure land regime, where state power and corporate interests can weaken their bargaining position,” he says.

At the same time, communities should organize early and seek independent legal support on compensation and relocation, ensuring that displacement only occurs when livelihoods, living conditions and adequate compensation have been properly addressed.

“Community exchange visits, such as the one already facilitated by CRD, remain critical in enabling communities to share experiences, build solidarity and learn from each other’s struggles,” Mupfumi says.

“Ultimately,” says CNRG’s Nyarota, “the issue is not whether the communities support or oppose mining. It’s about whether mining takes place in a way that respects their rights, protects the environment, and ensures that they have meaningful voices in decision-making on issues that are affecting their lands and livelihoods.”

Republish this article for free! Read our reprint policy. Previously in The Revelator:

Anthrax in Zimbabwe: Caused by Oppression, Worsened by Climate Change

The post How Zimbabwe’s Regime Is Fueling a Dirty Lithium Boom appeared first on The Revelator.