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Don’t be fooled by NorthWestern Energy and the PSC’s spin on the latest rate increase to Montanan’s energy bills. In November 2025, the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) announced it denied $43 million in rate increases to NorthWestern Energy “to the benefit of Montana customers.” So why are Montana customers still paying more? MEIC’s Energy …

The post MEIC’s Nick Fitzmaurice Explains How NorthWestern Energy Keeps Getting Away with Raising Montana Customer’s Rates appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon have warned that stopping the expansion of oil drilling into their territories will be a crucial test for a growing international coalition committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels.

As 60 countries discussed at a landmark conference in Santa Marta, Colombia, pathways to end the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, Indigenous groups said the process risks losing credibility if governments continue opening new oil frontiers in the Amazon.

Their central demand was the establishment of fossil fuel “exclusion zones” across Indigenous territories and biodiverse areas of the rainforest, permanently barring new oil and gas expansion in one of the world’s most critical ecosystems. Indigenous representatives proposed establishing protected “Life Zones”, which they said would provide legal safeguards against governments and companies seeking to expand extraction into their lands.

But Indigenous delegates left the conference frustrated as the final synthesis report drafted by co-chairs Colombia and the Netherlands failed to include the proposal.

In a statement at the end of the conference, Patricia Suárez, from the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC), said formally declaring Indigenous territories – especially those inhabited by peoples in voluntary isolation – as exclusion zones for extractive industries was “an urgent measure”.

“If the heart of the conference does not begin there, it risks remaining a set of good intentions that fails to respond to either science or our Indigenous knowledge systems,” she added.

Pushing for a new oil frontier

Campaigners say the pressure on the Amazon is intensifying just as scientists warn the rainforest is nearing irreversible collapse. Around 20% of all newly identified global oil reserves between 2022 and 2024 were discovered in the Amazon basin, fuelling renewed interest from governments and companies seeking to develop the region as the world’s next major oil frontier.

Ecuador has moved ahead with the auction of new oil blocks in the rainforest, while the country’s right-wing president Daniel Noboa has promoted the region as a “new oil-producing horizon” and backed efforts to expand fracking with support from Chinese companies.

• Apr 30, 2026 News Santa Marta summit kick-starts work on key steps for fossil fuel transition The conference offers some 60 nations help to develop roadmaps to shift their economies away from coal, oil and gas, and make international trade green Read more
• Apr 29, 2026 Comment Six nations at Santa Marta could shape fossil fuel futures A small but critical handful of countries attending the conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels remain deeply committed to expanding their output Read more
• May 6, 2026 Investigations How Shell is still benefiting from offloaded Niger Delta oil assets Shell used its exit from onshore operations in Nigeria to boost its climate credentials, but new reporting shows that the firm continues to trade oil from its former business Read more

In Santa Marta, a coalition of seven Indigenous nations from Ecuador issued a declaration condemning the government, which did not participate in the conference.

“While the world talks about energy transition, our government is pushing for more oil in the Amazon,” said Marcelo Mayancha, president of the Shiwiar nation. “Throughout history, we have always defended our land. That is our home. We will forever defend our territory.”

Indigenous groups also warned that Peru – another South American nation absent from the conference – plans to auction new oil blocks in the Yavarí-Tapiche Territorial Corridor, a highly sensitive region along the Brazilian border that contains the world’s largest known concentration of Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

COP30 host under scrutiny

Indigenous leaders also criticised Brazil, arguing that despite its international climate leadership, the country is simultaneously advancing major new oil projects in the Amazon region.

Luene Karipuna, delegate from Brazil’s coalition of Amazon peoples (COIAB), said the oil push threatens the stability of the rainforest. Not far from her home, in the northern state of Amapá, state-run oil giant Petrobras is currently exploring for new offshore oil reserves off the mouth of the Amazon river.

Brazil participated in the Santa Marta conference and was among the countries that first pushed for discussions on transitioning away from fossil fuels at COP negotiations. Yet the country is also planning one of the largest expansions in oil production in the world, according to last year’s Production Gap report.

Veteran Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Nobre told Climate Home that the country’s participation at the Santa Marta conference contrasted with its oil and gas production targets. “It does not make any sense for Brazil to continue with any new oil exploration,” he said, and noted that science is clear that no new fossil fuels should be developed to avoid crossing dangerous climate tipping points.

He added that the Brazilian government faces pressures from economic sectors, since Petrobras is one of the countries top exporting companies. “They look only at the economic value of exporting fossil fuels. Brazil has to change.”

The COP30 host also promised to draft a voluntary proposal for a global roadmap away from fossil fuels, which is expected to be published before this year’s COP31 summit.

“In Brazil, that advance has caused so many problems because it overlaps with Indigenous territories. Companies tell us there won’t be an impact, but we see an impact,” Karipuna said. “We feel the Brazilian government has auctioned our land without dialogue.”

For Karipuna and other Indigenous leaders, establishing exclusion zones across the Amazon is no longer just a regional demand, but a prerequisite to prevent the collapse of the rainforest.

“That’s the first step for an energy transition that places Indigenous peoples at the centre,” she added.

The post Indigenous groups warn Amazon oil expansion tests fossil fuel phase-out coalition appeared first on Climate Home News.

The company says it remains “the nation’s largest distributed power plant operator,” with about 4.3 GWh of networked storage capacity as of March 31 — a 50% increase year over year. It aims to have 10 GWh of dispatchable capacity by the end of 2028.

Editor’s note: This edition of our ‘Protect This Place’ column is produced in collaboration with the Climate Listening Project, whose short film appears below.

The Place:

We’re in West Marion, North Carolina, in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, pronounced Appa-latch-an, and known locally as the Blue Ridge Mountains — a biodiversity hotspot where communities are still recovering from Hurricane Helene and coming together to build a Resilience Hub.

Why it matters:

This area is home to the greatest diversity of salamanders on Earth, including the giant eastern hellbender. Varying elevations throughout the mountains create unique ecosystems for more tree species than anywhere in North America, and the region serves as an important migration corridor for species from the North and South.

The Appalachian Mountains are known as the oldest mountains in the world, and Marion is famous for its annual Bigfoot Festival. West Marion is a historically Black community, which lost its school after desegregation and community connectivity after the new interstate was built right through the middle.

West Marion community / Photo by Dayna Reggero The threat:

Hurricane Helene was a traumatic event that carried endless rain that widened little streams, creating thundering rivers that pulled down trees and everything else in their path and tore apart communities.

