If you’re a fan of previous Funcom titles, such as Conan Exiles, then you know the lore, while interesting in small doses, isn’t the focal point. It’s just the flavoring helping you immerse yourself in the sprawling landscape. In Dune Awakening, the

bitcoin, Donald Trump, US bitcoin mining, tariffs, cryptocurrency, economic ambitions, mining capital, blockchain technology, digital currency, American economy ## Introduction In a world increasingly driven by technology and innovation, the dream of an all-American Bitcoin stands as a beacon of hope for many. President Donald Trump once envisioned the United States as the undisputed capital...

Un nouveau studio fait face à la crise. Jellyfish Pictures, studio d’animation et effets visuels basé au Royaume-Uni, aurait « suspendu » ses activités, nous apprend Animation Xpress.Il ne s’agirait cependant pas d’une fermeture déf

Enterprise artificial intelligence investment is unprecedented, with IDC projecting global spending on AI and GenAI to double to $631 billion by 2028. Yet beneath the impressive budget allocations and boardroom enthusiasm lies a troubling reality: most organisations struggle to translate their AI ambitions into operational success.The sobering statistics behind AI’s promiseModelOp’s 2025 AI Governance Benchmark Report, based on input from 100 senior AI and data leaders at Fortune 500 enterprises, reveals a disconnect between aspiration and execution.While more than 80% of enterprises have 51 or more generative AI projects in proposal phases, only 18% have successfully deployed more than 20 models into production.The execution gap represents one of the most significant challenges facing enterprise AI today. Most generative AI projects still require 6 to 18 months to go live – if they reach production at all.The result is delayed returns on investment, frustrated stakeholders, and diminished confidence in AI initiatives in the enterprise.The cause: Structural, not technical barriersThe biggest obstacles preventing AI scalability aren’t technical limitations – they’re structural inefficiencies plaguing enterprise operations. The ModelOp benchmark report identifies several problems that create what experts call a “time-to-market quagmire.”Fragmented systems plague implementation. 58% of organisations cite fragmented systems as the top obstacle to adopting governance platforms. Fragmentation creates silos where different departments use incompatible tools and processes, making it nearly impossible to maintain consistent oversight in AI initiatives.Manual processes dominate despite digital transformation. 55% of enterprises still rely on manual processes – including spreadsheets and email – to manage AI use case intake. The reliance on antiquated methods creates bottlenecks, increases the likelihood of errors, and makes it difficult to scale AI operations.Lack of standardisation hampers progress. Only 23% of organisations implement standardised intake, development, and model management processes. Without these elements, each AI project becomes a unique challenge requiring custom solutions and extensive coordination by multiple teams.Enterprise-level oversight remains rare Just 14% of companies perform AI assurance at the enterprise level, increasing the risk of duplicated efforts and inconsistent oversight. The lack of centralised governance means organisations often discover they’re solving the same problems multiple times in different departments.The governance revolution: From obstacle to acceleratorA change is taking place in how enterprises view AI governance. Rather than seeing it as a compliance burden that slows innovation, forward-thinking organisations recognise governance as an important enabler of scale and speed.Leadership alignment signals strategic shift. The ModelOp benchmark data reveals a change in organisational structure: 46% of companies now assign accountability for AI governance to a Chief Innovation Officer – more than four times the number who place accountability under Legal or Compliance. This strategic repositioning reflects a new understanding that governance isn’t solely about risk management, but can enable innovation.Investment follows strategic priority. A financial commitment to AI governance underscores its importance. According to the report, 36% of enterprises have budgeted at least $1 million annually for AI governance software, while 54% have allocated resources specifically for AI Portfolio Intelligence to track value and ROI.What high-performing organisations do differentlyThe enterprises that successfully bridge the ‘execution gap’ share several characteristics in their approach to AI implementation:Standardised processes from day one. Leading organisations implement standardised intake, development, and model review processes in AI initiatives. Consistency eliminates the need to reinvent workflows for each project and ensures that all stakeholders understand their responsibilities.Centralised documentation and inventory. Rather than allowing AI assets to proliferate in disconnected systems, successful enterprises maintain centralised inventories that provide visibility into every model’s status, performance, and compliance posture.Automated governance checkpoints. High-performing organisations embed automated governance checkpoints throughout the AI lifecycle, helping ensure compliance requirements and risk assessments are addressed systematically rather than as afterthoughts.End-to-end