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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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As environmentalists voice their opposition to Shell’s seismic surveys in South Africa, climate activist Greta Thunberg faces detainment by London police, while other activists scale a Bulgarian coal-fired power plant’s cooling tower over its pollution.

A court case over whether to allow Shell to explore for oil and gas off South Africa’s pristine Wild Coast has been delayed until next year, a lawyer for environmentalists said.

Shell wants to overturn a decision by the Makanda High Court last September that prevented it from exploring in the environmentally sensitive area. Exploration on the Wild Coast had been approved by the country’s then-energy minister in 2014.

“It doesn’t seem like it (hearing) will be this year and will likely be heard in the first term of 2024 only,” Ricky Stone, a lawyer for environmental lobby groups Greenpeace Africa and Natural Justice, said.

Environmentalists and coastal communities have protested against Shell’s plans for seismic surveys, saying its underwater acoustics are harmful to marine animals, especially migrating whales. Fishing will also suffer, activists have argued.

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg is detained during an Oily Money Out and Fossil Free London protest in London, Britain. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Speaking of environmentalists, climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained by police in London, a Reuters witness reported, after she and others protested outside an oil and gas conference, preventing some delegates from entering.

Thunberg, who became the face of young climate activists worldwide after staging weekly protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018, has this year been detained by police or removed from protests in Sweden, Norway and Germany.

She had been protesting outside the Intercontinental Hotel in Mayfair where the Energy Intelligence Forum was hosting a gathering of oil and gas industry leaders.

London’s Metropolitan Police did not immediately provide a statement when contacted by Reuters but posted on messaging platform X that they had made 20 arrests in connection with protesters outside the hotel.

Speaking earlier at the protest Thunberg had said: “The world is drowning in fossil fuels. People all over the world are suffering and dying from the consequences of the climate crisis caused by these industries.”

Environmental group Greenpeace said hundreds of demonstrators were involved in the protest. It said two of its activists scaled the building and unfurled a giant banner over its entrance reading ‘Make Big Oil Pay’.

Greenpeace activists also scaled the cooling tower of a coal-fired power plant in Bulgaria in protest over its pollution this week, demanding its immediate closure.

The seven activists from Austria, Croatia, Romania, Greece and Bulgaria climbed the tower of the Maritsa 3 plant in southern Bulgaria at dawn and painted “Crime” in large white letters on the tower. 

Another dozen activists stood outside the plant holding banners saying “Stop fossil crimes”, “Future for people not for coal”, “End of the age of coal”, and “Activism is not a crime”.

“When this thermal power plant works, it spews out unorganized emissions, which are untreated gasses, and the reason for this is the poor condition of the installation and poor maintenance,” Desislava Mikova, one of the activists and a member of Greenpeace Bulgaria, which organized the protest, told Reuters.

Since 2021 the plant has been shut down several times by Bulgarian authorities for exceeding allowed emissions.

European Union member Bulgaria, which produces around 40% of its electricity in coal-fired power plants, pledged to phase out coal by 2038, but activists say the date is too far off and demand the government bring it forward to 2030.

Palestinians collect water, amid shortages of drinking water, as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Award-winning American independent investigative journalist, Amy Westervelt, shares her thoughts after spending the past year reporting on the growing criminalization of protest:

“Around the world, climate and other environmental protestors are being harassed, attacked, and arrested at an increasing rate. 

“Laws are being passed that levy life-altering prison sentences and fines on protestors arrested near anything deemed ‘critical infrastructure,’ which is defined so broadly it’s hard to find a public space that wouldn’t be near it.

“Corporations are suing protestors and NGOs, comparing protest to organized crime. 

“Governments are growing increasingly comfortable branding environmental protestors as ‘domestic terrorists’.

“So far, the media is largely participating in the rhetorical ‘othering’ of protestors, opting in most cases to focus on the disruption that protest causes rather than the change it seeks, and to marginalize activists. 

“My reporting takes an in-depth look at how climate protest has evolved in recent years, where this backlash is coming from, how it’s grown so quickly, and what it feels like to be someone who’s concerned enough about the future of humanity to join a protest, only to find themselves facing police violence and several years in jail.”

When China launched its Belt and Road Initiative 10 years ago, it touted huge infrastructure spending linking it with Western Europe, which as recently as 2019, Britain’s then-finance minister said had “tremendous potential to spread prosperity and sustainable development”.

President Xi Jinping is now pushing to make the initiative smaller and greener, and to move from projects like dams to high-tech ones such as digital finance and e-commerce platforms. The aim is to aid a broader push for a world order that is multipolar and gives the global south more agency, rather than one dominated by Washington and its allies, analysts say.

A rescued pangolin bought off a wildlife seller is seen resting at the Green Finger Garden in Lagos, Nigeria. REUTERS/Seun Sanni

From conservation efforts to protect endangered species in Nigeria to the production and consumption of goods that prioritize environmental sustainability in England, today’s spotlight focuses on the global actions towards sustainable practices.

Nigeria has burned four tonnes of seized pangolin scales, valued at $1.4 million, the first time it has publicly destroyed seized wildlife products to discourage illegal trafficking, officials said.

The pangolin, a shy and critically endangered animal, is one of the world’s most trafficked mammals, and their scales are in high demand in traditional Chinese medicine, despite no reliable scientific evidence that they have any medicinal properties.

“The destruction of these seized items is a powerful statement of our resolve to protect our environment, conserve our wildlife, and combat the illegal trade that drives species to the brink of extinction,” Aliyu Jauro, the director-general of the National Environmental Standards Regulation and Enforcement Agency (NESREA) told reporters.

Nigeria has become a major transit hub for African pangolin scales and other wildlife products trafficked to Asia.

An employee pours English sparkling wine, brand Coates and Seely, for customers at the Tate Modern art gallery in London, Britain. REUTERS/Susannah Ireland

For hundreds of years Britons have celebrated by drinking French Champagne. But with vineyards now dotted across hills in southern England and sustainability concerns growing, local fizz is emerging as the drink of choice.

But in recent decades temperatures warmed by climate change have provided better growing conditions for grapes in England. Quality has improved, and English wine is no longer mocked by continental neighbors who once joked it tasted of rain.

At the same time, rising concern about carbon emissions is leading many British consumers and corporations to opt for local produce over imports where they can.

 “In a world where challenges like biodiversity loss, climate upheaval and human welfare are inherently connected, climate justice solutions must also intertwine. The environmental and human challenges we all face intersect, and those most affected by the climate crisis are an integral part of the solution.”

Melody Westen, executive director, Akashinga, an all-female anti-poaching group in Zimbabwe 

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