Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
US targets Chinese clean tech
100% TARIFFS: US president Joe Biden on Tuesday announced tariffs on “$18bn” in Chinese clean technologies and critical minerals, Reuters reported. According to the newswire, tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) will quadruple to 100% (plus a separate 2.5% tariff), while solar cell tariffs will double to 50%, lithium-ion EV battery tariffs will increase from 7.5% to 25% and tariffs on critical minerals rise from nothing to 25% this year.
SOLAR PANELS: On Friday, the Biden administration announced further tariffs on double-sided solar panel imports, which largely come from southeast Asia, the Financial Times reported. Economist Joe Brusuelas told CNN that the changes “foreshadow what is going to be a long, cold winter of economic conflict between the US and China”.
CALL AND RESPONSE: In the New York Times, economist Paul Krugman said the tariffs were all about “political economy”. He explained: “If those subsidies [under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act] are seen as creating jobs in China instead, our last, best hope of avoiding climate catastrophe will be lost.” State-run newspaper China Daily quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying that the US is “making double standards by justifying its own subsidies and exports, while accusing other countries’ subsidies and exports as ‘unfair’ and ‘overcapacity’”.
Afghanistan flooding
‘CATASTROPHIC’ FLOODING: Flash flooding hit Baghlan province in north Afghanistan last Friday, leaving more than 300 people dead and villages cut off, Fox Weather reported. The outlet said that the flooding washed away “vast landscapes” of communities and farms. It added that the World Health Organization described the floods as “catastrophic” and stated the country “lacks the necessary resources to manage a disaster of this magnitude”, including health facilities, especially as waterborne diseases emerge.
AID CALL: A survivor of the floods in a district of Baghlan told Xinhua that victims fled to the mountain in search of refuge and scores of them are still stranded in the hilltops. The newswire spoke to another survivor who said: “No one has assisted us, the women are living in the open ground, there is no tent and no one has provided assistance.
Around the world
- WEAKENING UK TARGETS?: Ministers are “considering” weakening the UK’s emissions targets by carrying over the “unused” portion of the last carbon budget to the next period, the Guardian reported. A decision is due this month.
- VATICAN CLIMATE SUMMIT: Experts and leaders from the Americas, Asia and Africa met at a Vatican summit on how to “effectively manage” climate change and boost climate resilience from 15-17 May, Vatican News reported. The summit is expected to deliver a “Planetary Climate Resilience protocol”, which will be submitted to the UN climate change body.
- AFRICAN CLEAN COOKING: Carbon Brief covered a summit held in Paris which saw leaders pledge $2.2bn to help to achieve universal clean cooking access by 2030, examining what this could mean for climate, energy, nature and gender goals.
- BRAZIL CLIMATE REFUGEES: Nearly 80,000 people remain in shelters in Rio Grande do Sul, following flooding in the Brazilian state, according to El País. The outlet noted that people are in a “dramatic and uncertain situation as rains persist and water rises again”.
- ‘HISTORIC’ TREATY: Le Monde reported that Australia and Tuvalu have agreed on a “historic” treaty to welcome climate refugees from Tuvalu, an island in the South Pacific threatened by rising sea levels. The treaty will come into force by the end of the year.
- ‘GREEN’ MINING: At a press briefing attended by Carbon Brief, Indigenous leaders called for an upcoming OECD forum on responsible mineral supply chains to consider their rights to consent on mining projects.
€48 billion
The amount spent each year by the EU on nature-harming activities, according to a new report covered by Carbon Brief.
Latest climate research
- New research published in Nature Communications found that chronic exposure of older adults to heat is projected to double in “all warming scenarios” by mid-century, with Asia and Africa being the most affected continents.
- Global investors and owners, mainly from Europe, were involved in 78% of wind and 96% of solar parks in Brazil from 2000 to 2021. These parks occupy 2,148 and 102 square km, respectively, and could “exacerbate land struggles,” according to a study in Nature Sustainability.
- A World Weather Attribution study found that the “deadly heatwaves” that hit Asia throughout April and May this year and brought temperatures above 40C, were more frequent and extreme due to climate change.
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The administration of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has boosted coal mining and coal power since 2014. Carbon Brief published an interactive piece analysing the impact on Indian communities and climate change, as well how this year’s general election could change things. The map above shows that India’s coal reserves are concentrated in seven south-central and eastern states, regions that have significant Indigenous populations. Indigenous peoples and local communities told Carbon Brief that they have been displaced and suffered environmental impacts as a result of coal mining projects.
Spotlight
Intense heatwave hits Mexico
This week, Carbon Brief speaks to experts about why recent heat in Mexico was so deadly.
Mexico recently experienced a heatwave from 3 to 13 May, leaving 14 dead and driving temperatures above 40C in several states, Forbes Mexico reported. The health services in the state of San Luis Potosí, in eastern and central Mexico, reported 10 deaths from heat stroke and other similar deaths in southern and northern states.
