AFP

In the far north of the United Kingdom, where the wind blows and the sea rages, the islands of Orkney and Shetland have long relied on oil and gas for prosperity.

But as supplies dwindle and the fight against climate change becomes more urgent, the islands off the northeast coast of Scotland are increasingly turning to renewables.

Daniel Wise is head of offshore operations at Orbital Marine Power, a start-up that is testing its 02 tidal energy generator off Orkney. 

The submerged propellers turn with the current, producing enough electricity to power some 2,000 homes.

“Half a billion tonnes of seawater moves per hour on this site, so it’s very good for testing these turbines,” Wise told AFP.

On Orkney and Shetland, which are nearer to Norway than London, giant standing stones are a visual reminder of the ancient Neolithic past.

Now, gleaming white wind turbines are seen as symbols of a brighter, more sustainable future.

“A lot of people describe Orkney as a living laboratory,” said Jerry Gibson, operations technician at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), which tests wave and tidal energy converters on Orkney.

“And we have lots of test sites and various different companies that are all working together… in this sort of green economy that we’ve got going on.”

EMEC itself produces “green” hydrogen from renewable sources via a tidal turbine and electrolysis using seawater from Eday, one of Orkney’s 20 inhabited islands.

The hydrogen is pressurised and transported 16 miles (26 kilometres) south to the port of Kirkwall, where it is transformed into electricity to power the ferries at the quayside.

– Reliability –

Given its plentiful natural resources from wind and waves, Orkney — home to some 22,000 people — produces more energy than it uses.

“Hydrogen is important because it’s another means of storing energy rather than using batteries or going straight to the electricity grid,” said Gibson.

EMEC is also testing wave energy generators in the laboratory, which is more complex to model than tidal energy.

On the island of Yell, some 100 miles northeast on the former Viking stronghold of Shetland, another company, Nova Innovation, is also betting on the ebb and flow of tides.

“The beauty of tidal energy is that it’s totally predictable,” said Tom Wills, offshore manager at the company. 

“So I can tell you tomorrow or 2,000 years from now, how much tide is going to be flowing through that channel out there, our energy resources are not dependent on the weather.”

That predictability is crucial for the stability of energy supply as economies try to move away from high-polluting hydrocarbons.

Nova has set up a charging point in the village of Cullivoe on Yell for electric vehicles, powered by its underwater turbines.

Fiona Nicholson, who lives nearby, is a regular user.

“Where we live, we look out on the sea and we hear it every day and we know the power of it,” she said.

“So, it’s nice to be able to use it to charge the car for all my long commutes.”

The Sullom Voe oil terminal on the main island of Shetland is one of the largest in Europe. Locals acknowledge that North Sea drilling and infrastructure have brought benefits.

Revenue from the operations have funded roads, schools and sports centres, as well as supported thousands of jobs for the Shetlands’ nearly 23,000 inhabitants.

But equally, residents know time is running out and renewables offer a potential solution, even if some projects are contested.

– Worse than oil? –

One such project is the giant Viking Wind Farm, a partnership between SSE Renewables and the Shetland authorities.

It is scheduled to come on stream in 2023 and will have 103 turbines generating enough low-carbon energy to power nearly 476,000 homes.

The project could save half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the company says, and make Shetland a net exporter of electricity. 

But many locals are critical and have fought a long legal battle against it since planning permission was first approved in 2012.

“If they had come originally with a reasonably sized wind farm, I don’t think anybody would have objected,” said Donnie Morrison, whose hillside home will soon be surrounded by roaring turbines.

“But it’s so huge, it’s ridiculous.”

Laurie Goodlad, a tour guide, said the project would see the removal of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of peatland — a recognised carbon sink.

“They’re basically digging up the lungs of the planet,” she said.

Despite assurances that excavated peat will be reused, and no construction on pristine peat bogs, opponents even say Viking will be more environmentally destructive than the controversial drilling of new oil fields such as Cambo, northwest of Shetland.

“I see Cambo as less of a threat than what Viking Energy is,” said Goodlad. 

“Cambo and Viking Energy, ultimately, are doing the same thing: they’re removing fossil fuels from the ground.”

Residents also fear they will not benefit from electricity exports, despite assurances the community will receive dividends, as it does from oil.

– Transferable skills –

At the Shetland Islands Council, energy project manager Joe Najduch acknowledged that the Viking project had divided public opinion.

“Obviously, developing an onshore wind farm can be quite disruptive to the island but the benefits seems to outweigh the costs,” he said.

Another issue, trade unions say, is a lack of employment prospects, with the thousands of well-paid oil jobs unlikely to be all replaced by renewables.

Viking Energy says about 140 people will be needed to work on the project and some 35 permanent jobs will be created, but unions say that is not enough.

EMEC’s Gibson is more optimistic, seeing oil and gas industry skills as transferable.

At the same time, not switching to renewables would cause its own problems, said Najduch.

“Oil and gas could last in Shetland until roughly 2050,” he said. “If we don’t develop it (renewables), we’ll rely more on imports.”

Smokestacks belch noxious fumes into the air from a massive coal-fired power plant on the Indonesian coast, a stark illustration of Asia’s addiction to the fossil fuel which is threatening climate targets. 

Asia-Pacific accounts for about three-quarters of global coal consumption — even as the region struggles with the environmental and public health impacts of global warming, from deadly levels of air pollution in India to extreme heatwaves and wildfires in Australia. 

Hopes for a cleaner future have been fired by pledges from top coal consumer China and other countries to go carbon neutral but much of the region is making a painfully slow transition to renewable sources.