West Marion Inc has already been listening to the communities’ needs for years and were ready to help. Now they’re planning a Resilience Hub. My new film, “Climate Change And…” tells their story, where the hurricane is just one chapter and enduring struggle is not new, yet climate change and hope coexist.

This community is building solutions and taking care of each other and this place that they love. The Resilience Hub is being built in an old school that has been donated back to the community. There are also plans to build a bridge over the interstate, reconnecting the town. A capital campaign is underway, with big plans for the Resilience Hub to be able to help the community in times of climate impacts, as well as serve as a local health center, technology hub, food incubator, and community center.

My place in this place:

I lived in the Appalachian foothills for many years. I began my Climate Listening Project after 2013 became the wettest, rainiest year on record in western North Carolina. My first listening project was called “Asheville Rain,” in which I listened to a scientist who discussed the importance of preserving Appalachian bogs. I saw record after record broken as hurricanes traveled from the coasts to our mountains, dropping so much rain and causing mudslides.

Dayna Reggero / Photo by Zachary Kanzler

I attended my first West Marion Community Forum meeting almost 10 years ago and met inspiring women, including director Paula Swepson. Shortly afterward I was invited to host a climate forum where people from across the community came together to listen and plan for adaptation from floods or fires, connecting solutions around food security, transportation, and community health. We’ve continued to collaborate and share the messages from their book, Shift Happens in Community. Then Hurricane Helene hit the mountains, and I was invited to listen. The women of West Marion Inc. are inspiring to me because of their work to listen and adapt.

Paula Swepson / Photo by Dayna Reggero Who’s protecting it now:

West Marion Inc. is listening in Southern Appalachia with the Old Fort and West Marion Community Forums and planning for the Resilience Hub.

What this place needs:

“The best thing about the forum is that it allows you to dream,” says Paula Swepson, founder and director of West Marion Inc.

See more:

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

Protect This Place: Connected Communities on the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Philippines

The post Protect This Place: Southern Appalachia appeared first on The Revelator.

Critical grid work becomes harder for utilities to keep on budget when schedules are repeatedly disrupted by missing or delayed equipment, writes ULE Group President Danielle Pirrone.

Data centers are of “no value to our residential customer — actually, any customer,” said Eversource Energy CEO Joe Nolan. “It's only going to drive up the price of energy.”

1. Background and Context

Secure land tenure, agroecology, and ecological restoration are deeply interconnected pillars of sustainable development in Africa. Evidence from AFSA’s work across the continent demonstrates that when communities, particularly smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples, have recognized and protected rights to land, they are more likely to invest in long-term practices that regenerate soils, conserve biodiversity, and build resilience to climate shocks.

Agroecology provides a proven framework for such practices by combining traditional knowledge with ecological principles to restore degraded landscapes while advancing food sovereignty. Ecological restoration, in turn, thrives where tenure security empowers communities to steward their territories.

It is against this backdrop that AFSA is commissioning this consultancy to develop a campaign strategy that bridges grassroots struggles with continental and global policy spaces, while amplifying community voices and driving systemic change.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is inviting consultants to submit a technical and financial proposal for a consultancy to design and develop a comprehensive campaign strategy for the Protect Our Land, Restore Our Soil Campaign, which AFSA plans to roll out in mid-2026 over a three-year period.

AFSA is seeking an experienced consultant (or team) with a strong background in land governance, agroecology, food sovereignty, ecological restoration, food system advocacy, and movement-building in Africa, and we believe your expertise aligns well with the scope and ambition of this assignment.

2. Objective of the Assignment

Develop and design a campaign strategy to build a continental campaign and movement that places secure land tenure and ecological restoration at the centre of Africa’s transformation.

3. Scope of Work

The consultancy will entail the following components:

a) Background Paper Development

• Synthesize evidence on the interconnections between secure land tenure, agroecology, food sovereignty, and ecological restoration.
• Review AFSA documentation, relevant continental and national policy frameworks, and community testimonies.

b) Campaign Strategy Design

• Develop a robust campaign strategy aimed at:
  • Shifting public and political narratives
  • Mobilizing diverse constituencies
  • Influencing policy processes
  • Building sustained public pressure for land governance reforms.
• The strategy should prioritize:
  • Protection of communal land rights
  • Prevention of land grabbing
  • Promotion of agroecology as a pathway to healthy soils, climate resilience, and food sovereignty.

4. Expected Deliverables

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Inception Report
   • Detailed work plan, methodology, and stakeholder engagement approach.
2. Background Paper
   • A comprehensive, well-referenced paper linking land tenure security, food sovereignty, and ecological soil restoration as the foundation of the campaign.
3. Campaign Strategy Package, including:
   • Strategic framework and advocacy roadmap of the campaign
   • Three-year implementation plan
   • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework
   • Branding and communications toolkit.
4. Validation and Final Outputs
   • Validation meeting and report
   • Final (approved and launched) campaign strategy
   • Translated background paper and campaign strategy (English French).

5. Proposed Methodology

The consultancy is expected to apply a mixed-method approach, integrating doctrinal analysis and participatory techniques, including:

• Desk Review of scholarly literature, policy documents, and AFSA materials (Agenda 2063, AU Land Governance Strategy, Malabo Commitments, etc.);
• Participatory Research and human-centred design approaches through virtual FGDs with farmers, pastoralists, women, youth, and Indigenous communities;
• Key Informant Interviews with policymakers, CSOs, traditional leaders, land and agronomy professionals, AFSA Land working group, regional bodies, and funders;
• Stakeholder Consultations and Co-creation Workshops;
• Iterative Drafting and Validation with the AFSA Secretariat and steering committee.

 8. Submission Requirements

Kindly submit here your brief details here (https://forms.gle/gboWrxyGe7zrSE8cA) within 5 days (or not later than May 13). Please don’t attach CVs, technical proposals, financial proposal at this stage. We’ll invite selected candidates to submit these 1 week after the closing date.

Please feel free to reach out to me via admin@afsafrica.org if you require any clarification.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and potentially working together to advance land justice, agroecology, and ecological restoration across Africa.

Today’s jobs report shows the labor market added 115,000 jobs in April, while the number of jobs added across February and March was revised down by 16,000. Since the start of 2026, job gains have averaged just 76,000 per month. The unemployment rate held at 4.3%, near its highest level in four years. Though topline job growth figures may appear steady, this report revealed average wages grew by just 0.2% last month, which next week’s inflation print will almost certainly confirm are behind rising prices.

