Climate change news from the ground, in a warming world Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here [[link removed]] Laurie Goering [[link removed]]

Climate editor

Happy New Year! As we push for progress in 2022, here's some good news to start things off:

In the Appalachian mountains of southwest Virginia, former coal mining land is finding a new use: Solar power installations [[link removed]].

Backers say the switch could boost the economic fortunes of a region hit by the shutdown of coal mines, as the dirty fossil fuel is priced out by cleaner, climate-smart sources of energy.

"There's very little activity going on this land, so if we can bring in a new use like solar, we can bring tax revenue into these counties that are really trying to diversify their economies," said Brad Kreps, a program director for The Nature Conservancy, which owns the land.

An added benefit? Such projects are softening deep-rooted skepticism toward renewable energy in an old coal mining stronghold.

As residents explore what life after coal looks like in Appalachia, it is becoming "safe to talk about solar," says Adam Wells of Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit that works in former coal communities.

A charcoal producer poses in front of the charcoal kilns he works at in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, December 6, 2021. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Fabio Teixeira

In Brazil, however, another old fuel still remains a problem: charcoal, used for everything from powering steel mills to lighting up traditional Brazilian barbecues.

In the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, workers were found in slavery-like conditions, producing charcoal in part using wood illegally harvested from the Cerrado [[link removed]], a fast-vanishing savanna ecosystem less-known than the Amazon but also hugely important for biodiversity and climate protection.

Brazil's steel mills rely on charcoal, much of which is made from native forests, said Roberto Kishinami, energy coordinator at the Rio de Janeiro-based Institute for Climate and Society. In a country that is one of the world's top charcoal producers, that's a big threat to forests, analysts say.

A view of flooding in Besemora village, India, June 30, 2020. HANDOUT/Courtesy of the North-East Affected Area Development Society

And in India's northeast Assam province, families fleeing more extreme rainfall, flooding and erosion of their land find themselves running out of places to move [[link removed]] after repeatedly shifting their homes.

Hemram Pegu, for instance, has been forced to rebuild his home at least eight times in the past decade, moving it a few metres inland every time heavy rains cause the Brahmaputra River to surge into his village of Besemora.

His indigenous Mising community has lived along the river for generations, he said, but they now find its behavior baffling and increasingly erratic. And with no title deeds to prove land ownership, they are running out of new home sites.

Will 2022 be the year climate action speeds up to match the growing threat? Let's hope so - or the alternative could be costly [[link removed]], experts warn.

See you next week!

Laurie

Solar power projects see the light on former Appalachian coal land [[link removed]]

Six new solar plants on former Virginia coal mines are among the first such projects in the United States - and could help fossil-fuel communities shift to a greener economy

In Brazil, charcoal industry fuels illegal deforestation and slavery [[link removed]]

Brazil's charcoal industry - to fuel steel mills and barbecues - is built on labour rights abuses and wood illegally cut from the endangered Cerrado, inspectors say

Prayers, petitions and boycotts: Desmond Tutu's climate activism [[link removed]]

Following the death of South African anti-apartheid and peace icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, here are some of the ways he also advocated for a healthy planet

Run, rebuild, repeat as floods eat away at India's indigenous land [[link removed]]

Each time flash floods engulf their villages, the Mising people shift their homes further inland - but after a decade of flooding and riverbank erosion, they are running out of space

What can world leaders do to make COP26 deforestation pledge a success? [[link removed]]

Cutting down forests has major implications for global goals to curb warming, as trees absorb about a third of the planet-heating carbon emissions produced worldwide

Climate-fuelled disasters bring 'grave' costs across the globe in 2021 [[link removed]]

The financial and human costs of climate change are expected to keep soaring unless governments step up efforts to rein in global warming, the report warns

Bangladesh takes baby steps towards climate-friendly just transition [[link removed]]

From adopting clean energy in garment factories to helping coastal migrants settle in cities, the South Asian nation has a way to go in planning a greener, fairer future

UN tonic for forest carbon market omits cure for corporate trading pains [[link removed]]

New rules for government carbon trading will help cut emissions by protecting forests, but doubts persist over the credibility of voluntary credits used by companies

OPINION: Here's how to make ‘climate-neutral’ claims mean something [[link removed]]

Swift regulation is needed to ensure low-carbon products or flights are truly green – and indigenous rights are protected in the process

OPINION: Three changes needed to pull off COP26 forest and land use pledges [[link removed]]

Solutions must be created on the ground by local government, farming communities and food businesses

READ ALL OF OUR COVERAGE HERE [[link removed]] Have a tip or an idea for a story? Feedback on something we’ve written? Send us an email [mailto:[email protected]] If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe here [[link removed]]. Like our newsletter? Share it with your friends.

This email is sent to you by Thomson Reuters Foundation located at 5 Canada Square, London, E14 5AQ.

Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales (no. 1082139) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 04047905). Our terms and conditions and privacy statement can be found at www.trust.org [[link removed]].

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation Climate Newsletter. If you do not wish to receive future newsletters, please unsubscribe or manage your subscriptions below.

Manage your subscriptions [[link removed]] | Unsubscribe from this newsletter [link removed]

Unsubscribe from all TRF communications [link removed]