“We are moving much slower than the impact of climate change. We are running out of time,” warned Tata Mustasya, a Greenpeace energy campaigner in Indonesia.

Change is hard in one of the last bastions of the dirtiest fossil fuel, however — five Asian countries are responsible for 80 percent of new coal power stations planned worldwide, according to a report from Carbon Tracker. 

Commitments that have been made are too weak, analysts say, with promises to halt construction of plants and tighten overseas funding from key financing countries often not covering projects already planned. 

And critics say that rich nations are not providing enough help, in terms of financing or technical know-how, to help poorer countries make the transition.

The challenge is illustrated by the enormous Suralaya coal plant on Indonesia’s Java island, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, which can power about 14 million homes a year.

Indonesia has committed to be carbon neutral by 2060, and to stop building new coal-fired plants from 2023, but despite this — the facility is undergoing a $3.5 billion expansion that will boost its capacity.

– Breathing difficulties –

Burning coal is responsible for a massive chunk of carbon dioxide emissions, making it a major threat to limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate deal.

But beyond its contribution to global warming, it also exacts a heavy toll on local communities.

At a village of red-roofed houses in the shadow of the Suralaya plant, coal dust often builds up on rooftops and residents complain of poor health. 

“Problems reported in the area include coughing and breathing difficulties,” said Misnan Arullah, from NGO Suralaya Care Forum, which campaigns on behalf of those affected by pollution.

“People complain of irritation to their eyes when they are out working in the fields.”

Resident Edi Suriana said his sister-in-law, who used to run a stall on a beach close to where ash from the plant was dumped, died in 2010 after developing lung problems. 

“She was exposed to coal dust when she was working at her stall,” he told AFP. “The shop was around 20 to 50 metres from the place where they dumped ash.”

Medics were unable to draw a firm conclusion on her cause of death, but Suriana said the family believes it was due to the pollution.

– Toxic waters –

And local fisherman Suwiro blamed the plant for a dramatic fall in the size and quality of his catches over the years.

“I used to be able to catch 100 kilograms of fish every time I went out to sea,” said the 60-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“But since the sea has become so polluted, we are lucky to get five to 10 kilos.”

The Suralaya plant expansion has received $1.9 billion of South Korean public financing and is backed by its state-owned electricity giant KEPCO, according to NGO Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC).

It is going ahead despite a vow by Seoul earlier this year not to fund any more overseas coal plants. 

A KEPCO representative told AFP the project — which is due for completion in 2024, and could still run for decades — was not affected by the announcement as it began beforehand.

Such cases show governments have “committed to stop digging the hole deeper — but they haven’t really come up with a plan to climb out,” said Sejong Youn, from SFOC.

– ‘Need to offer solutions’ –

The world’s biggest polluter, China, has vowed to go carbon neutral by 2060, and last month said it would stop its overseas funding of coal power stations.

But few further details have been released, such as whether projects in the pipeline would be affected. 

Nearly 60 percent of China’s economy is still powered by the fossil fuel and in a sign of the difficulties ahead, this month authorities even ordered mines to expand production to cope with a nationwide energy crunch. 

Japan, another major Asian financier of coal overseas, has also pledged to tighten rules for investment in foreign power stations but will not end government funding.

A major complaint from developing nations is the failure to deliver enough aid to help curb carbon pollution, with rich countries falling short on a pledge to provide $100 billion annually. 

Going into next month’s COP26 climate summit, a key demand of India, the world’s second biggest coal consumer, is for more international help financing renewable energy and to mitigate climate impacts. 

New Delhi has so far resisted pressure to set a target date for its emissions to reach net zero, and is even pushing ahead with new investments in coal mining.

To make progress, the developed world needs to take a constructive approach in its dealings with poorer countries, said Carlos Fernandez Alvarez, senior energy analyst at the International Energy Agency.

“It is not just about saying ‘phase out your coal plants’. We need to offer solutions. It’s about policies, finances, technology — everything,” he told AFP. 

Despite the challenges, there are positive signs, with many financial institutions in Asia stopping or slowing investments in coal in recent times.

China plans to increase the non-fossil fuel share of energy consumption from 16 percent to 20 percent by 2025, while India has pledged to quadruple renewable electricity capacity by 2030, according to the IEA. 

But activists say more needs to be done urgently. 

“Climate-induced disasters are happening everywhere now in Asia,” said Greenpeace’s Mustasya.  

Climate change “is happening very fast — but commitments are very slow,” he added.

burs-sr/lto 

In the far north of the United Kingdom, where the wind blows and the sea rages, the islands of Orkney and Shetland have long relied on oil and gas for prosperity.

But as supplies dwindle and the fight against climate change becomes more urgent, the islands off the northeast coast of Scotland are increasingly turning to renewables.

Daniel Wise is head of offshore operations at Orbital Marine Power, a start-up that is testing its 02 tidal energy generator off Orkney. 

The submerged propellers turn with the current, producing enough electricity to power some 2,000 homes.

“Half a billion tonnes of seawater moves per hour on this site, so it’s very good for testing these turbines,” Wise told AFP.

On Orkney and Shetland, which are nearer to Norway than London, giant standing stones are a visual reminder of the ancient Neolithic past.

Now, gleaming white wind turbines are seen as symbols of a brighter, more sustainable future.

“A lot of people describe Orkney as a living laboratory,” said Jerry Gibson, operations technician at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), which tests wave and tidal energy converters on Orkney.

