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From 4 to 8 August 2026, La Via Campesina was present in Cotonou, Benin, responding to the mobilisation of its members and allies in Africa and joining the activities surrounding the arrival of the West African Caravan.

The post Building Peasant Internationalism: La Via Campesina in Cotonou appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

August 14, 2026

Mining Claims Filed Immediately After Trump Decimates National Monuments in Utah – 8.14.26  Attempts to file mining claims in Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments shows industry clamoring to exploit landscapes

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Autumn Gillard, Coordinator, Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition; (928) 614-2600; autumnavielle@gmail.com
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, pwheeler@earthjustice.org, (202) 792-6211
Keri Gilliland, The Wilderness Society, (KGilliland@tws.org)
Chaitna Sinha, Conservation Codirector and Staff Attorney, Grand Canyon Trust; (970) 399-9565 (csinha@grandcanyontrust.org)
Amy Dominguez, Sierra Club, amy.dominguez@sierraclub.org, (385) 355-4631
Kris Deutschman, Conservation Lands Foundation, kris@conservationlands.org, (505) 498-0212
Andrew Scibetta, NRDC, (202) 289-2421, ascibetta@nrdc.org
Daniel Hernandez, National Parks Conservation Association, dhernandez@npca.org, (202) 573-2201

SOUTHERN UTAH – Within one day of President Trump illegally reducing Bears Ears National Monument by over 90%, a company staked multiple mining claims in areas cut out of the monument. On July 14, 2026, Kimmerle Mining filed 7 mining claims (see map) with the San Juan County (Utah) Recorder’s Office. Kimmerle Mining previously filed mining claims after Trump’s 2017 reduction of Bears Ears and excavated a partially reclaimed mine shaft on one of the claims – the so-called Easy Peasy claim (this mine has been re-buried); Kyle Kimmerle (a Managing Member of Kimmerle Mining) was also a plaintiff in one of the cases filed in the District of Utah challenging President Biden’s 2021 restoration of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.  

Two mining claims were also recently filed in Grand Staircase-Escalante, less than one month after Trump’s attack. On August 6, 2026, Craig Rosequist filed two mining claims (see map) with the Kane County (Utah) Recorder’s Office in areas cut out of the monument by the Trump proclamations. According to public records, Rosequist previously located several mining claims in neighboring Washington County, Utah.

Under President Trump’s proclamations decimating Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, mining claims cannot be staked until 60 days after the date of the proclamation, which will be Friday, Sept. 11: “Appropriation of lands under the mining laws before the date and time of restoration is unauthorized.  Any such attempted appropriation, including attempted adverse possession under 30 U.S.C. 38, shall vest no rights against the United States.” In light of this prohibition and the illegality of the Trump proclamations, the Bureau of Land Management should reject these recently filed claims in both national monuments. Below are quotes from Tribal leaders, conservation groups, and additional information. 

“When we talk about Grand Staircase-Escalante, we are not simply talking about public land or a national monument. We are talking about our homelands — living landscapes with personhood and spirit,” said Autumn Gillard, Southern Paiute and Coordinator of the Grand Staircase Inter-Tribal Coalition. “New mining on lands unlawfully cut from the monument threatens not just the land’s natural beauty, plants, and animals, but our sacred places, our culture, and our history. We are all stewards of these lands, and it is our duty to protect them for all our future generations, yours and mine.” 

“This rush to locate new mining claims in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments – even though premature and unlawful – reinforces the need to be vigilant over the next several years while we work to undo Trump’s illegal actions and restore the monuments.“said Hanna Larsen, Staff Attorney at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “Mining claims like these often lead to real and long-lasting damage to the very qualities that make these monuments so special.”

“The rush to stake mining claims in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante has already begun, nearly a month before new mining claims would be allowed even under the illegal Trump proclamations,” said Axie Navas, director of designation campaigns at The Wilderness Society. “It’s hard to imagine a clearer sign of where this administration wants to take our public lands. National monuments belong to all of us. They represent our freedom to experience some of the most extraordinary landscapes in the country. We owe it to future generations to protect them — not sacrifice them for the short-term profit of special interests.”

“Mining claims on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument puts crucial water resources at risk. The Monument protects over 2,510 river miles that could be negatively impacted by mining waste if claims are approved in haste. These rivers flow into Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon, which are visited by millions of people.” said Dr. Jackie Grant, Executive Director of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners. “If these mining claims are not being legally filed, what other illegal actions should we be worried about?”

“These illegal mining claims are proof that the Trump administration’s proclamations, if allowed to stand, would be devastating for public lands that are cherished by people across the country,” said Thomas Delehanty, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “President Trump’s proclamations were themselves illegal, and forthcoming litigation will seek to avoid this exact outcome. Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, incredibly significant to Indigenous communities and beloved by recreationists for their one-of-a-kind features, deserve better than to be sacrificed to industrial extraction.”

“The speed with which the mining industry moved to stake claims following the dismantling of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments demonstrates the real-world consequences of stripping protections from one of America’s most important landscapes,” said Bobby McEnaney, Director of Land Conservation at NRDC. “This sequence of events underscores exactly why Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were originally established and why these landscapes deserve lasting protection. These future mining claims amount to a virtual giveaway of public lands.”

“While it’s clear these Kimmerle Mining claims were illegally staked before the ink was dry on Trump’s proclamation stripping national monument protections from these areas, it’s important to recognize that any future mining claims in the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante cultural landscapes are unacceptable,” said Chaitna Sinha, Conservation Codirector and Staff Attorney with the Grand Canyon Trust. “The cultural values here are irreplaceable; this is simply the wrong place for destructive new mining.” 

“The mining claims we’re seeing submitted in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante on the heels of their illegal reduction goes to show that the Trump Administration intends to turn the public lands we love into sacrifice zones for privatization and exploitation,” said Franque Bains, Chapter Director of the Sierra Club in Utah. “We are prepared to fight to ensure that national monuments and public lands don’t become pawns in a scheme to turn a profit for corporate interests.” 

“It’s clear this administration will cut every corner and violate laws and guardrails to accelerate the destruction of America’s natural treasures,” Chris Hill, CEO of the Conservation Lands Foundation. “The ideologues driving this anti-public lands agenda are willfully ignoring the millions of Americans who stood up to protect Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments and the overwhelming majority of Americans who support protecting MORE public lands. They forget they are accountable to everyone who values these natural places and is determined to expose their corruption.”  

“Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante were established to protect over a hundred thousand ancestral sites and are among the most beloved public lands in Utah. Mere weeks after their downsizing, we are seeing the very first mining claims being staked among their cultural and natural treasures, enabled by an outdated mining law from 1872,” said Sara Cawley, Energy Director at the National Parks Conservation Association. “It’s clear the arguments about access were always about access for mining companies. This puts the connectivity and health of dozens of national parks, monuments and protected wildlife corridors all the way to the Mojave Desert at risk, a precursor for what we can expect on other public lands under this administration unless more permanent protections are enacted to safeguard our special places.”