Groundwork’s Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy Elizabeth Pancotti released the following statement:

“While the president touts this lukewarm headline jobs report, Americans can look at their own paychecks to take the temperature of the labor market. Price hikes fueled by Trump’s senseless war and misguided tariffs are forcing Americans to stretch already-thin budgets to the brink. Working families are being crushed under the weight of Trump’s misguided economic agenda as wages slip behind the skyrocketing price of gas, groceries, and everyday goods.”

A new study identifies thousands of flowering plants belonging to rare and ancient lineages that are in urgent need of protection. 

Read more on E360 →

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. 
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.

This week ‘Leeway’ for fossil fuels

METHANE EXEMPTION: The European Commission is considering making changes to its flagship methane emissions regulation to give fossil-fuel companies “leeway to avoid penalties…in what would be a major win for the oil and gas sector”, reported Politico. According to new draft government guidelines seen by the outlet, “national authorities would be able to grant exemptions to companies on energy security grounds”. A separate Politico story said the move comes after the Trump administration “has intensified pressure on the regulation”.

GAS EXPANSION: The Guardian reported that the Norwegian government has been “heavily criticised for approving plans to reopen three North Sea gasfields nearly three decades after they were closed”, with the justification of helping to “fill the gap in energy supplies created by the Middle East war”. Oslo has also given its approval for oil and gas companies to explore 70 new locations in the North Sea, Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea, the newspaper added.

RENEWABLES INVESTMENT: The Financial Times reported that investors are “piling into clean-power funds at the fastest pace in five years as the Iran war accelerates a global push for energy security and alternatives to oil and gas, boosting a slew of stocks linked to the transition away from fossil fuels”. It added that more than £3bn has been invested in global funds linked to renewable energy in April, bringing their total net asset value up to $43bn.

Around the world

• SHIPPING TALKS: Nations are “back on track” to adopt a framework for curbing global shipping emissions, following the latest International Maritime Organization’s meeting in London, according to a Carbon Brief Q&A.
• SUPER El NIÑO: Global sea temperatures were the second highest on record for the month of April, “stoking concerns among scientists that an El Niño warming cycle is brewing that would intensify extreme weather”, reported the Financial Times.
• ROUND-THE-CLOCK: An International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report found that “solar and wind power paired with battery storage systems are already delivering reliable, round-the-clock electricity at a lower cost than fossil fuel-dominated energy systems in a growing number of regions”, said BusinessGreen.
• KENYA FLOODS: At least 18 people have died in floods and landslides driven by heavy rain in Kenya, reported Al Jazeera.

0.15C

The average amount by which trees lower summer temperatures in cities globally, according to research in Nature Communications.

Latest climate research

• Airborne microplastics and nanoplastics have the potential to contribute to warming by absorbing sunlight | Nature Climate Change
• A mega tsunami in Alaska in 2025 was “preconditioned by glacial retreat caused by climate change” | Science
• “Net-zero global power systems meeting universal electricity needs for decent living standards are technically feasible” | Nature Energy

(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

Captured

The UK has avoided the need for gas imports worth £1.7bn since the start of the Iran war, as a result of record electricity generation from wind and solar, according to Carbon Brief analysis. The chart above shows that wind and solar have generated a record 21 terawatt hours (TWh) on the island of Great Britain since the end of February 2026, when the US and Israel first attacked Iran. The record wind and solar output avoided the need to import 41TWh of gas – roughly 34 tankers of liquified natural gas (LNG). Importing those 34 tankers of LNG would have cost around £1.7bn, according to Carbon Brief analysis.

Spotlight Tipping troubles

New research published this week shows how even small increases in global temperature, when combined with deforestation, could push the Amazon rainforest past a “tipping point”.

Crossing this threshold would trigger the gradual transition of vast swathes of the lush rainforest into dry savannah.

On the sidelines of the European Geosciences Uniongeneral assemblyin Vienna, Carbon Brief speaks to lead author Prof Nico Wunderlingfrom Goethe University Frankfurt and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Carbon Brief: Why does the Amazon rainforest have a tipping point?

Prof Nico Wunderling: All tipping elements have important feedback mechanisms that once a threshold – the tipping point – is crossed, kick in and a change in the system is self-amplified. For the Amazon rainforest, this important feedback mechanism is the atmospheric moisture recycling – meaning that the rainforest generates much of its own rainfall.

For eastern parts of the rainforest, moisture mostly comes from the Atlantic. The rainfall it receives then evaporates and is transported towards the west. And, just to give you a sense of how large this feedback can be, for parts of the rainforest, more than 50% of its rainfall is generated by the forest itself.

Prof Nico Wunderling. Credit: Supplied

CB: How do global warming and deforestation both play a role in a potential tipping point?

NW: Both global warming and deforestation undermine this atmospheric moisture recycling. The direct way is deforestation – we cut down the forest, we lose major parts of the evapotranspiration, so you have less rainfall for the downwind forest. Also, global warming impacts the rainforest – it increases the number and intensity of droughts, which decreases the overall available rainfall and, therefore, can decrease the stability of the rainforest, which also leads to an undermining of the atmospheric moisture recycling.

Around 17% of the Amazon rainforest has already been lost. The critical threshold in our study is in the order of 22-28% of deforestation.

CB: Would such a transition be Amazon-wide? Or would it happen in pockets or regions?

NW: That actually depends on the other pressures that we expose the rainforest to. What we found is that, under climate change only [with no deforestation], the threshold kicks in at around 3.7-4C of warming. If that is crossed, then we find that around one-third of the Amazon rainforest is at risk of transitioning to a degraded ecosystem.

Then, if deforestation is also included [at 22-28%], this threshold comes down to well within the Paris Agreement limits – 1.5-1.9C of global warming. At the same time, the area at risk of transition increases from around one-third to around two-thirds to three-quarters. 

CB: In your paper, you say that crossing a tipping point is “not inevitable” – can you elaborate?

NW: In a way, for the Amazon rainforest, we’re in a better situation than with other tipping elements, because we have multiple options for improving our situation. One is we can stop global warming – we can stop emitting and curb emissions before we reach the 2C target. That’s important for the Amazon rainforest. But crucial for the Amazon rainforest is that deforestation levels are halted below 22-28%. 

And, indeed, current trends across the Amazon rainforest show that efforts to decrease deforestation are in place and they seem to work. If these trends continue, then I’m mildly optimistic that we will not reach 22-28%. But, if you would have asked me the same question five years ago, I might have said that, well, by mid-century, these values could be reached.