“And we have lots of test sites and various different companies that are all working together… in this sort of green economy that we’ve got going on.”

EMEC itself produces “green” hydrogen from renewable sources via a tidal turbine and electrolysis using seawater from Eday, one of Orkney’s 20 inhabited islands.

The hydrogen is pressurised and transported 16 miles (26 kilometres) south to the port of Kirkwall, where it is transformed into electricity to power the ferries at the quayside.

– Reliability –

Given its plentiful natural resources from wind and waves, Orkney — home to some 22,000 people — produces more energy than it uses.

“Hydrogen is important because it’s another means of storing energy rather than using batteries or going straight to the electricity grid,” said Gibson.

EMEC is also testing wave energy generators in the laboratory, which is more complex to model than tidal energy.

On the island of Yell, some 100 miles northeast on the former Viking stronghold of Shetland, another company, Nova Innovation, is also betting on the ebb and flow of tides.

“The beauty of tidal energy is that it’s totally predictable,” said Tom Wills, offshore manager at the company. 

“So I can tell you tomorrow or 2,000 years from now, how much tide is going to be flowing through that channel out there, our energy resources are not dependent on the weather.”

That predictability is crucial for the stability of energy supply as economies try to move away from high-polluting hydrocarbons.

Nova has set up a charging point in the village of Cullivoe on Yell for electric vehicles, powered by its underwater turbines.

Fiona Nicholson, who lives nearby, is a regular user.

“Where we live, we look out on the sea and we hear it every day and we know the power of it,” she said.

“So, it’s nice to be able to use it to charge the car for all my long commutes.”

The Sullom Voe oil terminal on the main island of Shetland is one of the largest in Europe. Locals acknowledge that North Sea drilling and infrastructure have brought benefits.

Revenue from the operations have funded roads, schools and sports centres, as well as supported thousands of jobs for the Shetlands’ nearly 23,000 inhabitants.

But equally, residents know time is running out and renewables offer a potential solution, even if some projects are contested.

– Worse than oil? –

One such project is the giant Viking Wind Farm, a partnership between SSE Renewables and the Shetland authorities.

It is scheduled to come on stream in 2023 and will have 103 turbines generating enough low-carbon energy to power nearly 476,000 homes.

The project could save half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the company says, and make Shetland a net exporter of electricity. 

But many locals are critical and have fought a long legal battle against it since planning permission was first approved in 2012.

“If they had come originally with a reasonably sized wind farm, I don’t think anybody would have objected,” said Donnie Morrison, whose hillside home will soon be surrounded by roaring turbines.

“But it’s so huge, it’s ridiculous.”

Laurie Goodlad, a tour guide, said the project would see the removal of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of peatland — a recognised carbon sink.

“They’re basically digging up the lungs of the planet,” she said.

Despite assurances that excavated peat will be reused, and no construction on pristine peat bogs, opponents even say Viking will be more environmentally destructive than the controversial drilling of new oil fields such as Cambo, northwest of Shetland.

“I see Cambo as less of a threat than what Viking Energy is,” said Goodlad. 

“Cambo and Viking Energy, ultimately, are doing the same thing: they’re removing fossil fuels from the ground.”

Residents also fear they will not benefit from electricity exports, despite assurances the community will receive dividends, as it does from oil.

– Transferable skills –

At the Shetland Islands Council, energy project manager Joe Najduch acknowledged that the Viking project had divided public opinion.

“Obviously, developing an onshore wind farm can be quite disruptive to the island but the benefits seems to outweigh the costs,” he said.

Another issue, trade unions say, is a lack of employment prospects, with the thousands of well-paid oil jobs unlikely to be all replaced by renewables.

Viking Energy says about 140 people will be needed to work on the project and some 35 permanent jobs will be created, but unions say that is not enough.

EMEC’s Gibson is more optimistic, seeing oil and gas industry skills as transferable.

At the same time, not switching to renewables would cause its own problems, said Najduch.

“Oil and gas could last in Shetland until roughly 2050,” he said. “If we don’t develop it (renewables), we’ll rely more on imports.”

Smokestacks belch noxious fumes into the air from a massive coal-fired power plant on the Indonesian coast, a stark illustration of Asia’s addiction to the fossil fuel which is threatening climate targets. 

Asia-Pacific accounts for about three-quarters of global coal consumption — even as the region struggles with the environmental and public health impacts of global warming, from deadly levels of air pollution in India to extreme heatwaves and wildfires in Australia. 

Hopes for a cleaner future have been fired by pledges from top coal consumer China and other countries to go carbon neutral but much of the region is making a painfully slow transition to renewable sources.

“We are moving much slower than the impact of climate change. We are running out of time,” warned Tata Mustasya, a Greenpeace energy campaigner in Indonesia.

Change is hard in one of the last bastions of the dirtiest fossil fuel, however — five Asian countries are responsible for 80 percent of new coal power stations planned worldwide, according to a report from Carbon Tracker. 

Commitments that have been made are too weak, analysts say, with promises to halt construction of plants and tighten overseas funding from key financing countries often not covering projects already planned. 

And critics say that rich nations are not providing enough help, in terms of financing or technical know-how, to help poorer countries make the transition.

The challenge is illustrated by the enormous Suralaya coal plant on Indonesia’s Java island, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, which can power about 14 million homes a year.

Indonesia has committed to be carbon neutral by 2060, and to stop building new coal-fired plants from 2023, but despite this — the facility is undergoing a $3.5 billion expansion that will boost its capacity.

