<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



Air quality in New Delhi dropped to its worst level this year on Monday—with pollutant levels reaching more than 150 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended safe levels—as local authorities enacted an emergency response plan, including shutting down schools, halting the entry of nearly all trucks and a ban on all construction activities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<a href="https://www.iqair.com/in-en/india/delhi%5C" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">According to IQ Air</a>, New Delhi’s Air Quality Index, which measures the level of air pollution, surged past 1,700 on Monday—more than five times above the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">“hazardous” benchmark</a>&nbsp;where even healthy individuals are likely to experience adverse effects.



The pollution level was so severe on Monday that the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi—which uses the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow chart—<a href="https://in.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/new-delhi/air-quality-data/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">rated the conditions</a>&nbsp;“Beyond the AQI” on its hourly tracker as it registered levels above 1,600.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="699" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63705" style="width:644px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233-300x205.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233-768x524.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">India Gate is covered in a thick layer of pollution in New Delhi, India, on November 13, 2024 (Photo by Bilal Kuchay/NurPhoto via Getty Images).</figcaption></figure></div>


The national pollution control authority rated the conditions in Delhi as “severe plus” and&nbsp;<a href="https://caqm.nic.in/WriteReadData/LINKS/GRAP%20Stage%20IV%20Order%20dated%2017112024272e205d-f42e-4106-932a-0514c584dfd7.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ordered the enforcement</a>&nbsp;of stage 4 of a graded response action plan, which is the highest level emergency response and allows for the most stringent curbs on vehicles and construction work.



The Delhi Government ordered all schools to switch over to online classes and issued bans on key sources of pollution, including the entry of trucks carrying non-essential goods into the city, the operation of older diesel vehicles on the road and all construction activities.



The national capital city was blanketed by a thick layer of smog—a toxic mix of fog and smoke—that dropped&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/dense-smog-leaves-delhi-choking-as-aqi-in-severe-plus-category-visibility-down-to-100m-101731903642563.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">visibility levels</a>&nbsp;to around 100 meters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Is Causing Delhi’s Pollution?</h2>



Severe pollution levels have become a recurring problem for India’s capital and other major North Indian cities during the winter—when the dense fog-laden air mixes with toxic smoke and other pollutants. As with every year, the issue has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/video/bjp-distributes-masks-in-delhi-as-air-pollution-crisis-deepens-862172" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">triggered</a>&nbsp;a political&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/atishi-targets-centre-on-stubble-burning-amid-delhis-air-emergency-7045044" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">blame game</a>&nbsp;between the national government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Delhi government led by the rival Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).&nbsp;<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/farm-fires-continue-to-pollute-delhis-air-despite-decrease-in-incidents/articleshow/115062410.cms" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">According to</a>&nbsp;the national air quality monitoring agency SAFAR, nearly 40% of Delhi’s pollution can be attributed to the illegal burning of crop residues in neighboring states like Punjab and Haryana after harvest season. Efforts to crack down on farm fires have failed, as stubble burning is usually quicker and cheaper than manual or machine removal—which the government is trying to financially incentivize.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">News Peg</h2>



The levels of PM 2.5 pollutants—airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can enter the lungs and cause several diseases—across the city peaked above 950 micrograms per cubic meter on Monday, according to IQAir’s tracker. According to the World Health Organization, the recommended annual average exposure to PM2.5 matter should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



214. That is the total number of both arriving and departing flights, which have faced delays at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flightaware.com/live/cancelled" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;FlightAware. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/DelhiAirport/status/1858389088614613391" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement on X</a>&nbsp;at noon, the Delhi Airport said its “low visibility procedures are still in progress and flight operations may get affected.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tangent</h2>



NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, which tracks fires using satellite imagery, showed&nbsp;<a href="https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;l:fires_all,earth;@74.6,32.1,5.7z" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">several active blazes</a>&nbsp;across the state of Punjab in the past 24 hours. Last month, a&nbsp;<a href="https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/spso/bio/hiren.t.jethva" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Senior Research Scientist</a>&nbsp;at NASA, Hiren T Jethva,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/hjethva05/status/1849578536128086531" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">speculated</a>&nbsp;on X that farmers in North India may be deliberately burning crop stubbles later in the afternoon to avoid having their flames tracked by the satellite overpass. It is unclear if this is true, but this hasn’t stopped authorities from reporting a large number of farm fires in the area. In the state of Punjab alone, 4,262 cases of farm fires were reported in the last two weeks,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/of-total-8404-farm-fire-cases-in-punjab-50-reported-in-past-2-weeks/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;the Tribune.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/dense-smog-leaves-delhi-choking-as-aqi-in-severe-plus-category-visibility-down-to-100m-101731903642563.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Dense smog leaves Delhi choking as AQI in ‘severe plus’ category, visibility down to 100m</a>&nbsp;(Hindustan Times)

The Cart in the Fog

India’s Capital Chokes Under ‘Severe Plus’ Pollution—Emergency Measures Enacted Including School Shutdowns

Sustainable housing could play a significant role in the way the continent tackles its housing deficit. We unpack the ground-breaking innovations, Initiatives and ideations&nbsp;developing&nbsp;the&nbsp;‘green&nbsp;scene’. 



In a village in the Mtwara region of Tanzania, a project borne from the concepts of architectural innovation, sustainability and social responsibility is underway. And it’s just one of many aimed at tackling the demand for environmentally-conscious housing in Africa.



A report from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) states that the continent’s housing deficit is estimated at over 97 million units and “this is expected to increase as the continent’s population grows, and urbanization continues”.



The clinical trial in Mtwara, dubbed The Star Homes Project, was initiated in 2021 by Denmark-based Ingvartsen Architects in cooperation with the Hanako Foundation and, according to the company, was developed by a cross-disciplinary team of architects, physicians, entomologists and social scientists along with local community leaders and stakeholders.



However, Jakob Knudsen, Principal Architect at Ingvartsen, says that the focus of the project, initially, was simply to improve the health of the occupants of the houses.



“The [houses] are made [of ] very light materials. It looks like concrete, but actually it’s a very thin steel profile with a thin plaster, so it has a very low material use. And what looks like glass is basically a net, so we kind of replaced all the walls with netting, and we made this house naturally very cool. We can see that we have lowered the material consumption and CO2 use by 30% to 40% depending on how you calculate it. And that’s because we try to kind of maximize all the components,” he says.



“It actually didn’t start as a sustainability thing. It started as a way to make the buildings cheaper, but we realized, during the process, that actually we are onto something where we’re using far less materials. It also became interesting from a financial side and a material side, and this is what we’re looking at now. We know that these houses are actually working against malaria, we can see that.”



An article from the World Health Organization on Malaria Day 2023 indicates that Tanzania is one of the four countries in Africa that accounted for slightly over half (52%) of all malaria deaths globally in 2021. Further to this, the country alone accounted for 4% of all malaria deaths, and the disease continues to pose a major burden in the northwest and southeastern regions of the country.



As part of the Star Homes Project, the health of the occupants of the 110 constructed homes will be compared to those living in 440 control homes over a three-year period, which is set to conclude this year.



“We conclude by the end of this year, then we have the three- year period. Nothing is published yet, but I can say that we have very promising results already on the malaria [aspect]. There’s a clear benefit from having a new house when you’re looking at malaria. I mean, this is a rural area in Tanzania, so lots of people [have] malaria, and they’re much better protected. But this is one of the first housing projects, to our knowledge, the first time a house has been built and used in this way to demonstrate it.”



Each house also has a 40W solar panel that provides lights in each room and USB charging, and rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in a 2,000-liter tank for clean drinking water. According to Knudsen, based on the materials used, it cost around $9,000 to build at the time.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-does-a-green-future-look-like">What does a ‘green’ future look like?</h4>



The ongoing demand for affordable housing coupled with growing climate change concerns has brought sustainable or green architecture to the fore.



Britannica defines green architecture as a philosophy of architecture that advocates sustainable energy sources, the conservation of energy, the reuse and safety of building materials, and the siting of a building with consideration of its impact on the environment.



A 2023 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) titled, Building Materials And The Climate: Constructing A New Future, indicates that the buildings and construction sector is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 37% of global emissions.



However, herein lies the opportunity. Entrepreneurs and businesses alike have taken up the mantle to innovate, ‘go green’ and make a positive impact on the environment at large.



According to the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Africa Manifesto for Sustainable Cities and the Built Environment, by 2050, Africa will be home to 1.1 billion more people than it is today, and 80% of the buildings that will exist in Africa in 2050 are yet to be built.



Lisa Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) and Vice Chair for the WorldGBC’s Africa Regional Network, emphasizes the progress of the collaborative efforts across the continent. 



“We’ve got different sort of levels of Green Building Councils. In Africa, there are two established Green Building Councils – South Africa and Kenya, and the others are mixed between emerging and prospective. Our job, and I include Kenya in it, is really to support the prospective and emerging councils,” she tells FORBES AFRICA.



“Africa has [been] hit by climate events, so there is a huge awareness that, whether it be the Green Building Council or governments, [we] have to do something to alleviate these things,” Reynolds adds.



Knudsen echoes the sentiment on collaboration, stating, “I think one of the sustainability problems I see in Africa is that materials are used in a very inefficient way in many local buildings. You could easily save 30% of the materials if there was better knowledge for the builder who’s doing this, but that’s not something you can expect. We need somebody else who knows how to work with building techniques.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Trash to treasure</h4>



In 2019, the first plastic road was laid down in South Africa’s Jeffery’s Bay, and reports, published recently, indicate that it has lasted longer than traditional tar roads. And the uses for this often-troublesome product seem to only increase from here.



As per the United Nations’ goal 11 of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, entrepreneurs across Africa are tackling sustainable building prac- tices in their own way.



One such example is Kubik CEO and co-founder, Kidus Asfaw. Kubik, an environmental tech company, takes plastic waste and transforms it into low-carbon, low-cost housing in Ethiopia, where the startup is based.



Asfaw, who has worked for the World Bank, Accenture, and Google, as well as on technology and innovation initiatives for UNICEF, relays the story of how he got into the trash business. “I helped set up the first-ever circular economy project for UNICEF in Cote d’Ivoire, and we were able to create bricks out of plastic waste. We made over 500 schools using those and my love changed from software to trash, affordability, housing and cities. I did that for about four years,” he says.



“During that time, I learned the issues not just around trash, but a multitude of major challenges that human beings that live in cities are facing, especially on rapidly urbanizing continents like Africa. Alongside poor waste management [which] needs to be addressed, affordable housing is probably one of the biggest priorities in many countries right now. And then, of course, there’s climate change.”



Kubik, which was founded in 2021, produces products that are high in compression strength, non-flammable, non-toxic and modular.



“We’re a business that transforms hard-to-recycle plastic waste into building materials that real estate developers can use at a cheaper price than conventional cement-based materials without compromising the quality or safety of those buildings,” says Asfaw.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63677" style="width:568px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kubik-Wall-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kubik Wall expression</figcaption></figure></div>


“Part of them doing business with Kubik [is] they’re also reducing the greenhouse gas impact that they bring to building cities like Addis Ababa. In a nutshell, we take all of that very bad plastic that you typically see in a landfill, and we make things like bricks that can make an entire wall, and that wall is as unremarkable as it looks, because it’s supposed to look just like every other building. What makes it remarkable to us is how accessible it is to lower-income communities, price-wise, and how green and sustainable it is within the real estate sector.”



In South Africa, sisters Kedibone and Kekeletso Tsiloane are tackling the plastic pollution and waste management issue through Ramtsilo Manufacturing and Construction, a company they founded in 2013. The business focuses on transforming hard-to-recycle plastics and other waste products into eco-bricks.



Kekeletso, who has a background in engineering, tells FORBES AFRICA about how this passion project turned into a fully-fledged business in a traditionally male-dominated industry.



“We initially started with small construction jobs, so building roads and building small projects, and that’s when we actually noticed that we spent so much money on materials, specifically bricks for us. We went out to look for a woman-owned brick manufacturing company, which we struggled to find. We then started making the bricks ourselves,” she says.



“I am interested in the green economy and what happens to waste and that grew an interest of learning about the afterlife of waste. In our research, we did not know that plastic had different properties and had different values. In terms of money, per kilogram, in the recycling space, it has different prices as well. And with that, we then sought out to make a product that we’re still comfortable with, but is innovative and in the green space.” South Africa, according to World Wide Fund (WWF), produces over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic annually. And while the bricks produced by Ramtsilo reportedly function in exactly the same way as conventional bricks, Kedibone, who has a finance background, states that the company still had to do a fair amount of educating on the product.



“We’re still having to re-educate people. It’s a plug and play solution but it integrates seamlessly into the construction industry. That was one of our biggest value-adds… the fact that people could easily use the product because they had the same look and feel as the conventional brick,” she explains.



“We then realized there’s additional benefits that come with the products – from an installation perspective, from a condensation water absorption [perspective] – because of the use of the plastic. The brick is actually branded so that people know that they’re [buying] an eco-friendly product. We’ve seen from the retailers, that product doesn’t stay in the retail stores and it’s simply because of the quality [and] the performance of the product.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-768x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-63676" style="width:516px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kekeletso-Kedibone-Tsiloane-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kekeletso &amp; Kedibone Tsiloane (Photo Supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


According to Kedibone, the bricks can be found at South African retailers like Builders Warehouse and Leroy Merlin in Gauteng. And while Ramtsilo’s business model tends to focus more on partnerships with corporates and retailers – a model that appears to be working well for them – Kubik’s has opted to focus on and develop the company’s relationships with waste pickers.



“We grappled with what our supply chain model should look like for many months. There are thousands of waste pickers in Ethiopia. Most of those pickers happen to be women, over 80% of them, and most of them end up selling their produce for the day to brokers at very low prices that are not economically sustainable for them to pass the poverty line,” he says.



“We wanted our business model to have a supply chain that not only worked at scale and made business/financial sense for us, but ethically is also empowering those that have previously been exploited in this space. We typically would work with city administrations that typically manage landfills. We get into a partnership with them, set up a collection site and we directly source from these waste pickers at prices that are at least three, four times more than what they would normally get from a broker.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-endless-possibilities">Endless possibilities</h4>



A quick search online reveals some of the most commonly-used sustainable materials in construction. Aside from bamboo and recycled plastic, others include recycled or reclaimed wood, cork, Hempcrete and biocomposite cement.



Traditional building practices have also been employed in some parts of the continent. UNEP had published an article about a project at a school in Burkina Faso, where the modules that form the structure for the school are built out of locally- sourced laterite. This is then cut into bricks and left in the sun to harden. The bricks reportedly absorb the heat during the day and radiate it at night.



Another example of innovation at work is the The Wits Flower Hall Examination and Test Centre in South Africa. Ac- cording to a recent release by the institution, the now energy- efficient building has been recognized for its sustainable design and shortlisted in the Creative Reuse category at the World Ar- chitecture Festival, set to take place in November.



“We believe that adaptive reuse is a critical foundation of green sustainable building due to the embodied carbon content of existing buildings. Wits has a great track record of repurposing buildings, for example the Science Stadium,” said Dr Heather Dodd from Savage + Dodd Architects, who worked on this project in 2022, in the release.



The growth of the sustainable or green building space presents significant employment opportunities as well, according to Reynolds.



“The more that certification grows, the more people need to be aware the job opportunities are growing with it. I do a CEO message on all our newsletters; the latest one is talking about job expansion. So, you know, there’s job creation, but there’s also potential for job expansion because we need accredited professionals; we need EDGE experts,” she states. “We did our first certification in 2009. If you think of pre-2009, there were no such things as accredited professionals. Now, small companies are formed just doing certification. It’s a true reflection of job creation and I would try to encourage more and more people to do it. If they’re in the space [and] it’s not job creation, expand your portfolio and go into this space.”

Com_Ingvartsen_Mtwara_StarHomes_C-JulienLanoo_20220907L1034048 copy

Building Africa’s Green Future: How One Project Is Even Aiming To Curb Malaria With Sustainable Architecture

Prince William is in Cape Town on a four-day climate-focused tour, meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, engaging with young environmental leaders, and supporting wildlife conservation initiatives. His visit culminates with the presentation of the Earthshot Prize tonight, emphasizing his commitment to environmental conservation, youth empowerment, and strengthening ties between the United Kingdom and South Africa.



Meeting with President Ramaphosa



Prince William met President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss mutual interests in sustainability, wildlife conservation, and climate change. The meeting reinforced the importance of international collaboration and strengthened the partnership between the two nations in pursuing sustainable development goals.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="721" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2182365016.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63587" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2182365016.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2182365016-300x211.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2182365016-768x541.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Prince William, Prince of Wales meets the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, at his Official Residence on November 5, 2024 in Cape Town. (Photo by Victoria Jones &#8211; Pool/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


United for Wildlife Initiative



At the United for Wildlife Global Summit in Cape Town, Prince William announced a new support package for rangers across Africa. The five-year plan aims to provide 10,000 rangers with access to affordable insurance, medical evacuation services, and leadership development opportunities.



&#8220;Rangers are fundamental if we are to meet our global conservation targets for 2030,&#8221; Prince William stated in a press release. Developed in partnership with Tusk Trust and the Game Rangers Association of Africa, the initiative seeks to enhance the welfare and professional development of those on the front lines of conservation.



Engaging with Youth Leaders



Prince William joined young environmentalists for the inaugural Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme. The initiative empowers young leaders through workshops on leadership, storytelling, and advocacy. Participants shared innovative solutions to climate challenges in their communities, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange.



The Earthshot Prize in Africa



Hosting the Earthshot Prize in Cape Town marks its first time on African soil. Founded by Prince William in 2020, the prize recognizes groundbreaking environmental solutions, highlighting Africa&#8217;s growing role in global environmental innovation.



The ceremony near Cape Town Stadium will feature performances by international and African artists such as Davido, Diamond Platnumz and DJ Uncle Waffles, and will be broadcast globally. Five recipients will each receive £1 million to advance their projects in areas such as air quality improvement, ocean health, and climate resilience.