Watch, read, listen

AFRICA RENEWABLES: A CNBC Africa TV report examined the continent’s “renewables rise” and the “shift from climate policy to energy security”.

‘CLIMATE MONSTER’: New York Times writer David Wallace-Wells has a long read on the approach of “perhaps the most fearsome El Niño since before scientists even began modeling them”.

SANTA MARTA SUMMIT: For the Conversation, two political researchers lay out “four dynamics to watch” to determine whether the first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia “becomes more than rhetoric”.

Coming up

• 8-9 May: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit, Cebu, Philippines
• 10-14 May: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III second lead author meeting for the seventh assessment report, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• 11-12 May: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ministerial council meeting, Paris
• 11-15 May: 21st session of the UN forum on forests, New York
• 12 May: Bahamas election

Pick of the jobs

• Carbon Brief, journalism internship | Salary: £14.80 per hour (London Living Wage). Location: London/hybrid
• Secure Energy Project, campaign director | Salary: $50,000. Location: Brazil (remote)
• Commonwealth Secretariat, adviser on climate change | Salary: £80,672. Location: London
• Politico, deputy editor, Congress (energy and environmental policy) | Salary: Unknown. Location: Arlington, Virginia

DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

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The post DeBriefed 8 May 2026: EU eyes fossil-fuel exemptions | Wind and solar save UK ‘£1.7bn’ | Amazon ‘tipping point’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.

For several years, the UK car industry has been claiming that demand is not high enough to meet the government’s targets for sales of “zero emissions vehicles” (ZEVs).

To date, however, the car industry has actually beaten the targets under the government’s “ZEV mandate”.

This pattern of claiming demand is not high enough is being repeated in a regular cycle, following the publication of monthly statistics on new UK car sales by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Each month, this messaging is amplified by large sections of the media, which have published dozens of articles stating – incorrectly – that car companies are missing their ZEV targets.

Meanwhile, the car industry is lobbying for an “urgent review” of the targets, on the basis that “natural demand is still well below the level demanded by the [ZEV] mandate”.

UK car market has ‘over-complied’ with its targets

In 2021, the UK’s then Conservative government developed the idea of a “ZEV mandate” as a way to drive sales of electric vehicles (EVs).

The idea, inspired by a similar scheme in California, is to set a rising target for the share of new car and van sales that must be “zero-emissions vehicles” (ZEVs) each year.

For cars, these targets started at 22% of sales 2024, increasing gradually each year to 80% by 2030.

Towards the end of the first year of the scheme, in November 2024, the SMMT warned that the industry was “likely to fall short”, with EVs making up “just…18.7%” of sales. It said:

“The industry looks likely to fall short of the 22% EV market share demanded, potentially creating a £1.8bn bill for compliance.”

(If manufacturers fall short of their target, they can still avoid having to pay a “bill for compliance” by trading “credits” with other firms, or “borrowing” allowances from future years.)

But, contrary to the industry messaging on the headline 22% goal, the car market actually “over-complied” in 2024, according to official figures published in early 2026.

As such, all carmakers in the UK avoided fines for failing to meet their ZEV-mandate targets.

This was despite only 19.8% of new sales being EVs in 2024 – a final tally that was notably more than one percentage point higher than the industry estimate from November of that year.

The industry was able to “over-comply” with the ZEV mandate because the regime has a series of “flexibilities”, which have been created and added to after lobbying by carmakers.

These “flexibilities” allow individual firms to reduce their targets for ZEV sales by selling combustion-engine cars with lower emissions, such as hybrids or plug-in EVs.

When these “flexibilities” are considered, the car market met the equivalent of a 24.5% target, according to the government, with the surplus of 2.5% being “banked” for use in future years. This is shown in the figure below.

The required (left) and achieved (right) share of ZEVs in total UK car sales in 2024, %. “Flexibilities” include the sale of lower-emission petrol cars. Source: Department for Transport.

In May 2026, the SMMT again told Carbon Brief that EV sales in 2024 had been below the headline target.

When asked by Carbon Brief to confirm that – per the official figures – the UK car market had, nevertheless, “over-complied” with the ZEV mandate in 2024, it did not respond.

Car industry continues to lobby for weaker rules

In a January 2026 release on car sales for the previous year, the SMMT said the “gap between demand [for EVs] and ambition [in the ZEV mandate] is increasing rather than diminishing”.

At the time, Carbon Brief asked the SMMT if it recognised independent estimates from thinktanks and NGOs, showing that – on the contrary – the car industry had also met its ZEV-mandate targets for 2025.

In response, the SMMT sent Carbon Brief a quote from SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes saying that “no one will know” if the industry complied with the 2025 target until official figures come out in 2027.

While this is technically true, the official figures for 2024 showed that the thinktanks and NGOs behind the independent estimates for 2025 had been accurate with their previous forecasts of compliance.

The car industry continues to repeat similar messaging.

The SMMT stated in May 2026 that there is a “persistent gap of around six percentage points against the mandate target” of 33% in 2026 and 38% in 2027. Chief executive Mike Hawes said in the statement that “natural demand is still well below the level demanded by the mandate”.

The gap that the SMMT is referring to is between the headline ZEV targets and the expected level of EV sales, which the body says will reach 27% of all new cars this year and 33% in 2027.

The car industry continues to use these figures to call for a review of the ZEV mandate.

In its latest news release, it says the UK “needs an urgent review” and quotes Hawes saying this should be used to “align policy with market realities”.

These comments are reflected in media coverage, with the Independent, for example, running a misleading headline that says the car market is “still missing government EV targets”. The article adds:

“[T]he industry is still warning that EV demand is not growing quickly enough to meet government targets.”

What neither the SMMT press release nor much of the media coverage mentions is the existing “flexibilities” under the ZEV mandate, which were already expanded last year.

This means the headline 33% goal for 2026 can be met, even if EVs only make up around 25% of sales, according to an estimate of the “real” target published by thinktank New Automotive.

Again, the SMMT expects EVs to make up around 27% of sales this year, which would be comfortably ahead of the “real” target once flexibilities are taken into account.

The government has already pledged to review the ZEV mandate, with the results due to be published in “early 2027”.

In April, car sales platform Autotrader announced that new EVs are now cheaper to buy than petrol cars on average, “for the first time”. EVs were already significantly cheaper to own.

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The post Factcheck: What the UK car industry is not saying about EV targets appeared first on Carbon Brief.

