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Federal government agrees on relief for tenants on CO2 costs: The federal government has agreed on key points for relief for tenants on CO2 pricing. „With the swift agreement, the government is proposing a model with seven stages that meets the requirements for a fair distribution of CO2 costs depending on the condition of the building,“ said Bernhard Daldrup, spokesperson on building and housing policy for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The financial participation of tenants would depend on the energy condition of the building, Daldrup explained. „The more CO2 it emits, the higher the landlord’s share.“ handelsblatt.com

Wissing warns against too much climate protection: The German government supports the European climate protection programme „Fit for 55“. Environment Minister Lemke would like Germany to go even further with its targets, but Transport Minister Wissing puts the brakes on. According to him, German society cannot stand plans that are too ambitious. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing has warned against further tightening the climate targets of the traffic light coalition. „It is important to me that we achieve the agreed climate protection targets, but we must always be careful not to overstep the mark,“ the FDP politician said in the „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“. „We have agreed ambitious climate protection targets, and I advise everyone that we now implement these targets without wanting to tighten them.“ n-tv.de

Globally, more than 4.6 billion tonnes of cement are used every year.

The construction industry is booming. Worldwide. Not only in metropolises is house after house being built. Infrastructure projects, residential buildings, commercial properties – the more people live in the world, the more is being built. This is not only a question of capacity – but also of climate protection.  The manufacture of cement produces a whole 2.8 billion tonnes of CO2. That is almost eight per cent of global emissions – more than global computing power and global air traffic combined. handelsblatt.com

The heat transition challenges politics: The building sector is one of the biggest energy guzzlers and climate sinners. Whether office complexes, industrial plants or flats: Heating, cooling and the provision of hot water require a lot of energy, which is mainly generated by fossil fuels. The climate-damaging emissions in the building sector are correspondingly high. The SPD, the Greens and the FDP want to change this and drive forward the heating transition, after all, Germany wants to be climate-neutral by 2045. Newly installed heating systems are therefore to be operated on the basis of at least 65 per cent renewable energies from 2025 onwards, according to the coalition agreement of the SPD/Green government. handelsblatt.com

Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU as high as before the pandemic: Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union are as high as in the pre-pandemic period. This is according to data from the statistics authority Eurostat. According to this, around 881 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases were emitted between July and September 2021. This is an increase of six percent compared to the same quarter in the first year of the pandemic. Climate-damaging gases increased the most in Bulgaria (nearly 23 per cent), Latvia (16 per cent) and Greece (13 per cent). Germany was in the bottom third with an increase of about four percent. Only the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Slovenia managed to further reduce their emissions. zeit.de

Noise is an environmental burden and is on the rise: A United Nations (UNEP) report warns of environmental problems that should receive more attention. In many cities around the world, noise levels are far above the recommendations of the World Health Organisation. Noise from road and air traffic as well as industry increasingly poses a threat to public health, leads to sleep problems and hearing damage and is a burden on mental health, the UN report says. Noise does not only affect the health of humans. It also disturbs the communication and behaviour of animals. rnd.de

Climate activists threaten: They threaten to blockade airports and destroy industrial plants: More clearly than ever, several climate protection groups have spoken out in favour of committing crimes. The previous protest repertoire has been „played out“, says a Fridays For Future spokeswoman. Activists of several climate protection movements have announced a radicalisation of their protests. In the future, according to their own statements, the blockade of ports and airports, acts of sabotage or the destruction of industrial plants and other machinery will also be considered. welt.de

BOOK TIP OF THE WEEK:

Garten Safari

On the trail of local nature. Tips for discovery all year round

Gardens are more than „just“ a collection of pretty plants. They provide a home for a variety of interesting animals. Some are rather secretive guests; others are shy but easy to observe – you just have to know where and when. Whether bumblebees or butterflies, squirrels or robins: Animal roommates are active at any time of the year. With first-class colour photographs, Hannes Petrischak shows what there is to discover in a natural garden and when nature lovers and animal lovers should best go on safari. Supplemented by great close-up photos of butterflies, wild bees, birds & co., the book not only offers know-how, but also invites you to eventful discovery tours on your own doorstep. oekom.de

