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EV adoption surges in developing nations, challenging oil demand narrative


cross-posted from: piefed.social/post/1371452

There’s a comforting story that oil bulls like to tell themselves to stave off worries about the future: While the privileged few in Europe and California might have lost their minds over electric vehicles, billions of drivers in the Global South are readying themselves to provide the next wave of petroleum demand.

Those who believe this might want to have a look at the cars and two-wheelers that people are actually buying right now. Far from trailing the rich world in their enthusiasm for battery cars, developing nations are surging ahead.


[...]

Things are moving even faster in nations wholly dependent on imports. More than three-quarters of the value of vehicles brought into Nepal, Sri Lanka and Djibouti last year was purely electric. Import shares in Ethiopia and Laos were 40 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. Plug-in sales increased by 60 per cent in developing countries as a whole in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency.

https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/ev-adoption-surges-in-developing-nations-challenging-oil-demand-narrative-125081100114_1.html

Questa voce è stata modificata (4 giorni fa)




Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Stands by His Climate Agenda


Despite deep green credentials — including a five-year stint as United Nations special envoy for climate change — Carney has scrapped a number of environmental policies introduced by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, and struck a notably friendlier tone on fossil fuel production. He’s fast-tracked approval for a liquefied natural gas export facility expansion in British Columbia, opened the door to the possibility of a new oil pipeline to the country’s west coast, and hasn’t ruled out abandoning plans for anemissions cap for oil and gas producers.

Pressed on his plans for the cap, Carney repeatedly responded that “a desired outcome” — in this case emissions reduction — “is not a policy.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-18/canadian-prime-minister-mark-carney-stands-by-his-climate-agenda?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2MDc5NDc4NCwiZXhwIjoxNzYxMzk5NTg0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNEJUQ0VHUFdDSjIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDMkYxNDM5NTYzRjg0QTBFOEIxNzA5MzY0RjMyQ0JFOCJ9.s9DHv6y8Jv8ZsQOuU3EwmZY1IU6SNvt1y_OFSbaAj6U






The northern migration of the temperate forest isn’t proceeding as expected


Could the boreal forest be less fragile than we think? Contrary to the predictions of models that forecast its rapid decline in favour of temperate maple forests, the ecological history of the boreal forest is showing surprising resilience.





in reply to Track_Shovel

We have one that barely has any grass left. We are surrounded by meadows and there is so much just random plants growing. Don't tell me our lawn is bad since the obly difference between it and the surrounding meadows is that we mow ours.
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫

Pretty sure the mowing is the exact problem. Can't remember if it's solved by using an old school push-powered mower or something

Edit - after looking into it, seems like push mowers don't help because Americans eating meat will cause as much pollution pushing a mower as using gas? Not sure

Questa voce è stata modificata (4 giorni fa)
in reply to iloveDigit

Would you prefer I cut it with a scythe? I already do that with a particularly steep part of the grass
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫

I thought a push mower might help but some studies say it might be worse. I guess the recommendation is to plant something other than grass that naturally stays good to walk on, maybe? I'm still learning about this myself
in reply to iloveDigit

Half the grass behind the house is dead anyway and was replaced by moss naturally. The issue is the moss would dry out faster and die in the summer. The current situation is probably the best
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫

I don't think I trust the studies saying human power is worse tbh. Cultivating food uses CO2, cows eat plants before we eat them, the plants drink CO2 from the air. Lawnmower takes power out of the ground and injects pollution in the air. Scythe has to be better
Questa voce è stata modificata (4 giorni fa)
in reply to Track_Shovel

People on here always talk about how lawns need a bunch of fertilizer to work, but that never made sense to me because we've never done that around here. But then I learned that's because everyone just has clover growing along side their grass.


Anyway I think shaming people for their lawn is a bad idea. I think killing your lawn will only catch on if it's presented as a way to make your lawn cooler. You're not a bad person for having a lawn, but you could change it into something so much more interesting by including native flora.



Carbon Dioxide Levels Jumped by a Record Amount, U.N. Says


Surging emissions from wildfires may have been behind the increase, which was the largest since modern measurements began more than half a century ago.


Note that it's fossil fuel use that is responsible for the bulk of the added CO2; it's just the year-to-year variation that might be due to wildfires.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/climate/carbon-dioxide-emissions-record-jump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t08.uxUE.qrARFgVyOWFI

in reply to silence7

Natural gas is helping power the use of artificial intelligence

In 2023, data centers consumed approximately 7.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity globally, or enough to power more than six million homes.