In response, Evergy has increased its planned gas-fired generation in Missouri to 4.7 GW. Separately, it slashed its long-term renewable energy plans more than 90%.

The Nutrient Density Initiative (NDI) and Edacious are leading the Regen Nutrition Project to explore how food production practices influence the nutritional quality of foods.

NDI teamed up with Edacious, a company that provides food testing and analysis, to launch the Regen Nutrition Project in 2024. The project invites NDI’s 50-plus members—including food companies and farmers committed to producing regeneratively—to test samples of their products at Edacious’ food lab.

Edacious’ food analysis technology compares the nutrient content of regeneratively-produced foods with conventional crops to help companies demonstrate the benefits of regenerative practices.

The data “will be critical for demonstrating that eco-friendly practices that build healthy soil and work in synergy with natural systems ultimately produce foods with higher nutrient density,” Mary Purdy, Managing Director of NDI tells Food Tank.

This is particularly important at a time when producers are facing skepticism that labels reflect real differences, Eric Smith, Founder and CEO of Edacious, says. “For producers, nutrition data is becoming a way to validate practices they already believe in—and to communicate that value credibly in the marketplace,” he tells Food Tank.

Edacious and the NDI also developed a Nutrient Density Data Explorer to visualize the nutrient data collected. It breaks down the nutrient content of the samples sent in by NDI members and compares them alongside conventional retail samples.

“We want it to be useful to farmers, researchers, brands, and policymakers alike: a tool that highlights how much variability actually exists in foods, where regenerative systems may be showing early signals of improved nutrient density, and where more research is needed,” Smith says.

Results from the Data Explorer show that regeneratively-produced samples have lower fat content, a better balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3, more protein, and no heavy metals, compared to conventional samples. The project has collected data on proteins in their pilot, and they are looking forward to expanding to grains and produce next.

According to a study in the journal Foods, commercial produce such as apples, oranges, tomatoes, and potatoes have lost up to 25 to 50 percent of their nutrient density in the last 50 to 70 years. And research from the Institute of Environmental Sciences reveals that the climate crisis further threatens nutritional quality.

“As concern about health continues to rise, this evidence becomes a powerful lever for changing purchasing decisions, not only at the consumer level, but also among those with significant purchasing power, including institutions, food service and food is medicine, providers, and retailers,” Purdy tells Food Tank.

Smith makes clear that the goal of the project isn’t to create “perfect foods.” It’s “to shift the conversation toward transparency, context, and continuous improvement, so that nutrition becomes a measurable, valued outcome of how we grow and produce food.”

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 Meizhi Lang, Unsplash

The post Regen Nutrition Project Measures Real Food Nutrient Density appeared first on Food Tank.

Between November 9 to November 20, Food Tank will be on the ground in Antalya, Turkey for the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 31) as we push decision makers to center food and agriculture in climate solutions.

Building on our past COP programming, Food Tank will organize a series multi-stakeholder dinners, host an evening of farmer storytelling, engage with climate negotiators, and much more. Check back here for more details about our COP31 plans as they become available!

To request an invitation, suggest a speaker, or explore partnership opportunities, please reach out to Food Tank’s Events Director Kenzie Wade at kenzie@foodtank.com.

The post Join Food Tank at COP31 in Antalya, Turkey appeared first on Food Tank.

From September 19 to September 25, Food Tank will be back in New York for Climate Week NYC 2026 with WNYC.

The weeklong series of programming will include panel discussions, live performances, networking receptions, and delicious food as we discuss the many solutions that will make our food and agriculture systems an answer to the climate crisis. Summits will touch on themes including soil health, farmland conservation, the private sector’s role in driving climate action, food and nutrition security, and much more.

Last year’s Climate Week NYC programming brought together more than 300 chefs, journalists, academics, CEOs, farmers, advocates and Broadway performers. And in 2026, we’re looking forward to making an even greater impact. Check back here for more details about our Climate Week plans as they become available!

To request an invitation, suggest a speaker, or explore partnership opportunities, please reach out to Food Tank’s Events Director Kenzie Wade at kenzie@foodtank.com.

The post Join Food Tank at Climate Week NYC appeared first on Food Tank.

Mental Health Awareness Month frequently focuses on therapy and diagnosis, but in the Rio Grande Valley, mental health is inseparable from environmental realities. In Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy, and Cameron counties, conditions like extreme heat, air pollution, flooding risk, food insecurity, and limited behavioral health access converge to shape mental health.

These are not abstract public health concerns; they are daily realities that shape anxiety, depression, and recovery across communities. When families worry about whether their homes are safe, their air is clean, and their next meal is secure, mental health cannot be separated from environmental and social conditions.

Mental Health Awareness Month should expand our knowledge of mental health. It is not simply an individual concern; it is essentially shaped by local environmental and organizational factors that produce sustained psychological strain in the Rio Grande Valley.

Across the region, environmental insecurity goes beyond hurricanes, flooding, and extreme heat. Environmental insecurity goes beyond hurricanes, flooding, and extreme heat. It includes poor air quality, unstable housing, food insecurity, and limited behavioral health services. In South Texas, these stressors combine. They lead to chronic stress, fatigue, and psychological distress, often neglected by traditional mental health frameworks. State of the Air report identified the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville area as one of the most polluted regions in the United States for year-round particle pollution, ranking 16th nationally (American Lung Association, 2025). These patterns reflect sustained exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) across parts of the Rio Grande Valley, including surrounding border communities.

PM2.5 exposure is especially concerning because these microscopic particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Long-term exposure is linked to heart and lung disease and systemic inflammation. This increases the risk of anxiety and depression.

For communities facing economic and social stress, pollution adds a further layer to the mental health burden. Households are forced to make tradeoffs between nutrition, housing, utilities, and healthcare; the resulting stress contributes to anxiety, depression, and a persistent sense of instability. For children and families, food insecurity is not only a physical health issue, but also a chronic psychological stressor that affects development, emotional management, and long-term psychological well-being.

For residents in Starr and Willacy counties, where poverty rates remain among the highest in Texas, think Starr and Willacy counties, poverty rates are among the highest in Texas. These problems worsen with limited healthcare and behavioral health services. Ecoanxiety here are real. It reflects distress and uncertainty caused by extreme heat, flooding, and poor air quality. Physiological burden of chronic stress. Elevated allostatic load has been strongly associated with anxiety, depression, and other stress-related conditions (McEwen & Akil, 2020). For many individuals in the Rio Grande Valley, stress is not episodic, it is continuous, formed by environmental and structural conditions that are difficult to avoid.