– Breathing difficulties –

Burning coal is responsible for a massive chunk of carbon dioxide emissions, making it a major threat to limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate deal.

But beyond its contribution to global warming, it also exacts a heavy toll on local communities.

At a village of red-roofed houses in the shadow of the Suralaya plant, coal dust often builds up on rooftops and residents complain of poor health. 

“Problems reported in the area include coughing and breathing difficulties,” said Misnan Arullah, from NGO Suralaya Care Forum, which campaigns on behalf of those affected by pollution.

“People complain of irritation to their eyes when they are out working in the fields.”

Resident Edi Suriana said his sister-in-law, who used to run a stall on a beach close to where ash from the plant was dumped, died in 2010 after developing lung problems. 

“She was exposed to coal dust when she was working at her stall,” he told AFP. “The shop was around 20 to 50 metres from the place where they dumped ash.”

Medics were unable to draw a firm conclusion on her cause of death, but Suriana said the family believes it was due to the pollution.

– Toxic waters –

And local fisherman Suwiro blamed the plant for a dramatic fall in the size and quality of his catches over the years.

“I used to be able to catch 100 kilograms of fish every time I went out to sea,” said the 60-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“But since the sea has become so polluted, we are lucky to get five to 10 kilos.”

The Suralaya plant expansion has received $1.9 billion of South Korean public financing and is backed by its state-owned electricity giant KEPCO, according to NGO Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC).

It is going ahead despite a vow by Seoul earlier this year not to fund any more overseas coal plants. 

A KEPCO representative told AFP the project — which is due for completion in 2024, and could still run for decades — was not affected by the announcement as it began beforehand.

Such cases show governments have “committed to stop digging the hole deeper — but they haven’t really come up with a plan to climb out,” said Sejong Youn, from SFOC.

– ‘Need to offer solutions’ –

The world’s biggest polluter, China, has vowed to go carbon neutral by 2060, and last month said it would stop its overseas funding of coal power stations.

But few further details have been released, such as whether projects in the pipeline would be affected. 

Nearly 60 percent of China’s economy is still powered by the fossil fuel and in a sign of the difficulties ahead, this month authorities even ordered mines to expand production to cope with a nationwide energy crunch. 

Japan, another major Asian financier of coal overseas, has also pledged to tighten rules for investment in foreign power stations but will not end government funding.

A major complaint from developing nations is the failure to deliver enough aid to help curb carbon pollution, with rich countries falling short on a pledge to provide $100 billion annually. 

Going into next month’s COP26 climate summit, a key demand of India, the world’s second biggest coal consumer, is for more international help financing renewable energy and to mitigate climate impacts. 

New Delhi has so far resisted pressure to set a target date for its emissions to reach net zero, and is even pushing ahead with new investments in coal mining.

To make progress, the developed world needs to take a constructive approach in its dealings with poorer countries, said Carlos Fernandez Alvarez, senior energy analyst at the International Energy Agency.

“It is not just about saying ‘phase out your coal plants’. We need to offer solutions. It’s about policies, finances, technology — everything,” he told AFP. 

Despite the challenges, there are positive signs, with many financial institutions in Asia stopping or slowing investments in coal in recent times.

China plans to increase the non-fossil fuel share of energy consumption from 16 percent to 20 percent by 2025, while India has pledged to quadruple renewable electricity capacity by 2030, according to the IEA. 

But activists say more needs to be done urgently. 

“Climate-induced disasters are happening everywhere now in Asia,” said Greenpeace’s Mustasya.  

Climate change “is happening very fast — but commitments are very slow,” he added.

burs-sr/lto 

When you fly into Johannesburg, solar panels seem to gleam everywhere, from the roofs of mansions and small township homes alike.

But those glittering 21st-century panels mask South Africa’s dependence on a dirty 19th-century energy source: coal. 

Like many developing countries, South Africa is struggling to meet growing energy needs yet avoid deepening Earth’s carbon crisis — one of the many dilemmas besetting the UN climate talks, which resume in Glasgow on October 31.

South Africa’s continuing addiction to coal has to be seen in the context of rolling blackouts that have been a part of life since 2007. 

Schedules for power cuts are shared on apps and in news reports, along with quotidian news like weather and traffic jams.

“As a young South African I am scared,” environmental activist Ditebogo Lebea said during a webinar organised by the think-tank South African Institute of International Affairs. “Our country is facing an energy crisis that needs urgent attention.”

The power cuts are a headache for residents and disastrous for businesses, undermining efforts to bring down a 34 percent unemployment rate.

When the crisis first erupted, entire cities were unexpectedly plunged into darkness, prompting angry finger-pointing.

The government sifted through every conceivable solution to try to resolve the problem.

Steep discounts — up to 100 percent — were offered for homes to adopt solar water heating. Wind farms sprouted up. A desert blossomed into Africa’s largest solar farm.

But the country also decided to build not one, but two gargantuan coal-powered plants, each producing about 4,800 Megawatts.

Operating as a unit, they will form the biggest coal power complex in the world, topping even China’s massive coal expansion.

By comparison, the solar farm produces 50 megawatts of power.

The first new plant has come online in fits and starts, dogged by design flaws and corruption at the state power company Eskom. The second is still under construction.

– Zuma effect –

Coal already provides 80 percent of South Africa’s power, making it the world’s 12th largest greenhouse gas emitter in 2019, according to Global Carbon Atlas.

Yet South Africa enjoys 2,500 hours of sunshine per year on average — around 600 more than solar power champion Germany.