The Prince&#8217;s visit underscores the importance of international cooperation in environmental conservation. By engaging with government leaders, conservation professionals, and young activists, the tour highlights efforts to promote sustainability, protect wildlife, and empower future generations.

The Prince Of Wales Visits South Africa For The Earthshot Prize Awards – Day One

Prince William’s Visit to South Africa Highlights Conservation Efforts and Youth Empowerment

Heavy rains from July to September have led to catastrophic flooding across parts of Africa, with the worst-hit areas in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.



A recent report from World Weather Attribution (WWA), a group of international scientists studying extreme weather, links repeated floods in Africa&#8217;s worst-hit areas to both climate change and poor water management.



This year’s floods have been deadly, with over 2,000 people losing their lives and millions more forced to leave their homes. Many of these areas faced severe flooding just two years ago, meaning some communities were still recovering when this year’s rains hit.



According to the WWA, global temperatures have warmed by 1.3°C since the industrial age began, and this is making extreme weather events, like the Sahel’s heavy rains, much more frequent.



The group’s scientists noted that this increase in temperature meaning intense rainfall, which leads to severe floods, is becoming far more common. In Sudan, for example, scientists now expect this kind of flood to occur every three years.



In addition to climate change, long-standing problems in the region are making the effects of the floods even more disastrous. Many of the worst-hit areas in Sudan, Chad and Nigeria have been affected by poverty, conflict, and outdated infrastructure. According to the WWA, this situation leaves millions of people vulnerable because they often live in areas that lack strong flood defenses or early warning systems, like sirens or mobile alerts.



Scientists warn that if the world’s average temperature rises to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, these severe floods could happen even more often. In the future, it is likely that 30-day periods of extreme rain will become a normal part of life in the Sahel region, which includes countries like Sudan, Nigeria, and Niger.



To protect against future floods, the WWA report emphasizes that &#8220;there is an urgent need to drastically improve water management and reduce vulnerability to seasonal rainfall&#8221;. For example, in Sudan, there are important structures like the Arba’at dam, which helps manage water levels.



&#8220;The transboundary nature of the river systems in sub-saharan Africa requires coordination between neighbouring countries, which has been strained and hinders comprehensive flood management and early warning systems. To reduce flood risks, rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure should prioritise climate-smart design, including incorporating resilient materials and construction techniques and limiting construction in flood-prone areas,&#8221; the report adds.

Floods kill 13 in Nigeria

More Floods? Scientists Warn Of Intensifying Climate Risks In Africa’s Vulnerable Regions

The Bristol Zoo Project is set to evoke a sense of the dense forest and landscape of Equatorial Guinea.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Conservation zoos have a critical role to play in working with communities and connecting them with wildlife.” – Dr Justin Morris
</blockquote>



If you were looking for wildlife in the United Kingdom’s cool and rainy southwest, you’d easily find squirrels, hedgehogs, perhaps the occasional deer. Bats too. Even beaver. Stoic, quotidian creatures, unperturbed by sunlessness and drizzle.



You might not expect to discover endangered species like cherry-crowned mangabeys, slender-snouted crocodiles, or African grey parrots, but spot them you can from spring 2026, thanks to Bristol Zoo Project’s Central African Forest habitat, now under development on a 136-acre site in the Gloucestershire woodlands. These exotic additions to the British countryside will be joined by the Zoo’s troop of western lowland gorillas, in an environment designed “to evoke a sense of the dense forest and landscape of Equatorial Guinea” by the Bristol Zoological Society, a conservation and education charity founded in 1835.



“The character of a central African forest is created through utilizing and enhancing the qualities of the local landscape, rather than attempting a false replication of the original habitat,” says the charity’s Chief Executive, Dr Justin Morris. “And by understanding and applying the structure of a tropical forest, which consists of specimen trees, upper, mid and lower stratum, and a forest ground cover. Each area, particularly the animal houses and interior spaces, has been built with temperatures and humidities as a central requirement for each species. Of course, our existing gorilla troop are well acclimatized to the British weather already.”



Though 78% of the species the Society cares for are threatened, they are also part of targeted conservation programs; Morris says the aim is to increase this number to 90% by 2035. The new habitat will eventually be joined by the Central African Savannah project, home to black rhino and ostrich, alongside the Society’s existing giraffe, cheetah and zebra populations.



In a 21st century Britain becoming more sensitive to its colonial past, and less and less comfortable with animals living in captivity (according to YouGov research, half of surveyed Britons believe the practice of keeping large animals should be phased out, with a quarter calling for zoos to be banned entirely), the Society’s projects are as much about capturing hearts and minds through education as providing safe havens for animals whose continued existence on the planet is now in dire jeopardy.



“Like our award-winning Bear Wood (a walkway experience through treetops, from which wolves, lynx and wolverine can also be glimpsed), the new Central African Forest habitat will have integrated learning spaces, enabling students, visitors and schoolchildren to observe, record and appreciate animals in a natural scene, connecting people to threatened wildlife and animals in an immersive landscape,” says Morris.



The site will also feature a Conservation Campus, giving young people access to new knowledge opportunities around veterinary medicine and animal breeding.



“By creating a new education and skills hub for the region, with 20 new learning spaces, we want to inspire and create the conservationists of the future,” Morris says. “It will provide teaching facilities for more than 600 students each year, participating in our higher education programs, and help us to engage 90,000 school children.



Visitors will be able to watch veterinary procedures, see animals extinct in the wild and being bred for reintroduction, explore field conservation programs across the world, and learn how they can become conservationists themselves.”



A home away from home then, for these critically endangered creatures, and a rare chance for the human population of a curious island nation to share in their new and protected lives.



“Conservation zoos have a critical role to play in working with communities and connecting them with wildlife,” says Morris. “We have an incredible opportunity at Bristol Zoo Project to show what a modern, progressive conservation zoo can be.”

Jock the silverback gorilla at the former Bristol Zoo Gardens © Bristol Zoological Society

How A Central African Forest Is Shaping Up In The UK

The time to plan for the sudden influx of aged and dated solar materials is now– Africa can’t afford to become a toxic dumping ground for the e-waste detritus left behind by solar.



Over the past few years, Africa’s corporates and consumers went solar at an unprecedented speed. Statista found that as of the end of 2022, South Africa was in the lead with more than 6 gigawatts followed by Egypt (1.7 gigawatts), Morocco with 858 megawatts, Algeria with 460 megawatts and Senegal at 263 megawatts. The total gigawatts across the continent have increased significantly over the past 10 years from only 331 megawatts in 2011 to 12.6 gigawatts in 2022 – a 16-fold capacity increase. Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Tanzania are currently expected to see the most rapid transitions to clean energy by 2030, while Namibia’s growth is the fourth-fastest in the world as per research group Zero Carbon Analytics’ 2023 report Africa’s Energy Transition: Solar and Wind Fuel Energy Security.



The region is gaining traction. Research from the above report found that deployment of solar energy is the fastest-growing resource on the continent and accounted for 57% of renewable investments between 2010 and 2021. Investments in the off-grid sector were the highest in Africa over a similar 10-year period (2010-2020) at 70% and a value of $1.7 billion. When this level of investment is wedded to the life-span of the technologies used to power solar panels and farms, there’s another question companies and governments should be asking about solar – where’s the bin? If millions of solar panels and batteries are being imported into Africa, with a lifespan of around 20 years, what is being done to ensure that countries investing heavily in solar today are putting the right recycling plans in place?



“Typically, when we speak about solar waste, it includes solar panels, PV panels, inverters, solar PV batteries, rooftop solar frames, ground-based frames, junction boxes and embedded cables,” Mervin Olivier, Eastern Cape Chair at the Institute of Waste Man- agement of Southern Africa, tells FORBES AFRICA. “There’s a lot of solar waste and typically people just talk about the PV panel. As they reach end of life, thousands of panels will need replacing and recycling will become absolutely critical.”



The International Renewable Energy Agency has predicted that by 2050, 78 million metric tons of solar panels will reach the end of their lives. The issue is the toxicity of the materials within solar installations. Solar panels have lead, cadmium, silver, and arsenic that, at certain levels, are quantified as hazardous waste, the batteries used to power solar installations are lithium-ion phos- phate batteries which are flammable, and difficult to contain. The problem is that most solar panels and their detritus are dumped in landfills because there’s no profit in their ethical dismantling and destruction – the few precious metals locked within the e-waste are difficult to extract and their value too low for the effort.



“Solar PV panels contain aluminium and glass which can be re- cycled, but the harmful chemicals in the batteries and the panels are difficult to recycle, which is why a lot of companies in Europe are sending them to countries in Africa, like Ghana, where they strip elements like copper out of the equipment and sell it,” Minnette Le Roux, Head of the Environment Department, Principal Environ- mental Specialist at law and consultancy advisory firm NSDV tells FORBES AFRICA. 



“Then counties in Africa are left sitting with these massive amounts of hazardous waste. Some countries in Africa are part of the Basel Convention preventing the transport of waste but some are not part of the convention and accept the hazardous waste. There are no plants in Africa that actually recycle what’s left of the batteries – this is one of the biggest concerns – and no landfill sites designed to handle this type of waste.”



It’s a sentiment echoed by Ashley du Plooy, CEO at ERA NPC (E-waste Recycling Authority), who adds that countries like Nigeria and Ghana have become major dumping grounds for electronic waste with strips of urban land covered in e-waste that’s being smashed and burned for the extraction of metals. “Quantifying the problem is very difficult,” he says. “Especially since solar waste is new and growing at a pace four times higher than solid municipal waste.”



Solar waste across all its iterations is a growing risk to human and environmental health across Africa. As solar installations reach end of life, particularly over the next few years, there’s a need for innovative startups to step up and help reframe the con- versation for the continent.



One such startup is EWaste Africa and Managing Director Pravashen Naidoo tells FORBES AFRICA: “In the past 12 months, we recycled close to 16,000 solar panels. I think we’re the first in Africa doing this – we haven’t been able to find anyone else doing it and getting the financial value from the process.” EWaste Africa is ISO 14001 compliant with a focus on environmental compli- ance, and one of its facilities is currently commissioning a patented technology for the extraction of rare earth metals and can be used to transform significant quantities of electronic waste.



“Government landfill sites are not designed with the right levels and layers to handle these hazardous materials, and with nearly 17 million installed panels as of the end of 2023, we need to make a plan that works,” says Naidoo. As Olivier concludes: “It’s essential that African countries develop a solar panel end-of-life plan similar to one recently published by Australia. 



More of a focus on enforcement to ensure compliance, and increased consumer pressure holding manufac- turers responsible – and this includes importers and distributors. They need to provide safe transportation of old materials and drive the implementation of a lifecycle methodology with cradle- to-the-grave opportunities.” There is, he says, time to prepare, innovate and implement a responsible plan before the waste tsunami hits. But will people listen?

A view of discarded solar panel components below a power

After Solar, Comes Lead: Why Africa Can’t Afford To Become A Toxic Dumping Ground For E-Waste

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Global rates of death caused by heart conditions, diabetes and obesity due to air pollution significantly increased over the past decade, according to the 2024 World Heart Report, and emissions caused by climate change played a part in exacerbating this.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



The number of heart condition-related deaths attributed to air pollution between 2010 and 2019 increased in some places by as much as 27%, and almost 70% of the 4.2 million outdoor air pollution-related deaths in 2019 were from heart conditions, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics#PM" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">report</a>&nbsp;published Saturday by the World Heart Federation.



There were 900,000 air pollution-related stroke deaths in 2019, and almost 2 million people died from air pollution-related coronary heart disease, an increase of between 20% and 27% compared to 2010 in every World Health Organization region except for in the Americas (increased by 2.4%) and Europe (decreased by 19.2%).



Global particulate matter concentration—tiny air particles that can be detrimental to health when they enter the body—declined by 1% annually between 2010 and 2019, but were still over six times the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240034228" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">recommended amount</a>&nbsp;set by the World Health Organization.



Only 14% of countries experienced a large decline in particulate matter during this time period, with mostly European countries seeing the largest decreases (between 25% and 35%), while Angola, Cape Verde, Liberia, Palau and Sierra Leone had the largest increases.



Previous research has shown air pollution has a negative effect on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651322007333" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">obesity</a> and <a href="https://drc.bmj.com/content/bmjdrc/11/5/e003333.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">diabetes</a>, and because many people with these diseases also have heart conditions, air pollution’s effects on these groups may be indirectly causing significant increases in death, according to the report.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT CAUSES AIR POLLUTION</h2>



Air pollution consists of dangerous materials from both natural and human-made sources. Several things cause it, including vehicle emissions, fumes from chemical productions, gas that heats homes and byproducts from manufacturing power productions, which are among the main sources of human-caused air pollution,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/air-pollution#:~:text=Vehicle%20emissions%2C%20fuel%20oils%20and,of%20human%2Dmade%20air%20pollution." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to the National Institutes of Health. Naturally occurring hazardous substances include smoke from wildfires, ash from volcanoes and gases like methane, which come from decomposing organic matter in the soil.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">HOW DOES CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT AIR POLLUTION?</h2>



Climate change and air pollution are interlinked because they both worsen each other, according to the report. Climate-related weather changes cause increases in particulate matter and <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/ground-level-ozone-basics" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ground-level ozone</a>, which is a harmful gas and the main ingredient in smog. Climate change can cause an increase in weather events like wildfires and dust storms, increasing the release of dangerous particulate matter and worsening health conditions, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/climateimpacts/climate-change-impacts-air-quality#:~:text=In%20many%20regions%20of%20the,droughts%20or%20smoke%20from%20wildfires).&amp;text=These%20changes%20worsen%20existing%20air%20pollution." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a> to the Environmental Protection Agency. These increases in outdoor air pollution can worsen inside air quality, since they can enter homes and buildings through open doors and ventilation systems. <a href="https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/air-quality-energy-and-health/health-impacts/climate-impacts-of-air-pollution#:~:text=Black%20carbon%2C%20a%20component%20of,melting%20of%20snow%20and%20ice." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Black carbon</a>, one of the main elements of fine particulate matter, is one of the largest contributors to global warming after carbon dioxide. It is a heat-absorbing chemical, so it absorbs light and warms the Earth’s atmosphere, thus leading to the melting of ice and snow.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Household air pollution contributed to 3.2 million deaths worldwide between 2010 and 2019, a similar figure to the amount of deaths related to outdoor air pollution, according to the report. Low- or middle-income countries experienced most of these deaths due to lack of access to electricity and gas cooking. Over 2 billion worldwide still rely on polluting fuels like coal, wood, charcoal and crop waste for everyday survival.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Heart disease was the leading cause of death worldwide—and in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db395.htm" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.S.</a>—followed by stroke in 2019,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to the WHO. One in three Americans has heart or blood vessel disease, and heart disease deaths typically affect people 65 years and older,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/air-research/air-pollution-and-cardiovascular-disease-basics" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to the EPA. Those who are the most susceptible to fine particulate matter include older adults, those with obesity, diabetics, non-white people, those with underlying conditions and people of low economic status. Short-term exposure to air pollution can cause an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/consumer-healthcare/what-is-cardiovascular-disease/air-pollution-and-heart-disease-stroke" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">increased risk</a>&nbsp;of heart attack, stroke, heart failure and irregular heartbeat, while long-term exposure increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and death. Although reduction in air pollution emissions should be the top priority, the World Heart Federation believes a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fiber and protein; supplements like omega-fatty acids; and the use of medication for people with heart disease that have unavoidably high exposure to air pollution can help prevent the cardiovascular effects of air pollution.

The Sappi-Saiccor Pulp Mill

World Heart Report: Air Pollution-Related Deaths From Heart Conditions, Obesity, Diabetes Are Growing—And Climate Change Partially To Blame

A fight over a vital federal tax credit intended to kickstart a market for clean hydrogen and worries over high production costs are cooling near-term expectations for the climate-friendly fuel.



Clean hydrogen has been heralded as a carbon-free fuel that’s key to efforts to remediate the climate crisis. It would help clean up dirty industries like chemical and steel production, be a source of clean transportation fuel and help the U.S. hit a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/us-long-term-strategy.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">by 2050</a>. But getting things started isn’t going so well.



After years of hype, fundraising, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/10/13/us-amps-up-clean-energy-push-with-50-billion-hydrogen-hub-plan/?sh=431f604144f9">billions of dollars of federal support</a>&nbsp;to get a green hydrogen market off the ground, there’s growing pessimism over how fast the carbon-free fuel can ramp up. Frustrated by proposed guidelines for a crucial government incentive that they deem too strict, companies including ExxonMobil and Plug Power are threatening to scrub or delay big hydrogen projects.



“Two years ago this was super-hyped. It was like, everybody&#8217;s exuberant,” Raffi Garabedian, CEO of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2024/02/21/green-hydrogen-could-help-save-the-planet-this-startup-wants-to-make-it-cheap/?sh=1cd8fe4e2835">Electric Hydrogen</a>, told Forbes. “What’s happened is people started realizing, ‘Oh, shit, this thing I&#8217;ve been talking about for a while — the hype-to-reality ratio — projects aren&#8217;t getting built. I wonder why? People have started realizing this is really hard.”



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Clean hydrogen — particularly the “green” variety made from just water and renewable electricity — is central to the Biden Administration’s strategy for slashing carbon pollution. But proposed rules for a tax credit worth up to $3 a kilogram to offset the fuel’s higher production costs favor projects that rely on new renewable (or nuclear) power sources, which raises the cost substantially. Garabedian is fine with that, but some competitors say it’ll keep the price of green hydrogen too high. And ExxonMobil is unhappy that its approach — making hydrogen from natural gas but capturing the CO2 before it can escape into the atmosphere — probably won’t get the full credit.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
Dirty hydrogen can be made for $1.06/kilogram. Green hydrogen costs up to four times as much.
</blockquote>



As with other low-carbon technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines and electric car batteries that had to conquer early high costs, clean hydrogen has to get cheaper to be competitive and impactful. But getting even to cost parity with the dirty industrial variety made from natural gas won’t be easy — it’s made for as little as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61763&amp;src=email" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">$1.06 a kilogram</a>. Green hydrogen costs about four times as much.



