The Drilldown: Palau bans solar protection to save its reefs



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The head

The Pacific nation of Palau has signed a law banning many types of sunscreens to protect its world-renowned coral reefs.

President Tommy Remengesau Jr. last week signed a law banning "reef-toxic" sunscreens from entering the country and being sold in the country from 2020 onwards. Introduce some sunscreens in the country will have them confiscated, while merchants A sunscreen containing oxybenzone will be fined up to $ 1,000.

The impetus for the ban was given in 2017 when a report on the famous sunscreen products on Lake Jellyfish Lake in Palau resulted in a significant drop in the jellyfish population, prompting officials to restrict access to the attraction for over a year. Remengesau said that "plastic waste, chemical pollution, overconsumption of resources and climate change continue to threaten the health" of Palau. The legislation also requires tour operators to offer their customers alternatives to single-use plastics, reports the Associated Press.

In Canada

Coal plants will pay a carbon tax, but they will not pay for every tonne of greenhouse gas they produce. This applies to all of Canada's coal plants, each producing more than 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year – the minimum threshold for the government's carbon pricing system for large emitters, which would apply the price of the same. carbon than some of the emissions produced. . The federal system will apply to provinces and territories that have applied for it or to those that do not have an equivalent plan in place. Although the final regulation on the pricing of industrial emissions is still in progress, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has emphasized that coal plants would pay a price for carbon until national regulations stifle them by 2030, reports the Canadian Press. .

internationally

Putting a price on carbon could be high on the to-do list for the next US Congress, as there seems to be a growing consensus on the subject in the House of Representatives. "I think we can have a bipartite bill that puts a price on carbon," said Florida Democrat Ted Deutch. Deutch is co-chair of the Climate Solutions Caucus in the House – a 90-member bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans – who has consulted with companies, energy experts and politicians around the world on carbon pricing. Even though the caucus will have to re-evaluate the composition of the Congress after Tuesday, Deutch said he "fully expected" that all options would be taken into account in the fight against climate change, reports CBC.

Monday morning, Brent crude was 73.46 USD and West Texas Intermediate 63.45 USD.

Remarkable

In opinion

According to Michael E. Mann, in the Washington Post, the extreme weather events that last summer was facing last summer in the world are the result of climate change. It explains how the warmer oceans evaporate more water in the air, which worsens the floods caused by coastal storms. Warmer soils that drain more of the soil moisture lead to more severe droughts, and an average increase in temperature causes more extreme heat waves. "It's not rocket science," says Mann.

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