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As concern over falling birth rates spreads across the political spectrum, pronatalist ideas are finding new audiences. But protecting reproductive freedom and respecting planetary limits require rejecting the politics of population growth.

Campaigners battle 'monstrous megalith' AI centre Channel News brendan 6th July 2026 Teaser Media

A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, June 28, 2026 thru Sat, July 4, 2026. Stories we promoted this week, by category:

Climate Change Impacts (11 articles)

• The scientist and his family tracking melting glaciers for nearly half a century PBS NewsHour, Ben Tracy, June 22, 2026.
• Europe’s record heatwave: does the continent have a new climate? Nature asks researchers whether scorching summers are the new norm for London, Paris and Berlin. Nature, Edward Chen, June 26, 2026.
• How climate change gets under the skin Researchers unearth clues about how repeat, overlapping climate stressors, from flood-related mold to warming water temperatures to higher pollen counts, affect everyone Grist, Zoya Teirstein, Jun 28, 2026.
• Climate change to blame for intensity of Europe heat wave: Scientists Phys.org, Nick Perry, Jun 28, 2026.
• Could this be Australia`s warmest winter ever? The seasons underway in Australia exemplify a worldwide trend of unseasonably high temperatures, including the early summer heatwave in western Europe. The Conversation, Milton Speer, University of Technology Sydney, Lance M Leslie, University of Technology Sydney, Jun 29, 2026.
• Loading the Heat Dice Without human influence, the recent European heatwave would have been more than 3°C cooler. Climate Trunk, John Lang, Jun 30, 2026.
• How climate change influences extreme weather How science shows us how warming makes heat waves, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires more likely or more severe — and why this science is becoming a major public-policy battleground. The Climate Brink, Andrew Dessler, Jun 30, 2026.
• The world`s oceans are the hottest on record for June - and El Niño is set to turn up the heat even more Average sea surface temperature is just under 21°C across the world’s tropical and temperate oceans, while before widespread industrialisation in 1870 the temperature was about 19.6°C. The Conversation, Matthew England, Alex Sen Gupta, Alistair Hobday, Jul 02, 2026.
• Tour de France braced for historic stage cancellations amid 44C European heatwave The 2026 Tour de France, which starts in Barcelona on Saturday, is steeling itself for climate change disruption with another extreme heatwave predicted to return to Europe in the coming days which could lead to stages being cancelled. The Guardian, Jeremy Whittle in Barcelona, Jul 02, 2026.
• Without Climate Change, U.S. Heat Wave Called `Virtually Impossible` Scientists have said the conditions are the result of a climate that is “fundamentally different” from the time before fossil fuel use started rapidly warming the world. NYT, Raymond Zhong, Jul 03, 2026.
• Sydney records hottest June since 1859 as expert warns new high a `signature` of global warming Prof Andy Pitman, a Sydney-based climate scientist, expressed a “complete lack of surprise” at the new record. The Guardian, Ima Caldwell, Jul 04, 2026.

Climate Policy and Politics (4 articles)

• Why is America switching off its climate warning system? "Just have a Think" on Youtube, Dave Borlace, June 28, 2026.
• Can climate shocks change how people feel about paying taxes? Researchers further confirm that visibly effective climate adaptation and mitigation efforts improve public willingness to pay for better circumstances. The Conversation, Enrico Nichelatti, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Luxembourg, Abrams Tagem, Tax Research Specialist, Jun 29, 2026.
• New Florida law bans local net-zero emissions policies Gov. Ron DeSantis characterized the clean energy goals the law bans as “radical climate policies,” although experts say the law will not necessarily upend the plans. Inside Climate News, Amy Green, Jun 30, 2026.
• Q&A: How will the World Bank`s abandoned finance goal affect climate action? The World Bank has abandoned a target for 45% of the funding it gives developing countries to be “climate finance”, following months of pressure from the Trump administration in the US. Carbon Brief, Josh Gabbatiss, Jul 03, 2026.

Health Aspects of Climate Change (4 articles)

• `A sad inevitability`: after decades of climate warnings, why is Europe so unprepared for rising heat? Scorching summer of 2003 triggered first efforts to deal with the problem but heatwaves still have devastating impact The Guardian, Ajit Niranjan, Jun 27, 2026.
• Unbearable Heat for Hundreds of Millions The Global South, in particular, is suffering from the consequences of global heating. A new study quantifies heat stress in India by projecting it during the critical seasons. Eos, Thomas Stocker, Jun 29, 2026.
• How extreme heat is exposing extreme inequality The climate crisis and worsening disparity could be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths a year in Europe, which should set off alarm bells for policymakers The Guardian, Ashifa Kassam, Jul 01, 2026.
• Climate change will raise the risk of severe heatwaves. NZ homes aren`t ready The Conversation, Baxter Kamana-Williams, J. Geoffrey Chase, Rebecca Peer, Jul 02, 2026.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (3 articles)

• Another Trump Administration Payment to Stop Offshore Wind Farm With the fourth such deal struck by the administration to get companies to forfeit their offshore wind leases, the public is still left wondering why. NYT, Maxine Joselow, Jun 29, 2026.
• `But we`re just 1% of emissions`: do smaller countries` climate efforts matter? Past and present leaders of wealthy nations such as UK and Germany have argued their actions are insignificant The Guardian, Ajit Niranjan, Jun 30, 2026.
• World gets glimpse of its climate future Political risk analyst Kyle Volpi Hiebert compares how we're doing with energy modernization vs. the impact on human civilization of our continued employment of outmoded and dangerious fossil fuels. Brandon Sun, By Kyle Volpi Hiebert, Jul 04, 2026.

Climate Science and Research (3 articles)

• Is Climate Change Ramping Up El Niño Risks? ClimateAdam on Youtube, Adam Levy, June 27, 2026.
• Editorial: It’s time to step up and have your say for science Your comments on a dangerous rule putting politicals in charge of science can matter Ars Technica, John Timmer, Jul 2, 2026.
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #27 2026 Skeptical Science's weekly survey of climate research, highlighting open access reports that we can all read. Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack, Jul 02, 2026.

Miscellaneous (3 articles)

• A few reasons to feel hopeful about the climate in 2026 Environment, The Conversation UK, Will de Freitas, Jan 8, 2026.
• 2026 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #26 A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, June 21, 2026 thru Sat, June 27, 2026. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler & Doug Bostrom, Jun 28, 2026.
• Amid USFS Upheaval, Utah and Colorado Are Burning Eos, Emily Gardner, Jul 02, 2026.

Public Misunderstandings about Climate Solutions (1 article)

• Fact brief - Are injuries from wind turbines common? No - Wind turbine collapses or blade failures are extremely uncommon, and wind power causes far fewer deaths per unit of electricity than fossil fuels. Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park, June 30, 2026.

If you happen upon high quality climate-science and/or climate-myth busting articles from reliable sources while surfing the web, please feel free to submit them via this Google form so that we may share them widely. Thanks!

A pungent smell clouds the stadium where the U.S. men’s football team is set to play its first World Cup match. With 30 days to go before kick-off, the venue’s operations team is busy transforming the playing field into a world-class soccer stadium, the freshly laid soil covered in fertilizer ahead of the arrival of refrigerated trucks with special grass the following day.

Tending to the playing surface is one small task in the job of delivering a seamless event in Los Angeles, one of 16 cities hosting the most popular sporting event in the world this summer. 

Compared to other host cities, the stakes are particularly high in L.A., which hopes to use this year’s World Cup — and next year’s Super Bowl — as a dry run for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, coming to the city two years later.

A freshly fertilized pitch on an overcast day in Los Angeles.
Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW

This is the start of L.A.’s mega-sporting-event era, and while the eight World Cup matches unfolding at the SoFi Stadium pale in comparison to the size of the Olympics, they provide a good starting point to stress-test security strategies, mobility protocols, and heat wave response plans. The traffic-laden city, with its stressed budget, wants to know what an influx of fans does to its infrastructure,\ and hopes its mega-event preparations somehow pay long-term dividends.

“We’re here to deliver a lasting legacy,” Paul Krekorian, who heads L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Office of Major Events tells council members at a City Hall meeting in May. He reminds them that the city bid for the sporting events not just for the honor of hosting them, but to ensure that they delivered a lasting benefit for the people of Los Angeles.

Yet current preparations highlight existing tensions: for Los Angeles, this year’s World Cup is set against a backdrop of weak hotel bookings, high ticket prices, and a growing budget deficit. The city also faces an urgent need to rebuild what burned down in the devastating January 2025 wildfires — the unprecedented scale of which scientists have linked to global warming — with tens of thousands of residents still displaced. Meanwhile, fears that ICE immigration officers struck into the hearts of residents when they raided the multicultural city a year ago, where a quarter of the large immigrant community is undocumented, are still very much alive.

Fans, workers at highest risk from overheating

“The vast majority of people at risk are not the athletes themselves, but rather the spectators — who are generally much less acclimatized — and other groups such as service staff at sales points or in catering,” sports sociologist Sven Schneider said. “These risk groups require particular protection.”

Traveling around L.A., oceans of concrete and limited shade or greenery make clear that fans are exposed to heat long before matches start, racking up hours under the sun as they wait in line for shuttles to venues and stand in long queues to get into stadiums. Just days before the World Cup kick-off, FIFA placed a blanket ban on fans bringing sealed, transparent water bottles into matches — and quickly backtracked following backlash.

A month before, on an overcast day typical of springtime in L.A., Otto Benedict, who heads operations at SoFi Stadium (rebranded the Los Angeles stadium for the World Cup), explained how his team is well versed with local climate risks, sardonically looking upward to say that some fans might even show up underdressed for a cooler “May gray” or “June gloom” day.

The first subway train arrives at the freshly innagurated Wilshire/Fairfax station.
Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW

Regardless, he said they are ready. “We have cooling fans and cooling zones that we deploy if it’s a hot day,” he said, adding that he is constantly in touch with the National Weather Service, and that thermometers inside the stadium coupled with metrics from previous events inform their action plans. “We are sharing with FIFA what our response protocol is, and then learning from them what they need us to be able to do.” Heat response protocols differ across host cities, based on local risk assessments.

