The Planet (on, and off)

France has become the latest country to pull out of the controversial energy charter treaty (ECT), which protects fossil fuel investors from policy changes that might threaten their profits. The Guardian reports: Speaking after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “France has decided to Read more…

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a lush, highly detailed landscape — the iconic Pillars of Creation — where new stars are forming within dense clouds of gas and dust. From NASA: The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations, but are far more permeable. These columns are made Read more…

With a few notable exceptions — such as during the 1918 influenza pandemic, World War II and the HIV crisis — life expectancy in the U.S. has had gradual upward trajectory over the past century. But that progress has steeply reversed in the past two years as COVID and other Read more…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has asked the economy, environment and finance ministries to lay the legal framework to keep the country’s three nuclear power plants operational until as late as April 15, 2023, a letter seen by Reuters showed on Monday. Germany had planned to complete a phase-out of nuclear Read more…

Twenty countries most vulnerable to climate change are considering halting their repayment of $685 billion in collective debt, loans that they say are an “injustice,” Mohamad Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, said on Friday. When the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund conclude their annual meetings in Read more…

A crackdown by authorities in Zimbabwe to support the local currency and fight inflation has increased the use of US dollars in the economy, according to the country’s oldest brokerage. “Ironically the authorities’ clampdown on Zimbabwe dollar payments created such a squeeze that it has had the unintended consequence of Read more…