The Week In Review: India's Solar-Energy Plan Hits a Roadblock

Supply Chains

The face of Target (and others) in Bangladesh, at 400 pieces an hour
Public Radio International
The garment industry has been under scrutiny in Bangladesh since a factory complex, Rana Plaza, collapsed and killed more than 1,000 workers nearly three years ago. But there’s a lesser-known story alongside the news of unsafe or harsh working conditions in Bangladesh: jobs for women.

Nestlé admits slave labor risk on Brazil coffee plantations
The Guardian
Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts say beans from Brazilian plantations using slave labor may have ended up in their coffee.

Brazil: loss of ‘dirty list’ sparks fears of worker exploitation as Olympics near
The Guardian
The International Labor Organization criticizes suspension of list of firms using slave labor just as Brazil faces migrant worker influx for Olympic Games.

Fairtrade sugar blues bring down ethical scheme's total sales
The Guardian
Changes in EU regulations lead to drop in UK sales but wine, coffee and flowers enjoy a boost

Myanmar migrant workers win $1.3m from Thai tuna firm
The Guardian
Tuna processing factory agrees to pay staff compensation for labor abuses as Thailand faces threat of import bans from EU and US

Clean Energy

The WTO Just Ruled Against India's Booming Solar Program
The Huffington Post
On the heels of the recent global summit in Paris to tackle climate disruption, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against an important piece of the climate solution puzzle: India's ambitious program to create homegrown solar energy. The ruling shows that decades-old, over-reaching trade rules are out of sync with the global challenge to transition to 100 percent clean energy.

Statistics From China Say Coal Consumption Continues to Drop
The New York Times
China has released new statistics indicating that it used less coal last year than in 2014, lending support to the view that the country, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, may have reached a peak in coal consumption.

As Air Worsens, New Delhi Turns to Masks. The Flashier the Better.
The New York Times
Residents in the Delhi metropolitan are wearing air filtration masks to protect themselves from what the World Health Organization deems the world’s worst air pollution.

Climate Change

An unusually intense Lagos heatwave reminds Nigerians they’re not ready for climate change
Quartz
Lagos, Africa’s biggest mega city, has been hit by one of the most intense heatwaves in its recent history.

Economic Growth and Globalization

Angola is recycling guns from its civil war into steel to rebuild the country
Quartz
Angola’s largest steel mill will use scrap metal and guns left behind from the brutal civil war as its primary source of raw material.

Xi Jinping’s Remedy for China’s Economic Gloom Has Echoes of Reaganomics
The New York Times
President Xi Jinping has begun pushing a remedy for China’s slowing economy that sounds less like Marx and Mao than Reagan and Thatcher.

China just announced one of the largest single layoffs in history
Quartz
Chinese officials announced plans to lay off roughly 1.8 million workers in the coal and steel industries, as part of an effort to restructure the world’s second-largest economy.

Indonesia to Facebook, Google, and Twitter: Pay local taxes or we’ll block you
Quartz
Indonesian finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro recently announced that all internet-based services will be required to pay local taxes and obtain “permanent establishment” status.

Public Health and Food Security

New index ranks Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta on efforts to help smallholders
The Guardian
The word’s leading seed companies traditionally have a poor record of reaching farmers in food insecure regions

Delhi Water Crisis Exposes a Fragile Infrastructure
The New York Times
Running water was restored on Wednesday to parts of India's capital region, after protesters sabotaged a major canal in a dispute over preferential treatment for certain social castes.

Improving water sources, sanitation facilities and poverty alleviation may not be the solution to Brazil's Zika outbreak
Public Radio International
A look at some data and studies suggests that the relationship between poverty and the disease is not as strong as many would think.

How will Brazil come through on its Olympic promises?
Public Radio International
In making its bid, the Brazilian Olympic committee promised to create a city worthy of the Olympic torch. It promised to tackle Rio's clogged streets, upgrade up the favelas, and clean up Rio's polluted bays and waterways.

Conservation

A killing in Honduras shows that it may be the world’s deadliest country for environmentalists
The Washington Post
Prominent indigenous activist Berta Caceres was killed in rural Honduras early Thursday, marking a new low point for a country already ranked as the world's most dangerous for environmental activism.

Group: Wildlife poaching on the rise in South Sudan
The Washington Post
South Sudan’s wildlife and other natural resources are being threatened by an alarming expansion of illegal exploitation and trafficking, a conservation group said Thursday.

WWF accused of facilitating human rights abuses of tribal people in Cameroon
The Guardian
Conservation organization funds and logistically aids anti-poaching eco-guards who are victimizing pygmy groups, claims tribal defense group

Shell and Nigerian Partner Are Sued in Britain Over Spills
The New York Times
Nigerian communities from the oil-rich Niger Delta are taking the Royal Dutch Shell Company to court in London, in a case that may have far-reaching implications for whether companies can be sued in Britain for pollution and damages caused by their activities in other countries.