Background Information on Mining claims: 

• Map of 2026 claims in Bear Ears, showing the 2021 and 2026 Monument Boundaries and noting the location of the Easy Peasy Mine, created by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)
• Map of 2026 Claims in Grand Staircase-Escalante, created by SUWA
• Photo and video assets of Kimmerle’s Easy Peasy Mine and surrounding claims, please credit Tim Peterson.
  • Gallery & Gdrive 
  • Video b-roll

Background information about the national monument reductions:

• Statements from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal coalitions
• SUWA Statement on Trump’s Illegal Reductions of Grand Staircase-Escalante & Bears Ears National Monuments
• Full Statement and Quotes Tracking
• Maps of the reductions
• Reporter Background Memo on National Monuments

###

The Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition, which includes the Hopi Tribe, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Navajo Nation, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe, advocates for Grand-Staircase-Escalante National Monument, for Tribal voices and perspectives to be heard and included in the management of the monument, and for protecting the monument for all Americans to appreciate and enjoy. Learn more at www.grandstaircasecoalition.org 

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.

The Grand Canyon Trust is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to safeguard the wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau, while supporting the rights of its Native peoples. Learn more at www.grandcanyontrust.org

 

 

The post Mining Claims Filed Immediately After Trump Decimates National Monuments in Utah – 8.14.26 appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson is disputing Duke Energy’s description of a proposed electricity rate increase, arguing that the company misrepresented under oath how much residential customers would pay under a recent settlement agreement.

The disagreement comes as Duke Energy seeks approval for a settlement that would raise rates by 6.8% over the next two years. The proposal would affect customers across the Triangle and other parts of the state.

…

Climate advocacy group NC WARN also raised concerns about the proposal.

“You know, last year, Duke reported a record $5 billion in profits, while many North Carolinians are really struggling to pay for their electric bills,” said Sara Heilman of NC WARN.

Jackson argues that residential customers would see a 9.3% increase rather than the 6.8% increase referenced by Duke Energy. Heilman said that level of increase remains unacceptable.

“But really, from our perspective, 9.3% is still too high of an increase for residential customers, especially when those increases in the bills that we’re paying are really going towards building unnecessary power plants, fueling these massive power-guzzling data centers that communities are not asking for and really not serving the interests of the average North Carolinian,” Heilman said.

Continue reading

The post NC attorney general challenges Duke Energy rate hike figure: ‘Details matter’ — ABC11 appeared first on NC WARN.

“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up-to-date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.

As exciting events continue in Philadelphia, learn how you can get around to major summer 2026 events without a car, or being stuck in traffic with GoPhillyGo: Car-Free Routes Map!

Register now to join Transit for All PA! for a statewide call on Wednesday, August 19th from 6-7 PM. Join to discuss how transit riders and transit advocates can win funding for transit in 2027. Register here! 

Transit 4 All PA is hiring fellows, with two paid positions in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties: to support transit advocates in building local demand for transit. If you live in Luzerne or Lackawanna County, and you ride transit, apply TODAY. Application closes on September 2, 2026. Learn more here. 

Image Source: SEPTA

Metro Philadelphia: SEPTA’s 11th Street Station closing for major accessibility upgrades – Beginning early September, the Market-Frankford Line will be skipping 11th Street for around a year. The station will be closed though the end of August of 2027, according to SEPTA. Plans include building two elevators, improving lighting, and structural repairs, making the station fully ADA compliant as part of a $44 million project. Other than 11th Street, the 34th Street and Spring Garden stations are the only remaining inaccessible, with future plans to construct elevators at both.  

Image Source: WHYY

WHYY: SEPTA celebrates new Navy Yard bus service in the rapidly changing Philadelphia neighborhood – The Route 45 bus travels from Center City to the Navy Yard, simplifying a route that many commuters and riders previously relied on a shuttle bus transfer for. This change is part of the New Bus Network, which began in phase 1 this month. The planned goal is to consolidate routes and adjust service for riders. 

Image Source: Northeast Times

Northeast Times: Self-driving SEPTA buses unlikely soon, but a state bill aims to prepare – State Representative Ben Waxman, representing House District 182, which includes parts of Center City and South Philadelphia, has introduced a bill that bares completely autonomous transit vehicles. The bill would require transit vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds and using an automated driving system to have a licensed driver on board. SEPTA has announced no plans to introduce autonomous buses, but Representative Waxman said he discussed the proposal with SEPTA officials. 

Other Stories

WHYY: Commission approves at least $300 million in funding to expand bike and walking trails in Philly area 

The Inquirer: Self-policing loading zones have worked in Center City, the PPA says, so they’re adding more 

Northeast Times: Bridge Street ramp to I-95 closing permanently this month 

PhillyVoice: Walnut Street will go car-free for seven Sundays this fall 

Philadelphia Today: PennDOT Launching $2 Million Repair Project on Historic University Avenue Bridge 

CBS Pittsburgh: Tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will increase in 2027. Here’s how much more drivers will pay. 

“The load profile is different from anything utilities have planned for before,” said Aparna Prabhakar, chief strategy and sustainability officer, energy management, for Schneider Electric.

Power now accounts for as much as 40% of the company’s revenue, CEO Alexandre L’Heureux said during a second-quarter earnings call.

On August 11, a quorum of the Questa City Council, minus the absent Mayor John Ortego, called for a special meeting within 72 hours to address Kit Carson Electric Cooperative’s proposed hydrogen plant and solar array. Mayor Ortega, an employee of KCEC, has been accused of approving the hydrogen project, and the funding to support it, without oversight or approval of the City Council. Council members had been trying for months to get the project on the agenda and to meet with KCEC without support from the mayor.

Work on the project has been ongoing despite the fact that the Council doesn’t know if a proper County work permit has been issued and has never seen the United States Department of Agriculture’s application that supports the project (a FOIA request for all pertinent USDA information has been submitted). The Council never approved the $20 million that funds the solar array, where work has also begun. At one point Councilor Daryl Ortega, after questioning how the Questa city attorneys had failed to ascertain if KCEC had obtained a permit for the project, announced in frustration: “Without a permit this project needs to be shut down!” The crowd erupted in applause.

When the meeting was opened for public comment, Honorio Justin Rael, the law school student and Questa native who wrote the complaint filed by Questa acequias against the USDA’s approval of the hydrogen project, had this to say:

[T]onight I want to talk about some internal controls based on my 11,000-page IPRA [Inspection of Public Records]. So I reviewed the entire thing, and one thing has become crystal clear to me about the Village of Questa.

The people who make decisions for this town do not sit on that board. It is the Questa Economic Development Fund. The Questa Economic Development Fund is an independent Chevron-funded nonprofit partner, but they are not an elected governing body.