The world uses about 92 million tons of hydrogen a year, mainly for heavy industry. By the end of the decade, industry researcher Wood Mckenzie estimates clean hydrogen production could grow to about 14 million tons, from essentially nothing now. It’s an amount that would mark the start of critical mass for the fuel. But that’s about 1 million tons less than it had previously anticipated in late 2023.



“We expected some delays, but they&#8217;re a bit more than what we and others had thought,” said Murray Douglas, vice president for hydrogen research at Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh, Scotland.



“It’s everything: the cost of the renewable generation; it’s the rules; it’s general cost inflation across all industries; and then it&#8217;s also convincing (customers) that they should sign up now, rather than waiting for costs to come down,” he said. “When you put these things together, you begin to get a more bearish view of 2030.”



That’s leading some fossil fuel companies to take a presumptive victory lap.



“We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately, reflecting realistic demand assumptions,” Amin Nasser, CEO of Aramco, the world’s largest oil company,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aramco.com/en/news-media/speeches/2024/ceraweek-keynote-speech-by-amin-h-nasser" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;at S&amp;P Global’s recent CERAWeek conference in Houston. “Many of us have been saying for a long time that the world has been trying to transition in a fog, without a compass, on a road to nowhere.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-credit-critics">Credit Critics</h2>



Along with green hydrogen startups, incentives to ramp up a clean hydrogen industry need to compel fossil energy companies that are a big part of the climate problem to join in. But the plan as proposed doesn’t do that.



In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/comment/IRS-2023-0066-28305" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">letter to regulators</a>, the biggest U.S. oil company said a project in Baytown, Texas, that it’s touted as the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen plant, is at risk from the proposed credit rules that don’t incentivize carbon capture and storage. If they’re not altered, “the cost of the hydrogen produced will be such that the market for low carbon hydrogen will not be catalyzed and our project, and possibly others, will not proceed,” wrote ExxonMobil vice president Jim Chapman in the letter.



Even Plug Power, an early leader in green hydrogen, isn’t pleased with having to use power from new, clean sources to get the full credit. The company told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.plugpower.com/plugs-california-green-hydrogen-plant-saves-water-creates-new-energy-source/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">green hydrogen plant in California</a>&nbsp;intended to make 500 tons of carbon-free hydrogen a day may not open next year as planned due to the 45V tax credit proposal and other factors. (Its first such facility opened in Georgia this year, getting electricity to make hydrogen from a new nuclear power plant. All hydrogen made there will be eligible for the credit)



As currently proposed, “we think the U.S. now takes a real backstep to Europe on hydrogen,” Plug CEO Andy Marsh said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/12/22/green-hydrogen-makers-say-strict-federal-tax-credit-rules-will-stall-us-boom/?sh=7877597f2e1c">December 2023 interview</a>.



A final version of the credit rules is expected late this year, likely before the November election.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-pricey-fuel">Pricey Fuel</h2>



ExxonMobil’s interest in making cleaner hydrogen is understandable. Like Aramco, it already uses huge amounts of conventional hydrogen — and ranks among the&nbsp;<a href="https://carbonmajors.org/briefing/The-Carbon-Majors-Database-26913" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">world’s largest sources of carbon pollution</a>. That’s not a good look as the worsening climate crisis brings new record temperatures on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/04/09/march-record-global-heat/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">land</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/ocean-heat-records.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">sea</a>&nbsp;almost weekly.



Given the global scale of its operations and cash reserves of more than $31 billion, ExxonMobil is well-positioned to be a leader in capturing and storing CO2 from its operations, making what’s known as blue hydrogen. But the Biden Administration has decided not to reward that approach.



A landmark&nbsp;<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ese3.956" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study by Cornell scientist Robert Howarth</a>&nbsp;found that carbon capture and storage is energy-intensive and leads to even more climate pollution than if the CO2 just wafted into the air. Its greenhouse gas footprint is also “more than 20% greater than burning natural gas or coal for heat and some 60% greater than burning diesel oil for heat,” the study found.



Unlike petroleum-based fuels, there’s no commodity market price for hydrogen. It’s supplied directly from producers to consumers. Big users, like oil refineries and chemical plants, get it for the lowest cost. Others pay much more.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“The cost of hydrogen is running about 2.5 times more than for compressed natural gas.”Foothill Transit CEO Doran Barnes
</blockquote>



In California, the only U.S. market for hydrogen vehicles, Toyota-backed First Element operates dozens of fuel stations dispensing highly compressed hydrogen for an eye-popping $36 a kilogram to drivers of Toyota Mirai sedans and Hyundai Nexo SUVs. (The price is distorted by the fact that most hydrogen vehicle owners get prepaid cards for up to six years of free fuel.)



Prices are a bit better for Foothill Transit, a Los Angeles-area agency with three dozen hydrogen buses and that’s adding 20 more. It negotiated a multiyear rate from a hydrogen supplier of $9.12 a kilogram, said Foothill CEO Doran Barnes. And while the buses are reliable, “the cost of hydrogen is running about 2.5 times more than for compressed natural gas,” he said.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-need-for-power">Need For Power</h2>



The requirement that power to make green hydrogen come from new clean energy sources is understandable. The electric grid is already struggling to keep up with rising demand from power-hungry data centers, booming U.S. manufacturing and growth in electric vehicles that require charging.



“If we&#8217;re going to grow energy demands by producing electrolytic hydrogen we have to add new clean power resources to support that,” said Eric Guter, vice president of hydrogen mobility for Air Products, the world’s biggest supplier of the gas. “Otherwise we&#8217;re going to exacerbate the emissions problem on the backs of taxpayers, and that will destroy the long-term outlook for a viable clean hydrogen market.”



Air Products plans several large-scale green hydrogen projects that open later this decade — including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airproducts.com/energy-transition/neom-green-hydrogen-complex" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">one in oil rich Saudi Arabia</a>&nbsp;— and supports the proposed tax credit rules. So too does Electric Hydrogen, which is developing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2024/02/21/green-hydrogen-could-help-save-the-planet-this-startup-wants-to-make-it-cheap/?sh=2543f9f28351">large-scale green hydrogen plants</a>. Cofounded by two solar industry veterans, the Boston-based company’s business plan is to locate hydrogen operations near new wind or solar projects and, ideally, avoid plugging into the grid. It’s raised more than $600 million from investors including Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, BP Ventures and Amazon.



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“We&#8217;re competing against 100 years of global subsidy, war, blood, fortune and gold that&#8217;s gone into making oil and gas what it is today.”Electric Hydrogen CEO Raffi Garabedian
</blockquote>



It wants to deliver its first commercial-scale green hydrogen plant late this year to billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://eh2.com/electric-hydrogen-to-supply-electrolyzer-technology-green-facility/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Wes Edens’ New Fortress Energy</a>. New Fortress intends to sell the fuel it makes to an ammonia producer. Powered by 100 megawatts of electricity, the plant will be capable of making up to 45 tons of fuel daily.



Garabedian said another early market for green hydrogen may be for sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, as regulations in Europe force airlines to use more low-carbon fuel. But as the company lines up customers, he understands the challenge ahead.



“We&#8217;re competing against 100 years of global subsidy, war, blood, fortune and gold that&#8217;s gone into making oil and gas what it is today. And it&#8217;s still the most highly subsidized industry in the world, other than the military,” he said. “Trying to compete with that on a cost basis, it&#8217;s insane.”

New Green Hydrogen Tank construction site.

Green Hydrogen’s Hype Hits Some Very Expensive Hurdles

Food is the future and these proactive startups are focused on shifting agricultural practices to prepare for what is to come.



Agriculture has always been a core component of Africa’s economic viability. And where it’s estimated that 140 million people in Africa face acute food insecurity, the continent’s ability to produce food efficiently is vital. As many individual countries wrestle with inadequate governments, there has been a spate of proactive startups focused on revolutionizing the food system across Africa.



From a continent- spanning online marketplace changing the way African farmers do business to a technology platform focused on producing cultivated meat alternatives and a company using technology to convert arid desertland into agricultural areas, these are the firms showing the way in foodtech in Africa.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-just-like-the-nile-river-was-pivotal">‘Just like the Nile River was pivotal…’ </h2>



Farming and selling produce can be inefficient and costly for farmers in Africa, despite being one of society’s oldest practices. Nile, a B2B marketplace, wants to change this. By connecting farmers directly with commercial produce buyers, Nile is reshaping produce trading while empowering farmers across southern Africa.



Founded in 2020 in South Africa by Louis de Kock, Eugene Roodt, and Rick Kleinhans, whose collective experience spans Amazon, JP Morgan and Luno, Nile came from the idea that tech can modernize agricultural trade.



&#8220;In 2020, farmers were still distributing their products in the same way my grandfather did in the 1950s, which was surprising given how much has changed since then, both tech and logistics,” De Kock reflects. Seeing these outdated distribution methods encouraged them to explore tech solutions, resulting in an online marketplace.



In a nutshell, Nile facilitates connections between farmers and buyers, minimizing costs and preserving perishable produce. Through Nile&#8217;s online marketplace, farmers list their produce for global buyers, securing instant orders and secure payouts, allowing farmers greater control over pricing. &#8220;By digitizing transactions, we can improve transparency, while reducing transaction fees,&#8221; he adds. The logistics network then ensures efficient routes to buyers, either via direct delivery or consolidated loads through Nile’s cross-dock hubs.



Further to this, their recently- launched inputs marketplace, coupled with financial support for farmers has revolutionized logistics, but perhaps most importantly, it’s helping farmers find the best market for their produce.



&#8220;We want to become central to a farmer&#8217;s everyday existence by providing a comprehensive suite of digital services to enhance transacting and trading, with the data and predictive analytics as the golden thread,” says De Kock.



Nile operates in 12 African countries, and now calls itself “the largest fruit and vegetable online marketplace on the continent”.



Operating in a region with high food insecurity means sustainability is vital here, and Nile’s tech facilitates it. &#8220;Food waste is dramatically reduced compared to traditional markets since all produce is pre-sold to buyers in 40+ towns and cities and thus does not degrade over time on a market floor,” says De Kock.



In addition to this, Nile’s logistics maintains multiple temperature zones for cold chain management while minimizing food miles.



&#8220;Just like the Nile River was pivotal to the development of agricultural production and trade across African countries, we believe our name is symbolic of our mission,&#8221; says De Kock.



As buyer demand continues to grow, so does the market for quality, affordable produce and Nile seems to be changing the game for African farmers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-model-that-not-only-combats-desertification">&#8216;A model that not only combats desertification…’</h2>



Further afield, Sand to Green focuses on agroforestry for arid regions. It converts barren land into fertile agricultural areas using pioneering agroforestry practices and advanced technology.



Founded by Wissal Ben Moussa, Gautier de Carcouët, and Benjamin Rombaut, the company wants to make desert areas agriculturally productive while contributing to CO2 capture and biodiversity enhancement, effectively overhauling these agricultural landscapes.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sand-to-Green-was-formed-in-response-to-the-challenges-of-food-security-and-environmental-sustainability-in-dry-regions-image-supplied-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61482" style="width:606px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sand-to-Green-was-formed-in-response-to-the-challenges-of-food-security-and-environmental-sustainability-in-dry-regions-image-supplied-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sand-to-Green-was-formed-in-response-to-the-challenges-of-food-security-and-environmental-sustainability-in-dry-regions-image-supplied-300x225.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sand-to-Green-was-formed-in-response-to-the-challenges-of-food-security-and-environmental-sustainability-in-dry-regions-image-supplied-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sand-to-Green-was-formed-in-response-to-the-challenges-of-food-security-and-environmental-sustainability-in-dry-regions-image-supplied-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sand-to-Green-was-formed-in-response-to-the-challenges-of-food-security-and-environmental-sustainability-in-dry-regions-image-supplied-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sand to Green was formed in response to the challenges of food security and environmental sustainability in dry regions; image supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


Formed in response to the challenges of food security and environmental sustainability in dry regions, particularly in Morocco and broader Africa, the founders saw the need for eco-friendly agricultural practices in these challenging environments.



Traditional farming methods exacerbate issues like soil degradation and water scarcity, affecting vast areas of agricultural land and, in turn, populations in Africa. Sand to Green&#8217;s model integrates agroforestry with solar-powered desalination, drawing inspiration from ancient oasis ecosystems, a 7,000-year-old agroforestry system.



&#8220;Our vision was to develop a model that not only combats desertification&#8230; but also enhances local food production,&#8221; says co- founder Rombaut. Morocco presented the ideal climate, showcasing the need to balance food security with environmental restoration. &#8220;Our approach addresses water scarcity by using sustainable desalination, tapping into the region&#8217;s abundant solar energy,” he adds. “This model not only meets the immediate need for more food production but also promotes environmental sustainability, offering a blueprint for similar arid regions globally,” adds Moussa.



Sustainability is at the core of this operation. The supply chain focuses on local resources and labor, supporting regional economies and reducing transport-related carbon emissions. In arid regions, their solar-powered desalination technology lowers water usage, while recycled brine from the desalination process is used to cultivate halophyte plants.



Their practices also reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, aligning community well- being with an environmental one. Driven by the belief in locally- adaptable solutions, Sand to Green hopes to influence global agricultural practices.



&#8220;We strive for a future where sustainable agriculture is central to solving global food and environmental challenges,&#8221; Rombaut says. They show how sustainable agriculture can thrive in challenging environments without compromising ecosystem integrity, an idea that will hopefully shift agricultural practices globally. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-replicate-the-conditions-of-an-animal-just-outside-of-the-animal">‘…replicate the conditions of an animal, just outside of the animal’ </h2>



In Cape Town, Newform Foods wants to revolutionize the food industry through cultivated meat production. Promising a more ethical protein alternative using leading bioprocessing technology and proprietary methods, Newform allows food producers to manufacture animal- friendly products. &#8220;We are producing the ability to scale cultivated meat intended for other companies within the food and meat industry,” says Brett Thompson, who co-founded Newform along with Tasneem Karodia.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newform-CEO-Brett-Thompson-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61483" style="width:600px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newform-CEO-Brett-Thompson-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newform-CEO-Brett-Thompson-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newform-CEO-Brett-Thompson-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newform-CEO-Brett-Thompson-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newform-CEO-Brett-Thompson-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Newform CEO Brett Thompson</figcaption></figure></div>


While alternative meat isn’t an entirely new concept, Newform is one of the first of its kind in Africa. &#8220;We want to create a technology platform that can be applied to any company around the world,&#8221; says Thompson. Essentially, Newform facilitates sustainable food production through tailored platforms and solutions. “We’re trying to perfectly replicate the conditions of an animal, just outside of the animal,” he explains. This is done using animal cells, and an intricate combination of media development and bioreactors to help the cells grow. Thompson adds that the entire process, from cell to harvest, takes only three to four weeks, a fraction compared to the standard 18 months in conventional farming.



Having successfully experimented with lamb, beef and pork, Newform will soon be exploring poultry and seafood, as part of creating an agnostic platform. “We want to specialize in the platform, not the species,” says Thompson. Ethics aside, Newform’s solution is undeniably more sustainable for various reasons. Reduced land, water and energy use, as well as minimizing food waste, means a much lower impact than in conventional farming practices. 


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61485" style="width:485px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Newforms-Greek-pita-with-cultivated-lamb-meatballs-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Newform&#8217;s Greek pita with cultivated lamb meatballs</figcaption></figure></div>


“We can produce something that we can use every single part of,” he explains.



This technology could also affect farms and food transportation. “Imagine a future where you have large facilities close to cities that can produce a delicious protein and get it to retailers and consumers in a more localized fashion.”



What does this Newform future look like? &#8220;I&#8217;d like to see a world in which no animal is used within the supply chain of our food,” says Thompson. “We&#8217;ll be part of the way to replace all animals in the food system and make a healthier protein that&#8217;s cost-effective and delicious.”



While originating in South Africa, Newform plans to expand internationally, starting with the United Kingdom.



Encouragingly, Thompson has seen a shift in the industry, with more food companies willing to adopt technology towards sustainability. “The industry is looking to future-proof itself,” he says, and Newform is primed to lead the charge.

Nile co-founders Eugene Roodt and Louis de Kock

CREAM OF THE CROP: The African Firms Showing Why Foodtech Is The Future

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Climate change could cut life expectancy by half a year, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000339" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">research</a>&nbsp;published Thursday, illustrating another ominous consequence of human-driven global heating after scientists confirmed 2023 as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/09/2023-was-officially-the-worlds-hottest-year-on-record/?sh=5b4ccc086655">hottest year on record</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Changes in temperature and rainfall caused by climate change could shave six months off the average human lifespan, researcher Amit Roy said in a paper published in the journal PLOS Climate.



Roy, a researcher at The New School for Social Research and Bangladesh’s Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, came to the conclusion after analyzing life expectancy data from 191 countries between 1940 and 2020.



An annual temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius on its own would cut average human life expectancy by around five and a half months once other factors affecting lifespan like GDP are accounted for, Roy said.



Changes in rainfall—which is&nbsp;<a href="https://climate.ec.europa.eu/news-your-voice/news/how-climate-change-disrupting-rainfall-patterns-and-putting-our-health-risk-2023-08-03_en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disrupted</a>&nbsp;in a multitude of health-affecting ways by climate change—also have an impact on life expectancy, the data showed



Considered in isolation without temperature changes, an increase or decrease in rainfall could be both beneficial or detrimental depending on circumstances—for example, in an area already experiencing heavy rainfall or an area experiencing drought.



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However, when considered alongside temperature changes, Roy—who developed a new composite index to consider the combined impact of the two features on life expectancy—found a more negative outcome, with a 10-point change on the index combining the two features leading to a six month drop on the average life expectancy.



