The Evening Report - April 4
Wild April weather in the Nordics. It is getting dire in Ukraine.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
🇩🇰 ⛅️
After enduring yet another massive downpour the Danish Meteorological Institute has some good news for this weekend, it should be unseasonably warm. DMI says there is a pretty good chance temperatures could reach as high as 20 degrees in some parts of the country. It says temperatures will certainly hover between 15 and 18 degrees for most of Denmark as a warm air mass blows in from the Iberian peninsula beginning on Saturday.
Southern Denmark will likely see warmer temperatures than Nordjylland. The warm weather forecast does not extend to the Danish island of Bornholm.
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On average Denmark usually sees 38.5 millimeters of rain for the entire month of April. Ten Danish municipalities recorded over 40 millimeters of rainfall in a 12-hour period over the first two days of the month as the country suffered its latest huge cloudburst. Hajstrup in Southern Jylland had the most rainfall in the country with 46.3 millimeters hitting the ground.
The downpour snarled traffic on several highways as the rainfall created massive pools of water.
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In Sweden, it was snow not rain that caused chaos and huge traffic backups. On some highways, traffic jams were up to 25 kilometers long. Swedish police say they received at least 20 snow-related accident calls in less than three hours on Tuesday. Some emergency response workers had to use snowmobiles to reach stranded motorists.
And more snow is coming. The Swedish Weather Agency issued another yellow weather alert on Thursday warning that parts of Western Sweden could see another 15 centimeters of snow in a matter of an hour or two on Thursday night.
🇳🇴
Southern Norway is being hit by a huge snowstorm. The wild weather caused ferry traffic between Kristiansand in Norway and Hirtshals in Denmark to be suspended on Thursday. The snowfall has caused chaos on roads and highways and in some regions, all public bus traffic has been suspended for safety reasons.
It also caused travel delays at Stavanger Airport.
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With this week’s downpour, all the rain could be adding to the crisis already plaguing Danish inland waters. Critically low oxygen levels in the waterway connecting the North and Baltic Seas have wiped out invertebrates and chased off most other sea life. The crisis is due to nitrogen from manure used by farmers washing from agricultural land into waterways over many years.
Aarhus University Marine Environment Professor Stiig Markager says if any farmers had been out putting down fertilizer then this week’s downpour would have washed significant amounts of it into the sea exacerbating the crisis.
“Because when manure is spread on the fields, it does not penetrate into the wet soil. Therefore, nutrients from the manure can end up in the oceans, which contributes to greater algae growth and oxygen loss. You have to wait until the ground is really dry and there is no prospect of precipitation in the coming weeks. It is the only environmentally responsible way to handle manure.”
However, the Chair of the East Danish Farmer’s Association says the soaking-wet weather has been preventing them from doing their work as well.
Henrik Nordgaard spoke to DR:
“We have had a very wet winter so far. This means that a lot of water has been standing on our fields. Now we finally looked to be getting rid of the water all around, which means we could get ready to sow, but now the fields are soaking wet again.”
He says it is an upsetting setback and it will mean that seeding efforts will be delayed by at least two weeks but the situation does not yet spell disaster for summer crops. It does mean a shorter growing season, perhaps less animal feed, and it might mean higher prices for consumers.
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Pollen season, and the impacts it has on those who are allergic, is arriving earlier and earlier thanks to climate change. If you are allergic and have already noticed itchy eyes or a runny nose it might be because birch pollen arrived ten days earlier than usual this spring.
Asthma-Allergy Denmark Pollen Biologist Sidsel Damsbo Andersen:
“Since we started measuring in 1977, it has never happened before that we have reached a high level of birch pollen measured above 100 already in March. It usually doesn't happen until mid-April.”
According to the agency, which has been comparing pollen counts going back to 1985, birch pollen has increased by 35% and the pollen season itself is now 15 days longer than it was. It is not just birch pollen, the grass pollen season has also been extended by 18 days since 1985.
“This is mainly due to climate change. The climate is getting warmer, we get more precipitation and there is less frost in the winter. It provides better growing conditions for all pollen plants. When the temperature keeps rising and there is more rain, the pollen season will become more intense in the future, and it will get worse to be allergic to pollen.”