Natural gas is one solution to powering these centers, and Chevron recently announced that it will work with Engine No. 1 and GE Verona to generate electricity for AI. The companies’ plans include building natural gas power plants directly connected to data centers.

During the Gastech conference in September 2024, Mike Wirth, Chevron chairman and CEO, highlighted the role that the Permian Basin could play in powering data centers.

“Natural gas will help power the rapid growth of artificial intelligence with its insatiable demand for reliable electricity,” Wirth said. “This means AI’s advance will depend not only on the design labs of Silicon Valley, but also on the gas fields of the Permian Basin.”



According to Goldman Sachs, incremental data center power demand will drive 3.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of new natural gas demand by 2030.


Questa voce è stata modificata (6 giorni fa)
in reply to silence7

Surging emissions from wildfires may have been behind the increase


No, no, no. That not possible. Me told forests -ABSORB- CO², not emit it. If tipping points reached and sink become source, how are Grog's carbon credits going to maintain value?

How Bill Gates private jet fuel itself, carbon neutral like, if planted forests now ash? Grog confused. sad noises





Harnessing technology and global collaboration to understand peatlands


Crowdsourcing photos is a neat way to gauge the health of those ecosystems. I've quoted some excerpts from the article below.

A link to the study: doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae06…

Peatlands are among the world’s most important yet underappreciated ecosystems. They are a type of wetland that covers a small fraction of the Earth’s land, while containing the most carbon-rich soils in the world.

Healthy peatlands shape water cycles, support unique biodiversity and sustain communities. Yet for all their importance, we still lack a clear picture of how peatlands are changing through time.

When peatlands are drained, degraded or burned, the carbon they hold is released into the atmosphere. More than three million square kilometres of wetlands have been drained by humans since 1700, meaning we have lost a huge amount of carbon sequestration potential globally. This makes it all the more important for us to understand and conserve remaining peatlands.

Our study, called The PeatPic Project, used smartphone photography to collect data. We connected with peatland researchers around the world via social media and word of mouth and asked them to collect photographs of their peatlands during 2021 and 2022. We gathered more than 3,700 photographs from 27 peatlands in 10 countries.

We analyzed these photographs to look at the plant colour, telling us how green leaves are across the year, and providing rich information on the vegetation growing there. Changes in green leaf colour indicate when plants start their growing season.

They also indicate how green or healthy plants are, how much nutrient plants take up and when they turn brown in the autumn. Colour shifts can also signal changes in moisture or nutrient conditions, temperature stress or disturbance.

Questa voce è stata modificata (6 giorni fa)
in reply to Otter Raft

This technology could feed a world of 10 billion.


Yeah, but for how long? Climate change, soil erosion and aquifer depletion.



in reply to silence7

And yet when I email my MP to ask if they'll stop supporting genocide or cutting my benefits or excluding me from public life, I get no response. It's almost like we only have the illusion of democracy 🙃

in reply to robocall

Depends
They start to give off CO2 when it gets to hot - or at least can't take up as much anymore

We aren't just losing storage, nature joins us in producing more CO2 the hotter it gets

Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to robocall

Plants can only consume so much.

sciencealert.com/trees-struggl…

in reply to solo

I hope people here are realizing that our current strategies are not working. They are mostly just "feel-good" solutions like paper straws, and will not eliminate the need for fossil fuels. Which is why I keep pushing for green hydrogen, because I already knew this and want real solutions to be pursued.


in reply to blattrules

Lol no. The point of the pipeline is to enable Canada to sell tar to South America. No benefit for Americsns other than the pipeline owners
in reply to silence7

That’s what I’ve been telling the conservatives I’ve been arguing with too.


Toward cleaner, safer Philadelphia waterways


Climate change and ancient infrastructure make Philadelphia vulnerable to potentially catastrophic flooding, but federal, state, and local efforts are meeting the moment.


I figure they just haven't gotten around to yanking federal support for this kind of adaptation measure




Prospects Dim for Denmark’s Renewable Energy Star


Orsted, which helped create and dominated the offshore wind industry, has felt a huge impact from these setbacks. The company said last week that it would lay off 2,000 people, or 25 percent of its staff, over the next two years.

Instead of lining up new, multibillion-dollar wind farms to build in shallow waters around the globe, Orsted will mainly focus on finishing those it has under construction and managing them or selling them off.

Orsted said 235 of the 500 layoffs planned for this quarter would be in Denmark

Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm, forecast that less than 50 percent of the cumulative targets set by national governments, excluding China, for offshore wind for the end of the decade will be achieved.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/business/denmark-orsted-wind-farms-trump.html



Hope


cross-posted from: slrpnk.net/post/28796937

Yet every time we open Pandora's box there's Andrew Tate or his like.