traceability. Leading enterprises maintain complete traceability of their AI models, including data sources, training methods, validation results, and performance metrics.Measurable impact of structured governanceThe benefits of implementing comprehensive AI governance extend beyond compliance. Organisations that adopt lifecycle automation platforms reportedly see dramatic improvements in operational efficiency and business outcomes.A financial services firm profiled in the ModelOp report experienced a halving of time to production and an 80% reduction in issue resolution time after implementing automated governance processes. Such improvements translate directly into faster time-to-value and increased confidence among business stakeholders.Enterprises with robust governance frameworks report the ability to many times more models simultaneously while maintaining oversight and control. This scalability lets organisations pursue AI initiatives in multiple business units without overwhelming their operational capabilities.The path forward: From stuck to scaledThe message from industry leaders that the gap between AI ambition and execution is solvable, but it requires a shift in approach. Rather than treating governance as a necessary evil, enterprises should realise it enables AI innovation at scale.Immediate action items for AI leadersOrganisations looking to escape the ‘time-to-market quagmire’ should prioritise the following:Audit current state: Conduct an assessment of existing AI initiatives, identifying fragmented processes and manual bottlenecksStandardise workflows: Implement consistent processes for AI use case intake, development, and deployment in all business unitsInvest in integration: Deploy platforms to unify disparate tools and systems under a single governance frameworkEstablish enterprise oversight: Create centralised visibility into all AI initiatives with real-time monitoring and reporting abilitiesThe competitive advantage of getting it rightOrganisations that can solve the execution challenge will be able to bring AI solutions to market faster, scale more efficiently, and maintain the trust of stakeholders and regulators.Enterprises that continue with fragmented processes and manual workflows will find themselves disadvantaged compared to their more organised competitors. Operational excellence isn’t about efficiency but survival.The data shows enterprise AI investment will continue to grow. Therefore, the question isn’t whether organisations will invest in AI, but whether they’ll develop the operational abilities necessary to realise return on investment. The opportunity to lead in the AI-driven economy has never been greater for those willing to embrace governance as an enabler not an obstacle.(Image source: Unsplash)

Casa Sofia | © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG Located in the historic heart of Lagos, Portugal, Casa Sofia by Mário Martins Atelier is a thoughtful exercise in urban integration and contemporary reinterpretation. Occupying a site once held by a modest two-story house, the project is situated on the corner of a block facing the Church of St Sebastião. With its commanding presence, this national monument set a formidable challenge for the architects: introducing a new residence that respects the weight of history while offering a clear, contemporary expression. Casa Sofia Technical Information Architects1-4: Mário Martins Atelier Location: Lagos, Portugal Project Completion Years: 2023 Photographs: © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG It is therefore important to design a building to fit into and complete the block. A house that is quiet and solid, with rhythmic metrics, whose new design brings an identity, with the weight and scent of the times, to a city that has existed for many centuries. – Mário Martins Atelier Casa Sofia Photographs © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG Spatial Organization and Circulation The design’s ambition is anchored in reconciling modern residential needs with the dense urban fabric that defines the walled city. Rather than imposing a bold or disruptive form, the project embraces the existing rhythms and textures of the surrounding architecture. The result is a building that both defers to and elevates the neighborhood’s character. Its restrained profile and carefully modulated facade echo the massing and articulation of the original house while introducing an identity that is clearly of its time. At the core of Casa Sofia’s spatial organization is a deliberate hierarchy of spaces that transitions seamlessly between public, semi-public, and private domains. Entry from the street occurs through a modest set of steps leading to an exterior atrium. This threshold mediates the relationship between the public realm and the interior, grounding the house in its urban context. Once inside, an open hall reveals the vertical flow of the building, dominated by a staircase that appears to float, linking the house’s various levels while maintaining visual continuity throughout. The ground floor houses three bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom, radiating from the central hall. This level also contains a small basement for technical support, reinforcing the discreet layering of functional and domestic spaces. Midway up the staircase, the house opens onto a garage, a laundry room, and an intimate courtyard. These areas, essential for daily life, are seamlessly integrated into the