“Everyone acknowledges renewable energy is a massive opportunity in South Africa,” said energy analyst Argon Poorum of the non-profit GreenCape.

The country has tried to tap that opportunity.

In 2010, South Africa launched an avant-garde renewable power auction system to attract private investors.

Five years later, Eskom unexpectedly pulled the plug, claiming renewable power was too pricey.

Chaos in energy policy was fuelled by former president Jacob Zuma, who took office in 2009.

He tossed out solar plans and tried to negotiate a back-channel, one-trillion-rand (67-billion-dollar) nuclear energy deal with Russia.

That plan was thwarted by activists, the opposition and a rebellion within Zuma’s own cabinet, but the damage was done.

Greenhouse gases rose 10 percent from 2000 to 2017, according to government figures.

Zuma’s successor Cyril Ramaphosa is steering a new course. He revived the renewable energy scheme last year, and made it easier for companies to generate their own solar and wind power. 

Nuclear remains part of the mix, and three licences have been approved for floating power plants that use natural gas,a fossil energy that is far more fuel-efficient than coal.

– ‘Too late’ –

Eskom has meanwhile set out to gradually decommission old coal plants over the next three decades, aiming to balance the new plants’ emissions.

Coal retains some political heft. Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has championed controversial “clean coal” technologies, partly to retain badly needed mining jobs, in a sector that overall employs around 500,000 people, according to latest official figures.

But the government is hoping to secure financing at COP26 to finance Eskom’s migration away from coal.

One goal of the conference is to get rich nations to follow through on pledges to raise at least 100 billion dollars a year to help developing countries shift to green energy.

South Africa wants a slice of that money, which could go a long way toward filling gaps in domestic funding.

“We have left it too late,” said energy expert Chris Yelland. “But better late than never.”

The Humboldt archipelago off the northern Pacific coast of Chile is a “natural treasure” and refuge for unique species of fauna, including a particular type of penguin and an otter on the brink of extinction.

But its fragile ecosystem is under threat, say environmentalists, from a $2.5 billion mining project on the nearby mainland that has stirred the debate in Chile between the economic benefits of mineral extraction and the need to protect the planet as a climate catastrophe looms.

To make matters even more complicated, the Dominga Mining project in the Coquimbo region is also at the center of a corruption scandal that could topple President Sebastian Pinera.

The archipelago — made up of eight islands, including three that form a national reserve — is a “natural treasure” of biodiversity, Carlos Gaymer, an academic at the Catholic University of the North, told AFP.

As well as being home to 80 percent of the world’s Humboldt penguins, a threatened species, the archipelago is full of eared seals, bottlenose dolphins and chungungos, the world’s smallest otter, which is in danger of extinction.

“Scientists all over the world agree that there is nowhere else on the planet like this,” said Gaymer. He said the mining project should shock people — almost as if it were being proposed near the world-renowned Galapagos Islands.

The Humboldt archipelago’s waters attract thousands of birds and 14 species of whales.

– ‘Destruction of our culture’ –

For many locals, the mining project poses a threat to their traditional way of life.

“Perhaps the riches we possess are not material, but rather in our archipelago, in navigating freely between our islands,” Elias Barrera, 26, a third-generation fisherman and diver, told AFP.

Locals in Punta de Choros, who wake to a view of the archipelago from their homes on the mainland, have survived off sustainable fishing in the area for generations.

“For us the Dominga project is the destruction of our culture, our ancestral culture, the culture of the Chango people, the culture that has prevailed for 10,000 years living in these territories in an integrated and sustainable way with our environment,” Barrera said.

Around the proposed site of a cargo port and two open-air mines, close to the town of La Higuera, live wildlife of startling diversity: guacanos (closely related to the llama), desert foxes, and colonies of huge Tricahue parrots facing a risk of extinction but which enliven sunset from nests built into sand dunes with a cacophony of calls.

The construction of the cargo port, including a desalination plant, is crucial to making the mining project profitable.

But environmentalists say it will seriously jeopardize both land and marine life on the nearby archipelago. 

For Matias Asun, Greenpeace director for Chile, the mining project is a “true environmental crime.”

“Putting a mining project here, (the) best project you could design, would be like putting a discotheque inside a maternity ward,” said Asun.

– ‘Work for everyone’ –

Not everyone living locally opposes the project.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for La Higuera, despite the possible impact on the environment, because all projects have an impact,” the town’s mayor Yerko Galleguillos told AFP.

The town of nearly 4,000 people has no public drinking water, sewage system or supermarket.

“Here there are a lot of people who go away to look for work, leaving their families behind. If Dominga comes here there will be work for everyone,” said Johanna Yvonne Villalobos, a 47-year-old homemaker.

In August, Coquimbo’s environmental authorities ruled in favor of the project, to the shock and chagrin of environmentalists, although the decision still requires supreme court approval.

The Dominga project is located in the far south of the Atacama desert — the driest in the world — some 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Santiago but just 30 kilometers from the Humboldt archipelago.

Mining, particularly for copper for which Chile is the world leader, is crucial to the South American country’s economy.

Dominga owners Andes Iron plan on building a treatment plant, a desalination plant, and two waste deposits. Company officials declined to speak to AFP.

The company aims to exploit the mines for 22 years, producing 12 million tonnes of iron and 150,000 tonnes of copper a year.

Andes Iron promises to create 10,000 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs during construction, and 1,500 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs once the mines are operational.

