French prosecutors intervene in defense of TotalEnergies in climate trial
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/02/17/french-prosecutors-intervene-in-defense-of-totalenergies-in-climate-trial_6750572_114.html

In France's first major climate trial against an oil and gas giant, opening Thursday, February 19 at the Paris Court of Justice, TotalEnergies will receive unexpected support from the prosecutor's office. Since 2020, a coalition of advocacy groups (Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa, France Nature Environnement) and the City of Paris have asked the courts to require TotalEnergies to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by cutting its hydrocarbon production, in order to comply with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

The case is based on France's law on due diligence, enacted in 2017. It requires companies with more than 5,000 employees in France (or over 10,000 worldwide) to implement a plan to identify risks and prevent serious violations of human rights, health and the environment linked to their activities and those of their subsidiaries, suppliers and subcontractors.

In an unusual move, the prosecutor's office intervened on Tuesday, February 3, as a "joined party," aligning with TotalEnergies. Such intervention by the prosecutor's office in ongoing civil proceedings is extremely rare and justified only when issues of general interest are at stake.

According to the brief, reviewed by Le Monde, the prosecutor's office, like the multinational, considers that "the scope of the due diligence law does not extend to climate change." It argues that global warming is a "worldwide phenomenon," that it "concerns everyone, but is essentially the responsibility of the international community and states." It calls for a restrictive interpretation of the law. According to its conclusions, "it cannot be up to large French companies alone to bear a global obligation to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. The same applies to the environment."

The Evil Genius Of The Global Food System | Richard Hames Meets Charles C. Mann
https://youtu.be/QV99s0Ny6tg?si=2ZQQePvLti8tqA1u


Richard Hames presents a new show about the systems that make modern life possible. We’ve made the planet into a giant machine, filled with the strangest stories – and now it’s all coming apart. It’s time to Do Your Own Research.

There’s nothing in the world more important than the food system. The twentieth century was scarred by enormous famines – and, like the one in Gaza, they are still deliberately engineered. But since the 1970s, the absolute number of deaths from famine has dropped by over 90%.

On a global scale, we now make so much food that farmers will sometimes destroy it just to keep the prices high.

How is there so much food? How did we get to a world where, globally, people are more likely to be obese than underweight? And, amid all these calories, how are so many people still malnourished? Why is it suddenly all so expensive? And is it all about to come crashing down?

Charles C. Mann explains the historical power of bird shit, the strange reason Indian scientists put wheat in a nuclear reactor, and how the genius who made modern farming possible also invented the gas that was used to murder millions in the Holocaust.

‘Daunting but doable’: Europe urged to prepare for 3C of global heating | Climate crisis | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/16/europe-climate-advisory-board-3c-global-heating

Maarten van Aalst, a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), said the continent was already “paying a price” for its lack of preparation but that adapting to a hotter future was in part “common sense and low-hanging fruit”.

“It is a daunting task, but at the same time quite a doable task. It’s not rocket science,” said van Aalst, who used to lead the climate centre at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent and is now the director general of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

The ESABCC describes current efforts to adapt to rising temperatures as “insufficient, largely incremental [and] often coming too late” in a new report that advises officials to prepare for a world 2.8-3.3C hotter than preindustrial levels by 2100.

...

Weather extremes in Europe in recent years have at times surprised climate scientists with their strength and adaptation experts with their lethality as rising temperatures have warped the climate.

Heavy rains supercharged by climate breakdown killed 134 people in Germany’s Ahr valley in 2021 and 229 people in the Valencia region of Spain in 2024. Across the continent, summer heat kills many tens of thousands of people each year, with studies attributing between half and two-thirds of the death toll to the rise in temperatures caused by fossil fuel pollution. Last year’s wildfires, meanwhile, torched more of Europe than scientists have ever recorded.

Last week, Portugal was urged to draw up climate adaptation plans as the country was hit by an unprecedented series of storms that killed at least 16 people and caused an estimated €775m (£675m) of damage.

TADEAS:

The Retreat – Resist – Respond framework (sometimes adapted as Protect – Accommodate – Retreat or Resist – Accept – Direct) is a strategic approach to climate change adaptation and environmental risk management, particularly focusing on coastal management and ecosystem sustainability. This framework helps decision-makers choose between fighting natural forces, adapting to them, or moving away from high-risk areas.

not in my england

‘It makes no sense’: the battle over plans for a windfarm by the Yorkshire Dales | Wind power | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/15/battle-plans-windfarm-yorkshire-dales

This week, the UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, announced contracts for 157 new solar farms, 28 new onshore windfarms, eight offshore windfarms and three tidal projects. Together with other offshore windfarms announced in January, they will generate enough clean power to supply 16m homes.

Labour lifted the “ban” on onshore windfarms in 2024. Among the onshore projects approved this week is Imerys in Cornwall – the largest onshore windfarm in England for a decade at 20MW. But that will be dwarfed by 100MW Hope Moor.

CAIDEL: tak když jsem tyhle věci počítal před 20 lety, tak jsem byl enfant terrible NYXu a všichni se mi za to vysmívali, ale když to spočítají Číňani, tak to je najednou jiná. Stejně to vyvinuli jen aby mohli doplout na Taiwan, i kdyby jim v reakci na invazi svět zablokoval dodávky ropy :-) O jejich ekologických motivacích si nedělám žádný iluze - chtěj bejt prostě soběstačný a ne dokonečna platit různejm šílenejm režimům za ropu, ale ne z humanistických pohnute, ale protože chtěj aby jejich vlastní šílenej režim nezbankrotoval.

ALMAD: The ship is powered by 10 containerised batteries with a total capacity of up to 19,000 kWh. These batteries supply electricity to two 875 kW permanent-magnet propulsion motors.

To na mě působí jako loď se spíše omezenou výdrží, pro nějaké místní plavby. Ale to s tím dobíjením fotovoltaikou je úlet. To kdybych někde psal jako nápad, před 20 lety, tak se mi všichni vysmějí :-) (Nicméně, nevychází to... fotovoltaika stačí jen na hodně pomalou plavbu...)