The number of coal-fired power plants being developed around the world has collapsed over the past three years, reports the Guardian, picking up the latest annual report from Global Energy Monitor (formerly CoalSwarm). The number of plants where construction started was 84% lower in 2018 than in 2015, it says. The Sydney Morning Herald also covers the report, under the headline: “‘Peak coal in sight’ as new power stations drop and retirements jump.” Both publications note the report’s warning of a possible coal resurgence in China, where a major electricity industry group has called for a new, much higher cap on coal capacity for 2030. The move could “single-handedly jeopardise global climate change targets”, writes one of the report’s authors, Lauri Myllyvirta, for Greenpeace’s Unearthed. He adds: “The Chinese government has not adopted the industry proposal, but it is under consideration.” Reuters says: “China’s National Development and Reform Commission and its National Energy Administration did not immediately respond to faxed requests to comment on the conclusions of the report.” It picks up on the report’s finding that China resumed construction of many coal plants last year, that had previously been on hold. The report also finds that the pipeline of planned coal plants in India has shrunk by 37 gigawatts (GW) compared to a year earlier, to 94GW in 2018, says the Times of India. AFP also covers the news. Carbon Brief has updated its interactive map of the world’s coal plants and in-depth accompanying article, based on the latest Global Energy Monitor data. Separately, S&P Global Plattsreports that Czech utility firm CEZ is to close 1GW of old coal plants by mid-2020, due to tightening air pollution rules.

The US-China trade war over products including soybeans could have knock-on impacts on the Amazon rainforest, ABC News reports, based on the findings of a new study published in Nature. “As the trade war escalated between Washington and Beijing, the US slapped a 25% tariff on goods imported into the US from China, and China responded in kind, with its own 25% tariff on US products, including soy,” ABC News explains. It continues: “As a result, China’s soy imports from the US crashed and they looked for cheaper alternatives, namely Brazil, to plug the gap…In a worst-case-scenario, Brazil will need another 12.9m hectares of land dedicated to growing soy to meet China’s needs.” PBS Newshour, the Independent and the Guardian all cover the new research.

The Norwegian town of Longyearbyen on Svalbard, home to the “doomsday vault” holding copies of the world’s crop seeds, is probably warming faster than any other on Earth, says CNN, picking up comments from the author of a Norwegian Meteorological Institute report on the area. The warming is causing permafrost soils to melt, damaging buildings in the town as they sink into the ground, CNN says. The Svalbard seed vault is “embedded deep in the permafrost…for safekeeping in the event of war, famine, disease and, yes, climate change”, says the Washington Post. It adds: “The vault is probably going to be okay. But its occasional troubles put a focus on a much bigger problem: its home is undergoing rapid change thanks to the warming climate.” The Independent, Grist and MailOnline also cover the news.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would aim to keep the US in the Paris Agreement, reports Vox, signalling that climate change will be “a pillar” of their legislative agenda. “While Republicans still hold the White House and the Senate and are unlikely to pass any climate legislation, House Democrats are signalling to their base that they are serious about action,” Vox explains. USA Today and the Hill both have the story. A day after Senate Republicans blocked a “show vote” on the green new deal, “lawmakers from both parties were still talking about climate change”, notes Associated Press. The New York Times carries a comment arguing that the green new deal is popular with voters and that “Republicans may come to regret their mockery” of the idea. BBC News has a video of a Republican critic and Democratic advocate for the plan. Politico carries a comment from the US National Association of Manufacturers that says the green new deal is “unrealistic”. But it adds: “The real question for policymakers now should not be whether to act on climate but how to do so effectively.” Meanwhile, the Guardian looks at presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke and asks “just how green is the Texas Democrat?”

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is blocking critics on Twitter, reports Climate Home News, “accusing them of ‘fake news’ and ‘spam’”. It continues: “ICAO’s combative approach to public engagement has drawn wider criticism.” Climate Home News carries a response from the organisation, which begins: “Normally we block campaigners after they have repeatedly ignored our advice that the actual decisions regarding their concerns are being made by sovereign nation states.”

Decarbonising electricity won’t be enough to meet global climate goals unless it is matched by every other sector of the economy, writes Microsoft founder Bill Gates on his blog gatesnotes. Agriculture, forestry and land use account for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, he writes, and one significant contributor to that is soil. “Here’s a mind-blowing fact: there’s more carbon in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined. That’s not a big deal when left to its own devices. But when soil gets disturbed – like it does when you convert a forest into cropland – all that stored carbon gets released into the atmosphere as CO2.” Gates says he is involved with Breakthrough Energy Ventures that is “backing a number of creative solutions to tackle the problem”.

“Business as usual is causing environmental destruction and spiralling inequality. Our bill is a radical plan to address both,” writes Green MP Caroline Lucas in the Guardian, describing her proposal, with Labour MP Clive Lewis, for a “green new deal” for the UK. She writes: “The green new deal would launch an unprecedented programme of investment in clean energy, warm homes, affordable public transport, sustainable farming, and restored natural habitats – delivering a decent, well-paid job to everyone who wants one…In this moment of crisis, political idleness is unforgivable. When it comes to climate breakdown and spiralling inequality, doing nothing has consequences.”

Climate change could shift the distribution of plants that are of cultural significance to New Zealand’s indigenous Māori people, research finds. The researchers focused on two plants: kuta (Eleocharis sphacelata), a golden sedge found in wetlands across New Zealand which is used for weaving and kūmarahou (Pomaderris kumeraho), an endemic shrub that grows in clay soils and is used to treat respiratory illnesses. Using modelling, the researchers find changes to temperature and rainfall could lead to a drop in kuta availability in the north of New Zealand, an area where kuta weaving is common.

A research paper argues that, in coastal Bangladesh, “environmental stressors such as cyclones, riverbank erosion, salinity intrusion, and floods have negative impacts on people’s lives by reducing their livelihood options” and “when there are insufficient adaptation strategies to environmental stressors, many people turn to livelihoods banned by the government”. The findings are based on 12 in-depth interviews and 12 focus discussions carried out in three different sites in coastal Bangladesh.