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SourceMaterial

@source-material.org
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Non-profit, public interest investigative journalism. www.source-material.org

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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 18/09/2026
It's great to see two of our reporters, @lukewbarratt.bsky.social and @atikarehman.bsky.social, named as winners of a @coveringclimatenow.org award. We worked with @earthjournalism.bsky.social and journalists across Asia to investigate the environmental impact of a massive increase in data centres.
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samschramski.bsky.social @samschramski.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wow! Kudos to the #DarkSideoftheBoom team at @earthjournalism.bsky.social and the many partners across Asia who made this award possible. Quite the honor winning in the large projects and collaboration category. Special thanks to our partners at @source-material.org and the @pulitzercenter.org.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 13/08/2026
“Harvesting and using wood for any purpose becomes carbon negative, and the more wood used the better.” Inside the battle between lobbyists and scientists at GHG Protocol over how to count emissions from deforestation. www.source-material.org/ghg-protocol...
source-material.org
Lobbyists push for declaration that felling trees helps the climate
The timber industry’s influence over forest carbon accounting rules risks derailing global carbon calculations, scientists warn.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 13/08/2026
“It's nonsense”—how lobbyists pushed a leading emissions watchdog GHG Protocol to the brink of declaring that chopping down trees helps the climate. www.source-material.org/ghg-protocol...
source-material.org
Lobbyists push for declaration that felling trees helps the climate
The timber industry’s influence over forest carbon accounting rules risks derailing global carbon calculations, scientists warn.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 22/06/2026
Ever wondered how Russia pays for the imports it needs to wage war on Ukraine? We did... and it led to some interesting conversations. "Ninety per cent of the customers are those who work with sanctioned goods” www.source-material.org/russia-sanct...
source-material.org
‘There will be no trace’ – SourceMaterial
Undercover reporting reveals a parallel financial system moving illegal payments in and out of Russia—and backed by the Kremlin
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 22/06/2026
In Mozambique, TotalEnergies is building Africa's biggest gas project. But as well as jobs and investment, an unpublished UN report found that the development has brought about a wave of sexual exploitation. www.source-material.org/totalenergie...
source-material.org
TotalEnergies project staff linked to sexual exploitation in Mozambique
Workers at Africa’s biggest energy project ‘offered jobs for sex’ as soldiers paid by French energy giant committed abuses.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 09/06/2026
"I was finding out who was snitching, who they were working for." Meet the Russian security guards, including ex-combatants of Wagner, who are stationed aboard Russia's shadow fleet ships to control the captain and make sure oil reaches its final port. www.source-material.org/shadow-fleet...
source-material.org
Ex-mercenaries tighten Russia's grip on dark fleet
Former Wagner fighter stationed aboard tankers to prevent captains from co-operating with European enforcement
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 24/04/2026
At the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Essar owed $3.1 billion to VTB, the Kremlin-controlled Russian bank. Our latest story, with the Guardian, reveals that its response to sanctions on VTB was to shift the loans out of the EU from Cyprus to Mauritius. www.source-material.org/essar-stanlo...
source-material.org
UK oil refiner shifted Russian loans offshore – SourceMaterial
Essar shifted billions to tax haven following Ukraine invasion
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 01/04/2026
In Kenya, poor farmers have gone hungry after signing up for a biofuel project with the Italian oil major Eni, SourceMaterial’s investigation has discovered. www.source-material.org/eni-italian-...
source-material.org
How an Italian oil giant's African biofuel project left farmers stranded
SourceMaterial's investigation, based on interviews with 43 farmers, as well as biofuel experts, activists and lawyers, suggests the project is failing.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 31/03/2026
As part of a flagship biofuel project, the Italian energy major Eni has handed out castor seeds to over a hundred thousand Kenyan farmers. In interviews with SourceMaterial, many farmers said the project has failed them. www.source-material.org/eni-italian-...