She says usually pollen seasons swing between bad and mild years but the usual rhythm appears to also be in disarray. This should be a mild pollen season but
Andersen says the pollen counts so far this year are anything but mild.
“It could well be a warning that the season will not be as mild as expected.”
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March saw the third-highest number of new used electric vehicle sales in Denmark. There were 9,148 new or slightly used EVs hitting the road last month, falling just short of monthly fossil fuel vehicle sales.
However, eMobilitet Chief Analyst Søren Jakobsen says the bigger picture continues to show the rise of EVs while the sun sets on gas and diesel vehicles.
“Still, the stock of fossil-fuel cars fell by 4,121 and the stock of electric cars increased by 10,483. The growth in [electric vehicle] stock is due to the large import of used electric cars, where the import of electric cars older than 2 years is also now very high.By comparison, the import of used fossil-fuel cars has fallen.”
🇸🇪🇫🇮
Nordic steel company SSAB plans to manufacture its first fossil fuel-free steel by 2029. The company has announced it will transition its steel plant in Luleå, Sweden from using coal to hydrogen in the steel production process.
The company has another steel plant across the Bay of Bothnia in Finland, which it says will also transition to fossil fuel-free steel production. However, it is not saying exactly when that will happen. The company’s steel plant in Finland is, on its own, responsible for some 9% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Finland. The Finnish government has set a goal of being carbon-neutral by 2035.
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Greenhouse gas emissions from cement plants, garbage incinerators, and pulp and paper mills have dropped significantly in Finland. According to the Finnish Energy Agency of the 506 such facilities across the country emissions have been cut in half since 2013. Year over year, emissions fell by 19.2%.
Finland has slashed industrial coal use as well as coal consumption in heat and electricity production. Overall, the use of coal dropped by 42% last year. That has been a major contributor to reducing emissions.
Finnish Environment and Climate Minister Kai Mykkänen
"The reduction in emissions by a fifth compared to the previous year shows that the clean transition is on pace in the industry and energy production that is part of the emissions trade. The price of emissions is the most effective instrument of our climate policy. At the same time, it is crucial for Finland to ensure the growth of clean electricity production so that industry can grow without burning fossil fuels.”
In 2023, 94% of electricity production was from emissions-free green sources. The year previous it was 84%. Finland also continues to harness surplus heat, which covered 14% of all district heating supplied to homes last year. More and more people are also converting to electric boilers.
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Despite a slight hiccup during the energy crisis of 2022, Germany is back on track to phase out coal-fired power plants. Over the Easter weekend, the country shut down 15 coal-fired power plants as it seeks to phase out the use of coal in electricity generation by 2030. Eight more coal-fired power plants will soon follow.
The coal-fired power plants were supposed to be shuttered in 2022 but the energy crisis spawned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and weaponization of Russian energy exports kept the plants running.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck spoke to dpa to say that the plants were “neither necessary nor economical”.
“Several coal-fired power plants that were still on the grid as a precautionary measure over the last two years are therefore now superfluous and can be taken off the grid for good.”
🦠Outbreaks🦠
🇩🇰
COVID activity as measured by wastewater surveillance continues to tread water across Denmark. For a fourth week in a row virus activity “remains at a low level” according to the Statens Serum Institute. The agency also continues to caution that there is “increased uncertainty in the calculations” due to low concentrations and an overall lack of testing and other surveillance efforts.
Overall, the SSi says confirmed coronavirus infections and related hospitalizations also remain at a low level. Influenza-related hospital admissions continued to drop last week. RS virus numbers are also flatlining as the seasonal infection wave ends.
Hospital admissions by virus type/ Statens Serum Institute
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Sweden launched its spring COVID booster dose campaign this week. It is the only Nordic nation to be carrying out a spring vaccination effort. Seniors in care and all seniors over 85 can get another top-up vaccine dose.
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For some reason the Swedish Public Health Agency is updating general COVID hospitalizations on Sundays but publishing day-accurate ICU numbers. With that in mind, coronavirus hospitalizations (87) are unchanged while ICU numbers (1) have edged downward (-1).