As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, it is critical to broaden the conversation. To properly address mental health in the Rio Grande Valley, we must acknowledge the environmental systems that shape it and promote policies that support air quality, climate resilience, food security, and environmental justice as vital factors of mental health. Dealing with these environmental and community factors is essential to reducing the mental health burden in South Texas.

About the Author:

Dr. Aaron Salinas is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, Texas. With over a decade of experience in academia, he is dedicated to advancing nursing education and promoting student success. In addition to his academic role, Dr. Salinas is a dual board-certified Nurse Practitioner, credentialed as both a Family Nurse Practitioner and a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. He provides patient care as part of the UT Health Rio Grande Valley team at the University Health Center and collaborates with a local psychiatrist and pediatrician through consultation services.

References:

American Lung Association. (2025). State of the air 2025. https://www.lung.org/research/sota

McEwen, B. S., & Akil, H. (2020). Revisiting the stress concept: Implications for affective disorders. Journal of Neuroscience, 40(1), 12–21.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2024). Health and environmental effects of particulate matter (PM2.5). https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution

 

The post When Environment Shapes Mental Health: A Rio Grande Valley Perspective appeared first on ANHE.

A new study reveals the remarkable power of seaweed to clean—and in some cases entirely eradicate—fish waste from aquaculture. 

In the new work based out of the University of Miami, Florida, researchers tested out the abilities of several seaweed species to clean water polluted with fish effluent. Starting with multiple tanks, each containing one of four seaweed species, including a type of red seaweed, and a sea lettuce, the researchers evenly pumped through effluent-filled water into each one from a tank stocked with yellowtail snapper, a common aquaculture species in the region. 

The fish were kept in tanks at commercial production densities, to mimic the polluting effects of a fish farm. All the seaweed species received the same levels of effluent flow to compare their responses. These were also tested against control tanks that contained the seaweeds but weren’t exposed to waste from the fish tank. Researchers took regular readings of water oxygen, CO2, phosphate and ammonia levels in the water, and also tested the seaweeds for levels of protein, fat, minerals, and metals 

This steady analysis revealed that the seaweed had varying—but often striking—abilities to cleanse the water of fish waste. The most significant finding is that one species called Agardh’s red weed, a dense, frilly seaweed with a burgundy hue, reduced levels of polluting ammonia from the fish-contaminated water to below detectable levels, seemingly absorbing all this waste and using it to power its own growth. 

 

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Additionally, tests of the water before and after it had run through the seaweed tanks showed that sea lettuce in particular was very good at absorbing carbon from the water, taking up more carbon than any other seaweed species and leaving the water significantly cleared of dissolved CO2. It also generated more oxygen than any other species. Two other seaweed species also significantly decreased the dissolved CO2 content of the effluent-infused water. 

Meanwhile, a species known as sea grapes contained the highest amounts of protein when researchers did sample testing on the effluent-fed algae, pointing to its potential nutritional value, and suggesting it could make sense to produce seaweed commercially alongside fish aquaculture. In nearly all the seaweed species, the researchers also found that samples were enriched with the analyzed nutrients after exposure to the fish-fed water.

Ultimately, the study shows how mimicking natural seascapes, by bringing together fish and seaweed, could produce double-benefits: significantly curbing pollution in the world’s fastest-growing food production sector, while providing an additional source of human nutrient and farmer revenues.

In the short-term, they hope their investigation will convince farmers to at least give seaweeds a go, and to make smarter choices about which species they select when they do.

Lasco et. al. “Evaluation of native macroalgae species of the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean for use in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA).” Aquaculture International. 2026.

Image: ©Anthropocene Magazine. AI-generated

Headline News:

• “Battery Array As Powerful As Twelve Nuclear Plants Comes To Major Milestone In California” • While Californians were getting ready for spring break in late March, the state quietly broke an energy grid record: For the first time, its battery fleet discharged more than 12,000 megawatts of power, roughly the output of twelve large nuclear plants. [Yahoo]

Diablo Canyon Power Plant (Doc Searls, CC BY-SA 2.0)

• “US Air Force Sets Its Sights On Space Solar Power” • Despite the sharp U-turn in federal energy policy, the US Air Force is continuing its pursue of the next generation of decarbonization, and space solar is in the mix. Yes, space solar. That nutty idea about beaming solar energy down to Earth. It may not be all that nutty after all. [CleanTechnica]
• “Air Conditioning Battery Program For Renters Could Help Manage Grid Stress” • A renter-friendly pilot program in New York City is testing a different approach to AC: plug-in batteries that can power air conditioners offline during peak demand, helping take pressure off the grid at its most stressed moments while still keeping residents cool. [ABC News]
• “El Niño Looms: Near-Record Sea Temperatures In April Raise Fears Of More Global Heat” • Data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service show average sea surface temperatures reached 21°C in April, the second-highest level ever recorded for the month. Parts of the tropical Pacific were especially warm, and the heat can intensify storms. [Euronews]
• “NY Pension Fund Mulls TotalEnergies Divestment” • The New York State Common Retirement Fund told TotalEnergies that it is considering divesting its stock, the Financial Times reported. The state’s pension fund’s motivation is the French developer’s decision to scrap two US offshore wind leases for a refund of nearly $1 billion in lease payments. [reNews]

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

Liberating work

A one-year accelerator programme to support the creation of jobs in new worker-controlled green projects has been launched by workers.coop, the UK federation of worker and social cooperatives. Called Own the Future, the programme is part of a wider effort to build an ecological and abundant economy through worker-community controlled enterprise. It is the first such initiative from the organisation, which was founded in 2023 to unite worker cooperatives and build dialogue with other worker-led initiatives including unions, social and climate justice organisations. The first Own the Future cohort includes Canopy Coop, an ecological tree surgery and forestry group in Sheffield; Valley Roots, a food distribution hub in West Yorkshire; Nanny Solidarity Network, a childcare co-op in London; Feral Express, a queer bike courier in Sheffield; and Zero Emissions Delivery Waltham Forest, an established courier firm in London looking to transition to worker ownership.

Shifting power and wealth to workers

GJA’s Steering Group recently hosted a presentation by Siôn Whellens from workers.coop, where he outlined the political history and current status of the UK’s worker cooperatives, the composition of the new federation and its ambition to connect with other worker-led bodies.

workers.coop currently has around 100 businesses in membership, and a wider base of around 2,000 individual supporters. Enterprise members range from large organisations working in adult social care and wholesaling to medium sized engineering firms and smaller collectives of workers in ‘tech for good’, research, retailing, community-led agriculture and communications.