– Need for ‘alternatives’ –

Biologist Cristina Dorador, a member of the 155-strong body that will draft the country’s new constitution, says Chile needs to change its development model, which relies on mineral extraction at the expense of nature.

“Of course we will have to develop alternatives … so that Chile can transform into a society of awareness that no longer depends on external markets and demand for minerals,” Dorador said.

Perhaps that shift is closer than it might seem.

The opposition moved on Wednesday to impeach Pinera over the sale of the Dominga mine in 2010 by a company owned by his children to another in the hands of one of his closest friends.

The deal, mostly concluded in a tax haven, came out in the recent leak of financial documents known as the Pandora Papers. It included a clause that would suspend a final payment instalment if the mine area is declared a protected reserve.

Pinera’s government ruled in favor of Andes Iron and against the environmentalists.

In the far north of the United Kingdom, where the wind blows and the sea rages, the islands of Orkney and Shetland have long relied on oil and gas for prosperity.

But as supplies dwindle and the fight against climate change becomes more urgent, the islands off the northeast coast of Scotland are increasingly turning to renewables.

Daniel Wise is head of offshore operations at Orbital Marine Power, a start-up that is testing its 02 tidal energy generator off Orkney. 

The submerged propellers turn with the current, producing enough electricity to power some 2,000 homes.

“Half a billion tonnes of seawater moves per hour on this site, so it’s very good for testing these turbines,” Wise told AFP.

On Orkney and Shetland, which are nearer to Norway than London, giant standing stones are a visual reminder of the ancient Neolithic past.

Now, gleaming white wind turbines are seen as symbols of a brighter, more sustainable future.

“A lot of people describe Orkney as a living laboratory,” said Jerry Gibson, operations technician at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), which tests wave and tidal energy converters on Orkney.

“And we have lots of test sites and various different companies that are all working together… in this sort of green economy that we’ve got going on.”

EMEC itself produces “green” hydrogen from renewable sources via a tidal turbine and electrolysis using seawater from Eday, one of Orkney’s 20 inhabited islands.

The hydrogen is pressurised and transported 16 miles (26 kilometres) south to the port of Kirkwall, where it is transformed into electricity to power the ferries at the quayside.

– Reliability –

Given its plentiful natural resources from wind and waves, Orkney — home to some 22,000 people — produces more energy than it uses.

“Hydrogen is important because it’s another means of storing energy rather than using batteries or going straight to the electricity grid,” said Gibson.

EMEC is also testing wave energy generators in the laboratory, which is more complex to model than tidal energy.

On the island of Yell, some 100 miles northeast on the former Viking stronghold of Shetland, another company, Nova Innovation, is also betting on the ebb and flow of tides.

“The beauty of tidal energy is that it’s totally predictable,” said Tom Wills, offshore manager at the company. 

“So I can tell you tomorrow or 2,000 years from now, how much tide is going to be flowing through that channel out there, our energy resources are not dependent on the weather.”

That predictability is crucial for the stability of energy supply as economies try to move away from high-polluting hydrocarbons.

Nova has set up a charging point in the village of Cullivoe on Yell for electric vehicles, powered by its underwater turbines.

Fiona Nicholson, who lives nearby, is a regular user.

“Where we live, we look out on the sea and we hear it every day and we know the power of it,” she said.

“So, it’s nice to be able to use it to charge the car for all my long commutes.”

The Sullom Voe oil terminal on the main island of Shetland is one of the largest in Europe. Locals acknowledge that North Sea drilling and infrastructure have brought benefits.

Revenue from the operations have funded roads, schools and sports centres, as well as supported thousands of jobs for the Shetlands’ nearly 23,000 inhabitants.

But equally, residents know time is running out and renewables offer a potential solution, even if some projects are contested.

– Worse than oil? –

One such project is the giant Viking Wind Farm, a partnership between SSE Renewables and the Shetland authorities.

It is scheduled to come on stream in 2023 and will have 103 turbines generating enough low-carbon energy to power nearly 476,000 homes.

The project could save half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, the company says, and make Shetland a net exporter of electricity. 

But many locals are critical and have fought a long legal battle against it since planning permission was first approved in 2012.

“If they had come originally with a reasonably sized wind farm, I don’t think anybody would have objected,” said Donnie Morrison, whose hillside home will soon be surrounded by roaring turbines.

“But it’s so huge, it’s ridiculous.”

Laurie Goodlad, a tour guide, said the project would see the removal of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of peatland — a recognised carbon sink.

“They’re basically digging up the lungs of the planet,” she said.

Despite assurances that excavated peat will be reused, and no construction on pristine peat bogs, opponents even say Viking will be more environmentally destructive than the controversial drilling of new oil fields such as Cambo, northwest of Shetland.

“I see Cambo as less of a threat than what Viking Energy is,” said Goodlad. 

“Cambo and Viking Energy, ultimately, are doing the same thing: they’re removing fossil fuels from the ground.”

Residents also fear they will not benefit from electricity exports, despite assurances the community will receive dividends, as it does from oil.

– Transferable skills –

At the Shetland Islands Council, energy project manager Joe Najduch acknowledged that the Viking project had divided public opinion.

“Obviously, developing an onshore wind farm can be quite disruptive to the island but the benefits seems to outweigh the costs,” he said.

Another issue, trade unions say, is a lack of employment prospects, with the thousands of well-paid oil jobs unlikely to be all replaced by renewables.

Viking Energy says about 140 people will be needed to work on the project and some 35 permanent jobs will be created, but unions say that is not enough.

EMEC’s Gibson is more optimistic, seeing oil and gas industry skills as transferable.