While heat waves are unusual at this time of year, record-breaking ocean temperatures are bucking the trend, said climate scientist Daniel Swain. “In the coastal parts of L.A. County, the prevalence of truly extreme heat is lower than in other parts of the country and other parts of the world,” he explains. “On the other hand, not all of the infrastructure is therefore designed for it, so when it does occur it can be very disruptive.”

Read Next US host cities made transit improvements a World Cup goooooooal Benton Graham

The $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium is the exception. Partly surrounded by greenery, it is designed to use the natural environment to create a comfortable experience. On hot days, Benedict’s team can open roof panels to create an updraft and cool the stadium’s interior, which is not air-conditioned. On rainy days, the roof funnels water to a catchment system. That rainwater, after being treated, is used to irrigate the native plants surrounding the venue, which in turn provide shade and cooling.

Yet one does not need to travel far to see a different story. The city of Inglewood, home to the stadium, has a tree canopy cover of 9 percent — when recommended canopy cover goals stand at around 30 percent. Temporary systems to spray mist, water dispensers, and sun awnings dispatched for the World Cup at key locations can only do so much when up against the demands of a climate-stressed county.

Sporting events entice users to try out public transport for the first time

L.A. Metro hopes that sporting events will give people a reason to experience public transit, maybe for the first time, and that a good ride can destigmatize the experience in a city where just over 3 percent of commutes are completed by public transit, according to 2024 American Community Survey data.

“We are planning with legacy in mind,” said CEO Stephanie Wiggins at the edge of the SoFi Stadium pitch as airplanes roared overhead. “We’ve been rolling up our sleeves to figure out how to make this as seamless as possible.” 

L.A. Metro has added multilingual signs to stations, introduced contactless payments on its buses, and consolidated eight apps into one platform for planning, paying, and receiving live information and service alerts. These are changes that both international visitors and commuters will notice.

Most notably, the agency inaugurated three new underground stops in May — just in time for the World Cup — having worked on the extension for over six decades. In June, fans used the D Line to reach watch parties and Fan Zones. Come August, unlike the match-day shuttles, the stations will continue to serve residents.

Most bus stops across L.A. County are not shelterd.
Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW

Officials estimate that around 78,000 people will use the D Line every day, serving one of the U.S.’s densest corridors. As May drew to a close, L.A. Metro saw its highest ridership numbers in six years. The plan is to open six more stations by 2028, connecting the UCLA dorms, which will serve as the Olympic Village, with downtown L.A.

L.A. Metro is drawing from its history: Ridership numbers reached new heights in 1984 when the city last hosted the Olympics. “We know that global events can mean an opportunity,” Wiggins added. 

For the World Cup, L.A. Metro is providing free water at hydration stations in key locations, and during four days at the end of June it transformed L.A.’s main railway hub into a Fan Zone. Union Station came to life in a way it has not in years. “Our Fan Zone gave people a reason to arrive early, stay longer, and see Union Station differently,” reflected Wiggins in a Substack post. “When we make the system easier and safer to use, when we create places people want to be, and when we give riders a reason to choose transit for more than their daily commute, they respond.” 

Read Next The World Cup is one wildfire away from an air quality disaster Tik Root

Time will tell whether ridership numbers continue to climb beyond the mega events. The backbone of L.A. Metro’s system is made up of buses. The agency serves around 12,000 bus stops a day, accounting for around three quarters of journeys — and the infrastructure leaves much to be desired.

Most bus stops are unsheltered, leaving riders under the sun, clueless as to how long without live departure boards or timetables in sight. The Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program is currently upgrading stops, and has installed 403 shelters — yet departure screens are often out of service.

LA faces multiple tests as it counts down to Olympics

A few weeks in Los Angeles makes clear that authorities, agencies, and businesses struggle to work beyond the immediate tasks in their jurisdiction. L.A. Metro does not own bus stops; local authorities do. Transport experts say that local politicians are not motivated to invest in shelters, as they fear the homeless population would take them over. While the bus system will take you anywhere in L.A., riders accumulate hours under the sun transferring between lines, often accompanied by the city’s large homeless population — a reminder of the challenges the city faces as it readies to welcome the world. 

L.A.’s acute housing crisis and strained budgets mean not everyone is convinced that the time and money invested in delivering a party for the world will pay off for the local residents. A few days before kick-off, workers at SoFi Stadium threatened to strike and street vendors weighed match-day profits against their personal safety.

Halfway through the tournament, L.A.’s streets buzzed with life and there were plenty of signs of solidarity and camaraderie, with residents coming together to celebrate, wrote local journalist Alissa Walker in her dispatches. Yet celebrations were also obscured by toxic air stemming from a large warehouse fire. 

L.A. Metro’s CEO Stephanie Wiggins answers reporter’s questions with 30 days to go before the World Cup kick-off.
Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW

The city’s wounds run deeper than last month’s smoke: Many residents are still reeling from last year’s wildfires, which ravaged entire neighborhoods in Altadena and Pacific Palisades — the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history. Air pollution reached toxic levels; pollutants still linger long after the fires have been extinguished.

Against the backdrop of a national administration focused on advancing fossil fuels, comparatively green California faces much pressure. Los Angeles published its Climate Action plan in April, with an entire section dedicated to using major sports events to accelerate “climate investments that extend well beyond the closing ceremonies.” The plan commits the city to net zero by 2045, 100 percent clean energy by 2035, and to host a “transit-first” Olympic games, which should upgrade mobility options in underserved neighborhoods.

Yet those working to make L.A. County more climate-resilient are unconvinced by the level of ambition or the speed of progress. Following the wildfires, L.A. Mayor Bass dropped the requirement to build new homes without fossil fuel-powered systems. 

Read Next How FIFA’s climate solution has turned into ‘water-gate’ Tik Root

“The people and the trauma make this all very complicated quite honestly, but it was an opportunity to truly do things in a way that is more sustainable and the region chose not to,” said Cassie Rauser, who heads the advocacy group TreePeople, which educates, plants, and cares for trees across Southern California.

“It remains to be seen what the wildfire’s lasting impacts are,” said L.A. Metro’s Wiggins, grief palpable in her voice as she recalled her own employees’ devastation and shock at losing their homes. Regaining her usual confidence, she said that the wildfires showed how important it is to have good infrastructure and good transit: “We were relied on during those fires.”

Whether L.A.’s mega-event era will benefit the people of Los Angeles in the long run is a question that hangs thick in the air. It is exactly the kind of resilience that is deeply woven into the every day that L.A. will have to build more of for its mega-event investments to have a long-term legacy. The countdown until the Olympics opening ceremony marks two years and two weeks.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Los Angeles turns ‘most polluting’ World Cup into Olympic rehearsal in bid for climate legacy on Jul 5, 2026.

Drill baby drill or cry baby cry?  The energy sector and long-term job security

Photo by Julia Taubitz on Unsplash

Introduction

Climate change is already ruining millions of working-class lives across the globe, and increasingly threatening our homes, health, food supplies and safety here in the UK.  Radical changes are needed to stave off the worst impacts, and whilst these will affect every work sector and every community, the energy sector1 has a critical role to play.

1. Transition away from fossil fuels to renewables as quickly as possible.
2. Protect the jobs of workers in energy, supply chains and associated roles (and communities generally) as we move from fossil fuels to renewables.
3. Provide cheap renewable energy that can be afforded by all.

Despite the dire warnings about the consequences2, we are nowhere near doing any of these.  In the UK, the Labour government has made some nods towards each of these points3 without fully embracing transition as the engine of social and economic justice, equality and rejuvenation that it could be.  There are a number of explanations for this, including:

1. Labour’s ‘business as usual’ approach to governance prioritises technical solutions done TO people instead of governing in the campaign mode that’s needed, in which the population is fully informed and mobilised to become creative actors in the social green transition at all levels.
2. The immense weight of the US, pushing hard to sabotage the energy transition and retain ‘global energy dominance’ based on fossil fuels and militarisation, applying direct state to state pressure at government level while sponsoring subservient local political formations like Reform, Restore, Tommy Robinson and the Conservative Party as local agents of disinformation and mobilisation.

Keep the North Sea Working Campaign

One consequence of these currents is that they set a context within which some trade unions see the prevailing winds at the top and decide that they must travel in the same direction if they are to fulfil their purpose of protecting jobs4.  So Unite is currently pursuing a policy of ‘Keep the North Sea Working’5 through an expansion of oil and gas operations, as an extension of its ‘no ban without a plan’ campaign.

Unite wrote to leaders of all political parties ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary Elections asking if they back the campaign to Keep the North Sea Working and support the delivery of a No Compulsory Redundancy Pledge.  We firmly support the latter as a critical plank in a Just Transition but arguing that ‘keeping the North Sea working’ through expanded oil and gas production including pushing ahead with the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields’ raises expectations among workers that cannot be met. 

While these comments will resonate with members worried about what the future will bring, and that they might have a future in fossil fuel extraction if only the government would cease its attacks on the North Sea.

The approach is fundamentally flawed, even if we leave the disastrous impact on the planet of the continued extraction of fossil fuels aside and focus solely on jobs.

Why the North Sea is Closing Down Not Opening Up

Jobs in the North Sea have been declining at a rate of about 950 a month since 19996.  The projection that they will halve, from 115,000 to around 64,000, by the early 2030s does not accelerate that trend.  This is not so much falling off a cliff as sliding down a pretty steep slope with no chance of slowing it down, a slide that’s been going on for 27 years.  The only lifeline is to get off the slope onto the renewables that are, bizarrely, being blamed.  Oil and gas will keep smaller and smaller parts of the North Sea working regardless of how much investment might be put in.

