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

The power grid in the U.S. state of Texas is infamously fragile.

More than 200 people died last winter after severe winter storms cut power - and this summer the state has only narrowly avoided blackouts amid extreme heat.

Could a fast-expanding crypto mining industry help boost and green Texas' grid? [[link removed]]

Running huge banks of computers to create bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is an energy-hungry business - and most of it has so far been powered by fossil fuels, adding significantly to climate-changing emissions, even as they need to plunge.

But a handful of crypto businesses in Texas think their expanding industry could spur the installation of vast new solar and wind capacity in the state - and keep the grid running when demand soars.

How would that work?

Crypto miners would agree to buy lots of clean power - providing an incentive for renewable energy developers to expand - but then turn off their machines at peak times, making more electricity available for other users during heatwaves, for example.

In turn, mining firms would get payments for helping "balance the grid" - up to $170 million a year, analysts estimate.

But some experts aren't sure a crypto scale-up will really be green as users compete for power supplies, with one mining firm in Texas, for instance, aiming to use as much as 750,000 homes.

"They're making it slower to decarbonize the grid," said Jesse Jenkins, of Princeton University, who thinks more crypto mining likely adds up to more fossil fuel use.

Inside Lancium's first clean campus in Fort Stockton Texas, United States, July 19, 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Jessica Lutz

The impact of rising fossil fuel use is evident in Pakistan, where many of the 33 million people affected by floods now covering a third of the country are likely to have to pick up much of the cost of recovery themselves [[link removed]].

With Pakistan saddled by heavy debt and international aid agencies overwhelmed by rising global demand for assistance, only limited help is expected to arrive - even though Pakistan has produced very few of the emissions driving such extreme weather.

"I have to start my life from zero," farmer Naeem Ullah told our reporter Imran Mukhtar after losing his home and his sugar cane crop in the flooding.

Might Pakistan's misery help drive better planning [[link removed]] for worsening climate change-fuelled disasters everywhere? It's something desperately needed, experts say.

"Disasters are not natural. We are contributing to them with our actions and our inactions," warns Zita Sebesvari, an environmental vulnerability specialist at the United Nations University.

Two men cross floodwaters in Awaran district, in Balochistan province, September 1, 2022. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Dilshad Baloch

As rocketing energy prices fuel inflation and social discontent in many countries, the world may have entered a period of "big turbulence" [[link removed]] that could help spur a green transition in the global economy - not just more misery, top climate scientist Johan Rockstrom believes.

"We are starting to hit the wall on food, on energy and many other finite natural resources," he said in an interview - but ramping up solar investment, for instance, would slash future power bills and ease geopolitical tensions as control of energy supplies moves out of a few powerful hands.

Meanwhile, could Brazil's presidential challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva deliver on both his pledges to cut forest loss and bring back Brazil's now-unaffordable beef barbecue [[link removed]]? We take a look.

See you next week!

Laurie

Where's the beef? Brazil balances barbecues and forest protection [[link removed]]

As Brazilians struggle to afford a staple, a presidential challenger promises to restore the barbecue - but at what cost?

'Start my life from zero': Poor Pakistanis face heavy cost of floods [[link removed]]

Floods have ruined crops and homes across Pakistan, leaving many of the country's poor struggling to restart their lives

Global turbulence may herald 'giant leap' to a greener era, says top scientist [[link removed]]

Energy and inflation crises could lead to a climate-friendly, fairer future, says environmental guru Johan Rockström

Will Pakistan floods spur better climate disaster planning? [[link removed]]

As losses from climate-fuelled disasters rise, investment in cutting risks makes financial sense - and can solve multiple problems at once

INSIGHT-Low-carbon bitcoin? Crypto miners' green power talk angers Texas locals [[link removed]]

Cryptocurrency firms are positioning themselves as an ally in the climate fight, saying they want to help grow renewables, but many researchers and residents aren't convinced

OPINION: Is dengue the next threat in flood-hit Pakistan? [[link removed]]

More heat, floods and other climate extremes are boosting global threats from mosquito-carried diseases

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