US authorities: Sea levels could rise by up to 30 centimetres on average around the USA in 2050. greenpeace-magazin.de
Shipping company: Stop plastic waste export. klimareporter.de
BlackRock: Research shows that commercial banks and institutional investors continue to support the global coal industry with trillions of US dollars. Leading investor in coal expansion remains financial giant BlackRock. energiezukunft.eu
Northern Germany: At least 60 illegal waste dumps discovered. fair-economics.de
European Parliament: Offshore wind energy is essential. It must be expanded quickly because it is urgently needed. heise.de
New electricity highways: New power lines are to be built to make it easier for green electricity generated in the north to reach southern Germany. sueddeutsche.de
Protection against rising electricity costs: Most important motive for buying private photovoltaic systems. pv-magazine.de
Klara Geywitz faces challenges: Creating affordable housing is squaring the circle. fair-economics.de
Food security: Will we soon run out of vegetables. rnd.de
Associations: Climate protection must be social. tagesschau.de
Brazil: President Bolsonaro pushes gold mining in the Amazon. spiegel.de

LITERALLY

„Our model shows that while there are direct inflationary effects of a carbon₂price, this is countered by indirect effects via consumption and investment demand, gross domestic product and employment“

Fritzi Köhler-Geib, Chief Economist of KfW Bankengruppe,said that over a period of six years, the bottom line is that there is an inflationary effect, but that this is less than the isolated consideration of the direct effect of the CO price₂would suggest. The price-driving effects of a CO price₂ are all the stronger, the fewer renewable energies are currently available as alternatives to fossil energies. From our point of view, it is also important to consider the distribution effects. Low-income households would be hit harder by the effects of the price increases, and this could be compensated for by a corresponding redistribution of the revenues from the CO₂ price.“ faz.net

„We are thinking about a consumption tax that would be levied directly on meat. That would have the advantage that imports would also be included. Then you could tax greater damage in other regions of the world when the rainforest is cut down there. This regulation would not only affect farmers in Germany or in the entire EU, but all products that are imported. Exports, on the other hand, are exempt because they are sold in other countries.

Franziska Funke, an environmental economist in the department of „Sustainable Use of Natural Resources“ at PIK in Potsdam, said that one could of course demand higher standards for animal feed in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but that these were also costs that would be passed on to consumers. Meat would still become more expensive. And this statement that it would not work without a meat tax was made against the background of the great environmental challenges. There are studies by economists who say: Okay, if we really wanted to stop climate change, we should not turn any more land into agricultural land. But that would only work if the amount in industrialised countries, where much more meat is eaten than recommended, were to decrease. Because in the countries of the global South, where very little meat is eaten at the moment, demand is rising. n-tv.de

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The seventeeen goals magazine tells inspiring stories about how people move the world and shows how everyone can make a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

PODCAST OF THE WEEK:

Alternative wind turbine concepts save resources

Large quantities of steel are needed for the massive expansion of wind energy. Its production is expensive and causes high CO₂ emissions. Some researchers and companies are therefore looking for alternatives: they are relying on thinner towers or the environmentally friendly material wood. If it is coated, it is sufficiently durable and stable. And the processing is also quite simple in principle, says Otto Lundmann, CEO of the Swedish company Modvion. „You can think of it as rolling out the annual rings in the wood into thin veneers and then sort of gluing the logs back together with a little space in the middle. That’s how you get a bigger tree.“ If you replaced a 150-metre-high steel tower with a wooden tower, you could save a total of about 2,000 tonnes of CO₂, says Lundmann. But we are not there yet. deutschlandfunk.de

MOBILITY:

A basic law for mobility: Currently, only small-scale repairs to the transport system are possible, experts criticise. There is a lack of legal targets for climate- and socially compatible mobility. This should change with a federal mobility law. energiezukunft.eu
E-mobility: A comparison of six electric scooters for urban and rural areas. heise.de
How can mobility work in rural areas? What does public transport in rural areas have to look like so that more people could do without their cars? Bavaria has some ideas about this. sazbike.de

Tricks with the environmental bonus: German state subsidises e-mobility abroad. More than ten percent of the vehicles subsidised by the German environmental bonus are sold abroad after the minimum holding period of six months. This was determined by the Center of Automotive Management(CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach. While 236,695 pure electric vehicles were newly registered between January and September last year, the electric fleet (BEV) in Germany increased by only 207,435 vehicles (87.6 percent). This means that there is a shortfall of about 29,260 electric cars, or about 12.4 percent of the newly registered passenger cars in the fleet. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) now apparently wants to remove part of the basis for the legal but controversial business model. autohaus.de , ace.de , spiegel.de