overall composition, contributing to a spatial richness that is both pragmatic and sensorial. On the first floor, an open-plan arrangement accommodates the main living spaces. Around a central void, the living and dining areas, kitchen, and master suite are arranged to encourage visual interplay and shared light. This configuration enhances the spatial porosity, ensuring that despite the density of the historic center, the house retains a sense of openness and fluidity. Above, a recessed roof level recedes from the street, culminating in a panoramic terrace with a swimming pool. Here, the building dissolves into the sky, offering expansive views and light-filled leisure spaces that contrast with the more enclosed lower floors. Materiality and Craftsmanship Materiality plays a decisive role in mediating the building’s relationship with its context. White-painted plaster, a familiar element in the region, is punctuated by deep limestone moldings. These details create a play of light and shadow that emphasizes the facade’s verticality and rhythm. The generous thickness of the walls, carried over from the site’s earlier construction, lends a sense of solidity and permanence to the house, recalling the tactile traditions of the Algarve’s architecture. The interior and exterior detailing is characterized by an economy of means, where each material is selected for its ability to reinforce the house’s quiet presence. Local materials and craftsmanship ground the project in its immediate context while responding to environmental imperatives. High thermal comfort is achieved through careful orientation and passive design strategies, complemented by the integration of solar control and water conservation measures. These considerations underscore the project’s commitment to sustainability without resorting to superficial gestures. Broader Urban and Cultural Implications Beyond its immediate function as a family home, Casa Sofia engages in a broader dialogue with its urban and cultural surroundings. The project exemplifies a measured response to the question of how to build within a historical setting without resorting to nostalgia or pastiche. It demonstrates that contemporary architecture can find resonance within heritage contexts by prioritizing the values of continuity, scale, and material authenticity. In its measured dialogue with the Church of St Sebastião and the centuries-old urban landscape of Lagos, Casa Sofia illustrates the potential for architecture to enrich the experience of place through quiet, rigorous interventions. It is a project that reaffirms architecture’s capacity to negotiate between past and present, crafting spaces that are at once deeply contextual and unambiguously of their moment. Casa Sofia Plans Sketch | © Mário Martins Atelier Ground Level | © Mário Martins Atelier Level 1 | © Mário Martins Atelier Level 2 | © Mário Martins Atelier Roof Plan | © Mário Martins Atelier Section | © Mário Martins Atelier Casa Sofia Image Gallery About Mário Martins Atelier Mário Martins Atelier is a Portuguese architecture and urbanism practice founded in 2000 by architect Mário Martins, who holds a degree from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon (1988). Headquartered in Lagos with a secondary office in Lisbon, the firm operates with a dedicated multidisciplinary team. The office has developed a broad spectrum of work, from single-family homes and collective housing to public buildings and urban regeneration, distinguished by technical precision, contextual sensitivity, and sustainable strategies. Credits and Additional Notes Lead Architect: Mário Martins, arq. Project Team: Rita Rocha, Sónia Fialho, Susana Caetano, Susana Jóia, Ana Graça Engineering: Nuno Grave Engenharia Building: Marques Antunes Engenharia Lda

One stock recently impacted by a whirlwind of volatility is Block—the fintech powerhouse behind Square, Cash App, Tidal Music, and more. The company’s COO and CFO, Amrita Ahuja, shares how her team is using new AI tools to find opportunity amid disruption and reach customers left behind by traditional financial systems. Ahuja also shares lessons from the video game industry and discusses Gen Z’s surprising approach to money management.   This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. As a leader, when you’re looking at all of this volatility—the tariffs, consumer sentiment’s been unclear, the stock market’s been all over the place. You guys had a huge one-day drop in early May, and it quickly bounced back. How do you make sense of all these external factors? Yeah, our focus is on what we can control. And ultimately, the thing that we are laser-focused on for our business is product velocity. How quickly can we start small with something, launch something for our customers, and then test and iterate and learn so that ultimately, that something that we’ve launched scales into an important product? I’ll give you an example. Cash App Borrow, which is a product where our customers can get access to a line of credit, often $100, $200, that bridges them from paycheck to paycheck. We know so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s a product that we launched about three years ago and have now scaled to serve 9 million actives with $15 billion in credit supply to our customers in a span of a couple short years. The more we can be out testing and launching product at a pace, the more we know we are ultimately delivering value to our customers, and the right