Yet their agendas are probably four times the size of any agenda I’ve seen from this village. And you know how we’ve never gotten any updates on what’s going on with this project? Well, they get monthly detailed updates from the mayor. Last year, they made teams to complete the zoning ordinance that allowed this project to move forward without a project-specific vote.

They made a team to develop a communication strategy concerning the project using the Questa del Rio News. And they’ve discussed ways that village meetings can be controlled to limit public backlash. The point being that an advisory board has been formulating zoning, public communications, lobbying grants, major financing strategies, and the public access to its own government with basically zero input from the village council.

The $20 million grant makes this problem concrete. Now, I’ve never heard of this, but on February 1st, the mayor submitted an ECAM [Energy Conservation and Management] grant on behalf of the Village of Questa. He requested approximately $35.2 million. And the application stated that the public funding would be used exclusively for infrastructure owned by KCEC. Then the people funding the grant, ENMRD, notified the mayor that Questa had received a reduced partial $20 million award. Kit Carson then told the mayor, quote, seems you only have to approve that you accept this partial $20 million and then we are good to go. All the other steps are the standard contracting that we can work through.

Kit Carson treated the acceptance of a $20 million grant as something that the mayor could approve alone, after which Kit Carson would handle the rest. Was there a resolution approving this application or accepting the award? No.

Now, who will own the infrastructure? Nobody knows. Who is responsible for compliance, repayment, or a potential claw-back? I’m asking you to put some guardrails on the Questa Economic Development Fund. Make it clear to them that they can advise and assist, but they may not represent the village, formulate final policy, or commit village resources without council authority.

La Jicarita will let readers know when the Questa City Council special meeting will be held once it’s determined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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China has published a new five-year plan for coal, the latest in a slew of important policy documents for the country’s energy transition.

The 15th five-year plan for the development of the coal industry was published by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) on 10 August, covering the period 2026-2030. 

This is a key period, covering the years building up to China’s pledge to peak its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions “before 2030”.

Government-affiliated organisations had previously mooted the possibility of coal consumption peaking before 2027.

However, the new plan does not set a specific, government-endorsed year for peaking coal consumption, instead including a broader goal to peak use of the fuel in this five-year period.

It also discusses the “green and low-carbon transition” of the coal industry, coal-related methane emissions and the “clean and efficient use” of the fuel.

But, in general, the plan emphasises the importance of coal in China’s energy system and focuses on the systems underpinning its production.

Analysts tell Carbon Brief that the plan confirms a “broader trend” – driven by the conflict in the Middle East – in which coal’s role in China as a “cheap and secure” source of energy is reinforced – instead of plotting a phase-down or transition for the industry. 

Nevertheless, as the deadline for peaking CO2 emissions looms, the plan does warn the sector of the need to diversify into other industries – including clean energy and chemicals – as coal consumption peaks.

Below, Carbon Brief looks closer at what the plan means for China’s use of coal over the next five years and how it relates to wider climate targets.

• What does the plan say about peaking coal?
• What does the plan say about China’s coal production?
• What does the plan say about coal’s greenhouse gas emissions?
• How does the plan tell coal companies to evolve?

Article Contents Expand menu

• What does the plan say about peaking coal?
• What does the plan say about China’s coal production?
• What does the plan say about coal’s greenhouse gas emissions?
• How does the plan tell coal companies to evolve?

What does the plan say about peaking coal?

Five-year plans are a key tool in Chinese governance, used to guide economic and social development across the economy.

The plan for coal is the latest topic-specific document to address climate and energy matters within the 15th five-year plan period of 2026-30. It is subordinate to the overarching 15th five-year plan, which covers China’s broad socio-economic strategy. 

Other topic-specific plans for the period cover climate change, developing a “new-type energy system” and renewable energy, among other topics.

The coal plan opens by stating that coal is a “foundational [source of] energy” for China:

“[Coal is] vital to the national economy, people’s livelihoods and national energy security, and plays a crucial role in providing foundational support and systemic regulation within the energy supply system.”

However, the plan also covers the 15th five-year plan period (2026-2030), the final five-year period before China is expected to have peaked its carbon emissions.

The 15th five-year plan period marks a time of “significant transformation” for the coal industry, the plan says.

Policy documents issued in April 2026 called for the “strict control” of fossil fuels and created a framework for local governments to be graded on coal use in their region. 

Coal has traditionally been the largest source of energy in China and is responsible for around 80% of its emissions. 

But its role is gradually being superseded by non-fossil energy, which accounted for more than half of the country’s power mix in 2025. In the first half of 2026, coal supplied less than 50% of power generation, while its share of total energy consumption fell to 51.4%, as shown below.

The five-year plan for coal signals “continuity” of China’s aim of “safeguarding energy security while advancing the low-carbon transition”, says Kevin Tu, non-resident fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. 

Another key factor behind the plan is concerns from policymakers around energy security, exacerbated by the conflict in the Middle East.

In an article published in early August, the Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily noted the “severe volatility” the war has created in energy markets, adding that “China’s energy system has withstood these shocks”.

It quoted NEA head Wang Hongzhi stating in a press conference that “coal is [China’s] greatest source of confidence in ensuring a stable energy supply”. 

The conflict will “reinforce coal’s role in China’s energy system”, both as a source of energy and as a feedstock for commodities, Li Shuo, China climate hub director at the Asia Society Policy Institute, tells Carbon Brief.

The plan outlines a number of aims to be achieved by 2030, starting with a goal to “further strengthen” the coal industry’s “ability to be a ‘bottom-line guarantee’”.

The other targets in the plan, to be achieved by 2030, include:

• Peaking coal consumption;
• “Basically establishing” a modern coal-industrial system;
• Optimising the “layout” of coal production and development;
• Increasing the proportion of “high-quality, advanced” coal-production capacity;
• “Clearly improving” levels of “safe, green development” and “clean, efficient use” of coal;
• Increasing the share of coal produced by “large-scale, modernised coal mines” to 87%;
• Developing a diversified coal-based industrial structure;
• Improving mechanisms to ensure a “dynamic balance” between supply and demand.

The large share of China’s CO2 emissions that come from coal and China’s carbon-peaking and neutrality targets are not the main focus of the five-year plan.

“This is clearly neither a coal phase-out nor phase-down plan,” Tu tells Carbon Brief. He adds that it grants China “considerable flexibility…over the pace of the transition”. 

A pledge to peak coal consumption during the five-year plan period is reiterated several times in the document. Notably, the plan says that China will “promote coal consumption successfully reaching a peak”. 

This, it says, is “guided” by China’s “dual-carbon” goals for peaking and neutrality, but is also based on the premise of “guaranteeing the secure supply of energy” 

However, the plan does not provide a government-endorsed target year for peaking consumption. 

State-affiliated organisations, such as Xinhua, have suggested that coal consumption is “expected to peak around 2027”. Independent analysis has stated that emissions from coal consumption may have already peaked.

“The absence of a 2027 deadline is significant, but I would be careful not to over-interpret it,” Tu tells Carbon Brief.