Digitisation of mobility: 80 partners from business and science are developing the foundations for an intelligent transport infrastructure, vehicle technology concepts and industrial applications. The common goal is to develop applications where close networking of users, service providers, manufacturers and suppliers is particularly important. The individual projects deal with, among other things, intelligent transport infrastructure, the product life cycle or digital twins in connection with automated driving. „The increasing digitalisation of all areas of society opens up completely new opportunities for us. By building GAIA-X, Europe is creating a high-performance and competitive, secure and trustworthy data infrastructure,“ says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, Chair of the DLR Executive Board. „DLR is committed to the field of mobility. The experience gained from 30 years of mobility research, as well as the interdisciplinary approach with the close interlinking of aerospace, energy and transport research and, in particular, digitalisation, create ideal conditions for this.“ dlr.de

Funding priority for fast charging like refuelling: Study by Agora Verkehrswende recommends further development of funding for publicly accessible charging infrastructure. The recommended model for short-term implementation envisages concentrating funding on fast-charging points at high-traffic locations such as supermarkets and shopping centres. These would promise a good utilisation rate, also in rural areas, and could most likely be operated profitably. Normal charging in public spaces, on the other hand, should only be promoted for selected applications such as electric car sharing. agora-verkehrswende.de

Fire on car freighter: Experts want to extinguish fire on the open sea. The runaway freighter has been burning in the Atlantic Ocean since Wednesday. However, it cannot simply be towed away because toxic substances threaten to enter the sea. Many of the loaded cars are electric models whose batteries make extinguishing the fire even more complicated, explained João Mendes Cabeças, the port captain of Porto da Horta on the Azores island of Faial. tagesspiegel.de

E-mobility: How the government torpedoes its own goals: The number of fully electric cars will be significantly below the German government’s targets by 2030 without a major change in policy, a new study shows. Environmentalists are calling for much stricter CO₂ limits than previously planned.Super Minister Habeck should push for more ambitious targets. rnd.de

Federal subsidies for local public transport only flowed out to a limited extent: In 2017, the allocated regionalisation funds, with which the federal government supports the Länder in financing local public transport (ÖPNV), amounted to 8.35 billion euros. Due to the 1.8 per cent increase in funds stipulated in section 5(6) of the Regionalisation Funds Act, the allocated funds would have increased to around 8.5 billion euros in 2018, according to the „Report of the Federal Government on the Use of Regionalisation Funds by the Länder in 2018“, which is available as a briefing (20/672).

Wissing: Expand rail transport and e-mobility:  Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) wants to put around 15 million e-cars on Germany’s roads by 2030 and create one million publicly accessible charging points. Wissing reiterated the goals of the traffic light coalition in climate protection and the expansion of e-mobility before the transport committee on Wednesday. The Minister also gave an overview of the Federal Government’s transport policy goals in the area of rail transport and local public transport and answered questions from the MPs. In principle, it is the task of politics to provide all people in Germany with an affordable, barrier-free and climate-neutral mobility offer, Wissing emphasised. It is undisputed that Germany is lagging behind internationally in climate protection. At present, transport in Germany emits about 185 million tonnes of CO2 per year, but by 2030 this figure should be only 85 million tonnes. Wissing spoke out in favour of technological openness in the development of alternative forms of propulsion to the classic internal combustion engine. However, this should not mean waiting any longer for a change in transport. At present, e-mobility is the only available and promising alternative to the internal combustion engine in the area of individual transport in order to implement the climate targets. bundestag.de

HYDROGEN:

Green hydrogen is the key to the energy transition:  Green hydrogen must be used for decarbonisation as soon as possible. Otherwise Germany will miss its climate protection targets, says Jorgo Chatzimarkakis. handelsblatt.com

CO2 avoidance costs: Hydrogen not unrivalled cheap: Green hydrogen is necessary for the energy transition. But researchers warn against being in too much of a hurry, because other measures are even cheaper to reduce CO2 emissions The Federal Republic can manage to become largely climate neutral by 2050. This insight is trivial and not exactly ambitious; even the German government is more ambitious and wants to have achieved it by 2045. Nevertheless, the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) has calculated various scenarios for the target year 2050 – and they all show: More speed is needed in the expansion of renewable energies. But Germany will probably continue to be dependent on energy supplies from abroad in the future. heise. de