things will happen from a stock perspective. Block is a financial services provider. You have Square, the point-of-sale system; the digital wallet Cash App, which you mentioned, which competes with Venmo and Robinhood; and a bunch of others. Then you’ve got the buy-now, pay-later leader Afterpay. You chair Square Financial Services, which is Block’s chartered bank. But you’ve said that in the fintech world, Block is only a little bit fin—that comparatively, it’s more tech. Can you explain what you mean by that? What we think is unique about us is our ability as a technology company to completely change innovation in the space, such that we can help solve systemic issues across credit, payments, commerce, and banking. What that means ultimately is we use technologies like AI and machine learning and data science, and we use these technologies in a unique way, in a way that’s different from a traditional bank. We are able to underwrite those who are often frankly forgotten by the traditional financial ecosystems. Our Square Loans product has almost triple the rate of women-owned businesses that we underwrite. Fifty-eight percent of our loans go to women-owned businesses versus 20% for the industry average. For that Cash App Borrow product I was talking about, 70% of those actives, the 9 million actives that we underwrote, fell below 580 as a FICO score. That’s considered a poor FICO score, and yet 97% of repayments are made on time. And this is because we have unique access to data and these technology and tools which can help us uniquely underwrite this often forgotten customer base. Yeah. I mean, credit—sometimes it’s been blamed for financial excesses. But access to credit is also, as you say, an advantage that’s not available to everyone. Do you have a philosophy between those poles—between risk and opportunity? Or is what you’re saying is that the tech you have allows you to avoid that risk? That’s right. Let’s start with how do the current systems work? It works using inferior data, frankly. It’s more limited data. It’s outdated. Sometimes it’s inaccurate. And it ignores things like someone’s cash flows, the stability of your income, your savings rate, how money moves through your accounts, or how you use alternative forms of credit—like buy now, pay later, which we have in our ecosystem through Afterpay. We have a lot of these signals for our 57 million monthly actives on the Cash App side and for the 4 million small businesses on the Square side, and those, frankly, billions of transaction data points that we have on any given day paired with new technologies. And we intend to continue to be on the forefront of AI, machine learning, and data science to be able to empower more people into the economy. The combination of the superior data and the technologies is what we believe ultimately helps expand access. You have a financial background, but not in the financial services industry. Before Block, you were a video game developer at Activision. Are financial businesses and video games similar? Are there things that are similar about them? There are. There actually are some things that are similar, I will say. There are many things that are unique to each industry. Each industry is incredibly complex. You find that when big technology companies try to do gaming. They’ve taken over the world in many different ways, but they can’t always crack the nut on putting out a great game. Similarly, some of the largest technology companies have dabbled in fintech but haven’t been able to go as deep, so they’re both very nuanced and complex industries. I would say another similarity is that design really matters. Industrial design, the design of products, the interface of products, is absolutely mission-critical to a great game, and it’s absolutely mission-critical to the simplicity and accessibility of our products, be it on Square or Cash App. And then maybe the third thing that I would say is that when I was in gaming, at least the business models were rapidly changing from an intermediary distribution mechanism, like releasing a game once and then selling it through a retailer, to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. And similarly with banking, people don’t want to bank from 9 to 5, six days a week. They want 24/7 access to their money and the ability to, again, grow their financial livelihood, move their money around seamlessly. So, some similarities are there in that shift to an intermediary model or a slower model to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. Part of your target audience or your target customer base at Block are Gen Z folks. Did you learn things at Activision about Gen Z that has been useful? Are there things that businesses misunderstand about younger generations still? What we’ve learned is that Gen Z, millennial customers, aren’t going to do things the way their parents did. Some of our stats show that 63% of Gen Z customers have moved away from traditional credit cards, and over 80% are skeptical of them. Which means they’re not using a credit card to manage expenses; they’re using a debit card, but then layering on on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Or again, using tools like buy now, pay later, or Cash App Borrow, the means in which they’re managing their consistent cash flows. So that’s an example of how things are changing, and you’ve got to get up to speed with how the next generation of customers expects to manage their money.

