Madeira’s week-long wildfire

Climate Focus

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

Before we dive into today’s Climate Focus, I wanted to give a shout out to our most vocal subscribers who responded with their holiday recommendations. I’ll be looking at sunning in Belize on a budget.

But back to the most pressing climate developments as a week-long wildfire in popular holiday destination Madeira takes the focus in today’s newsletter.

The European Union has sent two water bombing planes from Spain to help put out the blaze.

The fire, which started on Aug. 14, has seared nearly 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of vegetation, mostly in mountainous areas with steep slopes and difficult access.

Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal, consists of four islands off the northwest coast of Africa, with around 250,000 residents.

It’s also a popular tourist destination that has been on alert for high temperatures and risk of wildfires for days.

Speaking of popular tourist destinations, Greece said it would offer emergency compensation totalling millions of euros to hundreds of households and businesses affected by a blaze that killed one woman and torched 10,000 hectares near Athens.

The fire began on Aug. 11 near the town of Varnavas, 35 km (22 miles) from the capital, and within a day reached the city’s northern suburbs on the slopes of Mount Penteli, one of the last forests near Athens.

Inspections so far have identified some 146 houses severely damaged, with 31 businesses also affected.

Authorities will offer up to 150,000 euros ($166,650) to households, 80% in government aid and 20% in interest-free loans, and up to 500,000 euros to destroyed businesses, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Wildfires have been a common feature of Greek summers for years, but climate change has brought hotter weather and less rain, heightening the risk.

Soldiers in lifeboats ferried people to safety in India’s northeastern state of Tripura after heavy rain triggered floods and landslides, forcing more than 65,000 people from their homes and killing 23, authorities said.

Rescuers from Tripura Disaster Management Authority evacuate flood-affected people to a safer place at a village on the outskirts of Agartala, India. REUTERS/Jayanta Dey

Relentless monsoon rains and flooding have stranded nearly three million people in Bangladesh and killed two, submerging vast areas and damaging homes and infrastructure, officials from the country’s disaster management ministry said.

Chile’s Atacama salt flat is sinking at a rate of 1 to 2 centimeters (0.4 to 0.8 inches) per year due to lithium brine extraction, according to a study by the University of Chile.

British energy regulator Ofgem raised its price cap on household energy bills by 10% from Oct. 1 to an annual level of 1,717 pounds ($2,250.64), a jump blamed on severe weather events and conflicts such as the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. Navy has received more than 546,500 claims for compensation from people impacted by decades of contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, a new court filing shows, putting it squarely among the largest injury cases of all time.

In the Mediterranean Sea, a crucial but endangered ecosystem is battling for survival. Posidonia Oceanica, often called the ‘lungs of the Mediterranean,’ is under severe threat from climate change, warming waters, invasive species, and human activities along the coast. Click here for the full video.

Shein’s CEO Sky Xu said in the company’s recently published annual report that improving the fashion giant’s supply chain governance and managing its carbon footprint, particularly indirect “scope 3” emissions, were “critical” areas for the company.

Shein sends products directly from suppliers in China to customers by air, and its emissions from transporting products more than doubled in 2023 to 6.35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the report showed. Click here for a breakdown of its carbon emissions and labor practices in a Reuters feature.

That’s how much a California residential solar subsidy will cost ratepayers who do not have rooftop panels annually by the end of this year, contributing to higher electricity rates for consumers, according to an analysis by the top U.S. solar state’s ratepayer advocate.

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