Port of Rotterdam focuses on blue and green hydrogen: Hydrogen is becoming a key element in the future of the Port of Rotterdam. The Port of Rotterdam Authority wants to become the most important port for sustainable energy, taking the same leading role it already has in the import of fossil fuels. iwr.de

Hydrogen ship starts maiden voyage: It’s minus 253 degrees in the tank: Hydrogen is one of the great hopes when it comes to sustainable and climate-friendly fuels. A special premiere in shipping could now give the emission-free technology further momentum. As the Australian government announced, a ship named Suiso Frontier was already filled with liquid hydrogen in January and left the Australian port city of Hastings on 28 January 2022 . This is to be taken by sea all the way to Japan. This would be the first time that liquefied hydrogen is transported from a ship to another country. For proponents of hydrogen technology in particular, this is associated with the hope of having found an alternative to conventional liquid gas. efahrer.chip.de

The most gigantic business of the 21st century: hydrogen researcher Robert Schlögl considers German energy policy to be naïve to the point of dangerous. He calls for a global strategy instead of national solo efforts. Because Germany will never be able to cover its energy needs self-sufficiently with wind power and solar plants. Schlögl sees a solution in hydrogen, which can be produced in other regions and imported in liquefied form. cicero.de

Everyone is actually at the ready: according to Economics Minister Robert Habeck, the demand for hydrogen as an energy carrier will increase rapidly. He sees it as the politicians‘ duty to create a legal basis – and to provide financial support. spiegel.de

LAST WEEK IN THE BUNDESTAG

Sustainability Advisory Council: The parliamentary groups of SPD, CDU/CSU, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and FDP are in favour of setting up a Parliamentary Advisory Council for Sustainable Development (PBnE). A joint motion (20/696) submitted for this purpose is on the agenda of the Bundestag on Thursday. The PBnE is to consist of 20 full and 20 deputy members. According to the motion, the aim of the body should be „to continue to accompany the sustainability policy of the Federal Government on a parliamentary level in an appropriate interdisciplinary manner“. The Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development was first established in the 15th legislative period. Since then, the PBnE has accompanied the sustainability policy of the Federal Government at European and international level, the parliamentary parties write in their motion. Sustainable development, they state, concerns economic, social and ecological development in equal measure, „so that a body working in an interdisciplinary manner is needed in order to meet the demands of this complex topic and to shape innovative, forward-looking policies“.

Planned energy efficiency projects meet with criticism: The EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) with its strict projects for the renovation and energy-efficient construction of buildings was controversially debated on Wednesday in the meeting of the Committee on Housing, Urban Development, Construction and Local Authorities. At the request of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, the committee, chaired by Sandra Weeser (FDP), discussed the projects planned by the European Union for the refurbishment and conversion of buildings to increase energy efficiency. Sören Bartol (SPD), Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction, presented the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to the MEPs.The project is considered one of the most important energy efficiency directives of the EU to promote the energy performance of buildings and is to be adopted in 2022 or 2023. Among other things, the directive is based on minimum standards for the energy performance of new and existing buildings as well as the use of energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning systems. With the programme from Brussels, the conversion is to be completed by 2055. The debate focused on the question of the costs of the project and who should bear them.
The CDU/CSU parliamentary group asked how the subsidies for owners and tenants should look like. Against the background of sharply rising prices for building materials, the CDU/CSU demanded that subsidy programmes should follow.
The SPD faction criticised the lack of a neighbourhood concept and said that the project was very ambitious because three million buildings in Germany alone would have to be renovated within a few years.
For the FDP, the main question is whether more and more guidelines are keeping the goal of affordable housing and low-cost construction in mind. A representative of the parliamentary group also wanted to know what participation of the member states is envisaged.

The Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group pointed out that one third of the old, unrenovated buildings accounted for by far the largest share of CO2 and asked whether it was worthwhile to renovate these buildings at all or whether demolition of such buildings would be more appropriate.The AfD emphasised that the federal government’s goal of building 400,000 new flats per year should not be sacrificed to the requirements imposed by Brussels. Not only are building materials scarce and expensive, but also available building land is becoming increasingly difficult to find. The parliamentary group Die Linke asked whether the two ministries of construction and economy had uniform plans for the directive, what priority the project had at the EU level and whether a final vote on it was foreseeable in 2022 or 2023.