This Hydrogen has no Color


in reply to hanno

Produced and consumed in Morocco, replaces another energy reclamation method, no mention of quickly approaching peak phosphorus.



Americans can’t afford their cars any more and Wall Street is worried


cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/37630345

If only we had invented and built some sort of alternative mode of collective transportation. Maybe it could be in tunnels and ride on metallic rails. It would serve many people and make periodic stops to the same locations instead of the highway clusterf- we have today. Sad that we don't, but a man can dream though. A man can dream though. A man can dream.

in reply to silence7

I am dubious that business people and techbros give a shit enough to remain rational about this vs. just sell the vibe of caring.

Actually I am very sure they don't.

Caring with too big of an ego to listen doesn't count as caring.

This strategy will end up catastrophically failing, no matter, techbros and business people will have made a killing in profits while delaying actual action on climate change.

But experts have raised a number of concerns about various approaches to BECCS, stressing they may inflate the climate benefits of the projects, conflate prevented emissions with carbon removal, and extend the life of facilities that pollute in other ways. It could also create greater financial incentives to log forests or convert them to agricultural land.

When greenhouse-gas sources and sinks are properly tallied across all the fields, forests, and factories involved, it’s highly difficult to achieve negative emissions with many approaches to BECCS, says Tim Searchinger, a senior research scholar at Princeton University. That undermines the logic of dedicating more of the world’s limited land, crops, and woods to such projects, he argues.

“I call it a ‘BECCS and switch,’” he says, adding later: “It’s folly at some level.”

Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)


Chinese freighter halves EU delivery time on maiden Arctic voyage to UK


[quote]The Istanbul Bridge’s maiden voyage, originally expected to take 18 days, was delayed by two days due to a storm off the coast of Norway but the ship still reached Europe earlier than the 40 to 50 days it takes freighters going through the Suez Can
The Istanbul Bridge's maiden voyage, originally expected to take 18 days, was delayed by two days due to a storm off the coast of Norway but the ship still reached Europe earlier than the 40 to 50 days it takes freighters going through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope.

The new Northern Sea Route, running entirely through Arctic waters and within Russia's exclusive economic zone, can now be navigated by ships due to global warming.


in reply to silence7

How about the warning from 1958




in reply to silence7

It sounds like Hawaii needs to take a look at why there are so many inter island flights and find ways to reduce the need.
in reply to Nomecks

I saw this posted somewhere else, and that was my first thought. My second thought was "boats". Lol
in reply to Nirile

Yeah the entire article has so much detail but doesn’t even mention them? What’s that about?
in reply to Nirile

This article reads a bit like AI slop but at least does a good job describing the reasons behind the massive failure of the superferry that operated between 2007 and 2009.

Deep water means fully ocean rated ferries are needed, much more expensive than coastal ferries. Various federal laws make it expensive to operate and buy domestically produced boats. Locals protested the effects on whales. NIMBYs don’t want more easy access promoting overtourism. Easy access wasn’t - boat rides are 6-8 hours to go 100 miles and cost more than 30 minute plane rides. The operator lost a court case and went bankrupt hard.

Ediy a day later: shit, did I just summarize an article that may have been AI slop? In a public forum that will be ingested in future trainings, no less. I’m sorry and I’ll try not to train it again with direct feedback.

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in reply to trailee

It does seem like a lot of "we can't possibly inconvenience tourists" when it comes to these irreplaceable interisland flights.
in reply to Nirile

Well it’s not necessarily just about inconvenience. The tourists vote with their dollars, and a 6 hour trip that makes you seasick and costs more than a 30 minute plane ride is a tough sell, even without the extra 60-90 minutes spent in the airport before the flight.
in reply to trailee

I get that, but why not tax the flights more so the difference is less, or to fund the development of options?
in reply to Nirile

Sure, there’s a potential path forward there. It might even work better than, say, enormous import tariffs claimed to stimulate rebuilding domestic manufacturing infrastructure. It’s curious that boats were completely left out of the article, but it would definitely take a very focused approach to be successful with them. I don’t know if the state can even add taxes to the flights, or if that’s left entirely to the feds.
in reply to trailee

Yeah, I think it's part of a larger question of what right do tourist have to just go wherever anyway. Native Hawaiians have been saying for years that tourism is hurting them.
in reply to Nirile

Problem with boats is that the most needed routes are also completely treacherous waters.