Women and those in developing nations are disproportionately affected by the life expectancy hit, Roy said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Scientists have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/09/2023-was-officially-the-worlds-hottest-year-on-record/?sh=5b4ccc086655">confirmed</a>&nbsp;2023 as the hottest year on record and experts warn 2024 could be hotter still. Experts overwhelmingly believe that human activity is driving significant and rapid climate change the likes of which our planet has never experienced and warn that even with drastic action to mitigate damage, a great deal of hardship from this is going to be in store for coming decades. While variations in climate are a normal and expected part of the planetary ecosystem, emissions of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane have disrupted natural cycles and help lock heat inside the planetary system. These temperature increases have disrupted climatic patterns and features like rainfall, which can both decrease and cause problems in the form of phenomena like drought and increase and cause issues like flooding in wetter areas. Without drastic and swift action to cut emissions, scientists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/10/25/here-are-6-tipping-points-the-un-warns-could-soon-spell-disaster-for-humanity-from-space-junk-to-disappearing-water/?sh=710d0f72797a">warn</a>&nbsp;we will cross planetary tipping points from which there may not be a return and extreme weather like storms, droughts and freezes are expected to increase in both frequency and severity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



While abundant research has documented a slew of negative health effects linked to climate change—including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/11/21/extreme-heat-killed-over-70000-in-europe-last-year-study-finds-this-year-is-on-track-to-be-even-worse/?sh=62fbcdd57929">potentially lethal heat</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/04/28/climate-change-could-spark-future-pandemics-study-finds/?sh=a5d1e2b57873">the risk of new deadly pandemics</a>, an uptick in extreme weather events and natural disasters and risks for those with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/04/climate-crisis-poses-greatest-risk-to-people-with-respiratory-illnesses-experts-warn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">breathing</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/publications/all-publications/the-impact-of-climate-change-on-mental-health-and-emotional-wellbeing-current-evidence-and-implications-for-policy-and-practice.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mental health</a>&nbsp;problems—Roy said none had yet established a direct link between the phenomenon and life expectancy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“The global threat posed by climate change to the well-being of billions underscores the urgent need to address it as a public health crisis,” Roy said, adding: “mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and proactive initiatives are essential to safeguard life expectancy and protect the health of populations worldwide.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/09/2023-was-officially-the-worlds-hottest-year-on-record/?sh=5b4ccc086655">2023 Was Officially The World’s Hottest Year On Record</a> (Forbes)

Reports Indicate 2016 Was Hottest Year On Record

Climate Change Could Cut Months From Life Expectancy, Research Warns

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Annual carbon emissions from bottom trawling—a popular fishing method used to capture seafood at the bottom of the ocean—is equivalent to around 40% of annual transportation emissions in the U.S., a new study published Thursday found, reaffirming previous research on the harms of bottom trawling.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<a href="https://www.msc.org/what-we-are-doing/our-approach/fishing-methods-and-gear-types/demersal-or-bottom-trawls" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bottom trawling</a>&nbsp;is a fishing method used to catch large quantities of fish at once, which involves dragging nets towed by boats along the ocean floor to catch fish and other marine animals.



When the nets scrape the ocean floor, they disturb and cut up the coal housed in the marine sediment, releasing carbon dioxide into the water that eventually finds its way into the atmosphere.



Between 55% and 60% of the carbon dioxide made underwater by bottom trawling will be released into the atmosphere within the following nine years, the Thursday study published in Frontiers in Marine Science found.



Around 370 million metric tons of carbon emissions were released into the atmosphere every year between 1996 and 2020 due to bottom trawling, equivalent to around 40% of all U.S. transportation emissions in 2022 (1,023 million metric tons)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=307&amp;t=10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.



Annual bottom trawling emissions are more than double the annual fuel emissions from the global fishing fleet(<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0117-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">179 million</a>&nbsp;metric tons a year), almost double the annual emissions produced by volcanos (<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/hvo/news/volcano-watch-which-produces-more-co2-volcanic-or-human-activity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">200 million</a>&nbsp;metric tons) and 55% of all U.S. yearly agriculture emissions (<a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/natural-resources-environment/climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">671.5 million</a>&nbsp;metric tons).



The researchers identified bottom trawling carbon dioxide emissions as the highest in the East China Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Greenland Sea.



A previous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03371-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;published in 2021 found bottom trawling releases as much carbon dioxide as the entire aviation industry, and there’s less carbon in trawled areas of the ocean than untrawled areas.



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The practice’s controversy has led to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration banning it from some parts of the seafloor off the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://montereybay.noaa.gov/resourcepro/ebmi/2020nmfs_rule.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">West Coast</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mpi.govt.nz/fishing-aquaculture/sustainable-fisheries/strengthening-fisheries-management/bottom-trawling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New Zealand</a>&nbsp;restricting it from around 20% of its territorial sea and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N3706KS/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.K.</a>&nbsp;banning it from at least one body of water.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“The good news is that reducing bottom trawling carbon emissions will deliver immediate benefits,” Enric Sala, study author and executive director of ocean preservation company Pristine Seas, said in a statement. “The bad news is, delaying action ensures that emissions from trawling will continue seeping into the atmosphere a decade from now.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CONTRA</h2>



Some researchers don’t believe bottom trawling emits as much carbon as previously reported. Researchers who wrote a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06014-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">response paper</a>&nbsp;to the 2021 study believe the study overestimated the carbon emissions of bottom trawling by between 100 and 1,000 times due to the researchers’ flawed assumption of the carbon cycle. Around 70% of buried carbon can be broken down by bottom trawling and release carbon dioxide, according to the 2021 study. However, buried carbon isn’t reactive to oxygen, and therefore most of it cannot be broken down, the response paper says. “It doesn’t mean [the 2021 study] can’t be important, but it does mean that the model makes no sense,” lead author of the response paper and researcher at Bangor University in Wales&nbsp;<a href="https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/premium/environment-sustainability/response-paper-aims-to-debunk-the-theory-that-bottom-trawling-releases-as-much-carbon-as-air-travel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;SeafoodSource News. A separate&nbsp;<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16105" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>&nbsp;released in 2022 challenged claims that there was less carbon in trawled areas compared to untrawled areas. It reviewed 49 papers and found 61% saw no difference, 29% reported less carbon in untrawled areas and 10% reported higher carbon levels in trawled areas of the ocean.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



19 million tons. That’s how much seafood is caught by bottom trawling annually, making bottom trawling responsible for over a quarter of all wild-caught seafood captured each year, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1802379115" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Besides releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, bottom trawling has other dangerous effects. Between 40% to 45% of carbon released by bottom trawling remains in the ocean, which increases ocean acidification and leads to harmful damage on aquatic plants and animals, according to Thursday’s paper. The practice can also lead to a change in nutrient levels, the destruction of habitats and plant roots and reduce photosynthesis in ocean-dwelling organisms,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/programs/cmhrp/news/what-drag-global-impact-bottom-trawling" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the U.S. Geographical Survey, an arm of the Department of the Interior. It’s also believed bottom trawling is wasteful:&nbsp;<a href="https://marine-conservation.org/archive/mcbi/DSCC_RedHerrings.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">50%</a>&nbsp;of all unwanted and discarded fish by the fishing industry is caught through bottom trawling. This is equivalent to around 437 million tons of discarded fish, or a loss of $560 billion, the University of California, Santa Barbara&nbsp;<a href="https://emlab.ucsb.edu/blog/overlooked-impact-bottom-trawling" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/climate/climate-change-oceans.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Looking for Climate Solutions? Protect More Ocean, Researchers Find.</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)

Crew members of purse seiner hauling in net while fishing for salmon

Here’s How Much Carbon Emissions Are Caused By A Popular—And Controversial—Fishing Method, According To Study

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline"><a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>TOPLINE</h2>



Global carbon emissions reached another record high in 2023—even after both the U.S. and E.U. cut fossil fuel emissions, according to a recently published study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



This year’s global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are projected to total 36.8 billion tonnes—a 1.1% rise from 2022, according to a study published by&nbsp;<a href="https://globalcarbonbudget.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Carbon Budget</a>.



The report, compiled by an international team of climate researchers from more than 90 universities, determined that time is “running out fast” to avoid the worst impacts from climate change.



The global rise comes even after a sizable reduction in emissions from the European Union and the United States, decreasing by 7.4% and 3% respectively.



However, emissions from India are projected to increase by 8.2%, and emissions from China are expected to rise by 4%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



According to the Global Carbon Budget, emissions have largely plateaued in the last 10 years. The world did not see a significant increase compared to 2022, which also saw emissions increase by 1%. However, experts say this stabilization will not be enough to ensure emissions breach the 1.5ºC threshold—after which the earth will experience irreversible damage from climate change. The Global Carbon Budget now estimates that there is a 50% chance the world will exceed the 1.5C threshold in just seven years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



Professor Corinne Le Quéré of the University of East Anglia’s School of Environmental Sciences said the annual changes are “not profound or widespread enough” to deter climate change. “All countries need to decarbonise their economies faster than they are at present to avoid the worse impacts of climate change,” Le Quéré said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The study was released as the UN’s annual climate conference, COP28, takes place in the United Arab Emirates. COP28 president-delegate Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of the UAE’s state-run oil and alternative energy companies, has faced steep criticism since the conference began. Last week, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2023/12/01/cop28-advisory-board-member-resigns-over-reports-uae-used-climate-talks-to-push-fossil-fuels/?sh=480addf4a37e">leaked memos</a> appeared to show Al Jaber was using the conference to pursue more oil and natural gas deals. On Sunday, comments Al Jaber made at a SHE Changes Climate summit on November 21 attracted further criticism. “There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C,” Al Jaber said, in remarks first reported on by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/03/back-into-caves-cop28-president-dismisses-phase-out-of-fossil-fuels" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Guardian</a>. The COP28 president’s beliefs seem to directly conflict with the UN’s stated position on meeting the threshold. “The science is clear: the 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in an address at COP28. “Not reduce. Not abate. Phase out.”

Global Carbon Emissions Reached Another Record High In 2023, Study Suggests

Mbongeni Buthelezi&#8217;s fascination with turning discarded materials into meaningful art is evident, and his creative sanctuary is a testament to his unwavering dedication.



It is the middle of July in South Africa and everyone is dressed head to toe in full winter gear, including Mbongeni Buthelezi as he opens the entrance to his studio for me.



The immediate assumption one makes at this point is “oh no, it&#8217;s going to an ice cold studio”. However, as you walk in, you are greeted with a large warehouse space with expansive windows allowing a good amount of sunlight into the building. These allow Buthelezi to see his work accurately and also provide the space with a welcoming source of heat. The heat guns that Buthelezi and his assistant have going to apply the plastic to the canvas of his latest piece also provide an element of warmth as they had clearly been doing this for the previous few hours.



The studio itself is a haven of transformation. As one enters, the artistic journey that Buthelezi has embarked upon becomes palpable. The creations within are diverse and captivating, ranging from pieces that could be mistaken for oil or watercolor paintings to sculptures that stretch over seven feet in height, even extending to custom-designed dining tables. Buthelezi&#8217;s fascination with turning discarded materials into meaningful art is evident, and his creative sanctuary is a testament to his unwavering dedication.



When asked about his journey as an artist, Buthelezi&#8217;s response is: &#8220;This is my whole life. For me, it all really began in 1985 when I first stepped into an art class. By 1992, I had transitioned from part-time exploration to full-time immersion into this art thing.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.19.10-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60304" style="width:588px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.19.10-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.19.10-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.19.10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.19.10.jpg 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>


The years that followed were filled with growth, marked by the completion of an art teaching course and exploration of teaching art. As his commitment to his craft deepened, he navigated the realms of both artistic creation and education. However, due a few stubborn students he encountered along the way, the decision to take his art career into the realm of an independent artist was made all that much easier. He reflects: &#8220;Animals are dying, fish in the ocean are dying – because of this material and because of us as human beings. It is us that need to take responsibility.&#8221;



Buthelezi&#8217;s early years at art school as an artist are interwoven with the exploration of varied techniques. His journey as a student introduced him to a rich array of artistic methods, each of which contributed to the evolution of his craft. The culmination of these experiences granted him a versatile toolkit that enriched his artistic expression. A pivotal moment was a call for innovation, a desire to create something uniquely his own. The scarcity of resources, combined with financial constraints, propelled him to seek alternative media. Fueled by an ambition to break free from conventional artistic pathways, Buthelezi embarked on experimentation.



Buthelezi says: “There was a time that I once thought I need a change, I need to do something that would be unique and what was that going to be? At the beginning I had no money to buy paint, I didn’t really have enough money to make ends meet, to be honest. So I began to seriously look around and see what I could possibly do to be able to proceed with whatever it was that I wanted to achieve.”



By the 1990s, Buthelezi had cemented his status as a professional artist, channeling his craft to advocate for a healthier planet. His artworks, born from recycled plastics, encapsulate the essence of growing up in South African townships. Over the course of his career, he has harnessed art as a potent tool for education, sparking dialogues about the global menace of plastic pollution. He boldly asserts that the contemporary world offers abundant resources for art creation without necessitating additional manufacturing.



“Honestly my work has been displayed in exhibitions, festivals, workshops which have taken me to all kinds of places. Germany and Australia were two of my favorites. Vermont in Canada was amazing but very cold!” These exhibitions showcased the universality of his message. His art functions as a mirror reflecting societal realities, prompting discussions on pressing issues. “Last year I engaged in a discussion on plastic innovation at the South African National Science and Technology Forum. Later in the year, I was set to participate in an art and environment festival in Abu Dhabi.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.16.14-682x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60305" style="width:379px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.16.14-682x1024.jpg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.16.14-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.16.14-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/WhatsApp-Image-2023-08-22-at-10.16.14.jpg 853w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /></figure></div>


Amidst the acclaim, Buthelezi has encountered sceptics questioning the sustainability of his



technique due to the eventual depletion of plastic resources. “However, I welcome this outcome as it really does align with my work&#8217;s purpose which is highlighting the true urgency of plastic pollution in the world.”



In his ongoing journey, Buthelezi not only creates art but also fosters conversations and inspires change, which in his opinion is the purpose of art. As he prepares for engagements and exhibitions, his commitment to being an artist mirrors society and stands as a testament to the transformative power of creativity. The fusion of innovation, environmental consciousness, and advocacy underscores the significance of his work in addressing global challenges. He combines artistic expression with environmental advocacy, using recycled plastics.



His art sparks dialogues on plastic pollution globally. His work is a testament to the transformative power of creativity, addressing global challenges through innovation and advocacy. A truly visionary man being the change in the world that he wants to see. Maybe we could all take a little something from that.

Mbongeni Buthelezi uses plastic for his art

Plastic To Paint: The South African Combining Artistic Expression With Environmental Advocacy

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The Geminids meteor shower—which <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/geminids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA calls</a> one of the “best and most reliable” yearly meteor showers—returned on Sunday and is slated to run through December 24, with a peak in three weeks, though no equipment is required to see it.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



The shower peaks between December 13 and December 14, but it may still be visible beforehand with the proper observing conditions, NASA&nbsp;<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/geminids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>.



The shower is best viewed during the night before dawn, and because it usually starts earlier than other showers, between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., it’s considered one of the best for young viewers, according to NASA.



A dark, open sky away from city or street lights is ideal, and the best viewing position is laying flat on the back with feet facing the south—binoculars and telescopes typically aren’t needed.



Though it will be visible everywhere in the night sky, from Earth’s perspective, the Geminids meteor shower appears to originate from the direction of the Gemini constellation, which is northeast of the Orion constellation,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.space.com/34921-geminid-meteor-shower-guide.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to Space.



The Geminids meteor shower is fast, very bright, and mainly made up of white meteors, though there are some yellow, green, blue, and red ones,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/geminid-meteor-shower-uk-dates-how-to-see" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the Royal Museums Greenwich.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



120. That’s how many meteors can be seen per hour during the shower’s peak season,&nbsp;<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/geminids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to NASA. This makes the Geminids stream one of the “strongest” annual showers. In comparison, the&nbsp;<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/leonids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Leonids</a>&nbsp;shower—which peaked last weekend—has about 15 meteors per hour, the&nbsp;<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/orionids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Orionids</a>&nbsp;shower has 23 and the&nbsp;<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/perseids/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Perseids</a>&nbsp;shower peaks at around 100 meteors per hour.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The Geminids meteor shower was&nbsp;<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/geminids/%5C" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first discovered</a>&nbsp;in the 1800s, and the first showers only displayed between 10 and 20 meteors per hour. The Geminids stream has since grown into one of the “most intense” meteor showers, and is unique because it’s one of the only showers to originate from an asteroid, according to a June&nbsp;<a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/acd538" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a>&nbsp;published in the&nbsp;Planetary Science Journal. Most meteor showers are made of comet debris, but the Geminids stream originates from the asteroid&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids-comet-like-tail-is-not-made-of-dust-solar-observatories-reveal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">3200 Phaethon</a>. Because comets are made of ice, when they travel close to the Sun, they melt and release a trail of ice and dust that eventually turns into a meteor shower. However, because asteroids are made of metal and rocks and aren’t affected by the Sun’s heat, many scientists are confused how 3200 Phaethon formed a meteor shower. The most likely answer is the asteroid violently collided with another object, causing the trail of debris that makes up the Geminids stream, according to the&nbsp;Planetary Science Journal&nbsp;study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h2>



This year, the Geminids stream’s peak coincides with the new moon, which falls on December 12,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/#Geminids" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the American Meteor Society. The moon will be 1% full around this time, making the night’s sky dark and creating an ideal viewing environment for the meteor shower.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.space.com/34921-geminid-meteor-shower-guide.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Geminid meteor shower 2023: When, where &amp; how to see it</a>&nbsp;(Space)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/britneynguyen/2023/11/17/leonid-meteor-shower-peaks-tonight-heres-how-to-watch/?sh=54baa8b0195b">Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight—Here’s How To Watch</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Geminid Meteor Shower In China

How To Watch Geminids Meteor Shower: One Of This Year’s ‘Most Intense’ Showers Has Returned

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Greenpeace is facing a major new legal threat in the form of a $2.1 million lawsuit from oil giant Shell,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/shell-sues-greenpeace-21-million-after-boarding-oil-vessel-2023-11-09/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple outlets</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/09/shell-sues-greenpeace-over-fossil-fuel-protest-in-north-sea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;Thursday, after the environmental advocacy group’s protestors occupied a floating oil platform in January in what one spokesperson called an “unlawful and extremely dangerous” stunt.



