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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

This week has been marred by tragedy and death from extreme weather events around the world. The first two newsletters of the year focused on the effects of the earthquake that hit Japan on New Year’s Day. Today’s Sustainable Switch sheds light on a flood that killed at least 40 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At least 20 people died in Bukavu and at least 20 more were killed in the village of Burinyi, 50 km (31 miles) from Bukavu, according to local officials.

Bukavu resident Yvonne Mukupi, who managed to stay clear of the deluge, said her neighbor was swept away. “We have managed to recover three bodies under the trees but others have not been found yet,” she said.

Poor urban planning and infrastructure make communities like Mukupi’s more vulnerable to extreme rainfall, which is becoming more intense and frequent in Africa due to rising temperatures, according to United Nations climate experts.

“When rain falls, the main waterway gets clogged sometimes because of the waste, so it gets flooded and it affects the houses,” Bukavu official Emmanuel Majivuno Kalimba told Reuters at the scene, as residents worked to salvage belongings from their damaged homes.

The devastation brought by the heavy floods in Bukavu follows the deaths of at least 22 people in Kasai-Central province when a landslide swallowed houses, churches and roads, killing entire families and leaving people homeless.

1. At least 40 more people die in floods and landslides in DR Congo
At least 40 more people have died in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, after heavy downpours overnight unleashed floods and landslides that left residents digging through the mud to find bodies.

A house stands next to a seriously damaged road after heavy rains caused floods and landslides, on the outskirts of Kinshasa, DRC. REUTERS/Justin Makangara

2. Floods and snow hit Northwest Europe after latest Atlantic storm
Parts of northwestern Europe struggled to cope with the impact of the latest in a series of Atlantic storms which dumped rain or snow on already saturated ground this week, while northern Scandinavia experienced extreme cold. Click here for more.

3. UK saw second-warmest year on record in 2023, says Met Office
Britain experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2023, the Met Office national weather service said, pointing to the growing impact of human-induced climate change on the country’s average temperatures.

4. Trudeau’s climate plan faces setback in Saskatchewan over carbon tax

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a setback for his climate-change action plan in conservative-leaning Saskatchewan, as provincial opposition mounts against the federal carbon tax.

5. Consumer Reports finds ‘widespread’ presence of plastics in food

Consumer Reports has found that plastics retain a “widespread” presence in food despite the health risks, and called on regulators to reassess the safety of plastics that come into contact with food during production.

At least 84 people were killed after a powerful earthquake hit Japan on New Year’s Day, with rescue teams struggling to reach isolated areas where buildings had been toppled, roads wrecked and tens of thousands of homes lost power. Click here or on the image for more. 

Breakingviews: Companies will learn the hard way that polluting the world has a cost. Ten years after the deadly Rana Plaza factory-building collapse that killed more than 1,000 underpaid textile workers in Bangladesh, cheap polyester clothes from Shein, Boohoo or Primark continue to fill our wardrobes before hitting the landfill. 

Meanwhile, more than 350 million metric tons of Coca-Cola bottles, Mars wrappers and other plastic items are discarded each year. This may change as a crackdown on fossil fuel-based waste takes shape in 2024. Click here for the full comment piece by Breakingviews’ European Business Editor Lisa Jucca.

55%

The share of renewables on Germany’s power grids rose by 6.6 percentage points to 55% of the total last year, the sector’s regulator said, as Europe’s largest economy moves closer to its 2030 target. 

Speaking of which, Germany’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 fell to their lowest since the 1950s due to less coal-fired power and reduced output by energy-intensive industries, but the decline is unsustainable without climate policy changes, a study by the Berlin-based Agora Energiewende think tank showed.

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