• The job losses are coming because the North Sea basin is running dry7. Current oil production is 25% of what it was in 1999.
• 93% of what was in there has been ‘drained dry’ already.
• Government data shows that 4.1 billion tonnes of oil has been extracted in the UK since 1975, with the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) projecting a further 218 million tonnes out to 2050 from existing fields.
• These projections also suggest that new drilling could yield another 74 million tonnes, equivalent to 1.7% of the total that could be extracted from 1975 to 2050.

The bald comparison indicates that any idea that there is sufficient oil to meet current demand is absurd, as is any notion that additional investment will be sufficient to save the industry, jobs or communities.

For gas, the UK has produced 33,421 TWh since commercial operations began in 1967, with projected production out to 2050 of a further 2,060 TWh from existing fields and up to an extra 381 TWh (1.1% of the total) from new drilling.

If it was profitable to drill baby drill into what’s left, they would be doing it.  As it is they are not, because gas in the North Sea costs four times as much to ‘lift’ as it does in Qatar8.

So, the jobs crisis in the North Sea is not primarily a matter of industrial or climate policy but of the exhaustion of the field, which makes continued profitable extraction increasingly marginal.  The policy issues are a matter of how to manage the decline, with increased investment making only a small difference to this.  You could overturn the ban on new investment and open up Rosebank and Jackdaw and we will still lose thousands of jobs; pretending otherwise is misleading members.  Rosebank would need 1600 workers to set it up in the short term and employ just 450 while in operation9, which is no lifeline at all when 1,000 jobs a month are being lost.  This makes the need for a PLAN for transition even more important.

What Kind of Long Term Future

This is not to paint a picture of gloom for energy workers and the communities they live in, but to point out that

• a campaign for ‘business as usual’ will not serve those workers or communities,
• hope for the future does not lie in reverting to the status quo under the Tories, which allowed lots of new licences but generated just 36 days’ worth of additional supply as a result10.
• Rather, hope lies in the transition to renewables that is desperately needed and demanding that the government ensures that the huge number of jobs that such a transition requires is actually forthcoming11. This would include a large number in the manufacturing supply chain and decommissioning of redundant rigs, located where jobs are most needed. 

The only way to ‘Keep the North Sea Working’, at current levels of employment is to invest in renewable energy.  Jobs do not have to be exported if they are transferred, and that’s the plan we need, that all of us can fight for together.

The consequences if we don’t are:

1. We would become wholly dependent on imported energy, including hugely expensive US-made Liquefied Natural Gas12, a prospect that has LNG corporations licking their lips in anticipation, and we’d continue to be vulnerable to global shocks (like the one we are currently experiencing with the war on Iran).
2. UK energy workers jobs would fall off a cliff edge – with no lifeline to grab hold of.
3. Fuel bills, already prohibitively high (the ‘eating or heating’ dilemma) would rise further.

And of course, the catastrophic impact of climate change would continue to fall primarily on the most vulnerable communities.

What We Should Be Campaigning For

There are 145,000 jobs in the renewables sector currently and growth to over 180,000 by 2035, much more if full government support is forthcoming13.  What unions need to demand is that this not happen haphazardly but in a planned way, including:

• job guarantees,
• no compulsory redundancies,
• training and reskilling of workers from the shrinking fossil fuel sector as they transfer to the growing renewables sector,
• unionisation and full recognition rights for what has been allowed to become, via a piecemeal private sector-led approach, a non-union work force.

That’s why we say the transition has to be just.

In so far as that isn’t happening currently, that’s a failure of governance and it’s what the whole labour movement needs to demand must happen14. 

This argument is about:

1. the danger to jobs from delaying the transition and failing to develop a worker-led plan to accelerate it and on terms that ensure workers don’t lose out, and
2. the serious danger to the working class as a whole from such a failure, in terms of the collapse of the real value of incomes and direct danger to life and wellbeing – especially of the most vulnerable – from climate chaos.

The current Unite leadership’s argument that ‘with no credible plan for jobs, it’s time to take a new approach that protects jobs, communities and our energy security’ does not actually spell out any demands for ‘a credible plan for jobs’ but, on the contrary, reasserts the business as usual scenario that has lost so many over the last quarter of a century.  There is no ‘new approach’ here.  When the ban on new oil and gas exploration was first announced by Labour in opposition, Sharon Graham pledged that Unite would come up with such a plan to press on the aspirant government.  That’s what we need to put to the government at the negotiating table.  We are still waiting for it.

What is needed is a proactive, worked out transition plan that addresses

• skills retention and development,
• where work can and should be located both to meet labour needs and to prevent local/regional crashes,
• direct support for workers transitioning,
• the technological and climate credentials of technologies and production processes,
• a recognition that it’s not all about offshore workers, nor the technically skilled, but about supply chains, social geographies, offshore workers in catering, cleaning, healthcare and admin, onshore workers in induced jobs along the supply chain – and all these factors are integrated15.

This plan should be negotiated between the government and the unions/workers/communities.  We need a Just Transition Commission to work this through.  In so far as they don’t do that, it should be being demanded by the unions/workers/communities involved, which is the basis for the deepest unity and broadest support, and the cutting edge we need.  Proper union resources should be put into it, across unions in each sector, recognising that implicit within that demand is the seed of a transformation of the state and how it operates16.

Conclusion

No amount of fiery, rousing language is going to halt or reverse the exhaustion of the North Sea.  The steady, inexorable decline in oil and gas jobs can only be counteracted by the fastest possible expansion of the renewables sector to secure a long term future for workers, accompanied by  the guarantees needed to underpin the transition – no compulsory redundancies, guaranteed jobs, pay to compensate for any transition gaps, the training and reskilling needed etc.

We should never forget that the people and Parties currently posing as the saviours of offshore oil and gas workers are the same people who shattered the mining communities in the 1980s and finished them off with Heseltine’s ‘dash for gas’ in the early 90s.  Their promises to save jobs by ‘opening up’ the North Sea are simply a lie.  A lie repeated often and loudly, but a lie all the same.  Follow them down that path, trash the transition and profits will be made in the short term, and more jobs will be lost, bills will get even higher, and more climate damage done.

Paul Atkin, Tahir Latif, Ellen Robottom (personal capacities)

[For a far more detailed analysis of the situation, please do read this excellent article, Factcheck: Nine false or misleading myths about North Sea oil and gas, from Carbon Brief, 25 March 2026, which also contains a multitude of links to the sources of the information cited here.]

References

1. Note that the energy sector refers not only to electricity generation, and not only to fossil fuel production, but to a system which includes these things plus all the infrastructure which enables them, including transmission, distribution and storage, homes and other buildings, transport, foundation industry and manufacture. However, attention has been focused primarily on the contested future of the oil and gas extraction sectors, and it is this we will be mainly addressing here, without losing site of these other elements or the overall question of fairness and working-class interests
2. Manifestly all around us in the shape of the current heatwave, but see also National Emergency Briefing on climate & nature
3. See, for example, Decisive action to break influence of gas on electricity prices – GOV.UK, 21 April 2026.
4. Most significantly in terms of jobs promises, see Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage: a vision to establish a competitive market – GOV.UK
5. Keep the North Sea Working campaign launched by Unite for Scottish elections, 23 March 2026.
6. North Sea Future Plan for fair, managed and prosperous transition – GOV.UK, 26 November 2025.
7. Around 90% of UK North Sea oil and gas already drained dry, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, 20 March 2026.
8. ‘North Sea gas becomes unaffordable in multiple ways, not only given the geological fact that it can be extracted up to four times cheaper in other parts of the world, but also the fact that renewable sources such as offshore wind can produce electricity at less than half the cost of running new gas plants’, Can North Sea oil and gas really power Britain’s future?, Renewable UK, 10 September 2025
9. What is the Rosebank oil field? – #StopRosebank, 26 February 2024.
10. Hundreds of North Sea licences granted by Tories ‘produce only 36 days of gas’, The Guardian, 28 March 2026.
11. See ‘Little time to spare’: UK must act now to double offshore wind workforce by 2030, Business Green, 15 June 2026, and Green economy supports more than a million UK workers, Friends of the Earth, 2 Jun 2026.
12. Trump has growing stranglehold over EU and UK energy supply, study shows, The Guardian, 21 January 2026.
13. REA’s REView 25 Report, Renewable Energy Association, 23 March 2026.
14. Framing the issue as a failure of Green policies only contributes to the Reform surge in regions affected by these job losses and job precarity. That poses a massive danger to jobs and union rights and risks putting paid to any sort of transition, just or otherwise, leaving huge numbers of workers genuinely on the scrap heap with little hope for the future.  And are we really at a point where the politicians some of our trade union leaders are most closely echoing are the ill-informed and anti-working-class comments of Nigel Farage and Donald Trump?  See Trump says Burnham is ‘extremely liberal’ and the UK is ‘dying’
15. There are broader considerations that need to be integrated into this. What are the barriers that need to be tackled, a recognition of how that’s affecting workers, and issues like the geographical location of jobs, the impacts on local induced economies, the technological barriers to getting power where it’s needed and balancing the grid, recognition that a lot of the jobs that are classed as “green” are neither new jobs (e.g. bin workers), nor really green (CCS etc), nor adequately paid.  But also touch on the areas that are not being highlighted, e.g. that transition and “green jobs” can’t be reliant on dubious technologies like carbon capture and fossil hydrogen; is gender justice and wage parity between skilled roles being considered; and the fact that climate change itself is a massive financial and material danger to working class people.
16. The truth about North Sea jobs and why workers need a plan – Blogpost from Uplift (News), 11 June 2024

 

Other relevant links

Parents slam Tory ‘Trumpian obsession’ with drilling as extreme heat ‘no longer distant threat’ | Morning Star 24 June 2026

The next PM urged to hold the course on climate action: Oil drilling won’t pay the bills | Morning Star 24 June 2026

Government launches multi-million grant scheme to re-train oil and gas workers | BusinessGreen News 24 June 2026

Why unions don’t want Ed Miliband as Andy Burnham’s chancellor | The Independent25 June 2026

Unison, NEU and TSSA back Ed Miliband for chancellor | Morning Star 26 June 2026

‘We must act fast’: Government urged to recognise UK gas reliance as a national security threat | BusinessGreen News 26 June 2026

Clean economy brings jobs and growth, says Miliband as £100bn invested in green energy | Green economy | The Guardian 23 June 2026

Heatwave: Scientists warn media coverage ignoring ‘fundamental’ links to climate change | BusinessGreen News 24 June 2026

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The post Drill baby drill or cry baby cry?  The energy sector and long-term job security first appeared on Greener Jobs Alliance.