Greenpeace activist Yeb Saño holds aloft a flag on a rib after attempting to board a Shell oil&nbsp;&#8230; [+]GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



U.K.-based Shell filed a claim against Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International in London&#8217;s High Court alleging the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/greenpeace-protesters-board-shell-platform-bound-for-shetland" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">occupation</a>&nbsp;of a floating oil production vessel by protesters earlier this year cost the company money in shipping delays and forced it to hire extra security,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/shell-sues-greenpeace-21-million-after-boarding-oil-vessel-2023-11-09/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>&nbsp;reported.



Shell has asked the court to stop any future protests on the company’s infrastructure at sea or in port, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/09/shell-sues-greenpeace-over-fossil-fuel-protest-in-north-sea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Guardian</a>, and threatened to file further claims on behalf of contractors that could be worth as much as $8.6 million.



Greenpeace has accused Shell of trying to silence any legitimate protests of its fossil fuel operations, but Shell has said the lawsuit is focused only on protests at sea and is designed partly to protect the safety of protesters.



A spokesperson for Shell said in an email to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that the protest was &#8220;unlawful and extremely dangerous.&#8221;



In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/63522/shell-hits-greenpeace-with-intimidation-lawsuit-threatening-8-6m-damages-claim-and-protest-ban-to-silence-climate-demands/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;posted to its website Thursday, Greenpeace called the lawsuit an attempt “to silence growing dissent over moves by Shell’s chief executive” and said Shell has offered to settle for $1.4 million if Greenpeace vows to never again stage a protest “at its infrastructure” at sea or in port.



Greenpeace said it would only comply with the request if Shell &#8220;agreed to stop wrecking the climate&#8221; and comply with a Dutch court order to reduce its emissions by 45% by 2030.



Greenpeace activists hold a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters amid the companies&nbsp;&#8230; [+]CHRIS J RATCLIFFE FOR GREENPEACE VIA GETTY IMAGES



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“The right to protest is fundamental and we respect it absolutely. But it must be done safely and lawfully,” Shell’s statement reads. “Shell and its contractors are entitled to recover the significant costs of responding to Greenpeace’s dangerous actions.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Climate activists used ropes to hoist themselves onto a floating production storage and offloading vessel from inflatable boats they used to chase the Shell ship. The protestors boarded the vessel just north of the Canary Islands and rode it for 13 days,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/63522/shell-hits-greenpeace-with-intimidation-lawsuit-threatening-8-6m-damages-claim-and-protest-ban-to-silence-climate-demands/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to Greenpeace</a>. No arrests were made. The vessel was bound for the not-yet-operational Penguins oil and gas field in the North Sea, and protestors were imploring the company to stop drilling for new oil and gas and &#8220;instead take responsibility for causing climate breakdown.” The Penguins platform is the first new northern North Sea project for Shell in 30 years and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shell.com/about-us/major-projects/penguins.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is expected</a>&nbsp;to yield 45,000 barrels of oil per day.



Greenpeace activists hang a banner on July 24, 2014 in front of a Shell gas station in Santiago,&nbsp;&#8230; [+]AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$39.9 billion. That&#8217;s how much money&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/shell-earnings-oil-giant-reports-record-annual-profits.html#:~:text=Shell%20reported%20adjusted%20earnings%20of,2021%20profit%20of%20%2419.29%20billion." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shell reported in adjusted earnings&nbsp;</a>in 2022, more than double its 2021 profit of $19.29 billion.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



This isn’t the first time Shell and Greenpeace have butted heads. The two famously faced off back in 1995 when the oil company, known at the time as Royal Dutch Shell, proposed it would get rid of its decommissioned rig called the Brent Spar <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/47744/brent-spar-the-sea-is-not-a-dustbin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">by sinking it</a> in the North Atlantic Ocean. Greenpeace activists occupied the tanker for three weeks and organized a boycott of service stations worldwide while claiming the vessel Shell was trying to sink had 5,500 tons of oil on board. The estimate was vastly higher than what Shell claimed and what later proved to be true—Greenpeace ultimately issued an apology. Shell withdrew its plan to sink the Brent Spar. Greenpeace later successfully protested Shell&#8217;s <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/7022/you-did-it-shell-abandons-arctic-drilling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2006 plan</a> to drill for oil in the Arctic. Two years ago, Greenpeace was involved in a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-wins-court-case-start-seismic-surveys-offshore-south-africa-2021-12-03/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">failed attempt</a> to stop the company from looking for oil in humpback whale breeding grounds on South Africa&#8217;s coast.

Shell Posts Quarterly Profits

Shell Sues Greenpeace For $2 Million After Protest On Moving Oil Platform — The Latest Clash Between The Two

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline"><a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>TOPLINE</h2>



A drought in Spain, record-high temperatures and a pause in Turkish exports have driven prices of Spanish olive oil to a record high of $8,900 per ton this month, and there&#8217;s no clear indication as to when they&#8217;ll fall.



Extreme hot weather and persistent drought conditions have dealt a severe blow to olive oil&nbsp;&#8230; [+]ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



&#8220;Extremely dry weather in much of the Mediterranean&#8221; has been blamed for the skyrocketing prices of olive oil—up 130% from last year—by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, which warns the only thing that could bring them down in the coming months would be improved growing conditions.



The Catalonia region of Spain&nbsp;<a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/08/09/we-have-never-seen-it-so-low-spain-introduces-water-restrictions-as-reservoirs-run-dry#:~:text=Drought%20is%20leaving%20reservoirs%20empty&amp;text=Spain%20registered%20the%20driest%20start,Andalusia%20being%20the%20most%20affected." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">declared</a>&nbsp;a drought emergency in 24 municipalities in August after 30 months of little rain, and the drought has dried up reservoirs, parched olive groves and led to restrictions on water use across the country, per&nbsp;<a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151366/spain-browned-by-drought" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>.



The lack of rain has coincided with the nation’s third-hottest summer on record: The Spanish meteorological agency&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aemet.es/en/noticias/2023/09/avance_verano_2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">says</a>&nbsp;four heat waves were recorded this summer, temperatures were 2.3°F (1.3°C) higher than normal on average and meteorologists are predicting a warmer-than-normal autumn.



Italy and Greece, which also grow a significant portion of the world’s olives, have also seen hot, dry seasons, with Italy recording&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/08/07/extreme-heat-in-southern-italy-increased-july-death-rate-officials-say/?sh=4ab63d9c2664">temperatures</a>&nbsp;over 40°C (104°F), and Greece, where major tourist attractions&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/07/15/europes-dangerous-heat-wave-greece-closes-acropolis-as-warnings-issued-across-italy-spain-and-germany/?sh=7b774c7e39c0">were closed</a>&nbsp;due to the heat, notching temperatures just as high.



Spain, the world’s largest producer and exporter of olive oil, made 50% less oil in its most recent season, CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/19/olive-oil-prices-surge-over-100percent-leading-to-cooking-oil-thefts.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>, and prices have been further impacted by Turkey&#8217;s decision&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to suspend</a>&nbsp;bulk oil exports until at least November 1 in a move meant to ensure domestic supplies and alleviate price pressure.



Before this August, the previous record price for olive oil was set at $6,242 per ton in 1996, according to the USDA.



Picture shows healthy olives grown using an irrigation system developed by researchers of the&nbsp;&#8230; [+]AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



610,000 tons. That&#8217;s how much olive oil Spain produced in the recent season, compared to a usual yield of 1.3 to 1.5 million tons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The global olive oil market was valued at $14.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $18.4 billion by 2030, Fortune Business Insights&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/olive-oil-market-101455" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predicts</a>. Spain manufactures almost half of the world&#8217;s olive oil,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internationaloliveoil.org/the-world-of-olive-oil/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">followed by</a>&nbsp;producers in Italy, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia, Turkey and Morocco. Greeks are the largest olive oil consumer per capita,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/olive-oil-production-by-country" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to&nbsp;</a>the North American Olive Oil Association, followed by Spain and Italy. Greeks consume about 20 liters of olive oil per person each year, compared to about 1 liter per American. The size of the United States compared to other nations, however—only about 10.6 million people live in Greece compared to 331 million in the U.S.—makes the nation a major consumer: The&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDA</a>&nbsp;said American imports usually make up about 30% of the global olive oil trade, and that number is expected to rise to between 35% and 37% this year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



A theft of about 50,000 liters of extra virgin olive oil left one of the nation&#8217;s family-owned mills, Marin Serrano El Lagar, out about $450,000, local news&nbsp;<a href="https://www.elmundo.es/andalucia/2023/08/31/64f0462efc6c8312768b459c.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. No arrests have been made in the theft and a spokesperson for the Civil Guard told&nbsp;El Mundo&nbsp;that stealing in bulk, rather than bottles, makes tracking the oil particularly hard. Just two weeks before that, another 6,000 liters of extra virgin olive oil—$53,500 worth—<a href="https://www.elmundo.es/andalucia/2023/08/23/64e5e1bdfc6c8303668b4591.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was stolen</a>&nbsp;from the Terraverne oil mill.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Olive oil isn&#8217;t the only commodity to have seen cost jumps this summer,&nbsp;Business Insider&nbsp;<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/foodflation-cocoa-surges-12-year-high-orange-juice-hit-record-2023-7?_gl=1*1147odj*_ga*MTgyMjM0ODk0OC4xNjg2NzU2MDU1*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY5NTIxNjY5My4yNS4xLjE2OTUyMTY4OTIuMjMuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Cocoa, orange juice, wheat and soybeans all surged this summer as heavy rainfall and disease impacted West Africa&#8217;s cocoa supply, a crop disease hit citrus plants in Florida and Brazil and Russia pulled out of the deal allowing the export of grain from Ukraine. Soybean prices&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/global-grains-idAFL1N38128J" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">also soared</a>&nbsp;this summer after the USDA reported much lower-than-expected soy plantings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/23/india-to-ban-sugar-exports-in-addition-to-rice-as-corn-soybeans-and-more-crops-falter-in-extreme-heat-and-drought/?sh=56d252986d6c">India To Ban Sugar Exports In Addition To Rice—As Corn, Soybeans And More Crops Falter In Extreme Heat And Drought</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/21/out-with-shrimp-in-with-jellyfish-seafood-industry-facing-potential-overhaul-due-to-climate-change/?sh=2c38609723bb">Out With Shrimp, In With Jellyfish? Seafood Industry Facing Potential Overhaul Due To Climate Change</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/06/26/heres-the-latest-data-on-climate-and-food-and-its-not-good/?sh=1229c7592e52">Here’s The Latest Data On Climate And Food And It’s Not Good</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/09/02/us-farmers-struggle-through-drought-to-bring-food-to-the-table-but-face-more-challenges-ahead/?sh=7119cadcfc08">U.S. Farmers Struggle Through Drought To Bring Food To The Table But Face More Challenges Ahead</a> (Forbes)

Oil pump with candle stick graph chart in the background. World Oil Industry

Olive Oil Prices Jump 50%—And Climate Change Might Be Why

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



A new scientific study offers the first-ever estimates of how many polar bear cubs die because of greenhouse gas emissions—something experts hope will allow the federal government to use the Endangered Species Act to regulate individual projects for their greenhouse gas emissions.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The study by researchers with Polar Bears International, published Thursday in the academic journal&nbsp;Science,&nbsp;explains that polar bears’ survival is heavily dependent on sea ice concentration, because when that sea ice melts, polar bears are forced onto land, where food is less abundant and they are forced to fast for long periods of time.



Polar bears are normally able to fast for long periods of time and survive, but the study says sea ice melting is forcing them to fast for even longer than typical.



The longer they fast, the more weight they lose—nearly a kilogram of body mass each day—and this makes mother bears less able to care for and provide milk for their cubs, which makes cubs less likely to survive into adulthood.



As less cubs survive into adulthood, the species grows closer to extinction.



This study, researchers say, was able to quantify just how much each individual greenhouse-gas emitting project contributes to that sea ice melting and thus contributes to the extinction of polar bears—though the rate at which greenhouse gas emissions contribute to polar bear extinction varies by the region in which those polar bears live, as there are 12 distinct subpopulations of polar bears, each living in a different eco-region.



For example, the study found that 24.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) emissions will decrease the amount of polar bears that survive into adulthood by 2.7% in the Chukchi Sea subpopulation and by 0.6% in the West Hudson Bay subpopulation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



In 2008, after projections showed that two thirds of the world’s polar bears could die by the middle of the 21st century, polar bears became the first animal to be listed as a protected species under the Endangered Species Act as a result of human-caused climate change. Section Seven of the Endangered Species Act establishes a process with which the Department of the Interior must ensure projects they fund or authorize do not further jeopardize the survival of listed endangered species like polar bears. However, in October 2008, then Solicitor of the Department of the Interior David Bernhardt issued a legal opinion declaring Section Seven considerations wouldn’t be required unless one could differentiate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions of specific projects from the total greenhouse gas emissions created by humans since the start of the Industrial Revolution. This made it impossible for the Department of the Interior to evaluate projects based on how their greenhouse gas emissions would contribute to the death of endangered species, because the department previously had no way to establish one specific project’s impact separate from all the other greenhouse gas-emitting projects in the world. However, the researchers at nonprofit Polar Bears International believe this study has finally discovered how to do that. This study, the researchers argue, provides the scientific basis to rescind Bernhardt’s memo and begin including consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in reviews of all new projects.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The researchers behind this paper said that they focused on polar bears because Bernhardt’s memo was created in response to polar bears being listed under the Endangered Species Act. However, they said their findings can be extended to other endangered species. For example, they believe with more research, scientists would be able to establish a similar direct link between individual greenhouse-gas-emitting projects and the survival of marine turtles.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh2280?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D92211209542915049140651591500405688068%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1693398899" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Unlock the Endangered Species Act to address GHG emissions</a> (Nature)

A polar bear walks on the ice floe, a glacier in the background

New Study Makes First-Ever Direct Link Between Greenhouse Gases And Polar Bear Deaths

Africa’s secret weapon in the global energy race – green hydrogen. The continent has the potential to flip the script, transitioning from a fossil fuel consumer to a green energy titan.



The global energy transition has a burgeoning champion – green hydrogen. Often overshadowed by solar and wind, this renewable resource is increasingly crucial for a sustainable future.



The current global hydrogen market is over $130 billion. The World Bank predicts an annual growth of over 9%. Although the surge is likely niche until 2030, the growing demand for renewable energy means that green hydrogen could accelerate rapidly thereafter. Regions with low-cost markets and abundant renewable resources, like Africa, become attractive production markets.



The principle is straightforward. Use renewable energy sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The result? A fuel source that releases only water upon consumption. The applications are limitless, from powering cars to heating homes.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-green-hydrogen">What is green hydrogen?</h3>



At its core, green hydrogen is simple. It’s hydrogen, the universe’s most abundant element, produced environmentally friendly. But how do we make it, and why does it matter?



Green hydrogen is generated via electrolysis, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. But for the hydrogen to be ‘green’, the electricity must come from renewable sources, like wind or solar power. The only byproduct is oxygen, a harmless gas we breathe every day.



In contrast, most hydrogen produced today is ‘grey’ or ‘blue’. It’s derived from fossil fuels, mainly natural gas, and the process releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide, a harmful greenhouse gas. Green hydrogen represents a shift away from this environmentally damaging status quo. However, green hydrogen faces challenges. Currently, it accounts for less than 1% of all hydrogen production. The main obstacle is the production cost, which is not yet competitive compared to grey or blue hydrogen. Most green hydrogen is used in energy-intensive industries like steel and chemical manufacturing.



The path to economic viability for green hydrogen lies in a combination of technological advancements, increased global development investment, and legislative commitments. These factors are expected to make green hydrogen a serious market contender in the coming decades.



Africa is fast becoming a frontrunner in the green hydrogen race.



<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="682" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1240573620.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-59195 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1240573620.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1240573620-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/GettyImages-1240573620-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“FROM SOLAR TO BIOGAS, FROM WIND TO BATTERY STORAGE, THESE INVESTMENTS ARE LEADING ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT GROWTH INDUSTRIES IN OUR COUNTRY.&#8221;
<cite>—South African President Cyril Ramaphosa</cite></blockquote>
</div></div>



Blessed with an abundance of sunlight and wind, Africa is ideally positioned to exploit green hydrogen’s potential. Groundbreaking projects are taking shape across the continent.



From the ambitious SA-H2 venture announced recently in South Africa to a green hydrogen initiative between Namibia and Botswana, these projects signal profound economic opportunities for job creation, growth, and sustainable development.



The Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA), established in 2022, emphasizes Africa’s competitive edge due to low production costs. Masopha Moshoeshoe, Green Economy Specialist at the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency of South Africa, stated in a press release issued by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on the launch of the alliance: “Green hydrogen has the potential to marry South Africa’s significant mineral endowment with its significant renewable revolutionize its energy sector. The SA-H2 fund, which aims to establish a hydrogen ecosystem in South Africa, is at the forefront of this exciting transition.



The $1-billion fund was announced in June as part of a joint effort between the Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa.



“From solar to biogas, from wind to battery storage, these investments are leading one of the most important growth industries in our country,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the announcement in Pretoria.



Blended finance is a key concept underpinning this project.



Andrew Johnstone, the CEO of Climate Fund Managers, explains to FORBES AFRICA that it refers to the strategic use of public



or philanthropic funds to mobilize private sector investment in sustainable development. In the context of SA-H2, this means bringing together private and public funding to make projects economically viable.



“They (the funds) act as a “spark” to ignite and mobilize belief, technology, and other forms of capital,” says Johnstone.