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The Swedish Public Health Agency would like to see essential antibiotics that might be at risk of no longer being sold stockpiled in the event of future demand. It is worried that pharmaceutical companies will stop making some essential antibiotics simply because they are deemed to not be profitable.
The agency is floating a strategy that would see the government create a fund to pay pharmaceutical companies to keep antibiotics in stock.
Agency Antibiotic Expert Charlotta Edlund spoke to Radio Sweden:
“We need to stock up to prevent patients suffering due to a lack of medication.”
The health agency is estimating its plan to compensate drug companies would cost about 17 million Swedish kroner per year (about $2.1 million Cdn).
🇳🇴
Influenza numbers continue to decline sharply in Norway as the winter respiratory infection waves that buffeted the country continue to recede.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is declaring the winter flu season over. Influenza numbers have been falling fast since the last week of February. Flu-related visits to family doctors are in decline as are hospital admissions. Last week there were 84 flu-related hospitalizations, down from 122 of the week before. There were no new ICU admissions. That said, the NIPH notes that some hospitals have been a bit laggard in reporting respiratory infection data so the numbers might be a little off.
On the COVID front, there were just 21 new hospital admissions, seven fewer than the week before. There were no new ICU admissions. Four more lives were lost to the coronavirus in Norway last week.
There continues to be an increase in whooping cough (pertussis) infections over the last few weeks
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Vaccination rates in Finland remain sky-high despite a slight uptick in the number of children who are completely unvaccinated. The Finnish Institute for Health says that almost 98% of children born in 2021 have been vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Hib diseases like meningitis. Almost 95% of those children have also had the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
The number of completely unvaccinated children born in 2021 crept upward to 1.7% while 1.4% of those born in 2020 haven’t been vaccinated.
Doctor Anniina Virkku says the COVID pandemic played a role in throwing off childhood vaccinations.
"Although the changes in the proportion of unvaccinated people are very small, it is still necessary to closely monitor whether the phenomenon will become more common in the coming years. The proportion of unvaccinated people is now higher in the age groups born during the coronavirus pandemic, so the effects of the pandemic on the implementation of children's vaccinations and attitudes towards vaccinations must also be considered.”
The proportion of unvaccinated people born during the first two years of the COVID pandemic (2020–2021) is higher than in all previous age groups across the country. The institute says those numbers may decrease as parents work to get their kids caught up on the usual vaccinations that were missed during the pandemic.
🇪🇺 💉
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is being investigated by top European prosecutors over allegations of illegalities in connection with procuring COVID vaccines during the pandemic. According to a spokesperson for the European Public Prosecutor's Office, communications between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer’s Chief Executive Albert Bourla in the form of alleged private text messages may have been illegal. The allegations are that von der Leyen may have conducted private negotiations with Pfizer to ensure vaccine shipments without a mandate from European Union member nations.
To date, no official charges have been filed.
🇨🇦
COVID hospitalizations continue to ease across Canada. In the week ending March 26, there were 1,758 total beds in use by a coronavirus-infected patient, 98 fewer than the week prior. The bulk of those patients continues to be in general admissions which dropped by 96 admissions to 1,682. There were 76 infected people admitted to intensive care units, a decline of two from week to week. The number of severely infected people requiring a ventilator continues to remain at 73 for a fifth consecutive week.
Something to keep an eye on. COVID hospitalizations haven’t fallen much below where they are now in any valley floor between infection waves since the summer of 2022. While coronavirus continues to exert unrelenting pressure on an already strained public health care system it will be interesting to see if the trend continues, or not.
Another 40 lives were lost to the coronavirus according to the latest weekly update from the Public Health Agency of Canada. Total pandemic deaths have now reached 59,034.
🇺🇦Ukraine/ Russia War🇷🇺
Weapons supplies are arriving in Ukraine much too slowly and in quantities that are much too small. That is according to a report from Politico that cites Ukrainian sources along the front lines. Those sources are also saying that the situation at the front is extremely difficult and the risk of Russian troops breaking through is high. Russia has pushed Ukrainian forces back to Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya in the last few months.