Milenio reported that the heatwave also killed birds, such as parrots and toucans, in San Luis Potosí. N+ news added that owls, parrots, stake birds and bats also died because of the heat, and other species, such as squirrels and turkeys, were also affected.
The heatwave is the second major deadly event in Mexico’s heat season, which began in March, Reuters reported.
Mexico is no exception. A recent report by the World Meteorological Organization stated that 2023 was the hottest year in Latin America and the Caribbean, with temperatures 1.39C above the 1961-1990 period.
There were 3,405 heatwave-associated deaths annually in the region between 1990 and 2019, according to a new study published in PLOS Medicine.
Deadly impacts
Dr Lucía Gabriela Rosales, director of public health at the Health Services of San Luis Potosí, told Carbon Brief that this second heatwave was very “atypical” and caused four confirmed deaths from heat stroke – mostly in adults over the age of 60 – as well as cases of dehydration and heat stroke.
Rosales pointed out that there was no specific alert for this heatwave, but there was a warning about the heat season from the Civil Protection authorities.
She added that the health sector has carried out some actions to deal with the high temperatures in the state, such as community campaigns and hydration points. She called on the population to take care of their health.
Dr José Antonio Ávalos, head of the Laboratory of Climate Variability, Remote Sensing and Assessment of Risks at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, told Carbon Brief that May is the hottest month of the year in the state. Since 2023, the country as a whole has been experiencing levels of drought not seen since 1941, he added.
Ávalos pointed out that the authorities were aware of the municipalities most at risk from heatwaves, yet failed to effectively alert the population. He recommended the creation of a heatwave surveillance mechanism, the implementation of heat indices and increased investment in climate science.
The experts explained that heat stroke causes, among other things, body temperature above 42C, headache and tachycardia. Deaths from heat stroke are caused by an increase in the atmospheric temperature and humidity, which prevents the body’s sweat from evaporating, causing it to accumulate heat, they added.
Watch, read, listen
THREATENED PARKS: An Agence France-Presse video looked at how climate change is threatening many features of US national parks.
CHOCOLATE DILEMMA: A National Public Radio podcast explored how climate change is decreasing cocoa production worldwide and what solutions are available.
STELLAR CHANGE: The New York Times covered the challenges climate change poses to astronomers, who are considering “using their expertise” to address it.
Coming up
- 19 May: Dominican Republic presidential election
- 20 May: Fifth phase of India’s general election
- 21 May: International Energy Agency (IEA) ninth annual conference on energy efficiency, Nairobi, Kenya
- 21-24 May: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forum on responsible mineral supply chains, Paris, France
- 22 May: Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025 (ACT2025) consortium high-level webinar on unlocking finance for climate-vulnerable nations at COP29 and beyond, virtual
Pick of the jobs
- Global Alliance for the Future of Food, climate and nature director | Salary: $125,000. Location: Global (remote)
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate mitigation staff scientist (working group III) | Salary: $76,848-$130,642. Location: Washington DC (hybrid)
- The Washington Post, climate and environment photo assignment editor | Salary: Unknown. Location: Washington DC
- UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, filmmaker, Antarctica 2024-2025 | Salary: Travel and expenses plus a fee. Location: Cambridge, UK and Blaiklock, Antarctica
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
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The post DeBriefed 17 May 2024: Biden’s clean-energy tariff blitz; Modi’s coal plans examined; Deadly heat in Mexico appeared first on Carbon Brief.
An older teaching about land acknowledgement
As I have come to understand the spirit and intention of land acknowledgement, I often return to fond memories of my grandmother and her words of wisdom. She taught that the health of the places we call home comes first, because the wellbeing of the people depends on it.
In her teaching, land acknowledgement began with the land. Long before it became a paragraph read at the start of a meeting, it was a way of recognizing a homeland: its waters, its species, its seasons, and the spirit that revealed whether the place was well.
Her teaching echoes a practice found across many Indigenous Nations. Haudenosaunee gatherings, for example, have long opened with the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen, the Thanksgiving Address, often translated as “the words that come before all else.” The speaker greets and gives thanks to the people, the earth, the waters, the plants, the animals, the winds, the sun, the moon and the stars. Only after everything that sustains life has been acknowledged does the gathering turn to its own business.
That order changes what an acknowledgement is for. Its purpose was to share the story of a place with neighbours and to draw them into the work of tending it. People entered the story second, as the ones responsible for what had just been named.
Understood this way, an acknowledgement does more than open a meeting. It asks us to reconsider where we stand, and what we owe the ground beneath us.
Nations among nations
In her teaching, people are one nation among many. The salmon are a nation. So are the cedars, the bison, the medicine plants, and the pollinators. Each belongs to a place, carries its own responsibilities, and offers gifts no other nation can give.
This idea of kinship runs through many Indigenous philosophies. The phrase “all my relations,” heard in ceremonies and gatherings across Turtle Island, is a reminder that family extends beyond people to the animals, plants, waters and lands that make life possible. Some Indigenous languages carry the same understanding in their grammar, speaking of many plants, animals and natural forces as living beings rather than objects.