“The SA-H2 project should be seen as part of a larger effort across the region to leverage blended finance for sustainable energy development.”



The project is financed by a combination of different forms of capital, each with a different return requirement. This includes donor capital, commercial capital, and guarantees. By bringing these diverse sources of funding together, the project achieves a lower average cost of capital.



Johnstone explains, “Blended finance means in this context&#8230; to bring in capital in defined proportions in pursuit of a low average cost of capital.” Notably, this blended finance model also allows



for differential risk sharing. If a project underperforms, certain investors may not receive a return, thus sharing the risk in a structured and agreed-upon manner.



Once a project is up and running, it has an obligation to repay its funders, whether those are lenders through equity or energy loans, or others through dividends. Johnstone describes this repayment as a “waterfall”, with those who took the least risk and accepted a lower return being repaid first.



It’s important to highlight the transparency and regulation of these funds. They operate similarly to companies, are regulated by appropriate bodies, and are overseen by advisory boards and investment committees populated by investors or independent representatives. This governance structure ensures a high level of oversight and accountability.



Another key aspect of the SA-H2 project is the co-existence of different funds. The development side of the project is planned with public contracts and equity funds in mind. This co-existence helps redefine what “bankable” means in the context of these projects, potentially accelerating the implementation process.



These blended finance projects aim to create scalable, replicable, and improvable markets, serving as a catalyst for broader change in the energy sector.



South Africa’s SA-H2 initiative is not alone in its ambition.



Namibia is also making significant strides in the green hydrogen sector.



Noteworthy is a project in the Tsau Khaeb National Park, near Lüderitz, with the Namibian government proactively confirming a 24% equity stake in this $10 billion project, almost equivalent to the country’s gross domestic product.



This initiative, led by Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, is gaining momentum with several key partners signing a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the necessary infrastructure for Namibia’s green hydrogen production ambitions.



“Namibia is perfectly positioned to produce low-cost green hydrogen and ammonia for domestic and international markets,” said Frans Kalenga, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Mines and Energy of Namibia on Namibia’s joining of the AGHA, in a press statement. “[It] provides a platform for us to collaborate with neighboring countries. AGHA’s report reaffirms the potential, and provides important recommendations on how we can work together to unlock the extraordinary potential.”



This potential is estimated to generate 15,000 jobs during the direct construction of the project, and a further 3,000 created permanently when the project is fully underway.



Namibia’s Vice President Nangolo Mbumba acknowledged the global transition toward green hydrogen, as well as the country’s abundant natural resources and landscape assisting in the suitability of its development as an industry.



“We are now approaching new fields of economy. Everybody is talking about green hydrogen. Three-four years ago, even the pronunciation was not known,” he said, speaking during the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa in Botswana in April. “People need energy, and plenty of it,” he continued, acknowledging the international collaboration, local training and investment in education to develop the skills needed for green hydrogen initiatives.



“If we succeed, we will produce enough energy for the whole region of southern Africa,” added Mbumba.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Policy and profitability</h3>



A confluence of factors is propelling the growth of green hydrogen in Africa. The continent’s abundant natural resources, particularly sunlight and wind, provide an ideal setting for green hydrogen production. Escalating global demand for clean energy is creating opportunities for African nations to emerge as green hydrogen exporters. Moreover, policymakers are increasingly recognizing green hydrogen’s potential in achieving climate goals and fostering sustainable development.



The advent of green hydrogen presents a substantial opportunity for job creation across the African continent.



With Africa positioned as a potential global exporter of green hydrogen, the sector could become a significant contributor to the continent’s GDP. Moreover, the revenues generated from green hydrogen exports could be reinvested into local communities, improving infrastructure, education, and healthcare.



An analysis by McKinsey on behalf of AGHA identified a possible increase in GDP for member countries of between $66 billion and $126 billion by 2050, as well as up to 4.2 million new jobs as a result of green hydrogen investments.



The potential offers a pathway for nations to build a more resilient future, mitigating economic risks tied to unpredictable oil and gas prices. By developing a green hydrogen industry, nations could foster local technological innovation and enhance their manufacturing capabilities.



This prospect could shift Africa’s role in the global energy landscape, transitioning from a net importer of fossil fuels to a significant exporter of clean energy.



However, the promise of green hydrogen is not solely economic. It also offers a sustainable solution that addresses the pressing issues of economic development and climate change simultaneously.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Green Hydrogen is a tool for survival</h3>



As the world stands on the brink of a pivotal moment in its fight against climate change, green hydrogen emerges as a powerful ally. As a clean, carbon-free source of energy, green hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in various sectors, leading to a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.



In Africa, where climate change threatens both people and ecosystems, investing in green hydrogen will not only enable nations to contribute to global emission reductions but also helps them build resilience against climate change impacts at home.



Even though Africa is responsible for only a fraction of global carbon emissions, the continent is actively taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint.



Green hydrogen can play a significant role in these efforts, replacing carbon-intensive fuels across the economy and leading to substantial emission reductions.



Moreover, exporting green hydrogen to other continents could further reduce global carbon emissions, enhancing Africa’s contribution to the global fight against climate change.



Renewable energy has been identified by many African countries as a key element of their climate change mitigation strategies. Incorporating green hydrogen into these strategies could hasten their progress towards achieving climate goals.



By offering a means to store and transport renewable energy, green hydrogen could solve one of the significant challenges of the energy transition: the intermittency of wind and solar power. This could facilitate a more extensive and efficient use of renewable energy, driving further emission reductions.



At the heart of the global energy transition, green hydrogen stands out as a beacon of hope. This renewable resource, making waves in the energy sector worldwide, has found a promising home in Africa. The continent, blessed with abundant wind and sunlight, is quickly gaining recognition as a potential global leader in green hydrogen production.



Pioneering projects across the continent signify Africa’s commitment to embracing green hydrogen.



Yet, the narrative of green hydrogen extends beyond economics. It is a tale of resilience and innovation in the face of climate change. Looking ahead, it’s clear that green hydrogen could reshape Africa’s energy landscape, transforming the continent from a net importer of fossil fuels to a major exporter of clean energy. Such a transformation could not only stimulate economic growth but also enhance Africa’s influence in global energy and climate policy discussions.



For Africa, the opportunity is now. It’s an opportunity that calls for further research, investment, and policy support, for the sake of the continent and the world.

Aerial view of hydrogen tank terminal at sea

The Rise Of Green Hydrogen In Africa

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Earth’s lowest “gravity hole,” a mysterious depression in the Indian Ocean that experiences less gravity than the rest of the planet, is likely due to plumes of magma under the Earth’s crust, a recent study argues—a conclusion scientists reached using supercomputers to simulate the formation of the area over 140 million years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



There are low-density “<a href="https://www.americanoceans.org/facts/gravity-hole-at-the-bottom-of-the-indian-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gravity holes</a>” all over the planet, but the Indian Ocean geoid low (IOGL) is the most profound—spanning&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/world/gravity-hole-geoid-low-indian-ocean-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1.2 million square miles</a>&nbsp;just off India’s southern coast and causing a&nbsp;<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-10-masswhat-geoid-indian-ocean.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">328-foot dip</a>&nbsp;in sea level.



A&nbsp;<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL102694" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;conducted in May 2023 by scientists at the Indian Institute of Science and GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences suggested that mantle plumes, similar to masses in the Earth’s mantle that create volcanoes, could be the cause of the IOGL.



The researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL102694" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ran 19 simulations</a>&nbsp;using supercomputers to recreate the seismic formation of the Earth dating back 140 million years, six of which led to the formation of the IOGL and all of which suggested magma plumes exist within the mantle.



These plumes were formed by the drifting and eventual collision of India’s subcontinent with Asia&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130206162233.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">40 million years ago</a>, according to co-author of study, Attreyee Ghosh.



The research team estimated that geoid low was formed about 20 million years ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Earth’s surface is a rough&nbsp;<a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GRACE/page3.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">geoid</a>&nbsp;rather than a perfect sphere, meaning that there are places all over the planet with lower or higher gravitational pulls. Magma plumes themselves do not cause lower gravity. In the case of the IOGL, the plumes caused a depression in the geoid, which causes a lower gravity. Areas with more gravity include the Philippines, while other gravity holes include areas under Cuba and the Bahamas. Unlike other gravitational anomalies, the IOGL has gone&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2017/10/16/missing-mass-causing-geoid-low-indian-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unexplained</a>&nbsp;since its discovery in 1948. Smaller anomalies can&nbsp;<a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GRACE/page3.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">usually be traced</a>&nbsp;by thickening or thinning of the Earth’s crust, mantle, or both, but the IOGL has no indication of either. The study on the IOGL reinforces Ghosh’s research on mantle plumes in&nbsp;<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2017GL075392" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2017</a>, which first used models to establish that the density anomaly came from the movement of India’s plate. Research suggests that there are at least&nbsp;<a href="https://www-udc.ig.utexas.edu/external/becker/preprints/k21.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">18 magma plumes</a>&nbsp;in the Earth’s mantle, with some of the most&nbsp;<a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GC009276" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">probable locations</a>&nbsp;being under Tahiti, East Africa, and the Canary Islands.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



Alessandro Forte, a University of Florida geology professor,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/world/gravity-hole-geoid-low-indian-ocean-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told CNN</a>&nbsp;that there were at least two problems with the study. Forte said that Ghosh’s team failed to account for a&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/gd/2019/08/07/remarkable-regions-the-reunion-hotspot/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mantle plume that erupted</a>&nbsp;65 million years ago where the Indian subcontinent would have been at the time, and also that the study’s simulated geoid is different from Earth’s real surface shape.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Ghosh says that the geoid may disappear or move in the next few million years,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/world/gravity-hole-geoid-low-indian-ocean-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to CNN</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/world/gravity-hole-geoid-low-indian-ocean-scn/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">There is a ‘gravity hole’ in the Indian Ocean, and scientists now think they know why</a>&nbsp;(CNN)



<a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/geoid.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">What is the geoid?</a> (National Ocean Service)

Structure of planet Earth in space, 3D rendering

Everything We Know About The Mysterious ‘Gravity Hole’ In The Indian Ocean—And How It Was Formed

Robots that harvest grapes, 3D-printed drones for crops and burgers grown from a single cell? Here’s how innovative new technology is making farming more efficient, sustainable and at the same time, revolutionizing agriculture across the continent.



In Africa, innovation in agritech is not only exciting, it’s essential. With a quarter of the economy of sub-Saharan Africa driven by agriculture – and more than 60% of the population made up of smallholder farms – technological innovation is the key to producing food that will not only meet the needs of a burgeoning population, but do it in a way that ensures the sustainability of the planet’s natural resources.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Cell-to-fork</h3>



In Cape Town, there’s a foodtech company looking at agritech and sustainability through a different lens – reverse engineering. While traditional agriculture involves growing grain that can be fed to livestock until it’s time for the slaughterhouse, Mzanzi Meat are changing an age-old process by identifying the best parts of livestock and using cellular agriculture grow meat in bioreactors. These large-scale brewing vats mean that a single cell, cultivated from a cow, sheep or pig, can produce meat en masse. According to research out of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, cells from a single cow can produce 175 million hamburgers.



When you compare this to the 440,000 cows traditional farming would require for the same output, what Mzansi Meat is doing suddenly makes a lot of sense. Not only does lab-grown meat mimic the exact texture of what can be found in the shops, it is ‘farmed’ without harmful antibiotics or growth hormones. Lab-grown meat could also be the solution to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, land use and other environmental concerns.



For Brett Thompson, the founder and CEO of Mzansi Meat, innovation will happen if more companies look into agritech from a biotech angle. “While more efficient irrigation systems and the use of drones have a role to play, it’s not enough,” he says.



In a landlocked country with few natural resources, farmers in Rwanda no longer need to choose between aquaculture or agriculture. NjordFrey Flagship Farm in Kayonza has created advanced, aquaponic equipment so that fish and vegetables can be farmed at the same time. The focus is hardware, but also sustainability, and the company’s starter kit includes excavating to accommodate rearing fish, establishing soil-less beds for agriculture, piping, plumbing, establishing pumps and filtration. This is all centered around increasing fish and crop production while using 95% less water.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-58869" width="543" height="407" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NIRS-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">NIRS device</figcaption></figure></div>


In Ghana, Fredrick Kpamber and Kingsley Safo are the founders of an ‘eco-aquaponics’ enterprise called Big Green Agro. The off-grid farm is solar-powered and contains 194,500-liter pools, one 7,000-liter pool and four of 12,000 liters. Not only do they farm a high-quality local strain of tilapia, they cultivate nutrient-rich algae which is turned into a concentrate and used as a chemical-free fertilizer. One of the things that make Big Green Agro stand out is that the plants grown aquaponically are not for human consumption, but to feed the fish, and that makes the entire operation self-sustaining.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Soil science</h3>



According to the World Bank, Africa produces 30 million metric tons of fertilizer each year – twice as much as it consumes – yet 90% of fertilizer consumed in sub-Saharan Africa is imported from outside the continent. In order to make fertilizer more accessible and affordable, technology has a role to play. 



In West Africa, smallholder farmers have started to microdose fertilizer. Headquartered in India with regional hubs in Nairobi, Kenya and Mali, microdosing fertilizer is an innovation out of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).



It works by applying small doses of fertilizer (one-tenth of the amount of fertilizer typically used on wheat, and one-twentieth of that used on maize) in the right place and at the right time. The process – which can be done by hand, with a drip irrigation system or via GPS-guided machinery – can effectively double crop yields and the results in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Zimbabwe have garnered worldwide attention.&nbsp;



Understanding the micronutrients that make up soil – and by doing so, being able to create a better, biofertilizer – is an increasingly popular part of agritech research. Preferred by agronomists and soil scientists, biofertilizers (or bio-organic fertilizers) are cost-effective, eco-friendly and guarantee sustainable agricultural production. Unlike their chemical counterparts whose use can lead to adverse effects on the environment, biofertilizers contain living microorganisms that help soil, converting atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, for example.



While the biofertilizer industry is still largely underdeveloped in Africa, Zimbabwe now boasts one of the largest biofertilizer production facilities in sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists from the Research Council of Zimbabwe and the National Commission of Science and Technology in Malawi are working together, doing innovative research to identify indigenous microbial strains with a potential of enhancing soil fertility, reverse nutrient depletion human-induced stress to soil.



In Tanzania, an agritech company named Ng’wala Inventions has developed an automated, solar-powered bio-pesticide and biofertilizer delivery machines that give smallholder farmers access with a pay-as-you-farm system. To date, Ng’wala Inventions has delivered biofertilizer to thousands of rural farmers – 70% being women and youth.



Another country focussed on its soil quality is Ethiopia and the technology they’re turning to is near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, or NIRS. South Ethiopia, alongside its neighbors Kenya and Somalia, is experiencing the worst drought in decades and this is severely impacting soil health and as a result, the country’s agriculture sector. NIRS works by analysing the amount of light that a material absorbs, which indicates how much of a substance is within it. By using this method, soil can be judged based on the nutrients it contains without the use of environmentally harmful chemicals.



Using a NIRS device is a quick, inexpensive and (surprisingly) easy way to understand the makeup of soil and ultimately, grow better quality crops. Ethiopian lab scientists are also using NIRS to analyse fodder – both foraged and formulated – as a way to improve livestock nutrition and productivity.



Other breakthrough studies have shown that NIRS can successfully predict the oil and major fatty acid content of sesame seeds, an economically important crop in the country (next to coffee). Often referred to as Ethiopia’s white gold, sesame seeds are draught-tolerant so producing a better crop can lead to increased income and food security for smallholder farmers, improved export revenue and preservation of the country&#8217;s cultural and culinary heritage.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Rise of the machines</h3>



It&#8217;s reported that the global agricultural robots market will hit $17.8 billion by 2027. While the agricultural robot segment includes devices like drones, there are also robots that work in the fields. In South Africa’s Western Cape province, Stellenbosch is known for its rolling vineyards and wine farms and more recently, Robot X, a robot developed in South Africa by the Department of Viticulture and Oenology at Stellenbosch University and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Robot X, or Dassie, is a unique vineyard robot built with input from local farmers with the aim of making grape production easier thanks to more accurate, real-time data.



Farms are full of data. From weather information to field statistics, seed yield and more, as technology evolves, more data points come up and this only adds to the complexity of what it takes to manage a modern farm operation. This is where precision agriculture comes in – taking big (farm) data and analysing it to maximize output. One of the most accessible ways a farmer can gather large amounts of data today is by using a drone but these eye-in-the-sky tools come at a price.



In Blantyre, South Malawi, MicroMek is a startup that is building low-cost, fixed-wing autonomous drones from 3D-printed parts and recycled materials. The drones, which were originally designed to deliver medicine and medical test kits for diagnosis to remote areas of Malawi, are now also being used by local farmers to monitor land and plant health. In a country that has to deal with climate issues like cyclones and flooding, MicroMek’s innovative Ecosoar drones are built with the environment in mind, even going so far as setting flight records in the new drone corridor in Kisungu.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-farming-the-future">Farming the future </h3>



Home to 60% of the planet&#8217;s arable land, Africa holds immense potential to not only feed its own population but also the rest of the world. In order to optimize its ecosystem and mitigate a rapidly changing climate, new techniques and technologies must come into play because despite its challenges, agriculture remains an important sector that’s ripe for disruption and digital innovation is what will help deliver the future of farming.

Brett-Mzanzi

Ripe For Disruption: Africa’s Big Leap In Agritech

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Some 56% of the world’s oceans have become greener over the last two decades, and it&#8217;s probably because of human-caused climate change, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02262-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a new study</a>&nbsp;published Wednesday in the journal&nbsp;Nature&nbsp;that could offer clues about how climate change is impacting the ocean’s ecosystem.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The researchers in the study used satellite imagery to detect changes in color across the ocean from 2002 to 2022, and found tropical areas near the equator, mostly between the latitudes of 40º south and 40º north, have steadily become greener.