At the same time, not switching to renewables would cause its own problems, said Najduch.

“Oil and gas could last in Shetland until roughly 2050,” he said. “If we don’t develop it (renewables), we’ll rely more on imports.”

The Humboldt archipelago off the northern Pacific coast of Chile is a “natural treasure” and refuge for unique species of fauna, including a particular type of penguin and an otter on the brink of extinction.

But its fragile ecosystem is under threat, say environmentalists, from a $2.5 billion mining project on the nearby mainland that has stirred the debate in Chile between the economic benefits of mineral extraction and the need to protect the planet as a climate catastrophe looms.

To make matters even more complicated, the Dominga Mining project in the Coquimbo region is also at the center of a corruption scandal that could topple President Sebastian Pinera.

The archipelago — made up of eight islands, including three that form a national reserve — is a “natural treasure” of biodiversity, Carlos Gaymer, an academic at the Catholic University of the North, told AFP.

As well as being home to 80 percent of the world’s Humboldt penguins, a threatened species, the archipelago is full of eared seals, bottlenose dolphins and chungungos, the world’s smallest otter, which is in danger of extinction.

“Scientists all over the world agree that there is nowhere else on the planet like this,” said Gaymer. He said the mining project should shock people — almost as if it were being proposed near the world-renowned Galapagos Islands.

The Humboldt archipelago’s waters attract thousands of birds and 14 species of whales.

– ‘Destruction of our culture’ –

For many locals, the mining project poses a threat to their traditional way of life.

“Perhaps the riches we possess are not material, but rather in our archipelago, in navigating freely between our islands,” Elias Barrera, 26, a third-generation fisherman and diver, told AFP.

Locals in Punta de Choros, who wake to a view of the archipelago from their homes on the mainland, have survived off sustainable fishing in the area for generations.

“For us the Dominga project is the destruction of our culture, our ancestral culture, the culture of the Chango people, the culture that has prevailed for 10,000 years living in these territories in an integrated and sustainable way with our environment,” Barrera said.

Around the proposed site of a cargo port and two open-air mines, close to the town of La Higuera, live wildlife of startling diversity: guacanos (closely related to the llama), desert foxes, and colonies of huge Tricahue parrots facing a risk of extinction but which enliven sunset from nests built into sand dunes with a cacophony of calls.

The construction of the cargo port, including a desalination plant, is crucial to making the mining project profitable.

But environmentalists say it will seriously jeopardize both land and marine life on the nearby archipelago. 

For Matias Asun, Greenpeace director for Chile, the mining project is a “true environmental crime.”

“Putting a mining project here, (the) best project you could design, would be like putting a discotheque inside a maternity ward,” said Asun.

– ‘Work for everyone’ –

Not everyone living locally opposes the project.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for La Higuera, despite the possible impact on the environment, because all projects have an impact,” the town’s mayor Yerko Galleguillos told AFP.

The town of nearly 4,000 people has no public drinking water, sewage system or supermarket.

“Here there are a lot of people who go away to look for work, leaving their families behind. If Dominga comes here there will be work for everyone,” said Johanna Yvonne Villalobos, a 47-year-old homemaker.

In August, Coquimbo’s environmental authorities ruled in favor of the project, to the shock and chagrin of environmentalists, although the decision still requires supreme court approval.

The Dominga project is located in the far south of the Atacama desert — the driest in the world — some 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Santiago but just 30 kilometers from the Humboldt archipelago.

Mining, particularly for copper for which Chile is the world leader, is crucial to the South American country’s economy.

Dominga owners Andes Iron plan on building a treatment plant, a desalination plant, and two waste deposits. Company officials declined to speak to AFP.

The company aims to exploit the mines for 22 years, producing 12 million tonnes of iron and 150,000 tonnes of copper a year.

Andes Iron promises to create 10,000 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs during construction, and 1,500 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs once the mines are operational.

– Need for ‘alternatives’ –

Biologist Cristina Dorador, a member of the 155-strong body that will draft the country’s new constitution, says Chile needs to change its development model, which relies on mineral extraction at the expense of nature.

“Of course we will have to develop alternatives … so that Chile can transform into a society of awareness that no longer depends on external markets and demand for minerals,” Dorador said.

Perhaps that shift is closer than it might seem.

The opposition moved on Wednesday to impeach Pinera over the sale of the Dominga mine in 2010 by a company owned by his children to another in the hands of one of his closest friends.

The deal, mostly concluded in a tax haven, came out in the recent leak of financial documents known as the Pandora Papers. It included a clause that would suspend a final payment instalment if the mine area is declared a protected reserve.

Pinera’s government ruled in favor of Andes Iron and against the environmentalists.

Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson Prince William presented the inaugural Earthshot prizes at a ceremony in London on Sunday, with  projects from Costa Rica, Italy, the Bahamas and India picking up prizes.

The new annual awards were created by Prince William to reward efforts to save the planet in the face of climate change and global warming.

Five winners were announced, each receiving a million pounds ($1.4 million).

The build-up to the televised event – — featuring the renowned naturalist David Attenborough and performances by Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and others — was marked by royal displeasure at world leaders’ inaction on climate change.

William hopes it will help propel the fight against climate change leading up to the COP26 summit, which opens in Scotland at the end of the month, calling those on the shortlist “innovators, leaders and visionaries”.

In a short film recorded for the ceremony in the London Eye and released ahead of the event on Sunday, William warns that the “actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand”.

“A decade doesn’t seem long, but humankind has an outstanding record of being able to solve the unsolvable,” he says.