Germany and NVIDIA are building possibly the most ambitious European tech project of the decade: the continent’s first industrial AI cloud.NVIDIA has been on a European tour over the past month with CEO Jensen Huang charming audiences at London Tech Week before dazzling the crowds at Paris’s VivaTech. But it was his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that might prove the most consequential stop.The resulting partnership between NVIDIA and Deutsche Telekom isn’t just another corporate handshake; it’s potentially a turning point for European technological sovereignty.An “AI factory” (as they’re calling it) will be created with a focus on manufacturing, which is hardly surprising given Germany’s renowned industrial heritage. The facility aims to give European industrial players the computational firepower to revolutionise everything from design to robotics.“In the era of AI, every manufacturer needs two factories: one for making things, and one for creating the intelligence that powers them,” said Huang. “By building Europe’s first industrial AI infrastructure, we’re enabling the region’s leading industrial companies to advance simulation-first, AI-driven manufacturing.”It’s rare to hear such urgency from a telecoms CEO, but Deutsche Telekom’s Timotheus Höttges added: “Europe’s technological future needs a sprint, not a stroll. We must seize the opportunities of artificial intelligence now, revolutionise our industry, and secure a leading position in the global technology competition. Our economic success depends on quick decisions and collaborative innovations.”The first phase alone will deploy 10,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs spread across various high-performance systems. That makes this Germany’s largest AI deployment ever; a statement the country isn’t content to watch from the sidelines as AI transforms global industry.A Deloitte study recently highlighted the critical importance of AI technology development to Germany’s future competitiveness, particularly noting the need for expanded data centre capacity. When you consider that demand is expected to triple within just five years, this investment seems less like ambition and more like necessity.Robots teaching robotsOne of the early adopters is NEURA Robotics, a German firm that specialises in cognitive robotics. They’re using this computational muscle to power something called the Neuraverse which is essentially a connected network where robots can learn from each other.Think of it as a robotic hive mind for skills ranging from precision welding to household ironing, with each machine contributing its learnings to a collective intelligence.“Physical AI is the electricity of the future—it will power every machine on the planet,” said David Reger, Founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics. “Through this initiative, we’re helping build the sovereign infrastructure Europe needs to lead in intelligent robotics and stay in control of its future.”The implications of this AI project for manufacturing in Germany could be profound. This isn’t just about making existing factories slightly more efficient; it’s about reimagining what manufacturing can be in an age of intelligent machines.AI for more than just Germany’s industrial titansWhat’s particularly promising about this project is its potential reach beyond Germany’s industrial titans. The famed Mittelstand – the network of specialised small and medium-sized businesses that forms the backbone of the German economy – stands to benefit.These companies often lack the resources to build their own AI infrastructure but possess the specialised knowledge that makes them perfect candidates for AI-enhanced innovation. Democratising access to cutting-edge AI could help preserve their competitive edge in a challenging global market.Academic and research institutions will also gain access, potentially accelerating innovation across numerous fields. The approximately 900 Germany-based startups in NVIDIA’s Inception program will be eligible to use these resources, potentially unleashing a wave of entrepreneurial AI applications.However impressive this massive project is, it’s viewed merely as a stepping stone towards something even more ambitious: Europe’s AI gigafactory. This planned 100,000 GPU-powered initiative backed by the EU and Germany won’t come online until 2027, but it represents Europe’s determination to carve out its own technological future.As other European telecom providers follow suit with their own AI infrastructure projects, we may be witnessing the beginning of a concerted effort to establish technological sovereignty across the continent.For a region that has often found itself caught between American tech dominance and Chinese ambitions, building indigenous AI capability represents more than economic opportunity. Whether this bold project in Germany will succeed remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Europe is no longer content to be a passive consumer of AI technology developed elsewhere.(Photo by Maheshkumar Painam)Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

