7 mins read

Allegations of harms at China-backed transition minerals projects rise

Reports of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese companies’ overseas investments in the mining and refining of minerals needed for the clean energy transition are on the rise, research by a monitoring group has found. The number of recorded allegations of harm at projects tied to Chinese firms have increased every year since […]

7 mins read

Extreme heat costing India’s poorest workers 2% of GDP, survey finds

Low-income Indian workers, many of them migrants from rural areas hit by climate change, are paying for worsening extreme heat through lost working days and health complications, with the cost equivalent to 2% of national GDP per year, new research shows. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a London-based think-tank, worked with local […]

5 mins read

Top maritime court rejects bid to halt UN deep-sea mining inquiry

A United Nations investigation into deep-sea mining firms will continue after the world’s top maritime court rejected their bid to suspend the inquiry triggered by a US-backed push to extract critical minerals from the ocean floor. In two orders issued on Saturday, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) declined to halt […]

8 mins read

Flood deaths in West African cities raise fraught issue of slum evictions

Scientists have found that the deadly floods across parts of West Africa in recent weeks were made more likely and intense by human-driven climate change, while the expansion of cities into flood-prone areas amplified the devastation, raising the thorny problem of how to better protect poorer urban communities.  A report from the World Weather Attribution […]

6 mins read

Most “zombie credits” locked out of new UN carbon market after China and India snub

China and India have declined to back any of their old United Nations carbon credit projects seeking to sell offsets under the new UN market, driving a cull of nearly three-quarters of applicants, analysis of official data shows. Only 415 out of more than 1,500 projects and programmes hoping to move from the Clean Development […]

7 mins read

Campaigners oppose Dangote’s planned Kenya refinery over climate and ecological risks

Climate and environment campaigners have urged the Kenyan government to halt plans for a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery backed by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, warning the project threatens one of East Africa’s most ecologically sensitive coastlines.  The refinery, which is planned to be situated in Lamu County on Kenya’s northern coast, will be East Africa’s […]

7 mins read

Major emitting countries knew of climate risks decades earlier than claimed

Lindsay Fenlock is a senior researcher in the Climate and Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Nikki Reisch is a human rights lawyer and social justice advocate who leads the Climate & Energy Program at CIEL. Much has been written about when fossil fuel companies knew their products cause harm to […]

8 mins read

UN seabed regulator defends authority as mining firms seek to halt inquiry

The UN body that regulates mining in international waters has defended its authority over ocean governance after two subsidiaries of deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC) launched legal action to halt an investigation into their conduct. Speaking at the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) annual meeting in Kingston on Monday, secretary-general Leticia Carvalho said the […]