China plans strategy to tackle renewables waste: China will have a comprehensive recycling system for wind turbines and solar panels by 2030 to manage the increasing volumes of waste generated by the renewables industry, Reuters reported, citing the country’s state planning agency the National Development and Reform Commission. The agency said it will set industrial rules for the decommissioning, dismantling and recycling of wind and solar facilities, which is coinciding as the first wave of decommissioned plants as PV panels in some stations near their 25-year lifespan and are showing significant wear and tear.

Why this is important: Other than the scarcity of land to dispose of renewable energy equipment, some materials such as solar panels contain toxic elements like lead that can leak out as they break down in landfills, creating serious environmental hazards.

But it won’t be easy: China needs to recycle 1.5 mn metric tons of PV modules by 2030 and around 20 mn tons in 2050. Globally, waste from solar projects alone could reach 212 mn tons a year by 2050, the newswire writes, citing a 2022 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

  • The meat industry is catching heat: Livestock farmers in the EU received 1.2k times more public funding than greener plant-based meat or cultivated meat groups, while US farmers received 800x more, an analysis found. The meat industry spent 190x more on lobbying in the US than the alternative industry, and 3x higher in the EU. (The Guardian)
  • Could “green” regulation be warming the oceans? The three-year-old internationalban on using shipping fuel with sulfur content may be contributing to warmer ocean temperatures, some scientists say. Sulfur gas has the ability to cool the climate by reflecting sunlight and increasing the formation of reflective clouds. (Bloomberg)
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