PFAS Results Raise More Questions Than Answers

Part 1 of a 3-part series. Part 2 will examine U.S.-caused contamination at each of the 36 individual facilities in Greenland. Part 3 will survey the appeals U.S. veterans have filed with the U.S. Veterans Administration, claiming cancers and disease as a result of their exposure to toxins in Greenland.

By Pat Elder
July 4, 2026

‍Pituffik Space Base is likely to be heavily contaminated with PFAS, but the U.S. Department of War refuses to divulge pertinent data.

‍When the Danish newspaper Politiken reported on July 1, 2026, that groundwater at the U.S. Pituffik Space Base in Greenland contained 1,100 parts per trillion (ng/L) of PFOS, the finding immediately attracted international attention. The concentration greatly exceeds current European drinking water standards and adds to growing alarm over PFAS contamination at former and active U.S. military installations worldwide.

1,100 parts per trillion of PFOS? What exactly does the reported number represent? Searching for the answer provides insight into the U.S. military’s sloppy culture of non-disclosure in Greenland and around the world.  

Based on the results, the public cannot determine:

• the exact sampling location,

• whether the sample came from a drinking water well or a monitoring well,

• the depth of the well,

• the screened interval,

• whether the water was collected before or after treatment,

‍ Without this information, we don’t have a clue.

‍This is not only an issue for Greenland. Communities living near active and  former U.S. military installations in England, Germany, Japan, and elsewhere are asking the same questions as they seek to understand how decades of military firefighting activities have poisoned their environment and what can be done to protect their health. They’re not getting much help from the Americans.

The U.S. military uses carcinogenic aqueouos film-forming foam ( AFFF ) in about 1,500 facilities and over 6,800 mobile assets worldwide. Release of AFFF into the environment, either through accidental releases, or for fire training and emergency use, has resulted in PFAS detections in drinking water and groundwater in and around DOD installations, according to the  U.S. General Accounting Office in 2024.  

Public resentment around the world is building because the American public knows a great deal more about the specifics of the contamination in the U.S. than “foreigners” do at any of these places. Individual states are taking actions, based on The PFAS data released by the Department of War, to protect the health of their citizens.  

‍The lack of accountability for U.S. military pollution in Greenland stems from Article XI of the 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement. This clause freed the U.S. from any legal obligation to clean up or restore its military bases. The treaty states:

‍ It is understood that any areas or facilities made available to the  Government of the United States of America under this Agreement need not be left in the condition in which they were at the time they were thus made available.”

‍This sentence is extraordinarily broad. It contains no environmental standard, no restoration requirement, no cleanup obligation, and no obligation to compensate for environmental damage, so the U.S. can tell Denmark to go to hell when it complains of environmental tyranny. The same is largely true under the SOFA agreements (Status of Forces Agreements) that set the tone between the great Goliath of 1945 and its many subjects today.

‍Section 345 of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, (NDAA)

‍When Congress mandated that the Department of Defense test off-base drinking water for PFAS contamination, it effectively left the Pentagon to police itself. By assigning the execution, reporting, and oversight of the PFAS program to the military's own internal PFAS Task Force, Congress created an inherent conflict of interest that complicates independent accountability.

‍The DOD is fundamentally stonewalling its statutory reporting requirements. Despite identifying 723 domestic bases  that utilized PFAS-containing firefighting foams, the Pentagon has only submitted data for 86 installations in response to Section 345 of the FY2022 NDAA. Even this minimal disclosure is functionally hollow, leaving major gaps where critical concentration metrics are omitted entirely.

‍A close examination of the records associated with Pituffik Space Base in Greenland raises serious questions about how the data have been organized and presented to the public.

What the Pentagon’s Website Says‍ ‍

Marketed as a sophisticated public transparency initiative, the Department of War’s PFAS database ostensibly delivers the final results of off-base drinking water testing mandated by Section 345 of the FY2022 NDAA. According to the Pentagon, these assessments are designed to determine whether military-related PFAS contamination has migrated beyond base boundaries into local drinking water supplies. However, a closer look at the data reveals that this transparency is largely performative.

The Unexpected Discovery of Pituffik’s PFAS data

The structural flaws of the DOD’s PFAS database are not limited to missing values; the platform’s underlying data architecture displays bizarre anomalies that further obscure transparency. For example, querying the database for Colorado’s Peterson Space Force Base (SFB) mistakenly returns data records for Pituffik Space Base in Greenland.

A broader examination of the eight primary U.S. Space Force installations reveals a stark institutional disparity: while six bases yield "no records found" and one returns just 11 rows, Pituffik SB accounts for a staggering 27,595 rows of data. This erratic indexing and massive data imbalance strongly suggest that the database is functionally compromised, undermining its statutory utility under Section 345 of the 2022 NDAA.

U.S. Dept. of Defense, Off-Base Drinking Water Information: PFAS Testing Database, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/eer/ecc/pfas/map/pfasmap.html (last visited July 3, 2026) (demonstrating indexing anomaly where a query for "Peterson SFB (CO)" returns records for "Pituffik SB (Greenland)" via the "Advanced Search" interface).

Looking Inside the Exported Spreadsheet

A granular look inside the exported spreadsheet reveals profound structural anomalies that challenge basic data integrity protocols. While the Pituffik dataset resembles a conventional laboratory database on the surface, a deeper audit reveals irreconcilable duplication errors.

A raw snapshot of the DOD’s exported Pituffik spreadsheet sorted by analyte concentration. A single physical water sample (ID: C256053) displays impossible redundancy, containing multiple, varying numeric results for identical compounds (like PFHxS and PFOS) taken on the exact same date.

When sorted by Laboratory Sample ID, individual identifiers contain numerous repeated measurements of identical compounds. For example, a single sample identifier—C256053—contains 252 analytical rows detailing eighteen unique PFAS analytes. Crucially, each analyte appears exactly fourteen distinct times under the same sampling date, analytical method (QSM_B15), and laboratory contract number. Even more perplexing is that these repeated records are simultaneously split across three conflicting treatment categories: No Treatment, Pre-Treatment, and Post-Treatment.

Ask the Artist Blue what he meant by this.

In standard environmental engineering and legal chain-of-custody protocols, a single Laboratory Sample ID isolates one physical sample. It cannot simultaneously represent pre-filtered and post-filtered water. The Pentagon’s platform offers zero documentation or methodology to explain why these contradictory treatment phases are compressed into single identifiers, rendering the data functionally uninterpretable. What were they thinking?

Putting the Pituffik Results into Context

To accurately assess the Pituffik database concentrations, it is critical to distinguish between different regulatory sampling methodologies. The Pentagon states that this portal tracks off-base drinking water under Section 345 of the FY2022 NDAA. This represents point-of-consumption monitoring, which is fundamentally distinct from the source-zone groundwater investigations that initially brought military PFAS contamination to national attention.

For context, the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) landmark 2019 report analyzed raw groundwater directly beneath or adjacent to 100 military installations.

Figure 2: Top 15 U.S. military installations ranked by maximum historical PFAS concentrations detected in groundwater (measured in parts per trillion / ppt). Data adapted from historic source-zone investigations.

Concentrated near historic fire-training areas where aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) was heavily discharged, those groundwater samples yielded extraordinary concentrations. Because these monitoring wells target undiluted source zones, their metrics are predictably orders of magnitude higher than finished drinking water supplies.

Groundwater monitoring wells located immediately adjacent to historic fire training areas are designed to locate contamination near its source. They examine highly contaminated groundwater before a great deal of dilution occurs. Establishing these historical baselines remains vital to understanding what is to be expected when examining military installations.

To illustrate the scale of these historical source-zone investigations, Figure 2 highlights the peak groundwater concentrations compiled from these landmark military assessments.

As documented above, raw groundwater adjacent to historic fire-training areas reached extraordinary levels. At the most impacted sites—such as England Air Force Base in Louisiana and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California—total PFAS concentrations reached 20.7 million and 8 million parts per trillion (ppt), respectively.

These extreme values represent the raw, undiluted toxic footprint at the source of the discharge. They serve as an important baseline when evaluating the available data from the six U.S. Space Force bases, allowing us to determine if Pituffik's anomalies extend to its actual toxicological profile.

 Domestic Baselines: Space Force Groundwater Concentrations

To evaluate what might be expected within the hidden records of Pituffik Space Base, we can isolate historical source-zone groundwater data from six primary U.S. Space Force installations. Because these metrics target undiluted groundwater near historical fire-training zones, they illustrate the raw scale of baseline contamination prior to environmental migration or dilution.

Figure 3 compiles the peak total PFAS concentrations and specific compound counts reported across these domestic facilities.

Figure 3: Peak historical total PFAS concentrations (measured in parts per trillion / ppt) and corresponding compound distributions across six domestic U.S. Space Force installations.

The mathematical average across these six domestic installations sits at approximately 1,143,000 ppt of total PFAS. To put this into perspective, this historical groundwater baseline is more than a thousand times higher than the 1,100 ppt concentration  recently reported by the Danish newspaper Politiken regarding Pituffik.

Critically, this comparison represents a distinct methodological asymmetry. We are comparing apples to oranges. While the domestic Space Force data captures raw, undiluted source groundwater, the Pentagon’s Section 345 testing theoretically targets off-base drinking water supplies used by neighboring communities. These two testing frameworks evaluate entirely different phases of the human exposure pathway—moving from the heavily contaminated source zone to the finished public tap.

