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Accelerating the Transition: Can the U.S. Support India’s Path to Net Zero?
›Energy is a bridge that has historically fostered the U.S.-India relationship. The reasons are many. Both economies focus on energy security, climate action, economic cooperation, and technological innovation.
Recent innovations in India offer new challenges and opportunities. The country has rapidly deployed renewable energy (RE) technologies to meet its stated Net Zero targets. This effort has exceeded its promises; 40% of India’s electricity now comes from renewable sources. And the nation’s other ambitious target— installing 450 GW—would triple this existing capacity in less than ten years.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 29 – August 2
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
How One Loss and Damage Fund Bore Fruit (The Guardian)
The Loss and Damage Fund established during the UN COP27 was a monumental breakthrough in the climate finance realm and aimed to provide financial assistance to vulnerable nations impacted by climate change. Such damage can be catastrophic. When Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi in 2023, it killed 1,200 people and displaced 659,000 more. The estimated economic loss exceeded $1 billion, and it landed especially hard on farmers—including the women who make up more than 70% of Malawi’s agricultural workforce.
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Going Beyond “Conflict-free”: Transition Minerals Governance in DRC and Rwanda
›Resource-rich nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda—which produce minerals ranging from coltan, cobalt, gold, tungsten, and tantalum, to tin (3TG)—hold tremendous importance in the global supply chains. The DRC produces 70% of global cobalt production, while its neighbor, Rwanda, generates around 30% of Tantalum.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 22 – 26
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Worsening Health Conditions in War-Torn Gaza (BBC)
Water infrastructure in Gaza was already weak before the beginning of the war in 2023, but intensified conflict and siege of critical infrastructure the damage wreaked by Israel’s military forces on critical infrastructure (including water, energy, and food), has left 70% of the people in Gaza exposed to salinated and contaminated water. Traces of polio have been found in wastewater flowing both between displacement camp tents and in inhabited areas, and experts suggest that this water might be circulating.
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ECSP Weekly Watch | July 15 – 19
›A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program
Shedding Light on Imperial Oil’s Dark Waters (Mongabay)
Canada has the fourth-largest tar sands (oil deposits) in the world. Separating the bitumen used in industries and construction creates large volumes of toxic wastewater, which is stored in tailings ponds that now cover a staggering 270 square kilometers. Unresolved infrastructure mishaps at one such site in Alberta operated by Imperial Oil means that contaminants have polluted nearby waters so significantly that it has affected public health and the livelihoods of indigenous communities in downstream areas.
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An Interview with NATO’s Paul Rushton on the Alliance’s Climate Security Efforts
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When senior officials from 32 countries meet in Washington, DC next week for the NATO Summit, deterrence and defense, as well as Ukraine and global partnerships, are at the top of the agenda. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg observed at a recent Wilson Center event: “The war in Ukraine demonstrates that our security is not regional, it is global – not least because of the support we know Russia is getting from China and others.”Under Stoltenberg’s leadership, NATO has recognized that climate change is also reshaping the security landscape. In 2021, NATO launched a Climate Change and Security Action Plan which positions the organization as a leader in understanding and adapting to climate impacts on security. Two years later, the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE) was established in Montreal.
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Climate Change and Gender Roles: Women’s Active Role in Adaptation
›“The success or failure of any adaptation strategy or action highly depends on the understanding of the capacities of a community or an individual to adapt to climate-associated risks,” write the authors of a recent systematic review of literature, Gender and Adaptive Capacity in Climate Change Scholarship of Developing Countries.
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Don’t Panic US: China’s Nuclear Power Ascendancy Has Its Limits
›Like bamboo sprouts after the rain, nuclear reactors are going up quickly across China. There are 36 reactors under development, and Beijing can approve as many as 10 new ones a year. Within a decade, China will likely pass the United States—which has 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 54 power plants—as the world’s biggest generator of nuclear power.
Showing posts from category climate.