How huge fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad

Black dust coats streets and gathers on rooftops in the area adjoining a vast cement factory in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

Activists and regional citizens accuse the plant run by the Alexandria Portland Cement Business (APCC), a subsidiary of Greece's Titan Cement, of fouling the air by burning coal.

Every night, we see particles falling from their chimneys. Under street lights, you can plainly see the dust drizzling down, stated Mostafa Mahmoud, a supermarket owner in the Wadi al-Qamar area.

Reuters could not individually confirm the assertion. Titan Cement says the plant's emissions are within legal limits, and it prepares to minimize its use of coal in coming years.

Like many cement makers in Egypt and across North Africa, the factory uses imported coal to fire its kilns. Lately, a growing number of the region's coal is coming from the United States, according to U.S. export data.

Fossil fuel exports have been a hot subject at the United Countries climate conference in Baku this year, with activists and delegates from some climate-vulnerable countries arguing countries must be held liable for the contamination they send out overseas - typically to poor establishing nations - in the type of oil, gas and coal. Some are looking for to get the question of how to do this onto the program at future environment tops.

A landmark arrangement reached in Paris in 2015 to combat environment modification needs countries to set targets and report on development reducing nationwide levels of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But it does not impose such requirements for emissions generated from fossil fuels they drill, mine and ship somewhere else.

That has actually permitted nations like the United States, Norway, Australia and others to state they are making development toward international climate goals while likewise producing and exporting fossil fuels at breakneck rate, said Bill Hare, co-founder of Environment Action Tracker, an independent clinical project that tracks government environment action.

Most of these fossil-fuel-exporting countries can get to look good with their domestic environment action, he stated on the sidelines of the COP29 conference in Baku today. Their. exported emissions are someone else's problem.

U.S. nonrenewable fuel source exports-- including coal, oil, gas and. refined fuels-- caused over 2 billion lots of carbon dioxide. equivalent emissions in other countries in 2022, according to a. computation carried out by Climate Action Tracker and confirmed. using data from the International Energy Company. That. is equivalent to about a 3rd of U.S. domestic emissions, the. information showed.

A years-long drilling boom has made the U.S. the world's top. oil and gas producer, while robust demand has actually lifted its coal. exports for 4 years running, according to data from the U.S. Energy Details Administration (EIA).

Asked how Washington squares its climate ambitions with its. nonrenewable fuel source production and exports, President Joe Biden's. environment advisor, Ali Zaidi, said strong energy output was needed. to keep customer prices low during a transition to cleaner. fuels.

I do not believe there is social license for a decarbonisation. playbook that puts upward price pressure for retail customers in. the market, Zaidi informed Reuters.

Inbound president Donald Trump, a climate modification sceptic,. has said he wishes to even more enhance the country's fossil fuel. production.

For other manufacturers, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil. fuel exports in some cases exceed domestic emissions, Environment. Action Tracker said.

That held true for Norway, Australia and Canada in 2022, the. newest year for which data is available for all countries. evaluated. Reuters got special access to the computations.

Norway's Ministry of Climate and Environment said it is. approximately other nations to manage their own carbon footprints.

Each nation is responsible for lowering its own. emissions, the ministry stated in a statement to Reuters.

Authorities at the environment and climate ministries of. Canada and Australia did not comment.

Addressing the top in Azerbaijan, host President Ilham. Aliyev implicated some Western politicians of double requirements for. lecturing his federal government about its oil and gas usage, saying,. They better look at themselves.

CEMENT AND BRICKMAKERS

A lot of U.S. gas exports now go to European countries looking for. to minimize reliance on Russia, while China has actually become one of. the leading purchasers of U.S. crude and coal, according to the EIA. figures. America's greatest development market for coal, however, is. North Africa.

U.S. coal mines exported around 52.5 million short lots. globally in the very first half of 2024, up almost 7% from the exact same. period a year earlier, the information revealed.

Much of the boost was driven by cement and brickmakers in. Egypt and Morocco, which together took in more than 5 million. short loads over the period, the EIA stated in a current report.

These clients value the high heat content of U.S. thermal. coal, which makes their production operations more. efficient, the report stated.