However, tracking this migration remains a profound regulatory challenge. By routinely omitting critical metadata—such as exact GPS coordinates and sample well depths—the Department of Defense leaves independent scientists, lawyers, and the public to guess how these toxic source zones physically connect to public drinking water supplies. and how the contamination impacts multiple environmental media.

Welcome to the U.S. Military’s International PFAS Testing Dog and Pony Show!

‍ ‍Playing a shell game with the depth of testing

Sometimes we will see results in a PFAS Site Inspection from a surficial aquifer near the surface at a fire training area and the levels may be surprisingly low because the carcinogens may have seeped deeper into the ground. We may also see data at the same location taken from 200 feet below the surface, showing low, or even non-existent levels. To get the real picture we would need to examine results from every ten feet down or so. This way, we might find concentrations of total PFAS exceeding hundreds of thousands of parts per trillion somewhere in between.

By withholding both geographic coordinates and depth metadata, the Pentagon leaves the world’s public with a spatial blackout.

The Politiken Disclosure: Unmasking a Fabricated Baseline

The recent investigation by the Danish newspaper Politiken drew vital international attention to a reported PFOS concentration of 1,100 nanograms per liter (ng/L or ppt) associated with Pituffik Space Base. While this reporting represents a critical contribution to public awareness—offering a stark glimpse into a broader legacy of environmental degradation left by decades of U.S. military operations in Greenland—the metric itself originates from a deeply flawed source.

While the Pentagon's exported spreadsheet does contain raw PFOS entries that match this1,100 ppt figure, the underlying architecture of the dataset severely undermines its credibility. Because individual Laboratory Sample IDs are structurally compromised, confounding the data with unexplained duplicate rows and overlapping treatment categories, the entire database lacks the baseline integrity required for scientific or legal validation.

Ultimately, these pervasive structural errors create an information vacuum. Because the data lacks fundamental reliability and the Department of War provides no public transparency channels, independent investigators are left with a chaotic dataset that raises far more questions than it answers, completely obscuring the true scale of the toxic footprint at Pituffik.

Regulatory Miscalculations: Disentangling Water Concentrations from Dietary Limits

The Politikenreport quotes an expert claiming that the 1,100 ppt PFOS finding at Pituffik represents “about 250 times the EU limit.” This assertion conflates two distinct toxicological metrics.

The European Union’s statutory framework handles these limits through separate mechanisms:

• EU Drinking Water Directive: Establishes a maximum contaminant level of 100 ng/L for the sum of 20 individual PFAS compounds (including PFOS).

• European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) : Sets a Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) of 4.4 nanograms per kilogram (ng/kg) of body weight per week for the combined mass of PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS.

Dividing the reported 1,100 ng/L by the media's stated factor of 250 yields exactly 4.4 - confirming that the source material mistakenly swapped an ambient drinking water threshold with a physiological dietary intake ceiling.

Let’s make this real

Data from the Forever Pollution Project illustrates the staggering discrepancy between regulatory limits and dietary reality. Fish from the Damhussøen reservoir in Copenhagen have been recorded containing 311,000 ng/kg (311 ng/g) of PFOS. ‍ ‍

• A minuscule 0.08-gram fleck of this fish (portrayed here) contains 24.88 ng of PFOS. (.08 × 311 ng/g) This single crumb accounts for nearly 23% of the total weekly allowance (110 ng) for a 25-kilogram child under EFSA’s guidelines.

•  A typical 200-gram meal of this same catch delivers a massive 62,200 nanograms of PFOS. For that same child, this single meal represents 565 times the recommended weekly toxicological limit—and over 190 times the weekly ceiling for an average adult.

=========================

An expanding consensus among international toxicologists on both sides of the Atlantic maintains that no level of exposure to these bioaccumulative carcinogens is safe.

There’s so much more!

There are actually 40,000 types of PFAS. The Pentagon is providing compromised results for 40 compounds at Pituffik. That’s .1% of all the compounds potentially out there.  

40 PFAS compounds reported by the U.S. Military

Ask British, German, and Japanese scientists and environmentalists if they are frustrated by the lack of U.S. transparency. The dutiful corporate media is doing a lousy job reporting on the lack of data, the sobering science, and the world’s frustration.

Polar Bears and the Arctic Marine Food Web

PFAS contamination in the Arctic is not confined to military bases. Scientific reviews show that PFAS also reach the Arctic through long-range atmospheric and oceanic transport, also contaminating seawater, sediments, aquatic organisms, seabirds, marine mammals, and polar bears. In Arctic marine food webs, PFOS and related compounds can biomagnify, with the highest burdens often found in top predators such as polar bears and seabird eggs. Beyond accumulating in polar bears and other Arctic predators, PFAS have been linked to altered gene expression, immune suppression, reproductive impairment, and epigenetic changes that may affect future generations. 

Biologists, toxicologists, and geneticists are actively investigating whether the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) can survive the dual threat of climate change and genetic modification or if we are watching the final generations of the species as it has historically existed. The people who run this world just don’t give a damn. For them, if there’s no market-based solution or lucrative capitalist incentive for carrying it out, well then, there’s no solution.

And just one more parting shot, in U.S. military parlance.

In addition to PFAS, petroleum-related contaminants are commonly associated with military installations in Greenland. Releases from fuel storage areas, pipelines, refueling operations, vehicle maintenance facilities, and spills often result in contamination by benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), along with a wide range of petroleum hydrocarbons. We know that certain American bases in Greenland have been severely and permanently contaminated with nuclear radiation.

Other compounds that may be present include vinyl chloride, which can form as chlorinated solvents degrade in the environment, as well as metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, and combustion byproducts associated with historical military activities. At Arctic bases such contaminants can become trapped in frozen soils and permafrost for decades, only to be mobilized as permafrost thaws, potentially creating long-term sources of contamination to groundwater, streams, wetlands, and the broader ecosystem.

Bummer.

How do we talk sense into these knuckleheads?

Following years of drought, the wells in Estancia, New Mexico, are running dry. 

After declaring a water emergency last week, the small town in Torrance County is hauling in water to fill its pipes. Estancia has also reduced water sales to the Torrance County Detention Facility, or TCDF, a federal immigration detention center run by the private contractor CoreCivic. The detention facility, Estancia’s largest commercial water customer, has resorted to trucking in water. 

In the midst of the crisis, Estancia Mayor Runnel Riley has taken a leave of absence. During a Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday evening, Estancia’s elected leaders passed a vote of “no confidence” in the mayor. The state has provided funding to drill a new well, and Estancia will be opening the 30-day bidding process this month.

Dozens of residents attended Tuesday’s meeting in person or virtually to voice their frustration about the water problems and delays in drilling a new well. When asked by a reporter for the Mountainair Dispatch, board trustees said they did not have data available on what proportion of the city’s water goes to the detention facility. Estancia is home to 1,400 people, and up to 800 people can be detained at the facility.

Read Next The Colorado River is vanishing — and the fixes are getting weird Jake Bittle

Ryan Gustin, senior public affairs director at CoreCivic, said the company implemented contingency plans once it learned of the water emergency. He said that the Torrance County Detention Facility has brought in additional water supplies, and the water emergency has not impacted its operations.

“Drinking water is always available within our housing units and bottled water has been provided in addition to the readily available drinking water containers,” Gustin said.

Roy Hubbard, Estancia’s deputy clerk, told Inside Climate News that the town is meeting with CoreCivic on Wednesday to discuss next steps. The detention facility has been the subject of complaints about sewer and water problems in the past.

A detention center, a drought, and years of delay

The current water shortage is not Estancia’s first. 

Last year, Estancia asked residents to conserve water because its wells were not producing adequately. In 2024, the town issued a similar call.

Overpumping has caused significant declines to the groundwater level in the Estancia Basin aquifer, which the town relies on, according to the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance. The Office of the State Engineer, which regulates water rights in New Mexico, closed the Estancia Basin to new water rights. However, the office predicted that if existing water rights remain in use, the groundwater level will continue to decline.

New Mexico, including Torrance County, is experiencing severe drought. State officials expect groundwater supplies to further diminish because of higher temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns due to climate change.

Read Next This simple metal tube helps scientists predict drought before it happens Jesse Nichols

Estancia elected Runnel Riley to replace the incumbent mayor in November 2025 by a mere five votes. However, Riley stopped attending trustee meetings as the town’s water problems became more severe.

State Representative Stefani Lord, a Republican who represents Torrance and Bernalillo counties, said at Tuesday’s meeting: “I called the mayor in January. He has never returned my phone calls.

“Just get the well finished. That is the short-term problem,” she said. “There are all kinds of things we can do in the future. But for this moment, we just have to focus on getting this done.”

During the meeting, the trustees also voted to prohibit fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend. The town still plans to hold a fireworks display, but private citizens will not be allowed to set off fireworks because of the ongoing drought and the risk of fires during the water emergency.

Hubbard, the deputy clerk, said that as of Saturday, trucks had delivered 116,700 gallons of water to the town. He said that water supply to CoreCivic will “gradually be turned back on” when there is more water available. According to reporting in the Mountainair Dispatch, more than 80 percent of the town’s water goes to commercial customers. However, town officials have not clarified how much of that share goes to CoreCivic.

Read Next How New Mexico is ‘building a forest’ by solving a seedling shortage Kylie Mohr

During Tuesday’s meeting, in response to questions from a Mountainair Dispatch reporter, Mayor Pro Tem Albert Lovato said that providing up-to-date information on the town’s water supply is difficult because of the fluctuating population at the detention center. “Our population goes up and it goes down because of CoreCivic,” he said.

The detention center has been a source of controversy for years. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General documented unsanitary conditions at TCDF in 2022, including “clogged toilets, broken sinks, inoperable toilets, water leaks, and mold.” The Innovation Law Lab, an immigrant and refugee rights organization, has also documented complaints from detainees at TCDF about sewage overflows and restricted access to water.

“There have been no sewage issues at TCDF because of this situation, nor were there any sewage issues in 2025 related to any water supply issues,” said Gustin, the CoreCivic spokesperson. “At no point have those in our care been without drinking water.”