Fewer food crops Biofuels policy has been a failure for the climate, new report claims Report: An expansion of biofuels policy under Trump would lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News – Jun 14, 2025 7:10 am | 24 An ethanol production plant on March 20, 2024 near Ravenna, Nebraska. Credit: David Madison/Getty Images An ethanol production plant on March 20, 2024 near Ravenna, Nebraska. Credit: David Madison/Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. The American Midwest is home to some of the richest, most productive farmland in the world, enabling its transformation into a vast corn- and soy-producing machine—a conversion spurred largely by decades-long policies that support the production of biofuels. But a new report takes a big swing at the ethanol orthodoxy of American agriculture, criticizing the industry for causing economic and social imbalances across rural communities and saying that the expansion of biofuels will increase greenhouse gas emissions, despite their purported climate benefits. The report, from the World Resources Institute, which has been critical of US biofuel policy in the past, draws from 100 academic studies on biofuel impacts. It concludes that ethanol policy has been largely a failure and ought to be reconsidered, especially as the world needs more land to produce food to meet growing demand. “Multiple studies show that US biofuel policies have reshaped crop production, displacing food crops and driving up emissions from land conversion, tillage, and fertilizer use,” said the report’s lead author, Haley Leslie-Bole. “Corn-based ethanol, in particular, has contributed to nutrient runoff, degraded water quality and harmed wildlife habitat. As climate pressures grow, increasing irrigation and refining for first-gen biofuels could deepen water scarcity in already drought-prone parts of the Midwest.” The conversion of Midwestern agricultural land has been sweeping. Between 2004 and 2024, ethanol production increased by nearly 500 percent. Corn and soybeans are now grown on 92 and 86 million acres of land respectively—and roughly a third of those crops go to produce ethanol. That means about 30 million acres of land that could be used to grow food crops are instead being used to produce ethanol, despite ethanol only accounting for 6 percent of the country’s transportation fuel. The biofuels industry—which includes refiners, corn and soy growers and the influential agriculture lobby writ large—has long insisted that corn- and soy-based biofuels provide an energy-efficient alternative to fossil-based fuels. Congress and the US Department of Agriculture have agreed. The country’s primary biofuels policy, the Renewable Fuel Standard, requires that biofuels provide a greenhouse gas reduction over fossil fuels: The law says that ethanol from new plants must deliver a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline. In addition to greenhouse gas reductions, the industry and its allies in Congress have also continued to say that ethanol is a primary mainstay of the rural economy, benefiting communities across the Midwest. But a growing body of research—much of which the industry has tried to debunk and deride—suggests that ethanol actually may not provide the benefits that policies require. It may, in fact, produce more greenhouse gases than the fossil fuels it was intended to replace. Recent research says that biofuel refiners also emit significant amounts of carcinogenic and dangerous substances, including hexane and formaldehyde, in greater amounts than petroleum refineries. The new report points to research saying that increased production of biofuels from corn and soy could actually raise greenhouse gas emissions, largely from carbon emissions linked to clearing land in other countries to compensate for the use of land in the Midwest. On top of that, corn is an especially fertilizer-hungry crop requiring large amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizer, which releases huge amounts of nitrous oxide when it interacts with the soil. American farming is, by far, the largest source of domestic nitrous oxide emissions already—about 50 percent. If biofuel policies lead to expanded production, emissions of this enormously powerful greenhouse gas will likely increase, too. The new report concludes that not only will the expansion of ethanol increase greenhouse gas emissions, but it has also failed to provide the social and financial benefits to Midwestern communities that lawmakers and the industry say it has. (The report defines the Midwest as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.) “The benefits from biofuels remain concentrated in the hands of a few,” Leslie-Bole said. “As subsidies flow, so may the trend of farmland consolidation, increasing inaccessibility of farmland in the Midwest, and locking out emerging or low-resource farmers. This means the benefits of biofuels production are flowing to fewer people, while more are left bearing the costs.” New policies being considered in state legislatures and Congress, including additional tax credits and support for biofuel-based aviation fuel, could expand production, potentially causing more land conversion and greenhouse gas emissions, widening the gap between the rural communities and rich agribusinesses at a time when food demand is climbing and, critics say, land should be used to grow food instead. President Donald Trump’s tax cut bill, passed by the House and currently being negotiated in the Senate, would not only extend tax credits for biofuels producers, it specifically excludes calculations of emissions from land conversion when determining what qualifies as a low-emission fuel. The primary biofuels industry trade groups, including Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association, did not respond to Inside Climate News requests for comment or interviews. An employee with the Clean Fuels Alliance America, which represents biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel producers, not ethanol, said the report vastly overstates the carbon emissions from crop-based fuels by comparing the farmed land to natural landscapes, which no longer exist. They also noted that the impact of soy-based fuels in 2024 was more than $42 billion, providing over 100,000 jobs. “Ten percent of the value of every bushel of soybeans is linked to biomass-based fuel,” they said. Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News 24 Comments

