‘Don’t Gas Africa’

Climate activists say the recent dash for African gas by Western nations will make the continent into a “gas station” of the West, following a new report presented at COP27 indicating that Africa may lose more than it gains from the dash. The report was released by Don’t Gas Africa, an initiative of several civil society organizations from across the continent that oppose new gas exploration.

We cannot let Africa get locked-in to fossil fuel production because it will lock-out Africans from affordable energy, a thriving natural world, and clean air.

To settle lawsuits brought against the retail giant by municipalities, states and Native American tribes from across the U.S., Walmart has agreed to pay more than $3 billion even as it disputes allegations that it engaged in wrongdoing as part of a national opioid crisis. Walmart plans to pay out settlement funds quickly, in contrast to pharmacies CVS and Walgreens, which are slated to make payments over a decade or more. In a separate lawsuit, in which Walmart also denies wrongdoing, the Justice Department claimed that, “Walmart sought to boost profits by understaffing its pharmacies and pressuring employees to fill prescriptions quickly,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Walmart sought to boost profits by understaffing its pharmacies and pressuring employees to fill prescriptions quickly.

Following the crash of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange last week, revelations emerged that its owner allegedly used customer funds to support a risky business venture, opening him up to possible criminal culpability. Additionally, the FTX exchange was allegedly linked to over 130 now-defunct companies that were valueless, thus weighing down the exchange to a point of insolvency. In January of this year, FTX was valued at $32 billion. The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office out of Manhattan is looking into FTX’s collapse. (Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC).

Two-thirds of Russian oil is now shipping to Asia, with China and India emerging as the top export markets, as European sanctions against Russia will soon be in full effect. “Shipments to Russia’s Asian customers, plus those on vessels showing no final destination, which typically end up in either India or China, soared in the seven days to Nov. 11,” Bloomberg reports. The volume of crude heading to Asia hit a rolling average of 2.01 million barrels a day, with an additional 76,000 barrels a day loaded onto tankers whose final destination was unclear. (Source: Bloomberg)

Asia’s second-largest economy, Japan, announced its support to help Indonesia transition to cleaner energy from coal-fueled power, days after the former was named as the world’s largest public financier of global fossil fuel projects. During COP27 proceedings last week, Japan was revealed to have spent $10.6 billion annually on new fossil fuel projects between 2019 and 2021, and an additional $6.7 billion to finance gas projects during the same time period. This spending was despite previous commitments to end new direct public support for fossil fuels by the year’s end. The announcement of Japan’s commitment to assist Indonesia came ahead of this week’s G20 summit. (Source: Reuters)

Asia’s second-largest economy, Japan, announced its support to help Indonesia transition to cleaner energy from coal-fueled power, days after the former was named as the world’s largest public financier of global fossil fuel projects.