Crude oil siphoned from pipelines to fuel the international cocaine trade is tearing oozing, toxic holes in the forests of western Colombia, Reuters reported.
In the forests, traffickers and paramilitaries brew homemade gasoline from oil stolen from pipelines, according to the outlet. Reflective Sheet
The illicit gasoline — brewed in clandestine refineries — is used to extract cocaine from coca leaves, a key early step in refining the drug.
Previous reports have suggested cocaine trafficking is responsible for at least a quarter of annual forest loss in some Central American countries.
As Colombia’s cocaine exports rise to record numbers, oil theft at two key pipelines has tripled over the past four years to nearly 3,500 barrels per day, Reuters reported.
Much of that stolen product goes to crude refineries in the jungle — which typically dump about two-thirds of the oil they receive into the ground, police told Reuters.
That poisons about a square mile around the refinery by clogging the tiny pores in the land that allow oxygen to reach the underground world of roots, ants and earthworms.
“The damage is extreme. The animals, the trees – everything is totally burned,” Col. Johan Pena, commander of a unit tracking oil thieves on the Ecuadorian border, told the outlet.
Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. I’m Saul Elbein. Send tips and feedback. Subscribe here.
Today we’ll see why Tesla’s discounts this week crashed its stock price, followed by a warning from a leading regulator about the limits of sustainable investing. Plus: Cleaning your home’s air for less than $100.
Programming note: Equilibrium will be taking a break next week. Happy holidays!
Tesla stock continued to tumble this week amid the announcement it would offer discounts on its two top-selling models.
On Thursday, U.S. regulators said they would also investigate two more crashes involving Teslas that might have operated on automated driving systems.
Double discount: Tesla announced Wednesday it was doubling the discounts on any Model 3 or Model Y vehicles delivered before the end of the year.
What analysts are saying: The fact Tesla seems “to be cutting price to increase deliveries volumes doesn’t raise confidence,” Craig Irwin, a senior analyst at ROTH Capital Partners, told Reuters.
That’s a particular concern “at a time where we see increasing competition,” Roth added.
On Musk’s mind: Elon Musk said in a Twitter Spaces audio chat on Thursday that he expects “a serious recession” in 2023 that would cause consumers to defer major purchases.
Strategic concerns: Tesla’s discount decision represents a “troubling” example of prioritizing short-term appearances over long-term results, financial advice site MotleyFool reported.
Why?: “Tesla’s willingness to discount its EVs indicates that it’s more concerned with meeting Wall Street expectations on arbitrary quarter-end delivery volume than on getting an extra $7,500 for the same vehicle,” the MotleyFool wrote.
Bad vibes: The doomsday risk for Tesla is that all the intangibles that helped make the brand feel cool and futuristic will evaporate — leaving the company to be traded as just another car company, according to Investor’s Business Daily.
Where’s the harm in that? If investors treated Tesla like they do Ford and General Motors — companies pouring billions into new EV supply chains — company shares could see even more significant drops, Business Daily reported.
Potential environmental, social or governance (ESG) benefits will not stop the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from busting an illegal deal, agency head Lina Khan wrote on Wednesday in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Main target: antitrust — The FTC has just one mandate, Khan warned executives: avoid competition-crushing mergers.
A GOOD YEAR FOR ESG — BUT SCRUTINY IS INCREASING
While the Russian invasion of Ukraine spiked fossil fuel consumption, 2022 marks a banner year in the rollout of ESG business, Reuters reported.
Three highlights: Renewables have become the cheapest form of new energy, and national and international regulators rolled out new sustainable investment regulations and oversight tools, according to Reuters.
Risk and opportunity: The rapid rise of ESG means asset managers need to be proactive in figuring out the sustainability of their investments — before investors start asking, Bain Capital partner Debra McCoy wrote this week.
On the horizon: Last month’s U.N. biodiversity summit in Montreal suggested that businesses would be well served to begin tracking their impacts on nature as a whole — not just carbon emissions, Eva Zabey, executive director of the corporate coalition Business for Nature, told Reuters.
All a buzzword? But while ESG and sustainable investment are popular concepts that can be spun into lucrative investment products, there is still a big difference between marketing and reality, business professor Hans Taparia of New York University told the New York Times.
Brazilians in the Amazon could soon find it easier to get paid to keep their forests standing under a new international lending program.
The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was loaning Brazil half a billion dollars to meet its climate goals and stand up new sustainable industries.
Big promises: The World Bank estimated that the program would keep 90 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Key position: Banco do Brasil is one of the biggest funders of Brazil’s farm sector, according to the World Bank.
That sector — particularly cattle ranching — is by far the biggest contributor to deforestation in the Amazon, according to environmental news site Mongabay.
BRIEFLY: A TOUGH ROAD TO ZERO DEFORESTATION
Brazil’s newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon.
But the ongoing land rush on the fringes of Brazil’s vast forest makes fulfilling those promises a big challenge, The Associated Press reported.
In one western family of rubber tappers — traditionally dependent on intact forest — only one daughter wants to join that trade.
Her two sisters “want to cut down the forest, plant grass and run cattle.”
Read the full story here.
A cheap homemade filter is highly effective at purging indoor air of viruses and pollutants, a new study has found.
Paint me a picture: The boxes are a simple device that use a box fan to force air through a filter, trapping floating contaminants.
Any downsides? Primarily noise — the devices increase ambient sound levels by 5 to 10 decibels, which could be enough to pose a distraction, the researchers noted.
Some context: Ten decibels is the volume of a person breathing nearby, according to a fact sheet from the nonprofit International Noise Awareness Day.
Catching up on stories from earlier in the week.
Air travel’s bad week gets worse
Hundreds of thousands face the freeze without heat
In budget bill, Democrats let nature down: advocacy group
Please visit The Hill’s Sustainability section online for more and check out other newsletters here. Happy early New Year!
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