The federation’s members are distinct from businesses owned in trust for ‘employee benefit’. Most of them are rooted in the ecological and social movements, and practice radical worker democracy. workers.coop itself describes its mission as

“To enable workers to unite and collectively advance their economic, social and cultural interests. We value collaboration, solidarity and care for each other, our communities and our planet”.

Pride in Work?

While noting that up until now worker cooperatives have mainly been at the edge of Steering Group members’ awareness, they were particularly interested in the potential for worker-owned co-ops in industries such as solar installation and domestic retrofit. It was agreed to maintain links and dialogue between the two networks, with a view to identifying and capitalising on new opportunities.

workers.coop has free resources for unions and worker groups that might be researching democratic and ecological startups and business conversions, as well as access to a nationwide and international network of organisers and advisers. The federation and the Centre for Democratic Business recently issued a call for the government to close the circle of its £5bn ‘Price in Place’ investment in run-down high streets, by funding a sister programme provisionally called ‘Pride in Work’.This would be aimed at enabling workers and local communities to secure ownership and control of key local workplaces, with a focus on local renewable energy projects, the care sector, logistics and green retailing.

GJA supporters interested in developing links with worker-led cooperatives are invited to check out forum.workers.coop, or to receive occasional emails, including Own the Future updates. Anyone looking for specific advice or information can email solidarity@workers.coop

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In April 2026, Indigenous women’s groups announced looming funding cuts for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG+) support. These cuts occurred without transparent communication or forewarning. At the press conference, Hilda Anderson-Pryz stated, “in March, crucial funding to some Indigenous organizations ended with no official notification of renewal… This lack of sustained support is a significant barrier to making real progress and combating this crisis. Today, our right to life is threatened by the lack of political will and it will remain so until the government enacts the 231 calls for justice. But seven years later… only two have been fully implemented.” Anderson-Pryz addresses the heart of the matter – the true cost of funding cuts – Indigenous women’s lives. 

This economic austerity measure is known as the “sunsetting” of funding. In this case, the federal government will allow critical funding to expire without renewal.

Contrary to the National Inquiry’s (2019) Calls for Justice, which outline the need for long-term, guaranteed, and sustainable funding, multiple programs and projects involving “Indigenous rights, title, and gender-based violence prevention and response” are on the chopping block (Macdonald & McIntosh, 2025). These cutbacks demonstrate that the lives of Indigenous women do not matter to Canada. 

In response to the press conference, over 400 family members of MMIWG+ have questioned the efficacy of National Indigenous women’s organizations. In a letter to Federal government officials, they note that “these organizations do not represent the families” (Ward, 2026, para. 3). This distrust is indicative of tensions between families and Indigenous women’s groups. Both this letter from family members and the National Inquiry (2019) emphasize the need to invest in and resource self-determined, family and survivor-led solutions. 

In this period of economic austerity, and given Canada’s long history of gendered colonization, it is not a surprise that gender-based reconciliatory initiatives are considered expendable.

What do Trump and Carney Have in Common? 

These austerity measures follow news south of the border, where the Trump administration is making funding cuts to the Office on Violence Against Women, which will disproportionately affect Indigenous women. In November 2025, as a part of its attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Trump’s administration removed a report from the Department of Justice on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples. Another generation of Indigenous women, on both sides of colonially imposed borders, is now subject to, and targeted by, government policy and societal indifference.

Canada likes to position itself as superior to our Southern neighbours, perpetuating a master narrative of a peaceful, multicultural, accepting, and polite country (Thobani, 2007). This posturing obscures the ongoing colonial genocidal violence that Indigenous Peoples experience through state regimes, policies, and systems. Our relationship to the nation state has always been defined by violence, and hate against Indigenous women runs deep. Despite a master narrative that portrays Canada as a human rights beacon, Indigenous women’s human rights are continuously violated (Luoma, 2021; National Inquiry, 2019a). 

Racism, heteropatriarchy, and misogyny have contributed to Indigenous women being targeted for violence (Bourgeois, 2018; National Inquiry, 2019). The “root cause of violence” against Indigenous women and girls is a “race-based genocide,” and gendered colonization that impacts our safety and contributes to increased violence (Duhamel, 2015; National Inquiry, 2019). Through framing MMIWG as an “Indigenous problem,” Canada has obscured its culpability for ongoing genocide (Bourgeois, 2015; Dowling, 2019; National Inquiry, 2019). The rise in residential school denialism, white nationalism, and general disdain for Indigenous Peoples continues apace, colliding with growing economic uncertainty and fear. 

The Economics of Gender (In)Justice  

Under “Canada Strong,” Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Federal government made massive budget cuts to “Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC),” and to employees who work on the Indigenous rights and relations portfolio at the Department of Justice. These fiscal constraints will widen socio-economic gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples and contribute to the continued underfunding of essential human services. These cutbacks are not “neutral but in fact follow… racial [and, in this case, gendered] lines” (Levesque, 2025, para. 8). 

Despite Human Rights Tribunal findings that the Canadian government has continuously discriminated against Indigenous children through underfunding child welfare services, these recent measures represent a continued colonial strategy of slashing funding and violating the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Notably, “the Canadian Human Rights Commission” is also slated to face funding cuts, which will surely exacerbate the impact of these austerity measures (Levesque, 2025; Smith, 2025, para. 11). 

Amidst this uncertainty, Canada’s economic priorities reveal a shallow commitment to “reconciliation” (Assembly of First Nations, 2025) and gender justice, with disproportionate impacts for Indigenous women. Additionally, federal service cuts include Correctional Service Canada (CSC). Over 50% of federally incarcerated women are Indigenous (and have an MMIW family member). Given the importance of literacy levels for rehabilitation and reintegration, CSC’s proposed cuts to “library technicians and employment co-ordinator positions” will contribute to the ongoing confinement of Indigenous women (Ibrahim, 2026, para. 1), contrary to the Department of Justice’s Indigenous Justice Strategy (IJS) released in March 2025. 

Implementing the IJS strategy will require “substantial effort and funding commitments” (Horn, 2025, para. 11). The 2025 Canada Strong Budget does not mention the IJS. Just like the clip art adorning the IJS – this is yet another example of window dressing – the shifts, niceties, and apologies that momentarily give us hope, “only to ultimately crush it” (Horn, 2025, para. 13). 