While a 2027 peak for coal remains possible, in his view, it is dependent on factors such as “electricity-demand growth, renewable generation, industrial activity, weather conditions and coal demand from the chemical sector”.

Similarly, Li believes that it will be “market and technological progress”, rather than state directives, that determine exactly when coal consumption and emissions will peak.

“Beijing’s regulatory interventions, if any, will be limited to making sure the peaking timelines do not blow past 2030,” he says.

What does the plan say about China’s coal production?

The plan does not set a concrete target for coal production during the five-year plan period. In contrast, total coal production targets for 2015 and 2020 had been set in the 12th and 13th five-year plans.

The plan also reduces a target for “reserve production” capacity, which was first announced in 2024.

The plan reiterates that, by 2030, China should “establish a coal reserve-production capacity of 100m metric tonnes or more per year”. This was first mentioned in the 15th five-year plan for building a “new-type energy system”, published in June.

Despite China’s rapid buildout of renewable energy, reserve coal capacity is necessary, argues state news agency Xinhua. It says that, to balance the variability of renewable energy, coal will shift to “playing a supporting and regulating role to safeguard energy supply”. 

Nevertheless, the new reserve goal is lower than the target of 300m tonnes of coal set when China first announced the establishment of the system in 2024. 

“Overall, this five-year plan is targeted at the coal industry, not the energy transition”, says Yang Biqing, energy analyst at Ember, although the energy transition and the peaking of coal consumption form the overarching context for the plan.

Provinces in northern China will continue to provide the majority of China’s coal, according to the plan.

It reiterates a pledge from the new-type energy five-year plan that China will continue building “coal-supply security bases” in the provinces of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Xinjiang. It says these bases will supply more than 80% of China’s coal by 2030.

This does not indicate a change in direction, as coal production is already increasingly concentrated in northern China. In 2025, 82% of China’s coal came from these four provinces.

New or expanded coal mines in these provinces – with the exception of southern Xinjiang – must have a minimum annual production capacity of 1.2m tonnes, says the plan.

This is an “important signal”, Tu tells Carbon Brief. He notes that the plans suggest that “China’s coal transition is not simply about reducing the quantity consumed”, but also about creating a “more concentrated, efficient, flexible and resilient” coal system.

The plan also calls for a more centralised approach to managing coal. It states that in 2026-2030, any new production capacity must be “included in the single ledger” – essentially meaning that it must be approved by the central government – before it can be implemented. 

Yang tells Carbon Brief that this could indicate that the government is trying to prevent a potential “rush” to get new capacity approved as coal consumption starts to plateau and fall.

What does the plan say about coal’s greenhouse gas emissions?

The plan includes sections on the need to “accelerate” the low-carbon transition of the industry, as well as the “clean and efficient use” of coal.

The former section largely focuses on the production and processing of coal, while the latter addresses emissions associated with its consumption. 

Suggested policies include promoting energy efficiency, water conservancy and electrification, coupled with greater use of renewable-energy sources at coal mines.

In addition to promoting a successful peaking of coal consumption, the plan also re-affirms existing policies around promoting energy efficiency and carbon-emission reduction.

It calls for “accelerate energy conservation and consumption reduction in key coal-consuming industries”, largely through methods already established by existing policies.

This includes phasing out inefficient coal-fired equipment, replacing coal-fired equipment with “clean energy” alternatives, reducing use of “dispersed coal” and promoting clean heating sources such as distributed solar heating and waste heat utilisation.

Tom Wang, executive director of People of Asia for Climate Solutions, describes the plan as “more of a coal exploration plan, rather than a coal transition plan”. He tells Carbon Brief that while several policies call for “green” or “smart” development, the plan does not address the greenhouse gas emissions underpinning each step of coal extraction, processing and combustion.

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Another major focus is on utilisation of coalbed methane, a significant source of China’s methane emissions.

China will “implement work plans to increase coalbed-methane reserves and production”, the plan says, including a “rapid ramp-up” of production in deep coalbed-methane sites.

Affixed to the main five-year plan is an appendix further detailing plans for coalbed methane.

It notes that utilising coalbed methane has “multiple benefits”, such as improving safety, “increasing the supply of clean energy” and reducing emissions. [Methane is a fossil fuel.]

The government is targeting 26bn cubic metres of coalbed-methane production and 6.5bn cubic metres of mine-gas utilisation by 2030, it says.

At least 18bn cubic metres will be sourced from the Ordos Basin, a region spanning several northern provinces, according to an action plan published by the NEA.

In its coverage of the Ordos action plan, the state-run newspaper China Daily said that developing coalbed methane is a “vital strategic move to optimise [China’s] energy mix and ensure domestic gas supply”.

Reporting by Xinhua and economic news outlet Jiemian said that coalbed methane could help China become an “energy powerhouse” and “secure [its] energy self-sufficiency”, respectively. 

In addition, the coal industry will “steadily advance methane-emission control” and “actively participate in the reduction of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions”, according to the appendix.

However, Sun Xiaopu, senior China counsel at the thinktank Institute For Governance and Sustainable Development, tells Carbon Brief, the plan “does not establish an absolute methane-emissions reduction target”. 

She notes that the implications for emissions may only become clear as implementation frameworks for meeting the utilisation targets are released.

How does the plan tell coal companies to evolve?

Despite reaffirming the importance of coal, the plan emphasises that the overall role of the fuel in China will change. It adds that the coal industry must adapt to this changing reality.

As the coal industry “modernises”, coal companies must “strengthen management” of mine closures and exit plans. They must also plan for a “smooth transition” and “prudently handle” workforce relocation, debt resolution and ecological restoration, it says.

Companies should also be supported in expanding into industries such as “power, new energy and chemicals”, according to the plan.

A number of major coal producers, as well as at least one oil giant, have already established wings focused on “new energy”.

But the focus on the use of coal to make chemicals is one of the “most consequential parts of the plan”, says Tu.

China must promote the shift to coal being used “equally” as a fuel and a feedstock, the plan says.

The plan urges policymakers to push through “construction of strategic coal-to-oil and gas bases”

The chemicals sector is China’s fastest source of emissions growth, although it remains well behind power and other industries in terms of total emissions. 

Tu notes that the plan calls on the coal-chemicals industry to decarbonise production, such as through low-carbon power, green hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

As such, he says, the policy signal is “not to exit coal chemicals, but to make them more efficient, higher-value and potentially less carbon-intensive”.  

Li echoes this, telling Carbon Brief that the sector is “likely to receive a major boost from the conflict in Iran”. He adds: 

“We will probably see further capacity expansion in the sector and I doubt environmental arguments will convince Chinese authorities to take a different approach.”

related Q&A: What is in China’s new five-year plan for climate change? 06.08.2026 China policy Q&A: What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ for renewables mean for climate change? 29.07.2026 China policy Interview: Dr Sun Yixian on his new database tracking Chinese climate ‘leadership’ 09.07.2026 China policy Q&A: What do China’s provincial five-year plans say about climate and energy? 18.06.2026 China policy

The post Q&A: What does China’s 15th five-year plan for coal mean for climate action? appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Hannah Greenshields was pursuing a career as an opera singer when the COVID-19 pandemic changed her plans. Now, as co-founder of The Food Farm on Australia’s New South Wales Central Coast with her partner, Tim, she raises regenerative beef, chickens, and eggs while building a farming business centered on soil health, biodiversity, transparency, and community.