Anonymous senior Ukrainian military officials told Politico:
“No technology can compensate for the large numbers of soldiers that the Russians will probably throw at us.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning that Russia is rearming and recruiting in order to launch a massive summer offensive.
“I can say that on June 1, Russia is preparing to mobilize 300,000 additional troops.”
As Russia throws hundreds of thousands of lives away in a bloody battle of attrition to wear down weary Ukrainian forces Zelenskyy has lowered the age of conscription to 25 in a bid to bolster Ukrainian ranks.
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Beginning this week Ukrainians who have had their properties destroyed due to the Russian invasion can register their claims in an international database. The database is run by the Council of Europe and registering property damages and loss is the first step in a long road to make claims for reparations from frozen Russian funds and assets.
Initially, the claims will be restricted to lost and damaged Ukrainian property but will eventually be expanded to include other war-related losses.
NATO 🇺🇦
NATO’s Secretary General wants to “future-proof” donations of military equipment to Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg is tabling the idea of creating what is reported to be a €100 billion fund that would ensure that NATO member nations would send weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment to Ukraine over the next five years.
“We must ensure that, in the long term, there is reliable and predictable security support for Ukraine. We must be less dependent on voluntary and short-term contributions, and more on NATO contributions and multi-year commitments. If you are to be able to plan and launch offensives, you need long-term planning. You need to know what type of equipment, and what kind of maintenance, you are dealing with.”
The idea was discussed in a meeting of the alliance’s foreign affairs ministers on Wednesday.
The idea is that each of NATO’s 32 member countries would contribute donations that would be determined by the size of each country’s economy. The move is also being seen as part of an ongoing effort to transition the responsibility of supporting Ukraine militarily from the United States to NATO. This is being done out of an abundance of caution should Donald Trump win the presidency again in this year’s U.S. presidential elections.
The idea will continue to be discussed at this summer’s NATO summit in Washington D.C.
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Denmark’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is in support of the proposed Ukraine fund.
“It not only ensures that over time the Ukrainians will be able to drive the Russians out but also that they can build a permanent defense that is fully Nato-convertible and that enables Ukraine to become a full member of NATO at some point. This does not make NATO a belligerent party in the same way that Denmark is not a belligerent in Ukraine, even though we provide considerable military assistance to Ukraine. And we want to keep doing that.”
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Sweden’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tobias Billström came out of this week’s meeting of his NATO counterparts saying that “Russia's attempt to destabilize will not succeed". Billström says that NATO is putting together a new large military support package for Ukraine.
🇩🇰🇺🇦/ 🇮🇱
A Danish effort to procure rocket launchers for Ukraine has gone off of the rails. Denmark’s Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen held a press conference this week where he revealed that costs have ballooned wildly out of control and the delivery timeline has been pushed back by an entire year.
Poulsen hinted that he feels like the arms company that placed the order with, Elbit in Israel, wasn’t upfront about costs and its ability to deliver the weapons on time. An investigation has been launched by the ministry to determine what went wrong and what remedies may be available.
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The last ammunition factory in Denmark closed in 2020, but it will soon re-open for business as the risk of war looms over Europe. The Danish government has bought the sprawling property near Frederikshavn and this week it officially got the keys.
However, it will probably be at least a year before the factory begins churning out ammunition again. Head of the Ministry of Defense’s Real Estate Agency Jan Quist Jakobsen says this is not unlike buying an old house that has been empty for years, lots of renovations are needed.
There are some 50 buildings on the property and it will take months to get most of them ship shape. Then it needs to be decided what ammunition the factory will produce, choose a company to do the work by tender, and finally hire all the needed workers.
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Finland is donating more military equipment to Ukraine. This is the 23rd weapons donation Finland has sent to Ukraine since the war began. As is the custom of the Finnish Ministry of Defense it won’t reveal any details of what is in this latest package other than it is valued at about €188 million.
Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen:
"The security situation in Europe is the worst it has been in many years. The outcome of Russia's war of aggression will decide what the security environment of Europe and Finland will become. We will continue to support Ukraine together with our allies and partners.”