“The future is ours to determine. And if we set our minds to it, nothing is impossible.”

– Winning initiatives –

The Republic of Costa Rica was one of the winners on Sunday picking up the “Protect and Restore Nature” award for its efforts to protect forests, plant trees and restore ecosystems.

“We receive this recognition with pride but humility, what we have achieved in this small country in Central America can be done anywhere,” said Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.

Indian company Takachar won the “Clean our Air” prize for the creation of a portable machine which turns agricultural waste into fertiliser so that farmers do not burn the waste and cause air pollution

The other winners included Coral Vita, from the Bahamas, for a project to grow coral in tanks, 50 times quick than coral normally grows.

The northern Italian city of Milan won the “Food Waste Hubs” award for collecting unused food and giving it to people who need it most. 

The “Fix our Climate” laureate went to a joint Thai-German-Italian team for the AEM Electrolyzer, which uses renewable energy to make clean hydrogen by splitting water into its constituent elements.

Each of the finalists — chosen by experts from more than 750 nominations — will be given help from companies to develop their projects.

Prince William announced that the 2022 edition of the Earthshot Prize will be held in the United States. 

In a BBC interview this week, William took a potshot at wealthy space tourists, for neglecting problems closer to Earth, while his father and grandmother have also weighed in this week on climate change.

Opening the Welsh legislature in Cardiff on Thursday, the 95-year-old monarch was overheard upbraiding world leaders who “talk” but “don’t do” enough about the planetary crisis.

The queen complained that not enough leaders had confirmed their attendance at COP26, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi among the key players in doubt.

– Royal double standards? –

William’s father, long-time environmentalist Prince Charles, meanwhile told the BBC that he worried the leaders coming would “just talk”, rather than implement “action on the ground”.

However, campaigners alleged climate hypocrisy from the royal family, which is Britain’s biggest landowner, including large tracts of Scotland given over to hunting and farming.

Last weekend, TV presenter and environmentalist Chris Packham led a children’s march to Buckingham Palace in London to deliver a petition with more than 100,000 signatures asking the queen to rewild royal lands.

“If they were to do so it would be a very powerful message that would resonate with people all over the world,” he said. 

The Earthshot Prize, launched in October last year, was inspired by US president John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” project in the 1960s to put a man on the moon.

It covers five areas: how to protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.

Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson Prince William presented the inaugural Earthshot prizes at a ceremony in London on Sunday, with  projects from Costa Rica, Italy, the Bahamas and India picking up prizes.

The new annual awards were created by Prince William to reward efforts to save the planet in the face of climate change and global warming.

Five winners were announced, each receiving a million pounds ($1.4 million).

The build-up to the televised event – — featuring the renowned naturalist David Attenborough and performances by Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and others — was marked by royal displeasure at world leaders’ inaction on climate change.

William hopes it will help propel the fight against climate change leading up to the COP26 summit, which opens in Scotland at the end of the month, calling those on the shortlist “innovators, leaders and visionaries”.

In a short film recorded for the ceremony in the London Eye and released ahead of the event on Sunday, William warns that the “actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand”.

“A decade doesn’t seem long, but humankind has an outstanding record of being able to solve the unsolvable,” he says.

“The future is ours to determine. And if we set our minds to it, nothing is impossible.”

– Winning initiatives –

The Republic of Costa Rica was one of the winners on Sunday picking up the “Protect and Restore Nature” award for its efforts to protect forests, plant trees and restore ecosystems.

“We receive this recognition with pride but humility, what we have achieved in this small country in Central America can be done anywhere,” said Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.

Indian company Takachar won the “Clean our Air” prize for the creation of a portable machine which turns agricultural waste into fertiliser so that farmers do not burn the waste and cause air pollution

The other winners included Coral Vita, from the Bahamas, for a project to grow coral in tanks, 50 times quick than coral normally grows.

The northern Italian city of Milan won the “Food Waste Hubs” award for collecting unused food and giving it to people who need it most. 

The “Fix our Climate” laureate went to a joint Thai-German-Italian team for the AEM Electrolyzer, which uses renewable energy to make clean hydrogen by splitting water into its constituent elements.

Each of the finalists — chosen by experts from more than 750 nominations — will be given help from companies to develop their projects.

Prince William announced that the 2022 edition of the Earthshot Prize will be held in the United States. 

In a BBC interview this week, William took a potshot at wealthy space tourists, for neglecting problems closer to Earth, while his father and grandmother have also weighed in this week on climate change.

Opening the Welsh legislature in Cardiff on Thursday, the 95-year-old monarch was overheard upbraiding world leaders who “talk” but “don’t do” enough about the planetary crisis.

The queen complained that not enough leaders had confirmed their attendance at COP26, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi among the key players in doubt.

– Royal double standards? –

William’s father, long-time environmentalist Prince Charles, meanwhile told the BBC that he worried the leaders coming would “just talk”, rather than implement “action on the ground”.

However, campaigners alleged climate hypocrisy from the royal family, which is Britain’s biggest landowner, including large tracts of Scotland given over to hunting and farming.

Last weekend, TV presenter and environmentalist Chris Packham led a children’s march to Buckingham Palace in London to deliver a petition with more than 100,000 signatures asking the queen to rewild royal lands.

“If they were to do so it would be a very powerful message that would resonate with people all over the world,” he said. 

The Earthshot Prize, launched in October last year, was inspired by US president John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” project in the 1960s to put a man on the moon.

It covers five areas: how to protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.