“You might be wondering how an opera singer becomes a farmer,” says Greenshields. “It all started in 2020 when I was on my first-ever regional tour…it got cut short because of COVID. And so, like a lot of people at the time, I had to pivot.”

Without farming experience or land of their own, she and Tim leased a quarter-acre plot to begin growing potatoes. They soon realized they had no equipment to harvest, so they invited members of their community to dig up the crop themselves. What started as a small local gathering became something much deeper.

“The people didn’t leave,” says Greenshields. “They stayed, playing in the mud. Adults were laughing with each other. Children were rolling around in it. And they were connected…to each other, themselves, and connected to something they didn’t even realize that they’d lost. There was a connection to being part of the living world.”

The experience convinced Greenshields that farming could not only produce food but also help connect people with one another, nature, and the origins of their meals. She believes openness helps people build trust in agriculture. Today, The Food Farm processes everything it produces on-site and welcomes customers to visit the farm shop and see how food is raised.

“People often ask us, ‘how can you eat an animal that you knew?'” she says. “And we ask with curiosity, ‘how can we continue to eat food and animals that we don’t know?'”

For Greenshields, reconnecting people with food means acknowledging that humans are part of the ecosystems that sustain them: “It’s something that the modern food system hides from us. We are part of the cycle. We are part of the living human biodiverse cycle,” she says.

The farm is also creating opportunities for people who, like Greenshields, never imagined a future in agriculture. Its team of 13 is made up largely of young women with no previous farming experience who “inspire us every day,” says Greenshields. “It’s a beautiful example of what happens when you invite young people back to the farm.”

And Greenshields’ musical background continues to shape how she thinks about healthy ecosystems. She compares regenerative farming to resonance in music, where harmony depends on every part working together.

“Resonance happens when breath moves through the body, and it becomes alive. When there’s tension, the song can get louder, the sound can get louder, but it becomes less alive. And that’s the same way that soil works,” says Greenshields, describing her farm as a beautiful ecosystem of microbes, fungi, worms, humans, and animals working in coherence.

For Greenshields, nourishment is ultimately rooted in presence, which means being connected to the food, the land, and the people who make meals possible.

“We all know the feeling when we bite into a tomato that truly lived,” she says. “You pick it off the vine. It’s warm. It’s juicy. You bite it, and it drips down your throat, and it tastes like literal sunshine. And that nourishment requires presence.”

Watch Greenshields’ story below and find others from our farmer storytelling events on Food Tank’s YouTube channel.

This article is part of Food Tank’s ongoing Farmer Friday series, produced in partnership with Niman Ranch, a champion for independent U.S. family farmers. The series highlights the stories of farmers working toward a more sustainable, equitable food system. Niman Ranch partners with over 500 small-scale U.S. family farmers and is committed to preserving rural agricultural communities and their way of life.

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

Photo courtey of Hannah Greenshields

The post How an Opera Singer Found Connection Through Farming appeared first on Food Tank.

A little more than one year ago, Australia rolled out a program to heavily subsidize home batteries, part of a larger effort to make use of the huge volumes of solar energy that were going to waste. On Friday, officials announced that more than 500,000 batteries had been installed under the plan, helping to slash wholesale power prices roughly in half.

Read more on E360 →

Burnham feels the heat Channel News brendan 14th August 2026 Teaser Media

TORONTO — ADAM THORN, clean growth director at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the federal government’s decision to repeal the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard while delaying a replacement regulation: “The...

A self-assembling coating made from seaweed and zinc can keep fruit fresher and lasting longer than even the cool interior of a fridge. This invention, described in a new paper from a team of Canadian scientists, enabled even delicate strawberries to survive at room temperature for four days without molding. It strikes two sustainability targets at once: reducing food waste, and limiting dependence on carbon-intensive cold chains. 

The main seaweed ingredient in this invention sounds unusual but is actually a widely-used food additive and vegan gelatin-substitute called agar that is produced from red algae. This made up the bulk of the new fruit coating, but when combined with the micronutrient zinc and tannic acid it did something interesting that the researchers are still trying to understand, swiftly self-organizing into a thin layer of microparticles that evenly coated any fruit dipped into it. For this, the researchers tested out fresh strawberries, apple slices, and whole grapes. 

Next, they trialled their new coating both inside and outside a fridge, comparing dipped fruit with fruit that remained untreated. This led to the most striking discovery, that coated strawberries at room temperature outperformed uncoated strawberries placed in the fridge. The treated, uncooled fruit held out for at least four days or more before becoming moldy, while the untreated but refrigerated fruits started molding on day four. Meanwhile, coated strawberries that were kept in the fridge were even more robust, lasting a full six days.

At room temperature the untreated strawberries stayed mold-free for just two days, compared to the four-day staying power of treated strawberries. Cut apple slices stayed fresh for roughly 24 hours while the untreated controls began to show visible signs of decay at about 12 hours. The treated grapes, meanwhile, lasted almost 14 days, taking a full week longer to show signs of wrinkling and shrinkage than the untreated fruit. 

 

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Overall, the novel agar dip extended fruits’ shelf life by at least twofold, and reduced weight loss at the four day mark from 30% to 13%. The researchers say the coating has antibacterial qualities which can explain its preserving features, is safe for human consumption, maintains the nutritional quality of the treated fruit, and can easily be washed off when food is ready to eat.

A lifecycle analysis also revealed that the coating had a lower or equivalent emissions impact to refrigeration. And although these reductions were relatively modest, the researchers say the benefits would become much more significant when extrapolated to a whole cold chain system, where small gains can add up to big savings.  

In Canada where the research was based, food waste is a huge problem, with some reports estimating that 46% of fresh produce is lost or wasted in the country each year, valued at $58 billion.

Upgraded with commercially-available agar and used on a wider range of fruits, the researchers believe their invention could make a real dent in this problem, becoming a “practical, sustainable strategy to mitigate food loss and build resilient fresh produce supply chains,” they write.

Yang et. al. “Self-Assembled Metal−Phenolic−Agar Microparticle-Derived Coatings Enable Scalable and Sustainable Fresh Produce Preservation.” Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2026.