The scientists said this discovery is surprising because they previously expected they’d need over 30 years of data to spot signs of climate change in the color of the oceans, but they were able to spot it with just 20 years’ worth.



There are many reasons the ocean might change color, but the researchers said year-to-year variability in the color of the oceans alone cannot explain such drastic changes.



The researchers were unable to identify exactly why the color was changing, but theorized it might have to do with how nutrients are distributed in the ocean—as the Earth becomes warmer, the upper layers of the ocean become more stratified, making it harder for nutrients, which feed green phytoplankton, to rise to the surface.



While they were unable to say the exact cause of the change, the scientists believe climate change is the driver of the change.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The color of the ocean is vital to understanding the broader ecosystem, said B. B. Cael, the study’s lead author and an ocean and climate scientist at the National Oceanography Centre in the U.K. “The reason we care about the colour is because the colour tells us something about what’s happening in the ecosystem,” Cael told&nbsp;Nature&nbsp;in a piece accompanying the study. The authors said the ocean’s color could affect phytoplankton populations by changing how much light enters the ocean. This ultimately could impact ocean biodiversity, fisheries and the ability of the ocean to store carbon, they concluded. “Our findings therefore might be of relevance for ocean conservation and governance,” they wrote in the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



The study’s authors caution that it&#8217;s still possible this change is the result of a big natural swing rather than climate change. They said they’ll need around 40 years of data to say conclusively that climate change is to blame.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“We are affecting the ecosystem in a way that we haven’t seen before,” Cael, said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



The next big satellite mission to observe ocean color. The authors of the study said one of the challenges was that they had to use multiple different satellites that all measured ocean color in different ways. But an upcoming NASA satellite mission will offer more uniform measurement, helping researchers understand how climate change is impacting the oceans. Set to launch in January 2024, this new satellite will use “hyperspectral” imaging to observe ocean color, which will allow it to see more wavelengths than any previous satellite.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06321-z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global climate-change trends detected in indicators of ocean ecology</a>&nbsp;(Nature)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/13/montana-youth-sue-state-over-climate-change-policies/?sh=6b88471a7d7c">Montana Youth Sue State Over Climate Change Policies</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/07/04/july-3-earth-experiences-hottest-day-on-record/?sh=3b933a0c2d96">July 3: Earth Experiences Hottest Day On Record</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/07/05/july-4-was-earths-hottest-day-in-over-100000-years-breaking-record-for-2nd-day-in-a-row/?sh=103ce7667dd9">July 4 Was Earth’s Hottest Day In Over 100,000 Years—Breaking Record For 2nd Day In A Row</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/06/26/why-sriracha-prices-are-surging-and-why-climate-change-might-have-something-to-do-with-it/?sh=cf645447ab12">Why Sriracha Prices Are Surging, And Why Climate Change Might Have Something To Do With It </a>(Forbes)

Aerial View of the sunrise colors reflecting on the blue ocean with a single surfer

Climate Change Is Likely Changing Color Of Oceans, Scientists Say—Here’s Why It Matters

<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-nomhle-mliswafounder-and-ceo-summerhill-farmzimbabwe">Nomhle Mliswa Founder and CEO, Summerhill Farm Zimbabwe</h4>



Farming is not for the fainthearted,” Nomhle Mliswa says to FORBES AFRICA in the middle of her harvesting season. Mliswa founded Summerhill Farm in 2007, a 345-hectare farm located in Doma, Mhangura, in the Mashonaland West Province of Zimbabwe. She employs 350 people, two-thirds of which are women. She offers one of the few tillage services in Zimbabwe providing tilling for other farmers.



The mixed farming includes small grain crops, maize, soya beans, potatoes, wheat, cattle, chicken, and goats. Mliswa uses smart agriculture practices: precision farming, a zero-waste policy based on a Just in Time strategy that ensures the swift delivery of goods and land profiling to ensure mitigation and adaption, water harvesting, storage and drilled boreholes.



Summerhill Farm adheres to Sustainable Development Goals, namely SDG 13 on Climate Action, Environmental Management and Conservation, as well as employment structure informed by SDG 5 on gender equality, offering equitable practices for both male and female employees.



Employees also get sanitation and decent housing, informed by SDG 6.



Mliswa has established a local school for young children and a clinic within Summerhill Farm, in line with SDGs 3 and 4. This allows the women to work and maintain their families. The farm also has a shop for employees, sponsored ball games for the community, and employees are given potato and chicken rations, in line with SDG 1 and 3.



There is a Climate Desk, assisting local farmers with critical weather information. And Mliswa does not shy away from further CSR–the farm assists with repairing local road networks and bridges.



Summerhill Farm is run by a single mother with a spinal injury–but neither of these things has held Mliswa back in creating a successful diversified farm using smart agriculture. She wants to do more for preserving the environment, implementing mitigation measures, creating awareness with women on global warming, and hosting more educational tours for schoolchildren.

Nomhle Mliswa

‘Not For The Fainthearted’: A Zimbabwean Agriculturalist’s Journey

We all live and we all die, what makes us different are the things we do and the impact of our actions on the world. When it comes to the human mindset, we only think in terms of human-dominated ecosystems. However, with the climate crisis now upon us, the environment is everybody’s business, especially for those in business.



For entrepreneurs and industrialists, the time has come to not just reflect but to put into meaningful action the values that drive work. It is time to think about impact not just on our species but the world in its entirety, to create entrepreneurship beyond the terminology of just buying and selling, and to truly understand that profit is an output, not a purpose.



Research suggests that companies that struggle to answer the purpose question, or that answer it only in terms of the hard metrics of profit, market share and shareholder returns are most likely to encounter lower employee engagement, higher turnover, an uninspiring work culture, and lack of respect for the environment and communities they operate in. This is irrespective of whether the company has prestige, market dominance or great potential for growth.



As per the Climate Risk Country Profiles developed by the World Bank Group, Nepal, where I live, and South Africa, both share climate vulnerabilities.



Nepal is experiencing changes in temperature and precipitation at a faster rate than the global average. From the loss of lives to the loss of livelihoods, natural hazards in different parts of the country put people and ecosystems in distress year after year.



What does climate risk really mean and how does it affect us? Climate risk is commonly defined as extreme changes in weather, floods, disasters, rising sea levels, erosion, biodiversity loss etc. Why does it matter is simple–because people suffer due to these risks, it changes how we live, it changes our health, our livelihoods, our environment.



And where do businesses factor in? The opening statement of a PricewaterhouseCoopers article reads: “The race for net zero has captured the imagination of countries and companies alike. And not a moment too soon: the latest report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) must peak no later than 2025 to avoid the most dangerous and irreversible effects of climate change.”



It goes on to state that companies are not paying enough attention to their decarbonization commitments. Citing what businesses can lose, the report gives the example of how extreme weather events can cost a business conglomerate several hundred million dollars as soon as 2030 due to supply chain disruption. The examples are many and eye-opening. Businesses are forced to give due consideration to reports and articles such as these not just for the financial implications on their operations but also because governments around the world are aligned to the Net Zero Commitment including the top polluters– the US, China, EU and India.



The private sector does have a crucial role in fighting climate change. From reducing the carbon footprint of their product to cultivating climateconscious practices at work, businesses need to tackle their climate and social impact.



Consumers must commit to eating, traveling, living and shopping more mindfully. 



Governments must pledge to tangible actions that go beyond policy discourse and debates. Even as the world feels increasingly complex and unpredictable, meaningful action is needed to maintain a natural balance in how we use our resources and treat the world we inhabit. 



Climate change then is not just an ecological, environmental, social or economic issue, it is really about our personal ethics and the choices we make from moment to moment.



We do not have another planet to move to, what then do we choose for our children and the generations to come?



The writer-photographer from Nepal who keeps the values of freedom and compassion at the core of her work

Businesswoman giving presentation in board room

‘The Environment Is Everybody’s Business, Especially For Those In Business’

There are 600 million smallholder farmers around the world working on less than two hectares of land. These farmers are estimated to produce 28%-31% of total crop production and 30%-34% of food supply on 24% of gross agricultural area.



The most-funded sector on the continent, according to TechCrunch, is fintech. Unfortunately, reports, experts and our profiles tell us a story of how difficult it is to source venture capital funding on the continent for agriculture.



“The answer to that is quite straightforward,” says Dr Mandla Mpofu, the Managing Director of Omnia’s Agriculture Division. “It’s the risk of the business.” 



The pressure on Africa’s food supply will require substantial investment to guarantee food security, as Africa remains the only region yet to experience a Green Revolution. Most of this will come from private investment.



Venture capital firm AgFunder attested that African farming stands out for drawing in a low volume of venture capital investment.



At the moment, the continent is experiencing the fastest rate of population growth in the world.



Consequently, food demand is growing rapidly as well.



However, as the continent with the youngest population in the world, the 2022 Africa AgriFoodTech Investment Report says it attracted less than 1% of all venture capital spending onagriculture—just $482 million compared to the nearly $52 billion raised globally.



The figure for the entire continent is about the same as the public sector agricultural research budget of Nigeria or South Africa. Far too many potential food and agriculture investors still overlook opportunities in Africa.



“There are more and more funding opportunities coming up,” says Bosire, who bootstrapped his business. “But what I really think we need to focus on at the moment is look into Africa as a place of opportunity for investment.



Because agritech in other developed markets is really receiving a lot of funding but it&#8217;s not the case in Africa. So, I believe that with more sensitization of global investors to see Africa as an opportunity to also invest in agritech is really going to help us.”



Investment volumes were negligible just a decade ago, according to reports, but thankfully have grown as investments more than doubled from 2020 to 2021.



They seem set to nearly double again.



“Investing in 2022 got off to a roaring start, with startups raising roughly $400 million in the first half of the year—more than 80% of what was raised in all of 2021,” the AgriFoodTech Investment Report reads.



While 40% of the agricultural workforce (some 440 million workers) is in waged employment; the other 60% are self-employed as farmers, mainly as small scale farmers (Fyfe 2002). 



But why is the uptake slow?



“You have heard the jokes such as if you&#8217;re going to get broke very fast, you either start a farm or buy an airline,” Mpofu laughs. “And everything&#8217;s going to go south. But that&#8217;s exactly why you need more predictive tools in the business, which is why you would need agtech so that you&#8217;re bankable in the industry.”



But there are also reports that interest in funding African farming by venture capital groups spiked last year and is on track to continue expanding aggressively this year.



“I almost feel like this agtech space was made for agriculture,” Dr Agnes Kalibata says. “I was looking at how much money has been invested in this space. About two to three years ago, this was about a $17 billion industry, you know, and growing very fast. Now, actually it is projected that by 2025 to be a trillion dollar industry… There is no reason why most of it should not becoming to Africa.”

Shot of an unrecognisable woman using a digital tablet while working on a farm

Money Does Not Grow On Trees: African Farming Draws Low Volume Of Venture Capital Investments

South Africa, Denmark, and the Netherlands have launched SA-H2, a $1 billion fund to bolster green hydrogen projects in South Africa. The fund, backed by major financiers, signifies a shared commitment to sustainable energy and a belief in green hydrogen&#8217;s critical role in a future low-carbon economy.



In an unprecedented alliance, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Denmark have unveiled a joint fund – the SA-H2 – dedicated to bolstering green hydrogen initiatives in South Africa, tapping into its abundant wind and solar resources. The fund, totaling $1 billion, was launched in Pretoria, South Africa yesterday, with an initial seeding of $50 million from the Dutch investment body, Invest International.



The remainder of the fund is set to be raised over the subsequent two years, with numerous stakeholders including the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Industrial Development Corporation, and insurance firm Sanlam stepping up to support the cause. The fund will be expertly managed by the Dutch Climate Fund Managers.



In his address, delivered beside the Prime Ministers of the Netherlands and Denmark, Mark Rutte and Mette Frederiksen respectively, President Ramaphosa acknowledged the urgent need to tackle South Africa&#8217;s electricity crisis and stressed the critical role of renewable energy in achieving long-term energy security. While acknowledging that the current loadshedding crisis in the country necessitates reliance on its current coal fleet, the fund is nevertheless a move toward more sustainable source of energy.



“From solar to biogas, from wind to battery storage, these investments are leading one of the most important growth industries in our country” said Ramaphosa.



The fund is expected to stimulate significant advancements in the green hydrogen sector, offering early investment opportunities in a technology set to play a transformative role in achieving global emission reduction targets. These investments are likely to be lucrative, given that South Africa’s COP27 presentation revealed the country is targeting $250 billion in green hydrogen investment by the year 2050.



Emphasizing the spirit of collaboration underpinning the fund, Ramaphosa highlighted the diversity of the SA-H2&#8217;s support base, extending beyond state entities and private sector players to include organized labor and NGOs, with all parties hoping for productive social and economic gains, alongside the environmental benefits.



“… that is the true architecture of our cooperation in our country” continued Ramaphosa, “… and it reinforces our view that these developments need to be inclusive, and needs to benefit all within society.”



While the Netherlands and Denmark are not presently part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), they have indicated a supportive stance toward its objectives, and discussions to join the alliance are underway.



The launch also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on green hydrogen between South Africa and the Netherlands. Additionally, an agreement was inked to expand an existing energy partnership between Denmark and South Africa. A finance package for water-related public infrastructure, announced by Invest International, rounded off the day&#8217;s commitments.



These collaborative efforts signify a collective commitment to combating climate change and a shared belief in green hydrogen&#8217;s potential to revolutionize the future energy landscape, with the launch of the SA-H2 fund represents a significant leap toward a sustainable energy future for South Africa.

President Ramaphosa Welcomes Prime Minister Mark Rutte And Mette Fredeiksen In Pretoria

Going Green Together–Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa’s Landmark Green Hydrogen Fund

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



A sweeping climate report released Monday says Europe is the world&#8217;s fastest-warming continent, which has contributed to violent wildfires, drought conditions and a rise in heat-related deaths over the last several years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Europe&#8217;s temperatures are increasing at twice the global average rate of 1.2 degrees Celsius, according to the most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/esotc/2022/european-state-climate-2022-summary" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">European State of the Climate</a>&nbsp;report, and have been since the 1980s.



2022 brought a spring and summer drought through much of Europe; record-breaking heat; wildfires in the Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the U.K.; and a record loss of glacier ice from the European Alps.



More than 16,000 people died last year from severe heat in Europe, and about $2 billion in damages were attributed to floods and storms brought by weather and climate extremes,&nbsp;<a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/europe-worlds-fastest-warming-continent-112322072.html?guccounter=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yahoo News</a>&nbsp;reported.



European economies and ecosystems took a big hit due to the unprecedented climate change, the report said—the Iberian Peninsula, which provides water to Spain, saw its fourth drier-than-average year in a row; dry conditions hit farmers in France and Germany, which saw a lower-than-average cereal and grape yield; and glaciers saw a new record mass loss for a single year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The Earth has been warming at an unprecedented rate since the mid-1800s, when the industrial revolution introduced a skyrocketing usage of fossil fuels and other climate-harming behaviors that kicked off a warming rate not seen in the past 10,000 years,&nbsp;<a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to NASA</a>. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean and biosphere have occurred since, and Monday’s report says Europe is now 2.3 degrees Celsius hotter than it was in pre-industrial times. A relatively recent shift to prioritizing climate solutions has politicians and global organizations pushing for greener alternatives to harmful energy sources like coal and oil, and the 2015 Paris Accords has 195 member nations focused on cutting roughly 50% of emissions by 2030.



Environmentalists demonstrate during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) on December&nbsp;&#8230; [+]GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



30%. That&#8217;s how many more warm days occurred in Europe in 2022 than in the average year. Temperatures were 7 to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than average for seven of the 12 months in 2023, and in July temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time on record in the U.K.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Hotter days, bigger wildfires and more frequent floods. The State of the Climate report says the trend of high temperatures and drought will allow fires to burn hotter for longer periods of time. In addition, rainfall in months when snow is more common can lead to ice melt and increased flooding, as seen in Greenland last fall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The climate report was released on the same day President Joe Biden is expected to launch more than $600 million worth of new climate change initiatives. On a three-day visit to California that starts Monday, Biden is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/19/biden-launching-new-600-million-climate-change-initiative-focused-on-great-lakes-and-coasts/?sh=411cc2e3749d">expected to announce&nbsp;</a>a $575 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration project to help coastal and Great Lakes communities become more resilient to climate change and a $67 million investment for California to modernize its electric grid.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/19/biden-launching-new-600-million-climate-change-initiative-focused-on-great-lakes-and-coasts/?sh=411cc2e3749d">Biden Launching New $600 Million Climate Change Initiative—Focused On Great Lakes And Coasts&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/indiarice/2023/06/17/current-climate-demand-for-oil-will-peak-by-the-end-of-the-decade/?sh=561c084a55df">Current Climate: Demand For Oil Will Peak By The End Of The Decade</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/06/19/climate-change-is-scarring-europe-and-southern-countries-most-of-all/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Climate change is scarring Europe, and southern countries most of all </a>(Irish Times)

Start of the day – Traffic

Europe Warming Faster Than Any Other Continent, Report Suggests

Boeing is partnering with Equatic, a Los Angeles-based startup that removes carbon from the ocean, in a first-of-its-kind deal to buy a massive amount of carbon credits and green hydrogen that’s likely worth at least $50 million.



Under the five-year arrangement, Equatic will remove 62,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide for the aerospace giant and supply it with 2,100 metric tons of “green” hydrogen generated as a byproduct of its technology. Equatic declined to provide a value for the agreement, though it’s more than double the size of a 25,000-ton CO2 elimination contract competitor&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpmorganchase.com/news-stories/jpmorgan-chase-seeks-to-scale-investment-in-emerging-carbon-removal-technologies" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Climeworks just announced with JP Morgan Chase</a>. Climeworks values that deal—which doesn’t include hydrogen fuel—at more than $20 million. (The financial company is also contracting with startup Charm Industrial to put captured carbon underground as “bio-oil” made with agricultural scraps.)



The deal arose from plans for a technology partnership between the companies related to large-scale CO2 removal facilities Equatic is developing, said Lorenzo Corsini, the startup’s principal advisor, who declined to discuss specific details.