Together, these economic measures confirm that the era of rights and reconciliation for Indigenous Peoples, and Indigenous women in particular, is long gone. Instead, as the budget reveals, our inherent rights, laws, and lives are overridden in pursuit of military, extractive, and industrial projects, so-called economic reconciliation or, the “National Interest.”

Economic reconciliation maintains dependence on a predatory economy and perpetuates violence against the land, waters, and Indigenous women. It is not freedom. It is not self-determination. It is colonization. 

Clearly, the lives, human rights, and safety of Indigenous women are not a priority for the Federal government. These austerity measures coincide with record-breaking military spending. As NDP Member of Parliament Leah Gazan noted, Prime Minister Carney is cutting approximately “$7 billion of funding between ISC and Crown-Indigenous relations… and has recently committed $13 billion in military funding.” Funding constraints continue amidst increasing rates of violence against Indigenous women, and minimal effort to implement the National Inquiry’s calls for justice. 

Violence on Violence

Indigenous women have long identified the solutions, programs, and support needed to respond to and protect them from violence. Those solutions have been consistently ignored by successive colonial governments (Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, 1991; Amnesty International 2004; National Inquiry, 2019; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996). Families have continuously questioned decisions that are made without them, behind closed doors. 

This lack of transparency and accountability continues with the Canada Strong Budget (2025). Existing programming was already subject to patchwork – meaning it is often unsustainable, short-term, and project-based (or all three) – funding issues, and ongoing struggles to meet the needs of clientele (National Inquiry, 2019a). 

Tightening the fiscal shoestrings and using stealthy “sunsetting” to halt funding that supports ending violence against Indigenous women – while simultaneously increasing funding to support the military industrial complex – demonstrates the Canadian government’s ongoing commitment to sustaining shape-shifting colonial violence.

Endnotes

Assembly of First Nations [AFN]. Federal Budget 2025. AFN, 2025. https://afn.ca/all-news/bulletins/federal-budget-2025/ 

Bourgeois, E. “Generations of genocide – The historical roots of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.” In K. Anderson, C. Belcourt, & M. Campbell (Eds.), Keetsahnak, Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters. University of Alberta Press, 2018.

Bourgeois, R. “Colonial exploitation: The Canadian state and the trafficking of Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.” UCLA Law Review, 1426 (2015): 1428-1463. 

CPAC. “Indigenous women’s groups warn of the sunsetting of some funding for MMIWG supports.” April 8, 2026 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/live/ak-r2G48WeA 

Department of Justice Canada. Indigenous Justice Strategy. Government of Canada, 2025. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/ijr-dja/ijs-sja/tijs-lsja/pdf/IJS_EN.pdf 

Dowling, S. Elimination, in the feminine. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 21.6 (2019): 787-802. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2019.1607525

Duhamel, K.R. “‘I feel like my spirit knows violence’ understanding genocide – and how to stop it – in the context of the National inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.” In J. Black-Morsette (Ed.), REDress. HighWater Press, 2025.

Fryer, S. & Leblanc-Laurendeau, O. Background paper: Understanding federal jurisdiction and First Nations (Publication No. 1019-51-E). Parliamentary Information and Research Service, 2019. https://lop.parl.ca/staticfiles/PublicWebsite/Home/ResearchPublications/BackgroundPapers/PDF/2019-51-E.pdf 

Government of Canada. Canada Strong Budget 2025. Government of Canada, 2025. https://budget.canada.ca/2025/report-rapport/pdf/budget-2025.pdf 

Horn, K. “The Indigenous Justice Strategy: ‘Progressive and Transformative Reform’?” Yellowhead Institute, May 21, 2025. https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2025/the-indigenous-justice-strategy-progressive-and-transformative-reform/ 

Hwang, P. “Cuts targeting Indigenous rights staff at Justice Department ‘reckless,’ critics warn.” CBC News. February 23, 2026. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/cuts-targeting-indigenous-rights-staff-at-justice-department-reckless-critics-warn-9.7097164 

Ibrahim, S. “Federal prisons to lose library technicians, employment co-ordinators in budget cuts.” CBC News. March 11, 2026. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/prison-cuts-librarians-employment-coordinators-9.7123434 

Lapointe, J. “Can the new B.C. government bring real change for Indigenous communities?” The Narwhal. November 20, 2024. https://thenarwhal.ca/energy-economic-reconciliation-indigenous-youth-bc/ 

Levesque, A. “Carney government cuts unfairly hit First Nations.” Policy Options. July 22, 2025.https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/07/budget-cuts-first-nations/ 

Luetkemeyer, E. “Trump administration removes report on Missing and Murdered Native Americans, calling it DEI content.” Oklahoma Watch. November 14, 2025. https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/11/14/trump-administration-removes-report-on-missing-and-murdered-native-americans-calling-it-dei-content/ 

Luoma, C. “Closing the cultural rights gap in transitional justice: Developments from Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.” Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 39.1 (2021): 30-52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0924051921992747 

Macdonald, D. & Mcintosh, E. ‘Budget cuts by stealth: Letting programs ‘sunset’ to cut costs won’t be painless.” Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. October 28, 2025. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/budget-cuts-by-stealth-letting-programs-sunset-to-cut-costs-wont-be-painless/ 

National Inquiry. (2019a). Reclaiming power and place: The final report of the National Inquiry Intro Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. National Inquiry, 2019. https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a-1.pdf
Pember, M.A. “Trump administration targets office on violence against women with ‘consolidation.’” ICT News. January 29, 2026. https://ictnews.org/news/trump-administration-targets-office-on-violence-against-women-with-consolidation/ 

Smith, D. “‘Concerning’ cuts to justice system in federal budget.” CBA National. November 5, 2025. https://nationalmagazine.ca/fr-ca/articles/law/hot-topics-in-law/2025/%E2%80%98concerning-cuts-to-justice-system-in-federal-budget 

Thobani, S. Exalted subjects: Studies in the making of race and nation in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2007.

Citation:

McGuire, Michaela M. “Sunsetting Gender Justice: Economic Austerity and the Defunding of MMIWG+ Supports,” Yellowhead Institute. May 08, 2026. https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2026/sunsetting-gender-justice-economic-austerity-and-the-defunding-of-mmiwg-supports

Artwork: MMIR 2024, Solange Aguilar, @shesanargonaut

The post Sunsetting Gender Justice: <br> Economic Austerity and the Defunding of MMIWG+ Supports appeared first on Yellowhead Institute.