The New Mexico Environment Department, or NMED, enforces health and safety regulations at TCDF. Agency spokesperson Drew Goretzka said that following a 2025 inspection, TCDF has addressed potential deficiencies with the sewer system.

“NMED is supporting the town of Estancia through emergency response coordination, including requesting assistance from other state agencies to provide alternate water sources,” Goretzka said. “The department is in communication with the town and its contractors to resolve the immediate water shortage issues.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deferred questions about the facility to CoreCivic. 

The federal agency has expanded its detention capacity under the Trump administration. ICE purchased numerous warehouses around the country to open new detention facilities this year for immigrants who are in deportation proceedings. ICE has been detaining an increasing number of people with active immigration cases seeking to stay in the country. Many residents in these communities, from Texas to Pennsylvania, have raised concerns whether local infrastructure could support the increased water demand from detention centers.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A New Mexico town is running dry. An immigration detention center is its biggest water customer. on Jul 4, 2026.

Maxwin merupakan singkatan dari Maximum Win, yaitu batas kemenangan tertinggi yang dapat diperoleh dalam satu permainan atau satu putaran sesuai ketentuan yang telah ditetapkan oleh pengembang game. Nilai kemenangan maksimal ini berbeda-beda pada setiap judul permainan dan biasanya dinyatakan dalam kelipatan nilai taruhan.

Memahami Cara Kerja Permainan Slot

Permainan slot modern menggunakan teknologi Random Number Generator (RNG), yaitu sistem yang menghasilkan kombinasi simbol secara acak. Dengan sistem tersebut, setiap putaran bersifat independen dan tidak dipengaruhi oleh hasil putaran sebelumnya. Artinya, tidak ada pola atau waktu tertentu yang dapat menjamin kemenangan.

Apa yang Dimaksud dengan RTP dan Volatilitas?

Selain Maxwin, terdapat dua istilah yang sering dijumpai, yaitu RTP (Return to Player) dan volatilitas.

RTP merupakan persentase teoritis dari total taruhan yang dikembalikan kepada pemain dalam jangka panjang. Misalnya, RTP sebesar 96% bukan berarti setiap pemain akan menerima kembali 96% dari uang yang dipertaruhkan, melainkan merupakan nilai statistik berdasarkan jutaan putaran.

Pentingnya Bermain Secara Bertanggung Jawab

Para ahli mengingatkan bahwa permainan slot pada dasarnya dirancang sebagai bentuk hiburan dan tetap mengandung unsur risiko finansial. Oleh karena itu, pemain disarankan untuk:

• Menentukan batas anggaran sebelum bermain.
• Tidak mengejar kerugian dengan terus meningkatkan taruhan.

Kesalahan yang Sering Dilakukan Pemula

Pengamat industri hiburan online menyebutkan bahwa banyak pemain baru masih memiliki beberapa kesalahpahaman mengenai permainan slot, di antaranya:

1. Menganggap terdapat pola pasti untuk memperoleh Maxwin.
2. Percaya bahwa kemenangan dapat diprediksi berdasarkan jam bermain.
3. Tidak memahami aturan permainan sebelum memulai.
4. Bermain tanpa menetapkan batas anggaran maupun waktu.

Padahal, karena menggunakan sistem RNG, hasil setiap putaran tetap bersifat acak dan tidak dapat dipastikan sebelumnya.

Kesimpulan

Istilah Maxwin merupakan bagian dari mekanisme permainan slot yang mengacu pada batas kemenangan maksimum yang tersedia dalam suatu permainan. Namun, keberadaan Maxwin tidak berarti kemenangan tersebut mudah diperoleh. Setiap hasil permainan tetap ditentukan oleh sistem RNG yang bekerja secara acak.

Bagi pemula, memahami konsep dasar seperti RTP, volatilitas, paylines, serta fitur bonus akan membantu mengenali cara kerja permainan secara lebih objektif. Yang tidak kalah penting, selalu mengutamakan permainan yang bertanggung jawab dengan menetapkan batas waktu dan anggaran agar aktivitas bermain tetap berada dalam koridor hiburan.

Headline News:

• “Denmark, Portugal, And Lithuania Lead The Way As The EU Share Of Electricity From Renewables Hits 46%” • The EU’s share of electricity generated from renewables continues to grow, new Eurostat data reveals. In the first quarter of 2026, it reached 45.5% of the total electricity generated. This is up from 42.7% in the same period in 2025. [Euronews]

Wind turbines in Portugal (Afonso Coutinho, Unsplash)

• “New “Air” Battery Makes Larger Electric Aircraft Possible” • The idea behind lithium-air batteries is to use oxygen from the air as a key ingredient, thereby saving considerable weight while potentially boosting energy density far beyond the capacity of ordinary lithium-ion technology. US startup Air Energy may have found a way to do that. [CleanTechnica]
• “Brussels Pivots From Climate Mitigation To Adaptation As Heatwaves Expose Vulnerabilities” • The European Commission, seeing that European policies fail to match the quickening pace and impacts of climate change, pledged to “double down” on efforts to mitigate climate change following last week’s extreme and deadly heatwave in Western Europe. [Euronews]
• “Nova Scotia Green Light For 1.2-GW Onshore Giant” • Nova Scotia has granted environmental assessment approval for the 1.2-GW Ocean Lake wind project. The project will include up to 158 turbines and is being developed by EverWind NS Holdings Ltd and Membertou Development Corp. It will generate enough electricity for about 404,000 homes. [reNews]
• “One Year Since One Big Beautiful Bill: Fewer Jobs, Higher Bills, More Pollution” • In the year since Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law the Trump administration reduced over $7.5 billion in clean energy investments. And Americans are facing soaring energy bills, more toxic emissions, and continued economic instability. [CleanTechnica]

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

Rich Wilson is CEO of the Iswe Foundation and co-founder of the Global Citizens’ Assembly.

The numbers are stark. According to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, 266 million people across 47 countries experienced high levels of acute food insecurity last year, nearly double the figure recorded a decade ago. 

Meanwhile, disruptions to oil, gas and fertiliser flows through the Strait of Hormuz drove a 46% month-on-month spike in urea prices early this year, sending agricultural price indices up 8% and raising the spectre of a global affordability crisis.

This is not a blip. It is a new baseline. The EAT-Lancet Commission concluded that food systems now account for roughly 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions and are the largest single contributor to the climate crisis. The science has been clear for years. 

Now some of the solutions to the problem are becoming socially acceptable too. 

• Jul 3, 2026 Finance Billions unlocked as Green Climate Fund agrees to spend more and save less The board of the UN’s flagship climate fund allows management to invest more of its money in projects in developing nations and keep less in reserve Read more
• Jul 1, 2026 Energy Can giant batteries unlock Africa’s green industrial future? Battery energy storage systems (BESS) could drive clean tech manufacturing in Africa but shortfalls in finance and data are still limiting deployment at scale Read more

Earlier this year, people from more than 60 countries and territories, selected not by vested interest, but by lottery, spent seven weeks examining the evidence on food and climate for the latest Global Citizens’ Assembly. They heard from scientists, farmers and industry. They worked through 42 hours of structured deliberation, engaging with some difficult trade-offs. 

They were not asked to endorse a predetermined conclusion. They were asked an open question: what changes, if any, should we make to how we grow, share and eat food, so that everyone has enough to nourish themselves while tackling the causes and impacts of climate change?

Phase down industrial animal farming

Their answer was unambiguous. They voted to protect forests. They voted to phase down industrial animal food production. They voted for supply chain reform and corporate accountability, explicitly rejecting the idea that the burden of change should fall on individual consumers. All 22 of their Calls to Action passed with over 85% support, a super-majority of randomly selected people from every region of the world, in agreement. 

Consider what the assembly was actually being asked to decide. Industrial animal food production is the primary driver of tropical deforestation. Protecting more land as forest and ecosystem means less land available for the expansion of industrial production. That is a real trade-off, with real consequences for real livelihoods. Politicians have spent years avoiding it. 

Food systems are the missing ingredient from the COP30 menu 

These randomly selected people looked at the evidence, deliberated across time zones and cultures, and chose the forests, with 64% in strong support and a further 20% in favour. People from livestock farming communities voted for change. Not because they were told to. Because deliberation led them there.

We estimate there have now been more than 7,000 citizen participation initiatives worldwide in the last decade. They have been organised because, as our 2025 report: People in the Lead demonstrated, people are now consistently and significantly ahead of politicians on issues ranging from climate to AI governance.

The people know best

What the research consistently shows is that ordinary people, given proper evidence and time, produce recommendations that are more effective and more aligned with public values than what emerges from elected legislatures. The gap in global governance is no longer primarily between science and the public. It is between citizens and their political leaders.

That gap matters for more than procedural reasons. When policy treats people as passive recipients rather than active participants, it leaves out the very actors whose behaviour, trust and consent the transition depends on. Institutions that speak only to other institutions, and negotiate only with state actors and industry lobbies, are missing out on the trust and energy of the people they are supposed to serve.

Governments, left to their own devices, are not moving fast enough to prove that argument wrong. At COP30 in Belém last November, countries failed to agree on a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap, and even full implementation of every submitted national climate plan still leaves the world on course for 2.3 to 2.8C of warming. 

Thousands march in a COP30 protest calling for climate justice and protection of the Amazon among other things in Belem, Brazil on November 15, 2025. Photo: Artyc Studio Thousands march in a COP30 protest calling for climate justice and protection of the Amazon among other things in Belem, Brazil on November 15, 2025. Photo: Artyc Studio Citizens’ track at COP

But the Brazilian presidency grasped something important. Among the conference’s more significant outcomes was the formal launch of a Citizens’ Track within the UNFCCC process, a mechanism for connecting the global participation field to intergovernmental climate negotiations. Türkiye and Australia, who together hold the COP31 presidency in Antalya this November, now have the opportunity to strengthen and institutionalise what Brazil began.

