August News
- Rodrigo Batalha
- Aug 23
- 5 min read
Usually people think that nothing happens on August but that is not the case. Even in August, sustainability does not rest and nor do we, so let's see what been happening in the sustainability area.
Brazil launches COP30 accomodation platform after pressure from UN committee.
"The Brazilian government launched a long-awaited official accommodation platform for COP30 last Friday after a UN committee had urged the summit’s hosts to find urgent solutions for the mounting logistical challenges.
Around 2,700 additional rooms in apartments, holiday homes and private residences dotted across the Amazon city of Belém were made available on the website, according to the COP30 presidency.
When Climate Home News accessed the platform, the cheapest rooms on offer were priced at around $300 with a minimum stay of 15 nights. But the website also featured options with steep markups on what would otherwise be inexpensive lodgings.
A “suite” near the COP30 venue in a facility usually advertised as a love motel was offered on the platform at $570 per night for the two-week summit. Normally, guests are charged $20 per night, or $6 per hour, to book a room in the same hotel, according to rates advertised online."
Source:
Mudslide engulfs Indian village, at least four dead, over 50 missing
"LUCKNOW, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Surging floodwaters and a torrent of mud swept through a village in the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, killing at least four people while more than 50 others were missing, authorities and local TV channels said on Tuesday.
Teams from army and disaster response forces had reached the area, local authorities said, with workers trying to rescue people trapped under debris and sludge.
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TV news channels showed floodwaters and mud surging down a mountain and crashing into the village, sweeping away houses and roads as people ran for their lives."
Mexico slashed its poverty rate
"More than 13 million people have been lifted out of poverty in Mexico since 2018, according to new figures that have been hailed as “extraordinary”.
The data – released by Mexico’s national statistics agency INEGI – measures multidimensional poverty, which goes beyond financial means to include things like access to healthcare, education, housing and food. It found that the number of Mexicans living in poverty fell from 51.9 million in 2018 to 38.5 million, a 26% fall.
The sharp drop was attributed to the policies of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or ‘Almo’, who was elected under the slogan ‘for the good of all, first the poor’. Almo tripled the minimum wage and transformed the welfare system, introducing cash payments to pensioners, apprentices and farmers."
Source: Positive News
Denmark is abolishing its book tax
"A tax on book sales looks set to be abolished by the Danish government in a bid to combat the country’s “reading crisis”.
At 25%, Denmark has the world’s highest book tax, prompting culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt to announce plans to axe it – a move aimed at halting the reported decline of reading among young Danes.
“We must put everything at stake if we are to end the reading crisis that has unfortunately been spreading in recent years,” Engel-Schmidt told the Ritzau news agency.
Many countries exempt books from tax, including the UK, where fiction sales rose in 2024. The UK’s literature boom saw the chain Waterstones this week pledge to open 10 new shops per year – rare good news for UK high streets.
However, despite strong sales, research from the UK also points to a decline in the number of children and teens reading for pleasure, suggesting that axing Denmark’s sales tax might not be enough on its own."
Source: Positive News
South African court rescinds TotalEnergies oil exploration permit
"A South African court has rescinded an environmental authorisation granted to TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), opens new tab and its joint venture partner Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab to explore for oil in a block off the Cape coast, a court judgment seen by Reuters showed.
However, the court said TotalEnergies should be given a chance to rectify deficiencies identified, including a failure to properly assess the potential socio-economic impacts of any oil spills, or take climate change into consideration.
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The order is the latest in a series of court challenges between environmentalists and oil companies looking to explore along South Africa's coast.
Oil companies are making a major push into the west coast of South Africa, where they are looking to replicate the success in neighbouring Namibia following a cluster of discoveries in its part of the prolific Orange Basin."
Plastic pollution talks go into overtime as countries push for late breakthrough
"Talks to create the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution went into overtime on Thursday, with talks adjourned to the following day.
Countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs on what was meant to be the final day of negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva.
But with just 30 minutes left in the scheduled meeting, the chair of the talks of the International Negotiating Committee (INC), Luis Vayas Valdivieso, told delegates the negotiations would run into Friday.
The INC is a group established by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in 2022 with the mandate to develop a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution.
Late Thursday night, countries had been awaiting a new text that could be the basis for further negotiations after delegations who want an ambitious plastics treaty threw out the one proposed on Wednesday.
States pushing for a comprehensive treaty, including Panama, Kenya, Britain and the European Union, shared frustration that key articles on the full life cycle of plastic pollution - from the production of polymers to the disposal of waste - as well as the harm to health had been removed entirely from the text."
Drought depletes Turkey's Tekirdag reservoirs, forcing emergency water curbs
"A drought in Turkey's northwestern province of Tekirdag has left the area's main dams without potable water, straining infrastructure and leaving some homes without water for weeks, due to a sharp drop in precipitation in the country this year.
Authorities say drought is a critical issue, with several provinces warning of limited fresh water supply this summer.
Various areas in Izmir, Turkey's third-most populous province, have experienced frequent water cuts this month, while the municipality in the western province of Usak was told over the weekend it would have access to water just six hours a day, with the main water reservoir depleted.
Rainfall slumped 71% in July across the country from a year ago, according to Turkey's Meteorological Service. In the Marmara region, which includes Tekirdag and Istanbul, it shrank 95% below the monthly norm in July.
In the ten months to August, precipitation sank 32% in Marmara compared to the norm, while it fell 26% across Turkey to the lowest in 52 years."
Factcheck: Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims
"A “critical assessment” report commissioned by the Trump administration to justify a rollback of US climate regulations contains at least 100 false or misleading statements, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists.
The 140-page report – “A critical review of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the US climate” – was published by the US Department of Energy (DoE) on 23 July, just days before the government laid out plans to revoke a scientific finding used as the legal basis for emissions regulation.
The executive summary of the controversial report inaccurately claims that “CO2-induced warming might be less damaging economically than commonly believed”.
It also states misleadingly that “excessively aggressive [emissions] mitigation policies could prove more detrimental than beneficial”."
Source: Carbon Brief
