Published

2 years ago

May 17, 2024

Alice Rush

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.

Farmers affected by drought in February this year, next to Zumpango Lagoon, Mexico. Image ID: 2WKXX9R. — Farmers affected by drought in February this year, next to Zumpango Lagoon, Mexico. Credit: Imago / Alamy Stock Photo.

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.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

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.

DeBriefed 17 May 2024: Biden’s clean-energy tariff blitz; Modi’s coal plans examined; Deadly heat in Mexico

Climate Change

California’s Climate Leaders Talk Clean Energy Growing Pains and the War on Iran

Published

6 hours ago

April 15, 2026

Alice Rush

Virtual power plants see a renewed push in the legislature to weather the state’s “mid-transition.”

By Claire Barber

SACRAMENTO—Not long into Ellie Cohen’s opening remarks at the California Climate Policy Summit this week, the crowd erupted in boos—at her request.

California’s Climate Leaders Talk Clean Energy Growing Pains and the War on Iran

Climate Change

Dam Useless: Barriers Prevent a Migratory Fish from Reproducing

Published

7 hours ago

April 15, 2026

Alice Rush

The Bronx River is home to obsolete dams. Plans to remove them could boost efforts to restore dwindling river herring populations.

By Lauren Dalban

The Bronx River was once a curvy waterway that ran through vast forests and flowed into networks of tidal marshland. For centuries, river herring have swum up the waterway from the East River and the Long Island Sound to lay their eggs.

Dam Useless: Barriers Prevent a Migratory Fish from Reproducing

Climate Change

Fossil Free Zones can be on-ramps to the clean energy transition

Published

8 hours ago

April 15, 2026

Alice Rush

Cecilia Requena is a Bolivian senator with Parliamentarians for a Fossil Free Future and Juan Pablo Osornio is engagement and policy director at Earth Insight.

In late April, delegations from dozens of governments will gather in Colombia for the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels. Together with the roadmaps announced at November’s UN climate summit in Brazil, which will call on countries to transition away from fossil fuels and halt deforestation by 2030, political will is building to save our most critical natural resources.

Now we need the practical application of where and how this will work – specific places where the line is drawn against new fossil fuel extraction. That is what Fossil Free Zones offer.

What is a Fossil Free Zone?

A Fossil Free Zone is a defined area demarcated by its ecological, biodiversity, or cultural significance, where exploration, extraction, and development of fossil fuels are permanently prohibited. Think tropical rainforests, key biodiversity areas, Indigenous Peoples’ territories, and critical marine ecosystems. They translate the abstract global commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels into something tangible: a map, a boundary, a legal safeguard.

The stakes for getting this right are enormous. Research shows that oil and gas blocks already overlap with approximately 179 million hectares of tropical moist forests – roughly 21% of the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asian forest cover.

Globally, almost 27% of global conventional oil resources overlap with top-priority socio-environmental areas. In 2024 alone, 85% of new oil discoveries were made offshore, frequently overlapping with marine biodiversity hotspots.

Colombia: A model for the world

No country illustrates the possibilities better than Colombia – fittingly, the nation hosting this conference (along with the Netherlands). Last September, Colombia announced a landmark ban on fossil fuel and mining extraction across its entire Amazon region – the world’s first region-wide Fossil Free Zone of its kind.

Colombia’s decision followed in the wake of our new research, which found that developing untapped reserves beneath the country’s forest would generate billions of dollars in stranded assets while doing almost nothing for national energy security. It would, however, threaten 20% of the intact Amazon forest and the territories of nearly 70% of the Indigenous and local communities whose lands overlap with fossil fuel concessions. In most of the Colombian Amazon, the cost of extraction is higher than the cost of conservation.

How a global roadmap can meet the promise to halt deforestation

Other countries are also taking steps in this direction. Mexico has 100 million hectares of similar Safeguard Zones, Guatemala ended oil extraction in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, and parliamentarians across the Amazon basin have introduced legislation to extend the ban region-wide.

The economic case for leaving fossil fuels in the ground

The fossil fuel endgame – a period of declining global demand as renewable energy scales – means that unconventional and frontier reserves in remote forests are increasingly uncompetitive. They require massive public investment in infrastructure, including roads that themselves become vectors for illegal logging, small-scale mining, and agricultural encroachment. Stranded asset risk is real and growing.

In 2025, wind and solar growth outpaced all new electricity demand, and more than a quarter of all vehicles sold were electric.

For forested nations, there is also an emerging economic logic for protection: intact forests generate jobs and revenue from protected area management, watershed services, and sustainable tourism, while supporting the small-scale agriculture that most rural economies depend on. They also underpin water security for agriculture and energy generation and act as carbon sinks. Over 33 million people are employed directly in the forest sector, and there are more than 1.6 billion small forest farm producers.

Fossil fuel investment amid volatile energy markets

Developing countries with fossil fuel reserves face genuine pressures to develop them – credit ratings, currency stability, social services, and energy security are tied to an ever-growing fossil frontier, particularly in the midst of volatile energy markets.

The conflict in Iran has amplified that volatility, spiking oil prices and giving fossil fuel-dependent governments renewed short-term pressure to expand domestic production – making the case for internationally-backed Fossil Free Zones, paired with real financial support, all the more urgent.

Innovative financial mechanisms like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility – a fund proposed at COP30 that would provide long-term, results-based payments to tropical forest nations to keep forests standing – can shift the economic scales enough to make Fossil Free Zones in high-integrity forests politically viable.

Colombia pledges to exit investment protection system after fossil fuel lawsuits

Industries leading the energy transition – renewable energy developers, green hydrogen producers, sustainable finance institutions, and technology companies with net-zero supply chain commitments – also have a direct stake in the Fossil Free Zone agenda. Moreover, the reputational and legal risks of investments in fossil fuel frontiers are escalating.

Already, 11 banks have applied various levels of financial restrictions to the oil and gas sector in the Amazon. Some of these policies are strong, others are closer to greenwashing, but these commitments prove that banks see the increasing risks.

What should emerge from Colombia conference

Our hope for the upcoming conference in Colombia is that, at a minimum, Fossil Free Zones are uplifted as part of a shared international vision for the energy transition. At best, a coalition of countries commits to include Fossil Free Zones in their national plans and establishes a shared framework with principles to identify new zones and implementation guidance for other countries.

WATCH OUR WEBINAR: Santa Marta – Fossil fuel transition in an unstable world

This is a practical on-ramp for countries that want to align with the global transition but need a concrete, geographically-defined starting point – and as a direct delivery mechanism for the deforestation roadmap, translating a global pledge to halt forest loss into specific action to thwart a real driver of deforestation.

The question is no longer whether fossil fuel extraction will end, but whether that end will be managed or chaotic, putting the planet’s most critical ecosystems in danger. Fossil Free Zones offer a hope of preventing irreversible harm to the forests, marine ecosystems, and Indigenous communities that represent humanity’s best remaining insurance against climate collapse – one territory at a time.

The post Fossil Free Zones can be on-ramps to the clean energy transition appeared first on Climate Home News.