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Finland has joined several other Western countries, including Nordic neighbour Denmark, in signing a defense agreement with Ukraine. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Speaker of the Parliament Jussi Halla-aho signed the agreement in Kyiv on Wednesday. It commits Finland to supplying weapons, ammunition, naval equipment, and other military support for years to come. It also includes a promise that Finland will help support Ukraine’s own domestic weapons production.
Aside from military issues, the deal contains other provisions including the two countries working together on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and helping in the transition to green energy. Finland has also pledged its support in Ukraine’s efforts to join the European Union and NATO.
What the agreement does not include is any commitment to send Finnish soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb:
"There is no reason to send troops now. We support Ukraine economically and militarily and we support Ukraine's integration into international alliances.”
🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺
Finland will keep its land border with Russia closed indefinitely. Finland closed all of its border crossings along its border with Russia last year and has, until now, been reviewing the decision every three months. On Thursday, the Finnish Interior Ministry decided to keep the closure open-ended due to the continued threat posed by thousands of undocumented migrants Russia is directing towards the Finnish border.
Interior Minister Mari Rantanen:
“We have not seen anything this spring that would lead us to conclude that the situation has meaningfully changed. In addition, spring will provide opportunities to put more pressure on Finland. There are hundreds and possibly thousands of people close to Finland's border on the Russian side that could be used against Finland.”
The Finnish government has also expanded the border closure to include three harbours. One is on the island of Haapasaari, the second is in the coastal city of Kotka, and the third is the Nuijamaa lake harbour near the Russian border. All three will be closed to Russian pleasure boat traffic as of mid-April.
“By closing border crossing points for maritime traffic to leisure boating, the Government is preparing for the possibility that weaponized migration could expand to maritime traffic as spring progresses. This would be dangerous to people seeking to enter Finland and would burden maritime search and rescue.”
🇫🇷/ 🇷🇺
The French government will propose that European Union-level sanctions be enacted against Russian companies that are responsible for spreading disinformation.
French Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Séjourné:
“I will propose that a sanctions policy be put forward against those who support a disinformation regime.”
NATO 🇳🇱
Support seems to be consolidating around long-time Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as the next Secretary General of NATO. Rutte is supported by the four most influential NATO member countries in France, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States. This week Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson both threw their country’s support behind Rutte as well.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is a surprise entrant in the race to replace Stoltenberg. He seems to be representing Eastern European concerns about being too low on the NATO totem pole. Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Turkey are reported to be not terribly keen on Rutte.
Rutte has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010.
Odds & Ends
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If you were anywhere near Glamsbjerg on Fyn on Thursday and thought you heard explosions, you weren’t wrong. The Danish Defense Ammunition Disposal Team blew up ten WWII-era hand grenades found by a farmer on Thursday morning.
However, the disposal of the hand grenades was not without incident. Four of them were detonated near where they were found but the blast was stronger than anticipated shattering windows on the nearby farmhouse. The remaining grenades were then detonated at a nearby gravel pit a safe distance away.
🇬🇧
If you have some spare change kicking around you might have a shot at becoming the owner of one of the world’s oldest books. The Crosby-Schoyen Codex was written in Egypt around AD 250-350 when books were transitioning from papyrus scrolls to the book form we know today. It contains two books from the Bible, the Book of Jonah and the First Epistle of Peter.
It will be auctioned off by Christie’s in London and is expected to fetch somewhere between $3.5 to $5 million Canadian.
🇩🇪/ 🇧🇼
The president of Botswana is threatening to send 20,000 elephants to Germany. He is upset about the German Environment Ministry threatening to tighten rules around importing hunting trophies to combat poaching.
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi told the German newspaper Bild that perhaps people in Germany need to learn what it is like living alongside elephants who he blames for destroying crops and villages.
“It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about what we do in Botswana. We pay the price to preserve these animals on behalf of the world.”
According to the Journal of African Elephants, there is evidence of widespread unethical hunting practices along with rampant corruption in Botswana. The country does not submit annual reports on animal populations as required by international conventions, hunting quotas are not based on scientific data, and trophy hunting is forcing communities in the country into a perpetual cycle of impoverishment.