“This catalyzes the development of the technology and it&#8217;s a leap of faith by Boeing,” Corsini told&nbsp;Forbes. Boeing is “serious about removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and knows that they need to invest upfront to do this.”



Equatic recently spun out of UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management and is part of a new wave of companies with a mission to slow the buildup of climate-warming CO2 by pulling it out of the atmosphere. Unlike the approach of rivals such as Climeworks, Charm and CarbFix, which absorb CO2 from the ambient air and store it, Equatic’s focus is using electrolysis to remove CO2 from seawater and convert the carbon into seashell-like material that it believes won’t harm the aquatic environment. Hydrogen, which is increasingly seen as a promising clean fuel for industrial applications and transportation, is also a byproduct.



“Reaching aviation’s sustainability goals will require a multi-faceted approach and Boeing sees immense value in Equatic’s technology,” Sheila Remes, Boeing&#8217;s vice president of environmental sustainability, said in an emailed statement. “We are excited to partner with Equatic on both green hydrogen feedstock and carbon dioxide removal.”



Equatic focuses on oceans as they’re Earth’s largest CO2 reservoir. Founder Gaurav Sant, director of the UCLA initiative, believes its approach amplifies natural processes and is the cheapest, most energy-efficient way to achieve gigaton-level CO2 removal and produce hydrogen from nonpolluting sources. The amount of CO2 removed is also measurable “down to the gram,” the company said.



(For more on Equatic see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/04/12/equatic-startup-co2-green-hydrogen/?sh=6a2da83a426a">An L.A. Startup Aims To Turn The Oceans Into A CO2 Sponge And ‘Green’ Hydrogen Machine</a>)



That’s important because of growing skepticism around carbon offsets, such as those sold by Verra, the biggest certifier of carbon credits. David Antonioli, the non-profit’s CEO, stepped down this month after acknowledging that a significant portion of credits it’s approved is not based on reality, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/23/ceo-of-worlds-biggest-carbon-credit-provider-says-he-is-resigning" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report by&nbsp;The Guardian</a>.



Equatic began operating pilots in Los Angeles and Singapore in April to demonstrate the technology. A larger “sub-commercial” facility is set to open as soon as late next year in Singapore, integrated within an existing desalination plant. It will be able to remove 3,500 metric tons of CO2 annually. Equatic then wants to have its first commercial plant running in about three years with the capacity to remove 100,000 metric tons of CO2 and generate 3,500 tons of hydrogen annually. That’s about three times the size of Climeworks’ Mammoth plant under construction in Iceland, which will be able to capture and store 36,000 tons of CO2 annually when fully operational.



The company is in the process of raising $100 million for research and plant construction costs. It’s already taken in $30 million from backers including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, National Science Foundation, Singapore’s Temasek Foundation, PUB: Singapore’s National Water Agency and the Energy Department.



Corsini estimates Boeing’s purchase agreement is the fifth-largest CO2 elimination deal that’s been announced. Equatic had previously announced that financial services company Stripe is buying CO2 offset credits from its small pilot facilities. Boeing will get credits from the Singapore plant that is to open by early 2025 and Equatic’s first commercial facility, the location of which hasn’t been announced.



“Because we’re still engineering and building those plants, we haven&#8217;t started really reaching out more systematically to clients to fill the pipeline,” Corsini said. In addition to Boeing, “we also have a number of other partners. Expect some more announcements soon on that,” he said, declining to elaborate.

6437f7f632fff1391b8db551_0x0

Boeing Bets On Startup Equatic With Massive CO2 Removal, Hydrogen Deal

By Tshilidzi Marwala



As the twentyseventh session of the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) unfolded in Egypt in November 2022, it became a signifier of Africa taking climate change into its own hands. The continent has often been placed on the back burner of other nations.



Yet, it is no secret that climate change has impacted Africa the most, even though its contribution to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions is less than 5%. As the African Development Bank states, this is because of the continent’s relatively low adaptive capability, caused by financial and technological weaknesses, and an over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture.



In fact, in September 2022, the State of the Climate in Africa 2021 UN report revealed the convergence of climate shocks that plague Africa. For example, 2021 Africa experienced at least the fourth warmest year on record. It is expected that by 2030, between 108-116 million people in Africa will be threatened by rising sea levels.



Furthermore, the drought in East Africa is worsening, whereas North Africa is experiencing extreme heat. In the past 50 years, drought has claimed the lives of over half a million people and this resulted in $70 billion economic losses. Furthermore, there has been a 34% reduction in agricultural productivity growth since 1961 as a result of increased temperatures. Therefore, climate change is a significant driver of displacement on the African continent and currently, only 40% of people are covered by MultiHazard Early Warning Systems. Resounding cries from young activists that the future was being stripped from Africa were heard beyond the doors of COP27 – a necessary and powerful call to action as the conference began. The first ‘African COP’ since 2016 represented a rewriting of the continent’s narrative as African nations made a case for climate justice.



As Absa’s Group Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer Punki Modise phrased it: “COP27 marked a necessary – and overdue – concession to pragmatism and the recognition that if we are to effectively mitigate the impact of climate change at a global scale we need to slowly reframe climate issues, especially in the context of human dignity.” The impact of this shift was tangible.



Towards the end of November, the conference closed with a breakthrough agreement to reframe and create new funding avenues for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. New funding arrangements will be established alongside a dedicated “loss and damage” fund to assist developing countries. Additionally, a transitional committee was established to make recommendations on how to roll out funding, with the first meeting expected in March this year. 



The Santiago Network will accompany funding for Loss and Damage deployment to offer technical assistance to these nations.



Of course, as history has demonstrated, the implementation and fulfilment of pledges always fall short of what is needed for the world to deal decisively with climate change. It remains to be seen whether the money will flow – and whether this will be accompanied by necessary commitments from developed nations to phase out fossil fuels and curb the damage it has inflicted over the years.



In reframing the African narrative on climate change, however, there has also been a shift away from solely relying on the Global North to fulfil its commitments. The launch of the African Climate Risk Facility created by 85 insurers in the continent to protect against droughts, floods and tropical cyclones by providing climate risk insurance, represents Africa taking climate action into its own hands. The facility is a $14 billion local market-based funding tool to help African countries increase the resilience of their vulnerable communities.



This speaks to the argument made in the aftermath of COP26 in 2021 for localized solutions and inherently reframes the continent’s ability to respond when disaster hits in response to the often unfulfilled commitments of the Global North.



COP27 has been a valuable exercise in reaffirming developed nations’ commitments to vulnerable and less developed nations – a vital tool for tackling climate change and reframing the continent’s position. The messaging is clear: the Global North must continue acknowledging its role and providing funding and support, but Africa should no longer plead but take matters into its own hands.

Protest during the UN climate summit in Egypt

Climate Change Action Is A Necessity Africa Cannot Ignore, Anymore

Monitoring populations of the great ape in the thick equatorial rain forests of Gabon, one of the most carbon-positive countries in the world. 



By Ramdas Iyer 



Walking behind four machete-wielding villagers in the thick of equatorial rain forest in Gabon, I was participating in the unusual experience of preparing for a western lowland gorilla habituation project. Here we were creating multiple transect lines running over four kilometers through the forest; a well-established scientific methodology for estimating ape population size. 



“Monitoring populations of gorillas is a necessary protocol prior to establishing a habituation program. Camera traps and GPS locators along the transects will eventually give us an idea of the group density in the area,” says Antonio Anoro of Gabon Untouched, a conservation and eco-tourism organization, who, alongside researchers from the Research Institute for Tropical Ecology (IRET), is spearheading the habituation of wild lowland gorillas in the buffer zone next to the Moukalaba-Doudou National Park which covers an area of 1,700 square miles.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Large expanses of tropical rainforest in western Africa have been cleared, logged, and overhunted in recent decades. In contrast, extensive forest in Gabon has survived in an intact condition because the country has a sparse population and substantial petroleum and mineral deposits that have reduced the economic pressure on forests.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The Gabonese government is eager to consider alternative strategies to augment economic development, including promotion of an ecotourism industry. This commitment is evidenced by the government&#8217;s designation of 13 national parks that comprise over a tenth of the country&#8217;s land area. Gabonese forests have among the highest levels of species diversity and endemism in tropical Africa and are likely to play a critical future role in biodiversity conservation.&nbsp;



Gabon Untouched supports sustainable tourism by bringing eco-tourists into deep jungle to observe first-hand, lowland gorillas in their natural habitat. Gorillas were first habituated for human observation and scientific research by Kyoto University scientists 20 years ago at Moukalaba-Doudou National Park.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The steady influx of tourist funds has helped economically sustain the local village of Doussala and gorilla research activities. By habituating a second group of gorillas, we not only protect the forest, home for great apes, but also provide a sustainable livelihood for the locals,” says Anoro, who has worked tirelessly for eight years in Gabon for conservation efforts.&nbsp;



This month, in March, Gabon hosted the ‘One Forest’ Summit attended by Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, French President Emmanuel Macron and other heads of state, to highlight the environmental role and value of rain forests.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Forests potentially represent 20-30 percent of the solution to climate change,&#8221; Gabon&#8217;s Minister of Water and Forestry and conservationist Lee White, said in opening remarks. The host nation, Gabon, became the first African nation to be recompensed through carbon credits for protecting its forests.&nbsp;



Gabon &#8220;absorbs around 100 million tons of CO2 per year&#8230;three tons every second,&#8221; White told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. &#8220;We are well on the way to becoming a sustainable economy.&#8221;&nbsp;

Gorilla conservation in Gabon; photo by Ramdas Iyer

Gorillas, Conservation And Climate Change In Gabon

Startups are aiming to solve big problems for agriculture, including labor and water shortages, climate-driven headaches and declining bee populations, by deploying artificial intelligence, autonomous driving technology and robotics.



f the vast farms of the Midwest are America’s breadbasket, California is its produce department. But the country’s biggest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables is in trouble, threatened by shortages of farm labor and water and rising temperatures due to climate change.



To combat these challenges—if a growing number of startups have their way—California’s fields and orchards will soon be staffed by autonomous flying drones that pluck fruit and nuts from trees, electric self-driving tractors that monitor each row for weeds and crop health and pollinating bees that make their homes on the farm in robotic hives. These futuristic-sounding technologies aren’t decades away —they’re deployed in the field right now.



“That’s the only commercially available electric autonomous vehicle you can buy today,” says Praveen Penmetsa, CEO and cofounder of Monarch, pointing to one of his MK-V tractors as it does test loops through a faux orchard for onlookers at World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, last month. His Livermore, California-based startup, which has raised about $110 million and counts wine scion Carlos Mondavi as a cofounder, started selling its $89,000 self-driving tractors last year, which are outfitted with sensors to monitor crop health.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/6401141f3e8031931c058201/robot-farm-tech/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=960" alt="robot_farm_tech" width="-216" height="-216"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Monarch Tractor&#8217;s electric, autonomous MK-V is equipped with technology found on self-driving cars.ZUMAPRESS/NEWSCOM</figcaption></figure></div>


“Whether it&#8217;s labor or water, or even fertilizers and pesticides, those are all resources that are very expensive. With our tractor, with the data we&#8217;re collecting, (farmers) can be more efficient with all those resources,” Penmetsa told&nbsp;Forbes. “Instead of one driver sitting on a tractor going up and down a row, that same driver can manage three or four tractors at a time and finish the operation faster.”



The urgency to solve long-term challenges for food production coincides with AI-enabled tech advances — the same underlying tech that has automated factories and wowed millions with its ability to generate fanciful text and images (as well as promises to make robotaxis and self-driving semis a reality in the years ahead). And while venture funding has cooled for many emerging technologies, AG tech remains a money magnet, vacuuming up $10.6 billion from investors in 988 deals last year, according to PitchBook.



California, led by its highly productive San Joaquin Valley farms, last year generated more than $51 billion of revenue from grapes, almonds, peaches, lettuce, carrots and other high-value crops, or 12% of total U.S. agricultural production by value, according to the <a href="https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?ID=17844#P32c32cdfed1241fb81d9443323da4aac_28_251iT0R0x29" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDA</a>. That’s far ahead of states synonymous with farming like Iowa and Nebraska. But finding enough people to work the fields grows harder year after year, particularly with the drop in migrant farm labor resulting from stricter border controls. The problem was glaringly apparent at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when ripe crops were<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2020/04/06/lettuce-left-to-die-in-california-fields-as-produce-demand-withers-under-covid-19/?sh=2742e5286428"> left to fallow</a> in the field because there weren’t enough workers to harvest them, triggering shortages of some products at supermarkets.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Pretty much every year our members have been concerned about not being able to get enough people to do what they need to do or would like to be able to do.”
<cite>C. Bryan Little, director of labor affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation</cite></blockquote>



“The lack of products on grocery store shelves was not because farmers stopped growing crops and raising livestock to provide a food source for the country,” the American Farm Bureau Federation said in a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fb.org/focus-on-agriculture/labor-shortages-continue-to-impact-farmers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog</a>. “It was because every step of the supply chain lacked the labor needed to keep up with the demand.”



The problem is acute for California growers, who produce crops that are more labor-intense to harvest than the vast wheat and corn fields of the Midwest. “Pretty much every year our members have been concerned about not being able to get enough people to do what they need to do or would like to be able to do,” said C. Bryan Little, director of labor affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation. That’s also made them receptive to labor-saving technology, like the use of machines that shake almond and pistachio trees starting about 20 years ago.



“California is the world&#8217;s primary producer of almonds now, and it used to be if you&#8217;re growing almonds you needed a crew of like 30 people with long sticks and bags to walk through the orchard and knock the almonds off the trees and then pick them up off the ground now,” Little said. “Now two or three people can do the work of 30.”



Monarch’s tractor, which has been working in Mondavi-owned vineyards since 2020, costs about twice as much as a similar-size diesel tractor. Penmetsa says savings on fuel and labor mean it pays for itself in about two years—and in California, it even qualifies for incentives for non-polluting ag equipment of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov/2021-profiles-1/2021/4/27/farmer-heavy-duty-off-road-tractor-trade-up-projects-san-joaquin-valley" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as much as 80%</a>. Its cameras and software allow for precise watering and use of fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in further cost savings for growers, he said.



Backed by $110 million in funding from farm equipment maker CNH Industrial and VCs, including Trimble Ventures, At One Ventures, Tri-Valley Ventures and Western Technology Investment, the company is also moving fast to get them into widespread use. It’s licensed the technology to CNH and has a deal with Foxconn to rapidly boost production of MK-Vs at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant.



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While Monarch and other makers of robotic tractors, including industry heavyweight John Deere, are focused on crop maintenance and monitoring, Tevel Aerobotics Technologies is using autonomous technology to help with the harvest. The Israeli startup, which recently opened U.S. operations in the San Joaquin Valley, offers small flying, autonomous robots equipped with camera vision and algorithms to identify ripe fruit, pick it with a high-suction arm and gently deposit it into a conveyor.



In a demonstration at the expo, eight of the company’s “Alphabots” are tethered to the automated conveyor, picking and depositing one piece of fruit (including apples, peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines) every 2.5 seconds. The speed isn’t remarkable, but the system is designed to be precise and work round the clock, in light or darkness, something humans can’t do.



“Especially in California, with the labor laws, you can’t have pickers work more than eight hours a day,” said Ittai Marom, general manager of Tevel’s U.S. operations, as he watched the buzzy bots plucking apples that were attached with magnets to faux trees under a tent at the expo. “Working 24/7 is a game-changer to the entire chain.”



The first unit went into operation last year at HMC Farms, a large-scale fruit grower in Kingsburg, California, and Tevel’s flying harvesters are also headed for orchards in Italy and Washington. The cost of the unit, which is still being modified, will be “less than $200,000,” Marom said.



It’s also not intended to replace human labor but “fills in when a grower doesn&#8217;t have enough workers on a certain day or when two different plots are ripe for picking, and he doesn&#8217;t have enough people working at night or working overtime,” he said.



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human labor isn’t the only shortage for farmers. The dwindling bee population essential for pollination is becoming an even more fundamental crisis, especially for California’s fruit and nut farms. The problem of colony collapse disorder, where worker bees abandon their hive and queen, is linked to harm from pesticides, loss of habitat, threats from other species and poor nutrition, according to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder#why%20it%20is%20happening" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. EPA</a>.



“We&#8217;re losing the bees on the planet, about 35% of the bee colonies every year,” said Saar Safra, CEO and cofounder of Beewise, which has raised $120 million to build robotic hives that grow bees in a safe, climate-controlled environment. “Considering the fact that bees pollinate 75% of all the fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts on the planet, losing 35% a year puts us in a bind.”



His startup, with operations split between Oakland and Oshrat, Israel, has so far deployed 1,000 of its robotic hives, powered by integrated solar panels. The metallic boxes, containing 10 individual bee colonies (which can each have up to 100,000 bees), are equipped with cameras and AI-enabled software to monitor their needs and health and precision robotics to provide food, water and eliminate pests that threaten the bees.



“Basically it does 97% of what a beekeeper would do in the field for the bees the robot does automatically,” Safra said. “We put these in the field and the bees do their thing. They pollinate, collect pollen, they produce honey. And when they come back home, we make sure they don&#8217;t collapse. It&#8217;s not too warm. It&#8217;s not too cold. It’s a five-star hotel for bees.”



In fact, the company estimates that it’s reduced the annual colony collapse rate to just 8% from that 35% average.



Beewise’s robot hives are rented out to growers during pollination season for specific crops, and rotated to other farms as growing seasons progress. Safra declined to discuss financials but plans to expand production to 10,000 hives annually from 1,000 a year currently and sees potential to create a “multibillion-dollar business.”



“The bees are strategic for us. If we continue losing bees at a 35% rate in 20 years we&#8217;ll buy a tomato for $100 and eat it for Friday dinner and all celebrate around that tomato. That&#8217;s where we&#8217;re headed.”

Category: Environment