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

Climate correspondent

What do you do with fossil fuel facilities - coal mines, oil and gas wells, power plants - once they're no longer economically and/or environmentally viable?

This is a thorny problem facing governments from India [[link removed]] to the United States. And it's not just a question of the land and the assets built on it. There's the challenge of replacing the jobs provided by those dirty industries too.

Our U.S. tech correspondent, Avi Asher-Schapiro, travelled to the former coal hub of Appalachia in Kentucky, where companies and investors are on the hunt for new bitcoin mining sites [[link removed]] - and the power needed to run them.

There he met Warren Rogers, chief strategy officer of Blockware Solutions, whose construction crews have been working long hours through the winter to transform an abandoned coal-washing plant into a new kind of extractive enterprise producing cryptocurrency.

"We're trying to digitize coal," Rogers said.

Lured by tax breaks, bitcoin miners are pouring into the state, some generating their own fossil fuel electricity to power their machines, others using renewables or energy from waste.

But not all local people are convinced the high-tech business will solve employment woes in the economically distressed region, as bitcoin operations tend to need only skeleton staff to guard and maintain their machines, despite plans to train people to repair the banks of computers used.

Construction workers move fans on bitcoining mining firm Blockware’s operation in Belfry, Kentucky, January 24, 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Amira Karaoud

When it comes to energy-intensive businesses such as bitcoin mining or electric vehicles, their source of power is the key to whether they are green.

In India, Bengaluru resident Suraj Vallamkonda, 29, bought an electric scooter in a bid to reduce his carbon footprint and tackle climate change. But when he plugged it in, he realised he was charging it with fossil fuels.

He wanted to find a cleaner option but didn't have the space on his roof to put in solar panels. So he turned to SundayGrids, a start-up business that helps people meet their home energy needs with power produced by solar systems mounted on malls, schools and other sites across India.

Clients invest virtually in solar "biscuits", or portions of panels, earning green power credits that offset their electricity bills at home.

Digital solar [[link removed]], as it's known, could help propel India's rooftop solar sector, which has lagged behind largely because of the difficulties of installing systems on residential buildings.

"We were mostly living in rented apartments, often moving cities - and as an individual the economics of it and how to install (panels) were also a challenge. But we wanted our say in climate action, like so many other people do," co-founder of SundayGrids Mathew Samuel, 24, told our reporter Anuradha Nagaraj.

Co-founders of start-up SundayGrids, Naseer Sathyala, Mathew Samuel and Tarun Joseph, pose for a picture in Bengaluru, India, February 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Picture courtesy Mathew Samuel

As the world wearily marks two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hit [[link removed]] to economic growth and tax revenue has made it harder for governments - especially in debt-laden developing nations - to meet their targets to cut carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.

In Grenada, the pandemic has led to higher shipping charges for solar panels and employee layoffs, delaying efforts to reach its 2030 climate goals by up to a year, as costs soared 35%, said one official.

And in nearby Jamaica, plans to procure electric buses, install solar panels at schools and plant 3 million trees have been set back as available funding shrank.

It's a pattern seen around the globe, with Indonesia slashing its government budget for climate action by 20% in 2020 and Fiji cutting climate funding by 40%.

Even as climate action becomes more urgent, pressures from the pandemic and, more recently, the turmoil roiling energy markets due to the Ukraine crisis are disrupting plans that were already insufficient to keep global warming to the Paris Agreement limits. Much is at stake...

See you next week,

Megan

Urban Indians beat space crunch by investing in digital solar power [[link removed]]

With many city-dwellers unable to install solar panels, start-ups offer them the opportunity to invest in solar power production elsewhere in return for green electricity credits

The disasters that never happened: how to soothe rising climate anxiety [[link removed]]

Talking more about early warnings, evacuations and other measures that keep people safe could ease worries about the effects of global warming, experts say

Climate action lags as COVID-19 hits goals in developing nations [[link removed]]

In Jamaica and Grenada, plans to cut emissions and adapt to climate change impacts have been delayed as the pandemic shrinks government budgets

Asian farmers turn to drones, apps for labour, climate challenges [[link removed]]

Falling technology costs, labour shortages are driving popularity of digital tools to improve crop yields, farm incomes in Asia

India's first social plan for closed coal hubs aims for 'honourable' lives [[link removed]]

The government plan, backed by the World Bank, will support new employment and basic services in parts of India where coal mining is on the decline

OPINION: Ukrainian crisis must lead to faster green energy transition for Europe [[link removed]]

The EU's decision to move away from Russian gas must spur greater investment in renewables and energy efficiency

OPINION: A different kind of equal - why female entrepreneurs hold the key to solving the global climate crisis [[link removed]]

Business will be much more effective in fighting global warming if it addresses the ingrained biases that hold back women's contribution to climate-smart solutions

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