In a nutshell: As nations set ever more ambitious targets for renewable energy and electrification, the humble high-voltage cable has emerged as a linchpin – and a potential chokepoint – in the race to decarbonize the global economy. A Bloomberg interview with Claes Westerlind, CEO of NKT, a leading cable manufacturer based in Denmark, explains why. A global surge in demand for high-voltage electricity cables is threatening to stall the clean energy revolution, as the world's ability to build new wind farms, solar plants, and cross-border power links increasingly hinges on a supply chain bottleneck few outside the industry have considered. At the center of this challenge is the complex, capital-intensive process of manufacturing the giant cables that transport electricity across hundreds of miles, both over land and under the sea. Despite soaring demand, cable manufacturers remain cautious about expanding capacity, raising questions about whether the pace of electrification can keep up with climate ambitions, geopolitical tensions, and the practical realities of industrial investment. High-voltage cables are the arteries of modern power grids, carrying electrons from remote wind farms or hydroelectric dams to the cities and industries that need them. Unlike the thin wires that run through a home's walls, these cables are engineering marvels – sometimes as thick as a person's torso, armored to withstand the crushing pressure of the ocean floor, and designed to last for decades under extreme electrical and environmental stress. "If you look at the very high voltage direct current cable, able to carry roughly two gigawatts through two pairs of cables – that means that the equivalent of one nuclear power reactor is flowing through one cable," Westerlind told Bloomberg. The process of making these cables is as specialized as it is demanding. At the core is a conductor, typically made of copper or aluminum, twisted together like a rope for flexibility and strength. Around this, manufacturers apply multiple layers of insulation in towering vertical factories to ensure the cable remains perfectly round and can safely contain the immense voltages involved. Any impurity in the insulation, even something as small as an eyelash, can cause catastrophic failure, potentially knocking out power to entire cities. // Related Stories As the world rushes to harness new sources of renewable energy, the demand for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables has skyrocketed. HVDC technology, initially pioneered by NKT in the 1950s, has become the backbone of long-distance power transmission, particularly for offshore wind farms and intercontinental links. In recent years, approximately 80 to 90 percent of new large-scale cable projects have utilized HVDC, reflecting its efficiency in transmitting electricity over vast distances with minimal losses. But this surge in demand has led to a critical bottleneck. Factories that produce these cables are booked out for years, Westerlind reports, and every project requires custom engineering to match the power needs, geography, and environmental conditions of its route. According to the International Energy Agency, meeting global clean energy goals will require building the equivalent of 80 million kilometers (around 49.7 million miles) of new grid infrastructure by 2040 – essentially doubling what has been constructed over the past century, but in just 15 years. Despite the clear need, cable makers have been slow to add capacity due to reasons that are as much economic and political as technical. Building a new cable factory can cost upwards of a billion euros, and manufacturers are wary of making such investments without long-term commitments from utilities or governments. "For a company like us to do investments in the realm of €1 or 2 billion, it's a massive commitment... but it's also a massive amount of demand that is needed for this investment to actually make financial sense over the next not five years, not 10 years, but over the next 20 to 30 years," Westerlind said. The industry still bears scars from a decade ago, when anticipated demand failed to materialize and expensive new facilities sat underused. Some governments and transmission system operators are trying to break the logjam by making "anticipatory investments" – committing to buy cable capacity even before specific projects are finalized. This approach, backed by regulators, gives manufacturers the confidence to expand, but it remains the exception rather than the rule. Meanwhile, the industry's structure itself creates barriers to rapid expansion, according to Westerlind. The expertise, technology, and infrastructure required to make high-voltage cables are concentrated in a handful of companies, creating what analysts describe as a "deep moat" that is difficult for new entrants to cross. Geopolitical tensions add another layer of complexity. China has built more HVDC lines than any other country, although Western manufacturers, such as NKT, maintain a technical edge in the most advanced cable systems. Still, there is growing concern in Europe and the US about becoming dependent on foreign suppliers for such critical infrastructure, especially in light of recent global conflicts and trade disputes. "Strategic autonomy is very important when it comes to the core parts and the fundamental parts of your society, where the grid backbone is one," Westerlind noted. The stakes are high. Without a rapid and coordinated push to expand cable manufacturing, the world's clean energy transition could be slowed not by a lack of wind or sun but by a shortage of the cables needed to connect them to the grid. As Westerlind put it, "We all know it has to be done... These are large investments. They are very expensive investments. So also the governments have to have a part in enabling these anticipatory investments, and making it possible for the TSOs to actually carry forward with them."