Completed development measures in 2021: In a response (20/660) to a minor interpellation (20/374) by the AfD parliamentary group, the Federal Government lists in tabular form measures and projects of German development cooperation that will be completed in 2021. It also lists other measures and projects funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), such as those of the political foundations, the church development agencies and private German organisations.

AFRICA

EU Commission sees Africa as Europe’s future hydrogen supplier: Africa has the world’s best conditions for renewable energies, says EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermanns. Europe could also benefit from this. Africa could help Europe on its way out of energy production from fossil fuels. Frans Timmermans assumes so. „We are sister continents, our future is interlinked,“ the EU Commission Vice-President said at the EU’s Economic Forum with the African Union, currently taking place in Brussels, according to the information portal Euroactiv. heise.de

EU wants billions in aid for Africa: The European Union will underpin its partnership with Africa by investing 150 billion euros. However, the EU-Africa summit was overshadowed by another topic. In the morning, Macron had announced that France would withdraw from the crisis state of Mali. This topic was not officially on the agenda of the EU-Africa summit, but played an important role on the sidelines. According to the report, part of the French troops and those of their European partners will be transferred to the neighbouring country Niger and to other countries in the region. From there, the fight against jihadist groups in the Sahel is to be continued. The future of the UN mission and the EU training mission in Mali, in which the Bundeswehr is currently involved with about 1300 soldiers, is still unclear. dw.com

Warning of increasing instability in Mali: The sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Mali because of the elections delayed by the interim government are hitting the country hard, according to representatives of the German government. Border closures and the extensive suspension of trade and financial transactions further increased instability in the crisis-ridden state, a representative of the Federal Foreign Office (AA) stressed in the Development Committee this afternoon. The military junta must therefore quickly present an acceptable timetable for the elections originally announced for February in order to resolve the conflict with ECOWAS. The junta must also quickly present a roadmap for reforms and implement them, said the AA representative. As there is still no democratically legitimised government in Mali, both the EU training mission EUTM and the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA are in question, she said. She referred to the upcoming extensions of the Bundeswehr mandates by the Bundestag in May. At the same time, she said that an end to MINUSMA would have a considerable impact on the security situation of the civilian population.  The growing instability in Mali could also have repercussions for the security of Germany and Europe, warned the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Niels Annen (SPD), in committee. ECOWAS and the Sahel Alliance founded by Germany, France and the European Union to coordinate their engagement in the region must be strengthened in order to prevent a collapse of the Malian state and a spread of insecurity to the entire region. It was also important to be able to continue development cooperation and humanitarian aid in the country. Mali is already one of the poorest countries in the world, said Annen. In addition, climate change is exacerbating traditional lines of conflict between sedentary and more nomadic population groups.

AU-EU Summit: From Thursday to Friday, the 6th AU-EU Summit took place in Brussels under the motto Europe and Africa: A Common Vision for 2030. The summit was supposed to have taken place in autumn 2020, but was postponed several times due to the pandemic. In the run-up to this year’s summit, there were many calls to redefine the basis of relations between the European and African continents in order to abandon the old donor-recipient relationship in favour of a strategic partnership based on common interests. africa-live.de

Africa expects Europe’s help with Corona vaccines: The vaccination rate is very low on the continent, 99 percent of the vaccines have to be imported. derstandard.at

Egypt: Arms exports depend on human rights situation. Exceptions to a „restrictive policy“ should only be made in justified individual cases. This is what Foreign Minister Baerbock said during a visit to Cairo. faz.net

Ethiopia lifts state of emergency: The government in Addis Ababa hopes that this will lead to a revival of the country’s foreign relations. The USA and the EU had cut aid funds. dw.com

Burkina Faso: After the bloodiest attack in Benin so far, France chases the attackers to Burkina Faso. Dozens of people die in air strikes. taz.de

Kenya: Election poll. Ruto most preferred presidential candidate with 38%, Odinga 27%. The latest Trends and Insights Africa (TIFA) poll shows that Deputy President William Ruto is the most popular presidential candidate, ahead of Orange Democratic Movement leader Rala Odinga.According to the survey, 38 percent of respondents would vote for Ruto, while 27 percent would vote for Odinga. The survey also found that Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s popularity ratings were at 2 per cent and Mudavadi’s at 1 per cent. allafrica.com