In Guatemala, Indigenous women build climate resilience with old and new farming methods

The question before us is no longer whether citizens can contribute to solving these problems. Across the world, in local food networks, in community assemblies and in participatory planning processes, they already are, quietly generating more ambitious and more legitimate solutions than those emerging from formal diplomatic channels.

What is required now is the political courage to connect people to power. Not to consult citizens and file the results. Not to invite them to observe while the real decisions are made elsewhere. But to recognise the public as partners in perhaps the most consequential governance challenge of our time.

The post As food shocks spread, citizens are showing more leadership than governments  appeared first on Climate Home News.

ROYALGACOR berupaya menghadirkan sistem yang mudah dipahami tanpa mengurangi kelengkapan fitur yang tersedia. Pengguna dapat menemukan berbagai menu secara lebih terstruktur sehingga proses pencarian informasi maupun penggunaan layanan menjadi lebih efisien.

Pendekatan seperti ini memberikan manfaat yang cukup besar. Waktu yang dibutuhkan untuk memahami cara kerja platform menjadi lebih singkat, sementara risiko terjadinya kesalahan saat mengakses berbagai fitur juga dapat diminimalkan.

Stabilitas Sistem Mendukung Pengalaman Pengguna

Selain kemudahan penggunaan, stabilitas layanan merupakan faktor yang tidak kalah penting. Platform digital yang mampu menjaga performa secara konsisten cenderung memperoleh tingkat kepuasan pengguna yang lebih tinggi.

ROYALGACOR berupaya menghadirkan sistem yang tetap responsif ketika diakses melalui berbagai perangkat. Optimalisasi ini memungkinkan pengguna memperoleh pengalaman yang relatif stabil baik menggunakan komputer maupun perangkat seluler.

Meski demikian, performa sebuah layanan tetap dipengaruhi oleh berbagai faktor eksternal, seperti kualitas jaringan internet, kapasitas perangkat yang digunakan, hingga kondisi lalu lintas data pada waktu tertentu. Oleh karena itu, pengalaman setiap pengguna dapat berbeda meskipun mengakses platform yang sama.

Layanan Pelanggan yang Responsif

Dalam dunia layanan digital, dukungan pelanggan memiliki peran yang sangat penting. Tidak semua kendala dapat diselesaikan secara mandiri, sehingga keberadaan tim bantuan menjadi salah satu indikator kualitas pelayanan.

ROYALGACOR menyediakan layanan pelanggan yang ditujukan untuk membantu pengguna memperoleh informasi maupun solusi ketika menghadapi kendala tertentu. Respons yang cepat dapat membantu mengurangi waktu tunggu sekaligus meningkatkan rasa percaya terhadap layanan yang digunakan.

Di sisi lain, efektivitas layanan pelanggan juga bergantung pada kompleksitas permasalahan yang dihadapi. Pertanyaan yang bersifat umum biasanya dapat diselesaikan lebih cepat dibandingkan kasus yang memerlukan proses verifikasi tambahan.

Fitur yang Terus Mengikuti Perkembangan

Perubahan kebutuhan pengguna mendorong platform untuk terus melakukan pembaruan. Inovasi tidak selalu berarti menghadirkan fitur baru dalam jumlah banyak, melainkan juga menyempurnakan sistem yang sudah ada agar semakin relevan dengan kebutuhan saat ini.

ROYALGACOR menunjukkan upaya pengembangan melalui penyempurnaan berbagai aspek layanan, mulai dari peningkatan kenyamanan penggunaan hingga optimalisasi performa sistem. Langkah semacam ini penting karena ekspektasi pengguna terhadap layanan digital terus meningkat dari waktu ke waktu.

Meskipun demikian, setiap pembaruan juga memiliki tantangan tersendiri. Adaptasi pengguna terhadap perubahan antarmuka maupun fitur baru memerlukan waktu, sehingga proses pengembangan perlu dilakukan secara bertahap agar tetap memberikan pengalaman yang positif.

Keamanan Menjadi Fondasi Kepercayaan

Keamanan merupakan salah satu aspek yang tidak dapat dipisahkan dari layanan digital modern. Pengguna semakin sadar akan pentingnya perlindungan data sehingga mereka cenderung memilih platform yang memberikan perhatian terhadap aspek keamanan.

ROYALGACOR berupaya membangun lingkungan layanan yang lebih aman melalui pengelolaan sistem yang mendukung perlindungan aktivitas pengguna. Selain itu, kesadaran pengguna juga memiliki peran penting dalam menjaga keamanan akun, misalnya dengan menggunakan kata sandi yang kuat dan tidak membagikan informasi pribadi kepada pihak lain.

Kolaborasi antara sistem keamanan platform dan kebiasaan pengguna yang bijak menjadi kombinasi yang mampu menciptakan pengalaman digital yang lebih nyaman.

Peluang Pengembangan di Masa Mendatang

Persaingan layanan digital akan terus mengalami perubahan seiring berkembangnya teknologi. Platform yang mampu beradaptasi dengan cepat biasanya memiliki peluang lebih besar untuk mempertahankan loyalitas pengguna.

ROYALGACOR memiliki kesempatan untuk terus meningkatkan kualitas layanannya melalui inovasi yang berorientasi pada kebutuhan pengguna. Pengembangan teknologi, peningkatan performa sistem, serta penyempurnaan pengalaman pengguna menjadi beberapa aspek yang berpotensi memberikan nilai tambah di masa depan.

Namun demikian, keberhasilan pengembangan tidak hanya ditentukan oleh inovasi teknologi. Kemampuan memahami masukan pengguna dan menerapkannya dalam proses penyempurnaan layanan juga menjadi faktor yang tidak kalah penting.

Penutup

Keunggulan sebuah platform digital tidak hanya tercermin dari banyaknya fitur yang ditawarkan, melainkan juga dari bagaimana seluruh layanan tersebut mampu bekerja secara selaras dalam memberikan pengalaman yang nyaman, efisien, dan mudah diakses. ROYALGACOR menunjukkan upaya untuk menghadirkan layanan yang berfokus pada kemudahan penggunaan, stabilitas sistem, dukungan pelanggan, serta pengembangan yang berkelanjutan.

Pada akhirnya, penilaian terhadap kualitas sebuah layanan tetap bergantung pada pengalaman masing-masing pengguna. Dengan memahami berbagai aspek yang memengaruhi kinerja platform, pengguna dapat menilai secara lebih objektif apakah layanan yang tersedia telah sesuai dengan kebutuhan dan harapan mereka dalam memanfaatkan layanan digital.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) will have nearly $6 billion more to spend on emissions-reduction and climate adaptation projects in developing countries, after its board agreed to a management proposal to reduce the proportion of money it has to keep in reserve.

At a meeting in Tajikistan this week, the government representatives who make up the fund’s board endorsed the proposal to revise its financial rules so that it no longer has to set aside one dollar for every dollar it spends.

Instead, the buffer amount will be decided based on a new, looser methodology. The GCF’s chief financial officer, Darren Tan, told board members that the old rules had led to too much cash building up in the fund’s reserves and “constrained the resources that we could deploy”.

The fund has a portfolio of 360 projects to which it has allocated $20.5 billion, but it has struggled to collect all the pledges made by donors as the US has failed to deliver billions and other wealthy nations are now making cuts to their funding for climate work in developing countries.

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The new system has been independently validated and is supported by the GCF’s trustee, the World Bank. Tan said the approach is still prudent enough that the fund will remain “financially resilient even under adverse conditions”.

The change “allows the fund to do more with the same resources”, Tan concluded, adding that “this translates directly into greater climate impact”. The shift leaves the fund with $5.65 billion to put into projects instead of around $1 billion under the previous rules.

The reforms follow wider moves to get funders of climate action to do more with their money. In 2023 and 2024, the World Bank lowered its equity-to-loans ratio from 20% to 19% and then 18%, freeing up around $7 billion a year for it to invest.

At their meeting in Dushanbe, GCF board members broadly welcomed the proposal, although several complained they had not been given enough time to consider reforms of such importance.

“No brainer”

While developed countries were all supportive, developing nations’ responses were more mixed. Some called for the new system to be implemented immediately but others urged a slower roll-out and raised concerns that the changes would lead the fund to give out more loans and fewer grants.

Canada’s representative said the approach is “considered standard practice across the climate finance architecture”, the UK said it “seems sensible”, France called it a “no-brainer” and New Zealand said it would “grow the funding pie”.

GCF board meeting participants pose in Dushanbe (Photo: GCF)

Germany’s Annette Windmeisser said it “responds to the COP29 decision to triple outflows from the mutilateral climate funds”. This goal was agreed after a push from small island and least developed countries but – with funding from wealthy governments faltering – the GCF is looking at controversial options like borrowing from banks to meet it.

Japan’s Kazuho Taguchi hinted at similar motivations for supporting these reforms. “Efficient use of limited public resources” is essential, he said, because “it is unrealistic to expect public finance from developed countries alone to meet the full scale of need”.

Bigger share for loans?

Some developing countries strongly supported the reforms too, including Gambia representing the least developed nations, Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Others urged caution. Georgia’s Nino Tandilashvili said the “outside world… want more projects from us” but also “financial sustainability of this fund”.

Botswana’s Balisi Gopolang echoed this and Ghana’s Antwi Boasiako-Amoah said the fund’s models should be tested against performance and the changes should be implemented slowly and piloted first.

Boasiako-Amoah also said he was concerned that the new methodology would be used to increase the proportion of the fund’s money that is loaned out to developing countries rather than distributed as grants. As the money is intended to be returned, loans are less financially risky to the GCF than grants.

Ghana’s Antwi Boasiako-Amoah and Canada’s Andrew Hurst talk at the board meeting in Dushanbe (Photo: GCF)

The board’s decision approving the reform incorporated this concern by noting that the “risk appetite or financial instrument mix” of board spending decisions should not be influenced by the new policy.