June 13, 20255 min readFive Climate Issues to Watch When Trump Goes to CanadaPresident Trump will attend the G7 summit on Sunday in a nation he threatened to annex. He will also be an outlier on climate issuesBy Sara Schonhardt & E&E News Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesCLIMATEWIRE | The world’s richest nations are gathering Sunday in the Canadian Rockies for a summit that could reveal whether President Donald Trump's policies are shaking global climate efforts.The Group of Seven meeting comes at a challenging time for international climate policy. Trump’s tariff seesaw has cast a shade over the global economy, and his domestic policies have threatened billions of dollars in funding for clean energy programs. Those pressures are colliding with record-breaking temperatures worldwide and explosive demand for energy, driven by power-hungry data centers linked to artificial intelligence technologies.On top of that, Trump has threatened to annex the host of the meeting — Canada — and members of his Cabinet have taken swipes at Europe’s use of renewable energy. Rather than being aligned with much of the world's assertion that fossil fuels should be tempered, Trump embraces the opposite position — drill for more oil and gas and keep burning coal, while repealing environmental regulations on the biggest sources of U.S. carbon pollution.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Those moves illustrate his rejection of climate science and underscore his outlying positions on global warming in the G7.Here are five things to know about the summit.Who will be there?The group comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — plus the European Union. Together they account for more than 40 percent of gross domestic product globally and around a quarter of all energy-related carbon dioxide pollution, according to the International Energy Agency. The U.S. is the only one among them that is not trying to hit a carbon reduction goal.Some emerging economies have also been invited, including Mexico, India, South Africa and Brazil, the host of this year’s COP30 climate talks in November.Ahead of the meeting, the office of Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, said he and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva agreed to strengthen cooperation on energy security and critical minerals. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would be having "quite a few" bilateral meetings but that his schedule was in flux.The G7 first came together 50 years ago following the Arab oil embargo. Since then, its seven members have all joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. The U.S. is the only nation in the group that has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, which counts almost every country in the world as a signatory.What’s on the table?Among Canada’s top priorities as host are strengthening energy security and fortifying critical mineral supply chains. Carney would also like to see some agreement on joint wildfire action.Expanding supply chains for critical minerals — and competing more aggressively with China over those resources — could be areas of common ground among the leaders. Climate change is expected to remain divisive. Looming over the discussions will be tariffs — which Trump has applied across the board — because they will have an impact on the clean energy transition.“I think probably the majority of the conversation will be less about climate per se, or certainly not using climate action as the frame, but more about energy transition and infrastructure as a way of kind of bridging the known gaps between most of the G7 and where the United States is right now,” said Dan Baer, director of the Europe program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.What are the possible outcomes?The leaders could issue a communique at the end of their meeting, but those statements are based on consensus, something that would be difficult to reach without other G7 countries capitulating to Trump. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that nations won’t try to reach a joint agreement, in part because bridging gaps on climate change could be too hard.Instead, Carney could issue a chair’s summary or joint statements based on certain issues.The question is how far Canada will go to accommodate the U.S., which could try to roll back past statements on advancing clean energy, said Andrew Light, former assistant secretary of Energy for international affairs, who led ministerial-level negotiations for the G7.“They might say, rather than watering everything down that we accomplished in the last four years, we just do a chair's statement, which summarizes the debate,” Light said. “That will show you that you didn't get consensus, but you also didn't get capitulation.”What to watch forIf there is a communique, Light says he’ll be looking for whether there is tougher language on China and any signal of support for science and the Paris Agreement. During his first term, Trump refused to support the Paris accord in the G7 and G20 declarations.The statement could avoid climate and energy issues entirely. But if it backtracks on those issues, that could be a sign that countries made a deal by trading climate-related language for something else, Light said.Baer of Carnegie said a statement framed around energy security and infrastructure could be seen as a “pragmatic adaptation” to the U.S. administration, rather than an indication that other leaders aren’t concerned about climate change.Climate activists have lower expectations.“Realistically, we can expect very little, if any, mention of climate change,” said Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada.“The message we should be expecting from those leaders is that climate action remains a priority for the rest of the G7 … whether it's on the transition away from fossil fuels and supporting developing countries through climate finance,” she said. “Especially now that the U.S. is stepping back, we need countries, including Canada, to be stepping up.”Best- and worst-case scenariosThe challenge for Carney will be preventing any further rupture with Trump, analysts said.In 2018, Trump made a hasty exit from the G7 summit, also in Canada that year, due largely to trade disagreements. He retracted his support for the joint statement.“The best, [most] realistic case outcome is that things don't get worse,” said Baer.The worst-case scenario? Some kind of “highly personalized spat” that could add to the sense of disorder, he added.“I think the G7 on the one hand has the potential to be more important than ever, as fewer and fewer platforms for international cooperation seem to be able to take action,” Baer said. “So it's both very important and also I don't have super-high expectations.”Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.