On the other hand, U.S. domestic coal usage has actually been sliding as cheap. gas and aids for renewables like solar and wind. drive coal-fired power plant closures, extending a more than. 15-year decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.

Egypt's cement market has depended on imported coal for. nearly a years, because consistent natural gas scarcities forced. many factories to search for alternatives, stated Ahmed Shireen. Korayem, vice chairman and board member at the Arab Union for. Cement and Building Products, a regional industry body.

The U.S. is Egypt's largest provider, accounting for 3.1. million of the 6.6 million metric lots of coal imported this. year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.

Russia supplied most of the rest, 2.1 million metric lots. Its environment ministry referred questions to the foreign. ministry, which did not immediately comment.

Activists argue that the Egyptian federal government's choice to. lift a longstanding ban on coal imports in 2015 to support an. market central to its financial development strategies is harmful to. the environment and health of communities like Wadi al-Qamar.

Using information from the Alexandria plant's emissions-monitoring. system, researchers from Egypt's Al-Azhar University, Cairo. University and environment ministry simulated the dispersion of. polluting dust and poisonous gases in between 2014 and 2020.

The study

, published in the Journal of Environmental Health Science. and Engineering in 2022, concluded that the shift from using. gas to coal as the dominant fuel cause increased. emissions and concentrations of overall suspended particulates. ( TSP), nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The concentrations. were mainly within legal limits, nevertheless.

Egypt's greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. increased by more than a fifth in the years ended in 2022, hitting. 263 million metric lots of carbon dioxide, according to information. from the International Carbon Budget, a task led by Britain's Exeter. University.

The majority of these emissions originated from gas and oil, which stay. Egypt's main energy sources. Coal accounted for 3.4% of the 2022. overall, 9 million metric heaps.

The federal government devoted in 2021 to phase out making use of. coal and has actually asked companies that utilize it to introduce more. eco-friendly sources into their energy mix. But Heba Maatouk, a. representative for Egypt's environment ministry, stated there was. insufficient supply of alternatives, such as refuse-derived fuel. ( RDF) made from combustible garbage.

If business can not get the RDF, they will not stop running. and will use coal to avoid losses, Maatouk told Reuters.

LEGAL BATTLES

Decarbonising the cement industry is a difficulty,. especially in poorer developing nations like Egypt, due to the fact that it. requires huge amounts of energy, and technologies to keep. emissions from the environment are pricey.

In his COP29 address recently, Egyptian Prime Minister. Mostafa Madbouly said his nation's strategies to enhance eco-friendly. energy to 42% of its power mix by 2030 depend on foreign. assistance.

Homeowners in the Wadi al-Qamar neighborhood have been. participated in a prolonged legal fight with the Alexandria cement. factory, APCC, submitting several claims, stated Hoda Nasrallah, a. legal representative for the Egyptian Effort for Personal Rights (EIPR).

In 2016, community members backed by EIPR asked an. administrative court in Alexandria to overturn amendments to the. country's ecological policies that allow heavy markets. to use coal on health and ecological premises, according to. the rights group.

APCC officials did not react to an ask for remark made. through a legal representative.

Titan Cement verified that the factory sources coal from. the U.S. however did not elaborate.

In a statement issued by its group business interactions. director, Lydia Yannakopoulou, the company said the plant had. not violated any laws, had actually made 40 million euros in investments. in pollution controls because 2010, and prepared to reduce its use. of coal in coming years as it increases use of alternatives.

She stated a court-appointed committee of experts from. Alexandria University concluded there were no environmental. violations arising from the company's emissions or functional. procedures, and the emissions were within legal limitations.

Nasrallah stated legal representatives representing the community. believe the committee was headed by a company employee and have. taken their case to Egypt's greatest administrative court in. Cairo.

Neither side supplied a copy of the committee's report, and. Reuters could not separately confirm their assertions.

A ruling in the case is expected in December.

Meanwhile, frustration is building amongst nearby. locals like Hisham al-Akary, who says his family has lived in. Wadi al-Qamar for generations and can not afford to move.

This factory shouldn't be here, he told Reuters. We. need to remain, and they must leave..

(source: Reuters)