Liane Schalatek, who monitored the meeting for the Heinrich Böll Foundation, told Climate Home News that the reforms give the GCF “some breathing room” for the next year or two, after the Trump administration reneged on US pledges and the UK halved the contribution it had promised for 2024-2027.

But, Schalatek added, “it does not solve the fundamental question of whether developed countries are willing to stick to their obligations under the Paris Agreement and the [UN climate regime] that still requires them to provide substantial inputs into the GCF for the next replenishment period from 2028-2031.”

The post Billions unlocked as Green Climate Fund agrees to spend more and save less appeared first on Climate Home News.

While the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary, political attention is drifting away from climate change just as warming accelerates and Earth's life-support systems approach collapse. From disappearing federal climate data to record-breaking heat, denial is giving way to something more dangerous: collective delusion.

Industrial agriculture relies on more than tractors and diesel. From synthetic fertilizers to depleted soils, the modern food system is deeply tied to fossil fuels, leaving farmers, ecosystems and food security increasingly vulnerable. Amid the polycrisis, we must rebuild food systems by valuing the natural world and supporting human communities.

A new proposal would shrink the public’s right to comment on the rulebooks that govern grazing, logging, and permits across the national forests. Comment now.

A new global rainforest fund, unveiled by Brazil at COP30, will likely struggle to meet its initial funding target this year, after the UK failed to announce an expected pledge during London Climate Action Week and other donors have been slow to come on board.

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) was launched on the sidelines of last November’s UN climate summit as an innovative mechanism to fund rainforest protection. Instead of relying on grants, it seeks to raise public and private money, invest it in financial markets, and then pay rainforest countries a share of the returns.

The facility has so far raised $6.8 billion but needs to mobilise at least $10 billion by the end of 2026, under conditions set by Norway to unlock its pledge. If the fund falls short of this goal, the Norwegian contribution of up to $3 billion in loans over 10 years will not be disbursed.

At a gathering of ministers from rainforest-rich countries at London’s Kew Botanic Gardens last Tuesday in searing heat, UK climate minister Katie White praised the TFFF and said she had held a “robust conversation in government over the last few weeks” about the importance of forests and climate action.

She had argued, she said, that “this is not a nice to have – this is absolutely vital for our security and our prosperity”. She told the small crowd of visiting ministers, officials and forest campaigners at Kew that the TFFF was an “innovative and impactful development”.

Minister Katie White addresses a Forest and Climate Leadership high-level summit at Kew Gardens in London on June 23, 2026 (Photo: Joshua Bratt/FCLP)

But despite climate campaigners’ hopes, the British minister did not follow Norway, Germany, France, Brazil, Indonesia and Luxembourg in pledging to the fund, whose aim is to use returns on the capital it invests in bond markets to financially reward countries who keep their tropical forests standing.

Ed Davey, UK lead for the World Resources Institute who was in the room for White’s speech, told Climate Home News afterwards that as the UK was involved in inventing the idea and the British public care about rainforests, it is “incredibly important” that the government invests in the TFFF “as soon as possible”.

“The TFFF is at a very important stage of its gestation, and if a few other critically important sovereign governments don’t come on board quite soon, there is a risk that the idea will lose momentum,” he said.

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Anders Haug Larsen, advocacy director for the Rainforest Foundation Norway, was also disappointed at the lack of a British pledge during London Climate Action Week (LCAW).

The UK government’s money and its power to mobilise private sector investment are crucial to the TFFF’s success, he said, adding that “saving tropical rainforest is a key component in solving climate change and preserving life on this planet”.

Political divisions?

British newspaper The Times later reported that White’s boss – energy and climate minister Ed Miliband – had been poised to announce a £400-million ($528m) investment pledge to the TFFF but had been opposed by UK finance minister Rachel Reeves.

According to The Times, Reeves was concerned an announcement would be unpopular, as the government was being criticised by its former defence minister for not spending enough on the military, and had pushed for the announcement to be shelved.

Climate Home News understands, however, that the UK Treasury had given the climate ministry approval to tell Brazil and Norway it would invest in the TFFF, but the administrative procedures needed to make the pledge had not been completed in time to announce a contribution during LCAW.

Rachel Reeves (left), Keir Starmer (centre) and Ed Milliband (right) tour a beverage company facility on October 4, 2024 (Photo: Simon Dawson/Number 10)

The UK has been cutting the amount it spends on foreign aid, including on climate projects, in order to deliver what its foreign minister called “the biggest increase in defence spending since the Cold War”.

Projects affected include rainforest protection schemes like the Congo Basin Forest Action Programme, which has had its budget slashed by nearly 80%.

Despite these moves to shrink overseas assistance, defence secretary John Healey resigned a few weeks ago, calling for even more spending for his department.

Last Monday, the first day of LCAW, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he would soon resign following bad local election results, with his fellow Labour parliamentarian Andy Burnham highly likely to replace him by the end of July. Reeves is looks set to be replaced as finance minister, with Miliband reportedly a leading candidate to succeed her.

Norwegian test looms

If the UK does not invest in the TFFF by the end of the year, along with other government donors, the initiative’s chances of reversing the destruction of tropical forests will be diminished, experts say.

With the US under Donald Trump unlikely to pledge and the two biggest European Union nations France and Germany already having done so, forest campaigners were hoping that the UK could fill some of the roughly $3.2 billion in new pledges needed to meet the minimum goal set by Norway.

Asked by Climate Home News if France would increase its $0.6 billion pledge, its minister for international partnerships Eleonore Caroit said last week, “I don’t have any specific information of any increase.” She added that France supports the TFFF but is also “focusing on other similar projects to achieve the same results”.

The Brazilian finance ministry has courted investments into the fund from Japan, South Korea and China. Last Friday, Brazilian finance minister Dario Durigan met Chinese finance minister Lan Fo’an and afterwards told Valor Econômico that he had raised the possibility of an investment in the TFFF.

“I think today, for the first time, China gave a stronger, firmer indication that it understands the TFFF model and is comfortable with it,” Durigan was quoted as saying. “There has been a positive signal,” he added. “Now we will work with his team to turn that into concrete commitments.”

Larsen of the Rainforest Foundation Norway said there is also hope that Middle Eastern countries, more European nations and the European Union could contribute. The UAE has expressed interest in the fund, and has provided technical assistance for its development.

Consolidating the fund

João Paulo de Resende, TFFF leader at Brazil’s Ministry of Finance, told Climate Home News that Brazil’s priority for 2026, as co-chairs of the fund with Norway, is to consolidate its governing structure. This includes developing an operations manual, a Facility charter and a secretariat hosted at the World Bank.

“The transition from a Brazil-led proposal to a shared international platform is already well underway and is reflected in the initiative’s governance structure and growing coalition of supporters,” he said, adding that the focus is now on building “collective leadership” that can last in the long term.

One the financing side, he said Brazil will “continue engaging bilaterally with sponsor countries” to help reach the $10 billion target by the end of 2026.

Following a recent investor retreat in Rotterdam attended by government officials and private investors, a group of 12 financial institutions – including UK-based Ashmore Group and Dutch firm Robeco – endorsed the fund as an “opportunity to support the protection of up to a billion hectares of tropical forests”.

They added that the fund’s seed capital from governments is “building momentum” and that the TFFF has put in place a “robust institutional governance” that can deliver results in the long term.

Economic value for standing forests

Details of how the TFFF will work are being finalised in an attempt to encourage investment.

Earlier this month, it was announced that its investment arm (the Tropical Forest Investment Fund – TFIF) would be based in Luxembourg. The European financial hub said it will provide €50 million ($57m) to the TFIF through its Climate and Energy Fund between 2026 and 2030, after which it will “maintain a long-term annual contribution”.

The Norwegian government has tasked a veteran of its sovereign wealth fund, Knut N. Kjaer, with reviewing the TFFF’s financial model.

At Kew Gardens last week, the head of the Brazilian forest service Garo Batmanian said the TFFF and other measures are needed so that standing forests are economically valued and therefore protected.

“There is no chainsaw-wielding maniac out there cutting down trees out of pleasure,” he said. “He’s cutting down trees because he thinks he can get more money using the land for something else, so it’s not only about stopping deforestation but also promoting that the standing forest has value.”

This story was edited to add comments by João Paulo de Resende

The post Tropical forest protection fund at risk after UK stalls on pledge appeared first on Climate Home News.

Off the eastern coast of Italy, large numbers of bottlenose dolphins are looking to fishing trawlers as a source of food, a sign that dolphins may be struggling to feed themselves in waters depleted by overfishing.

Read more on E360 →

SUWA members are invited to our annual Summer Gathering on Thursday, August 27. We couldn’t do this work without your support and look forward to thanking you in person! If you plan to join us, please RSVP below.

Click here to RSVP

Not sure if your membership is current? Email Membership Coordinator Kelly Burnham at membership@suwa.org or call 801-428-3972. Not yet a member? Join today for just $35 and become part of the nationwide movement to Protect Wild Utah!

SUWA’s Summer Gathering
Thursday, August 27
6:30-8:30 pm
Red Butte Garden
300 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City This is a family-friendy event featuring:

● Hors d’oeuvres and non-alcoholic refreshments provided by Brown Brothers Catering
(Vegan and GF options available)
● Remarks by SUWA Executive Director Scott Braden
● A take-home botanical craft for kids and adults alike
● A beautiful garden setting

To help us with the preparations and make sure you’re on the guest list, RSVP here or email Kelly at membership@suwa.org no later than Thursday, August 20. Feel free to call Kelly at 801-428-3972 with any questions.

The post Members Only: Join Us for SUWA’s Summer Gathering on August 27! appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Fifty years ago, America celebrated its bicentennial with a coast-to-coast displays of bunting, flags, community ceremonies, and constant talk about “hope” and “unity.” Now as we face our semi-quincentennial, the…

At 5:45 am on a small island in lower Green Bay, Wisconsin, the sun has barely crested the horizon, but the air is warm and humid. Tom Prestby, Wisconsin Conservation Manager with Audubon Great...