Libya: Elections a long way off. derstandart.at

Morocco: The African country was a popular tourist destination before the pandemic, then it closed down. How did the people who live from tourism fare? A journey to Marrakech, to a painter in the Dadès valley and a chauffeur on the edge of the desert. sueddeutsche.de

Mauritius: Raises its flag in the Chagos archipelago. A Mauritian delegation visits the Chagos Islands and underlines the territorial claim. Great Britain is thus put under pressure. derstandard.at

South Africa: In Pretoria, citizens, institutions and businesses are in arrears with about one billion euros in electricity and water payments to the city. Now the administration is taking action against defaulting debtors. And they are quite prominent. Randall Williams of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been in power in Pretoria since autumn 2020, and he now wants to do things differently. He has launched a „Name and Shame“ campaign and every day makes public the names of those who have been in arrears with their payments, often for years. Among them are a surprising number of public authorities. Navy headquarters and the Ministry of Education have now paid up, says Rendall. In the coming months he wants to collect about a third of all debts and also invest in infrastructure again. sueddeutsche.de

MORE KNOWLEDGE

Melting of the Thwaites Glacier threatens Hamburg and New York: The Thwaites Glacier is located in West Antarctica, flows east into Pine Island Bay and has an ominous nickname: Doomsday Glacier. It is the size of Great Britain. Its ice is almost as thick as the Alps in places. According to researchers, the melting of the entire glacier would lead to a sea-level rise of up to 65 centimetres. Although this is likely to take more than a hundred years, it could be the beginning of an unstoppable chain reaction: The Thwaites glacier would destabilise other neighbouring glaciers. How high and how fast the sea level would then rise is still a matter of differing opinions among researchers. What is clear, however, is that cities like Hamburg and New York would be affected; some of the inhabitants of Bangladesh could lose their living space. Whether and how quickly this will happen depends on whether we can still slow down the rise in temperature in time. nzz.ch

Animals threatened in Lower Oder Valley National Park: Largely free of human influence, Germany’s unique floodplain national park has developed and evolved according to its own laws. Its purpose is to ensure the survival of endangered animal and plant species. Now this habitat is under threat. For the past year and a half, the German side has been dominated by protection measures. Massive game fences are to set a limit to African swine fever (ASF) along 450 kilometres. This precautionary measure is controversial and the consequences of the „containment policy“ are dramatic. Videos and photos from wildlife cameras show groups of deer desperately trying to escape the water inland, but repeatedly hitting fences in their fight for survival. They run along the fence until they are exhausted. spektrum.de

Hot nights fuel fires: An important factor in the increase in the global threat of forest and bush fires has now been revealed in a study by the University of Colorado in Boulder: According to the study, warmer and drier nights in the wake of climate change are literally fuelling the trend. Satellite data show that the intensity of night-time fires has increased in recent decades. In addition, conditions conducive to fires at night are becoming more frequent in the regions at risk. Firefighters will thus probably have to prepare themselves more and more for round-the-clock operations, say the researchers led by Jennifer Balch. She and her colleagues fear that this trend will continue: Due to human-induced climate change, the night has warmed significantly more than the day in recent decades – and this is likely to continue. More on the topic can be found at wissenschaft.de

Drug residues: Pharmaceutical residues are found in waters around the globe. derstandard.at
Climate-friendly digitalisation: Data centres are urgently looking for buyers for their waste heat. spiegel.de
New fish guidebook by the consumer advice centre: Can salmon, trout and co. still be eaten? utopia.de

THE LAST:

Environmental protection instead of bikinis: This year, everything was done differently than usual in the „Miss Germany“ competition. The winner was a woman who is committed to environmental protection and grew up in a Brazilian favela. „We all live on Mother Earth. And she needs us very much at the moment,“ said Domitila Barros on stage at Europa-Park in Rust, Baden. She wants to make her themes „cooler, maybe even a little sexier“. To do this, she mainly uses social media. „The people I want to reach don’t read all the newspaper articles – but they scroll,“ said Barros, who describes herself as a social entrepreneur, actress, model and „social media greenfluencer“. welt.de

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