Image: Slashio Photography for UnSplash

Headline News:

• “Solar Helps ‘Stabilize’ Europe’s Grids As Heatwaves Spike Power Demand” • Solar has done some “heavy lifting” to help Europe meet its energy needs in a string of blistering heatwaves. An analysis by Ember found that solar generating in European countries rose by up to 17% on days during heatwaves in June and July, helping the grid meet demand. [Euronews]

Solar panels (American Public Power Association, Unsplash)

• “Bilfinger To Support Ocean Winds At Polish Offshore Site” • Bilfinger has been selected to provide technical advisory services during the execution phase of the 390-MW BC-Wind project in the Polish Baltic Sea for Ocean Winds. Bilfinger said that it will oversee key offshore construction activities, supporting Ocean Winds in its activities. [reNews]
• “Millions Across Europe Swelter Through A New Wave Of Extreme Temperatures” • Millions of Europeans, particularly in France, Italy, Spain, and the UK, sweltered through a new wave of extreme temperatures as the continent’s latest heatwave picked up. Parts of France went past 42°C and the UK marked the hottest day so far this year. [Euronews]
• “Solar Surpasses Wind In Global Electricity Generation For The First Time” • The latest Statistical Review of World Energy shows how dramatically the renewable landscape has changed. Solar generation has surpassed wind as a source of electricity worldwide. Hydropower remains the largest renewable source overall, but solar is growing fast. [OilPrice.com]
• “Joby Buys Defense Company For Half A Billion Dollars” • The electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft startup Joby seems to have been here for ages. Like other eVTOL aircraft companies, it has been hard to know if it is going anywhere. Now, however, it turns out that Joby has enough money to buy Resonant Sciences for half a billion dollars. [CleanTechnica]

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

The world saw the lowest amount of new coal mine capacity brought online for at least 10 years in 2025, according to a new report, as clean energy displaces coal for electricity generation in East Asia.

A report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found that new coal mine capacity declined by nearly 40% from 2024, the second consecutive year new mine capacity has hit a decade low. This represents an acceleration of a steady decline that began in 2019.

The slowdown in new coal mine openings was driven by China and Australia, where new additions fell by 44% and 96%, respectively. In China, the report said this was partly due to solar and wind displacing coal for electricity generation – although coal rebounded in the first half of 2026 – and the National Energy Administration implementing new rules to curb new mine openings.

In Australia, a 96% reduction in new coal mine capacity was driven by shrinking demand from the countries that import Australian coal for electricity, like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the report said.

This trend is likely to continue, according to GEM, as the Australian state of New South Wales recently banned new coal mines on undeveloped greenfield land. South Korea has promised to stop building coal-fired power plants that cannot capture and store the emissions produced. Meanwhile, Japan is pushing for a post-Fukushima nuclear revival to displace coal.

This Australian coal community is co-designing its own green future

Globally, growth in coal demand has slowed over the last few years and the International Energy Agency expects it to plateau through to 2030 because of the growth of renewable energy, nuclear and fossil gas.

Openings down, pipeline up

But while new coal mine openings fell, the amount of global coal mine capacity proposed increased by 11%. This was almost entirely driven by a spate of projects in the eastern Indian states of Jharkhand and Odisha.

“If built,” the GEM report says, “the projects would commit India – a country with no formal coal phaseout timeline – to years of coal expansion and would put a 1.5C-aligned transition away from fossil fuels farther out of reach”.

The Indian government says it needs to increase coal production to meet growing electricity demand from economic growth and from dealing with heatwaves. It plans to open more than 20 new coal mines to meet its coal production targets.

Because of energy security concerns, India is also aiming to produce chemicals with Indian coal rather than imported gas. China is also pursuing this strategy, although the Global Energy Monitor report said that Indian coal’s high ash content means the South Asian nation will find it harder to make chemicals from coal.

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Nations agreed at COP26 five years ago to “phase down” coal power – a commitment that China and India successfully pushed to weaken from “phase out”. At COP28 in 2023, governments agreed to transition away from all fossil fuels in energy systems.

Since then, wealthy nations have partnered with coal-producing countries like South Africa, Vietnam and Indonesia on plans to transition from coal to clean energy. But, after preliminary talks, India and these governments did not agree a JETP.

The post New coal mine openings slow as East Asian demand plateaus appeared first on Climate Home News.

By Desmond Alugnoa and Ama Asiedu

For nearly a decade, the GAIA Africa team has been providing technical expertise and supporting movements across the continent, helping communities advance practical, just and people‑centred zero waste solutions. In 2025, we hosted the first-ever GAIA Africa Zero Waste Academy, with a simple but ambitious goal: to build the capacity of a new generation of African zero waste champions and create a growing platform for the practical implementation of zero waste solutions across the continent. One year later, that journey continues!

In 2026, the GAIA Africa Zero Waste Academy returned for its second edition, co-hosted withthe Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), in Ghana, a vibrant hub for youth‑led zero waste organising. This year’s Academy brought together 50 emerging and experienced climate and waste management practitioners from across Africa for a holistic journey of learning, exchange, movement building and action. More than 1,200 people applied to be part of the programme, reflecting the growing interest in locally led solutions to Africa’s waste and climate challenges.

A Movement That Keeps Growing

The Academy was created on the belief that Africa does not lack solutions to its waste crisis. Across the continent, communities are already composting, reusing materials, recovering recyclables, organising waste workers and developing alternatives to the extractive linear waste systems that perpetuate pollution and climate change. What is needed is to connect these experiences, strengthen the people leading them and create opportunities for learning across borders.

The 2026 Academy began with a five-week virtual programme, where participants explored movement building, waste characterisation, monitoring frameworks, climate and environmental justice, waste picker integration, community collection systems, composting, plastic pollution and methane. The learning was designed to go beyond theory. Participants were encouraged to examine the waste systems around them, understand the realities faced by waste workers and identify practical approaches they could adapt to their own communities, through hands-on weekly assignments to put their learning into practice.

As one participant, Bathseba Ratemo from Kenya, shared, the Academy offered an opportunity for “learning and unlearning, networking and sharing” a reflection that captures the spirit of the programme.

From the Virtual Classroom to Community Driven Action 

The in-person phase brought the cohort together in Ghana, creating space to deepen the learning through expert-led sessions, practical activities, field visits and conversations with people working directly within the waste sector.

Ghana provided a particularly fitting setting for this year’s Academy. In March 2026, Accra was recognised by the United Nations as one of 20 Cities Towards Zero Waste, highlighting the growing recognition of locally driven approaches to transforming urban waste systems. GAYO’s Zero Waste Accra Project has demonstrated how waste diversion, community action and the integration of informal waste workers can contribute to reducing pollution and methane emissions.

For Academy participants, visiting zero waste initiatives in Accra offered an opportunity to see these approaches in practice and consider how similar ideas could be adapted to their own contexts. But some of the most powerful learning came from witnessing movement building beyond the formal Academy sessions.

During the Academy week, participants attended the launch of the Federation of Informal Sector Waste Workers Associations of Ghana (FISWWAG). The launch marked an important step towards giving informal waste workers a stronger collective voice and advancing recognition, safer working conditions, fair pay and dignified livelihoods.