Sovereignty, understood through this relationship, is a kind of standing more than a form of control. Each nation belongs fully to its place and carries its share of that place’s life. No nation thrives alone, and none thrives by taking over the whole.
The land is also the source of instruction. Over generations, people watched how a river valley or a stretch of prairie kept itself well: who arrived when, who fed whom, and how much could be taken before the giving stopped. In my grandmother’s telling, those observations became instructions, and those instructions helped shape law and protocol. They guided when to harvest, where to camp, how to enter a neighbour’s territory, and what was owed in return.
Indigenous legal scholars today often describe this as law that comes from the land itself, learned by watching how living systems sustain one another. A plainer name for it is knowing how to live somewhere.
The host and the guest
One of the clearest teachings in this understanding of the world is the relationship between host and guest. My grandmother invited us to recognize that relationship in the lives of plants and animals.
A host prepares the place before anyone arrives. A beaver family dams a stream, and the pond becomes a home for fish, frogs, birds and plants. A fallen tree becomes a nurse log, feeding the next generation of seedlings as it returns to the soil.
A host offers first. A flowering plant sets out nectar. A berry bush ripens fruit. These provisions come in their own season, not whenever a visitor happens to want them.
A host also makes its presence known. Birdsong, scent and the marks left along a trail tell newcomers that a place is already inhabited. The visitor does not arrive in an empty world.
The guest has responsibilities too. A guest attends to the season and to what the place can offer. A guest does not assume that everything within reach is theirs to take. A guest leaves something that helps sustain the relationship.
A bee takes nectar and carries pollen. Read through this teaching, that exchange offers an image of visiting well: receiving a gift while helping the host continue its life.
Many Indigenous harvesting protocols carry the same ethic into daily practice: ask before taking, take only what is needed, offer thanks, and leave enough for others and for the plant or animal to recover.
None of this suggests that every relationship in nature is peaceful or generous. These are ways of seeing responsibilities that people can learn to carry.
Everyone is both
No being is only a host or only a guest.
A tree makes room for other life while depending on soil, water, sunlight, fungi, and relationships beyond itself. People, too, may welcome others into their homes while remaining dependent on the larger homeland that sustains them.
The distinction between host and guest is therefore about roles, not ranks. Everyone receives. Everyone has something to give.
The question is whether the exchange sustains the place.
A visitor who takes without restraint leaves less for those who come next. A host who neglects the place has less to offer. Both have responsibilities, and neither can fulfil them alone.
This is the heart of reciprocity, a principle found across Indigenous philosophies: relationships stay healthy when gifts move in both directions. The Haudenosaunee teaching of the seventh generation extends that exchange across time, asking that decisions made today leave the place well for those not yet born.
Mutual benefit begins here, with the recognition that different beings carry different gifts and obligations.
What people carry forward
My grandmother’s teaching connects these relationships to the ways people meet their neighbours.
The host prepares a place, offers food and rest, and explains where the visitor has arrived. The guest makes themselves known, explains why they have come, listens to the terms of the visit, and brings something in return. The gift may be material. It may also be labour, knowledge, news, or a commitment to help.
Nations around the Great Lakes carried this ethic into treaty. The Dish with One Spoon, an agreement among the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe and allied Nations, describes shared hunting grounds as a single dish. Everyone eats from it with one spoon, takes only what they need, leaves enough for others, and keeps the dish clean. The Two Row Wampum, between the Haudenosaunee and European newcomers, shows two vessels travelling side by side on the same river, each keeping its own ways and neither steering the other.
In this understanding, acknowledgement is more than naming the people associated with a territory. It is learning enough about a homeland to behave responsibly within it.
Whose home is this? What sustains it? What laws and agreements guide our presence? What can we receive, and what must we return?
These questions make acknowledgement a relationship rather than a recital.
They also make it diplomatic. A guest who recognizes the host’s homeland recognizes that they have entered a place with its own relationships and responsibilities. A host who welcomes the guest makes room for an encounter governed by those relationships.
Neither arrives without standing. Neither arrives without obligations.
Beginning with place
I write from the shores of the Bay of Quinte. Here, the teaching asks me to begin with the water, the shoreline, and the life they sustain. Before I describe myself, I must attend to where I am.
That does not make people or history less important. It places them within the homeland that gives them meaning. The people, their laws, their agreements, and their responsibilities all belong to the place.
In a time of longer fire seasons, troubled waters, and uncertainty about what the next season will bring, this teaching asks something difficult and useful of us: pay attention before you speak.
An acknowledgement cannot tell the story of a place if the speaker has stopped noticing it.
The land came first. Beginning there again means learning to name what sustains us, and accepting that what sustains us also asks something of us.
By Rye Karonhiowanen Barberstock
Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash
The post The Land Came First appeared first on Indigenous Climate Hub.