For participants, being present at this historic moment connected the Academy’s lessons on justice, organising and waste picker inclusion with a movement unfolding in real time. It was a powerful reminder that a just Zero Waste transition is not only about changing how we manage materials; it is also about ensuring that the people who collect, sort and recover those materials have a voice in shaping the systems they are part of.

Zero Waste Is About People

One of the strongest lessons from this year’s Academy was that zero waste cannot be separated from justice. Waste is not simply a technical issue. It is about livelihoods, health, dignity, climate and human rights.

Across Africa, waste pickers and informal waste workers recover valuable materials, reduce the amount of waste sent to dumpsites and landfills, and make important contributions to circular economies. Yet many continue to work without adequate recognition, protection or inclusion in formal waste systems.

This year’s Academy placed these realities at the centre of the conversation. Participants explored how waste systems can be designed to protect workers, recognise their knowledge and contributions, and ensure that the transition to zero waste does not leave anyone behind.

As GAIA Africa’s Zero Waste and Climate Programme Associate, Ama Asiedu, noted during the Academy, the programme is about more than managing waste better; it is about rethinking systems for climate resilience, green jobs and community health.

More Than a Training Programme

Perhaps the most valuable outcome of the Academy is the community that emerged from it. Participants did not simply leave with notes, presentations and certificates. They left with relationships, new ideas and a network of people working towards a common vision across the continent. The diversity of the cohort was one of its greatest strengths. Participants brought experiences from different countries, sectors and communities, but found common ground in the challenges facing Africa’s waste systems and the possibilities for change.

For us, this is what makes the Academy more than a training programme. It is a space where practitioners can learn from one another, challenge existing approaches, build solidarity and return home better equipped to act. The real test begins after the Academy.

From Ghana to the Continent

The second Africa Zero Waste Academy has shown us that the movement is growing and becoming more connected.

From Ghana to Uganda, Kenya to Nigeria, Senegal to The Gambia and beyond, people are already developing solutions rooted in their own communities. They are organising waste workers, building grassroots movements, advocating for stronger policies, reducing waste and demonstrating that our systems can work differently.

The role of the Academy is to connect these efforts, strengthen their capacity and create a community where knowledge can move freely across borders. We are grateful to GAYO Ghana for co-hosting this year’s Academy and helping create a learning experience rooted in African realities. We are equally grateful to the facilitators, partners, funders and everyone who contributed their time, knowledge and energy.

Most importantly, we are grateful to the 2026 cohort. You came from different places, carrying different experiences and facing different waste challenges. But you showed what becomes possible when people commit to change and learn together.

The Academy may have ended, but the work has only begun. The next chapter will be written in communities, cities and countries across Africa  through the projects participants implement, the policies they influence, the movements they strengthen and the people they bring along. Africa does not need to wait for a zero waste future. We are already building it.

Ends. 

The post From Online Learning to On-the-Ground Action: Africa’s Zero Waste Movement Grows Stronger first appeared on GAIA.

A version of this piece was featured in Food Tank’s newsletter, released weekly on Thursdays. To make sure it lands straight in your inbox and to be among the first to receive it, subscribe now by clicking here.

I want to share something that’s really been bugging me lately. We don’t always take insects—black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), in particular—as seriously as we should in farming.

Earlier this year, when I was doing ground-truthing research in Kenya, our partners at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) shared their research on how black soldier fly larvae can be used to drive the development of a more sustainable circular economy. It’s really fascinating stuff.

To be honest, I have always been skeptical of BSFL. It seemed like something that worked well in research stations but not actually on farms. But I think changing one’s mind is one of the greatest superpowers we have as humans. And my visit to icipe helped me understand how useful BSFL can be for farmers.

The director-general of icipe, Abdou Tenkouano, compared the larvae to municipal workers “cleaning the cities by taking away all the organic refuse…and then they turn that into high-value products.”

If you’re a home composter, you might already be familiar with black soldier fly larvae, which have been shown to efficiently convert organic wastes into high-quality essential nutrients.

But we can’t confine them to backyards, because these larvae have pretty wide-ranging benefits across the food chain. That nutrient-production is a food waste solution, giving new life to scraps by producing protein-rich feeds for pigs, cows and fish. For poultry, feed made with larvae’s help can actually increase animals’ beneficial gut bacteria and cut down on the need for antibiotics, icipe research shows.

Black soldier fly larvae also produce an organic fertilizer called frass, which has been shown to increase crop yields by as much as 27 percent over similar artificial fertilizers!

And just like farming livestock in certain agricultural systems, rearing insects is becoming a pathway toward employment and resilient livelihoods in places like Kenya. I was particularly struck by these findings—that certain insects don’t just have the ability to help the land but also the people who live on it.

Of course, like any solution, these insects are not a silver bullet. No one approach will fix everything—but black soldier fly larvae can give a much-needed boost to a variety of food system approaches we’re already taking. And with such a powerful partner right under our feet, how can we continue to ignore them?!

“We cannot substitute entirely for agrochemicals,” Abdou tells me, “but we have a combination of options that can reduce the amount of destruction that we could be causing to the environment by using purely chemical approaches.”

We’re talking about black soldier fly larvae because they’re worth paying attention to on their own, but I’m also using them to illustrate a larger point.

To be quite frank, I know that black soldier fly larvae are not quite as pleasing to look at as ‘cute’ animals like butterflies and bumblebees, and we sometimes tend to ignore really beneficial plants and animals that we find uncomfortable. But black soldier fly larvae are a good example of how this only ends up hurting us in the end, because we lose out on the exact benefits we’re talking about here.

Food systems transformation means getting down into the dirt, into the nitty-gritty, and working alongside ecosystem partners like insects to help rebuild these complex ecosystems!

Today on the Food Talk podcast feed, we’re dropping a conversation I had with Abdou Tenkouano of icipe about not just insects but a wide variety of solutions to build more resilient food systems. I hope you’ll give it a listen:

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

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Moffett, Unsplash

The post Want Better Food Systems? Let’s Make Friends With Insects appeared first on Food Tank.

Canada’s forests are burning. There are more than 600 active wildfires ablaze in the country. Already this year, 4 million hectares have been scorched. In...

The post Wildfire response requires funding and climate management, not cuts and pipelines first appeared on Spring.

Darya Minovi was mapping pollution from medical sterilization plants across the country when many of the communities she was speaking to began asking the same question. The facilities emit ethylene oxide, a potent carcinogen, and those who lived nearby wanted to know how much the emissions were increasing their cancer risk. She turned to data compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency to find out.

The resulting maps, published in 2023 by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit where Minovi is a researcher, revealed that more than 14 million people lived in a 5-mile radius of ethylene oxide-emitting facilities. Crucially, the map highlighted 23 sterilization facilities that the EPA had found emit ethylene oxide at levels that definitively contribute to elevated cancer risk. The project helped raise awareness and was used to push the government to tighten limits on ethylene oxide emissions.

But now, the cancer risk data that made Minovi’s analysis possible has quietly gone offline. After more than two decades of sharing this information with the public, the Environmental Protection Agency has omitted cancer risk estimates from its latest update to national air pollution data. The agency is continuing to release raw pollution figures, but it is no longer providing information on the additional cancer risk that the emissions cause. It has also not updated its searchable U.S. map of cancer risk from air pollution with the most recent data.

The risk assessments are routinely used by communities to understand the effects of the pollution in their neighborhoods, as well as by journalists and nonprofits to inform the public and hold polluters accountable. Withholding this information would shift the burden of interpreting pollution data — a technically demanding task requiring specialized experience and an understanding of EPA protocols — onto the public, Minovi said, making it harder for communities to access this vital public health information. 

“At the end of the day, the people who are living in communities with concentrated sources of pollution are frankly the ones to lose,” she said. “They end up caught in a bureaucratic and political tug of war, and they’re not being protected as they should be.”

An aerial view of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” an 85-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi River with hundreds of industrial facilities that pose a higher risk of cancer for local residents. Giles Clarke / Getty Images

The Trump administration has made it significantly more difficult to access environmental data. So far, the administration has modified or removed nearly 2,000 webpages and datasets on science, climate, and environmental topics. Last year, the EPA discontinued a tool that allowed the public to search its inventory of facilities that handle large volumes of hazardous substances by ZIP code. It also shut down an environmental justice screening tool known as EJScreen, which was the EPA’s flagship tool for tracking environmental hazards across the United States and mapped industrial pollution hot spots alongside demographic data, revealing which communities face the greatest health risks. And some of the agency’s webpages about pollutants, like ethylene oxide, have been modified to remove information about cancer risks and emphasize their industrial usefulness.

Inyang Uwak, a research and policy director for Air Alliance Houston, a nonprofit advocacy group in Texas, said that the administration’s cuts tend to prioritize industries at the expense of public health. 

“It’s unfortunate because this data is highly useful to organizations such as ours that use it,” she said, adding that scientists and policymakers also need the data to make informed decisions. “It’s a disservice to public health in general.”

Left: The Environmental Protection Agency’s webpage on ethylene oxide in 2024. Right: The updated page in 2026, which removes mentions of health risks and emphasizes the carcinogen’s industrial usefulness. Grist / EPA.gov

The EPA has been publishing the cancer risk data periodically since 2002 as part of a program called the Air Toxics Screening Assessment, which details the concentrations of dozens of toxic pollutants across the country down to the census block level. The agency began releasing the data on an annual basis in 2022, but the information is typically several years out of date because of the time required to compile the information. As factories and other polluting facilities are built, shut down, or expand, local pollution levels can change dramatically. The yearly updates to the cancer risk data provided communities with the most current information available about those changes. 

Had the updates arrived on schedule this year, the agency would have released data on the cancer risk from emissions in 2022. Instead, the most recent update was published a year late and represents emissions data from 2021. 

It was only made available on a public-facing webpage this summer after Tai Lung, a senior advisor for federal data policy at the Federation for American Scientists, reached out to the agency. Lung had previously worked at the agency for more than a decade as the lead of EJScreen, which also used the data, before the Trump administration suspended him alongside 170 colleagues.

Carolyn Holran, an EPA spokesperson, told Grist that the agency “will continue posting the annual nationwide air toxics emissions and concentrations data when it becomes available,” but did not address the missing cancer risk data. Holran also did not answer Grist’s questions about why it did not release the cancer data this year and whether the agency is still making this calculation internally.  

“EPA is committed to fulfilling our core mission of protecting human health and the environment and ensuring clean air for all Americans, while following gold standard science,” she said.

Lung said the agency’s decision will make it harder for the public to understand how pollution affects their health. “So now we’re just sharing this raw data, which really means nothing to anybody,” he said. 

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The United States has one of the highest cancer incidence rates in the world. Nearly 40 percent of all Americans will receive a cancer diagnosis at some point in their life, and more than 2 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Living near industrial sources of certain pollutants, like benzene, formaldehyde, and ethylene oxide, can increase a person’s chances of developing cancer. Louisiana’s so-called “Cancer Alley,” neighborhoods near the Houston Ship Channel, and the southeast side of Chicago are all home to a concentration of industrial operations and have become cancer hotspots.

Cancer risk assessments are at the core of the regulatory work that the EPA does. The EPA has long set “acceptable thresholds” for how much exposure to industrial pollution is allowed in an area. The agency’s generally follows limits of one additional cancer case per 10,000 people exposed over their lifetime. (The agency has also said that cancer exposure would ideally be far lower, at one in a million.) When a new polluting facility applies for a permit or when the agency considers new rulemaking, it assesses whether the change will raise the cancer risk in the area above this threshold. 

Many of the administration’s regulatory changes fall into one of two patterns, said Denice Ross, director of the Data Policy Institute at the Federation of American Scientists and a former U.S. chief data scientist during the Biden administration.

An Earth Day rally outside the EPA offices in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2025.
Jeff Kowalsky / AFP via Getty Images Protesters rally against a global energy conference in Houston earlier this year. Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images

The first is the deliberate removal of data that conflicts with the administration’s priorities, or casts its policies in an unfavorable light. Information and projects that focused on diversity, social justice, gender, and climate issues were among the first to disappear, she said. 

The second trend is data being lost as a consequence of the sweeping funding and staffing cuts to scientific research at agencies and institutions. There is now more red tape and political approval needed to accomplish tasks that were once routine, she said. 

The services that agencies provide “have historically been invisible infrastructure,” Ross said. “There’re so many things that we take for granted about federal data in our lives, and the people aren’t taking that for granted anymore.”

Some of these cuts contradict President Donald Trump’s own policies. In 2019, during his first term in office, Trump signed the OPEN Government Data Act, a law that established government-wide requirements to make federal data more useful and accessible to the public. Federal law also requires agencies to provide adequate notice when substantially changing or ending significant sources of information, such as the Air Toxics Assessment. But many of the recent changes are “just sort of quietly happening behind the scenes,” Ross said. “And if you don’t know where to look, you won’t find it.”

Read more about ethylene oxide Trump EPA moves to repeal regulation of cancer-linked chemical ethylene oxide Naveena Sadasivam

Recently, some organizations have begun preserving lost EPA tools, like EJScreen, by recreating them or releasing unofficial copies. But these versions still rely on updates to federal data and do not carry the same authority as government assessments. Many communities also don’t have access to the expertise or training necessary to interpret raw EPA data, said Elizabeth Bechard, a public health manager at Moms Clean Air Force, a nonprofit advocacy organization. The group often uses EPA data to equip families fighting against polluting industries in their communities with the data they need. Ending the cancer risk assessment, Bechard said, will make it harder for people to get involved.

“The public deserves to have that information about that risk so that they can be equipped to push back,” she said. “We’re trying to protect people. It’s not just a math equation.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The EPA’s data on cancer risk from air pollution has gone dark on Aug 14, 2026.