source-material.org
How an Italian oil giant's African biofuel project left farmers stranded
SourceMaterial's investigation, based on interviews with 43 farmers, as well as biofuel experts, activists and lawyers, suggests the project is failing.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 31/03/2026
Seeds of doubt: how the Italian oil giant Eni handed out castor seeds to over a hundred thousand Kenyan farmers to make biofuel from the harvest, before leaving many without income or food. www.source-material.org/eni-italian-...
source-material.org
How an Italian oil giant's African biofuel project left farmers stranded
SourceMaterial's investigation, based on interviews with 43 farmers, as well as biofuel experts, activists and lawyers, suggests the project is failing.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 16/03/2026
New: Last month, Indonesian authorities arrested 11 people on suspicion of bribery and disguising palm oil as a less strictly regulated byproduct. SourceMaterial can reveal that exporters targeted in this probe supplied major international companies. www.source-material.org/indonesian-e...
source-material.org
Indonesian exporters in palm oil probe supplied European fuel majors
Indonesian exporters targeted in a palm oil bribery probe supplied major international companies, a SourceMaterial investigation has found.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 16/03/2026
Indonesian exporters targeted in a palm oil bribery probe supplied major international companies, casting doubt on Europe’s ability to prevent fraud in its biofuels market, a SourceMaterial investigation has found. www.source-material.org/indonesian-e...
source-material.org
Indonesian exporters in palm oil probe supplied European fuel majors
Indonesian exporters targeted in a palm oil bribery probe supplied major international companies, a SourceMaterial investigation has found.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 15/01/2026
Shell yesterday scrapped its sale of $500m of North Sea assets to Viaro Energy, owned by Italian entrepreneur Francesco Mazzagatti. Both parties cited changing market conditions. The move followed our investigation into Mazzagatti's career. www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
source-material.org
North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial
Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud
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Covering Climate Now @coveringclimatenow.org · 26/12/2025
In Mozambique, the French energy company TotalEnergies funded troops responsible for grave human rights violations. @source-material.org and @lemonde.fr showed that TotalEnergies knew the soldiers they funded were accused of torturing, raping and killing — and kept paying them.
source-material.org
'Don't look back or we'll shoot' - SourceMaterial
When Islamist insurgents unleashed terror on northern Mozambique, civilians living in the shadow of Africa’s biggest gas project thought troops paid by the French energy giant would protect them.…
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George Greenwood @georgegreenwood.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade. The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia. www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
thetimes.com
Major Tory donor sanctioned over role in Russian oil trade
The government sanctioning statement alleges that Murtaza Lakhani’s activities in the oil sector have supported the Kremlin
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 12/12/2025
🎉 Thrilled that SourceMaterial was Highly Commended at the British Journalism Awards for Energy & Environment Journalism! Huge thanks to our amazing team for all their hard work—onto the next story! ⚡🌿
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 01/12/2025
Last year, we travelled to Mozambique to reveal how TotalEnergies funded troops it knew stood accused of rape and murder. Today, after reviewing SourceMaterial’s findings and reporting by Politico, the UK government announced it would withdraw a $1.15 billion loan to the project.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 01/12/2025
Amazon's environmental impact on France, like other places in the world, is bigger than it has previously acknowledged, leaked figures reveal. We shared these figures with @reporterre.net, who have published this story. reporterre.net/Amazon-explo...
reporterre.net
Amazon exploite 924 data centers dans le monde, dont 29 en France
Jusqu’à aujourd’hui, Amazon n’avait jamais révélé publiquement le nombre de centres de données qu’elle exploite. Tout juste étaient-ils estimés entre 100 et 475. Selon des documents exclusifs obtenus ...
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 25/11/2025
NEW: Leaked documents reveal Amazon's "dirty energy empire". Soaring electricity demand in Mumbai, where Amazon has 16 data centres, has led to crumbling coal power stations being kept open—and fears AI is helping keep the world hooked on fossil fuels. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...
source-material.org
Leak reveals Amazon’s hidden data centres' impact on emissions
Soaring electricity demand in Mumbai, where Amazon has 16 data centres, has led to crumbling coal power stations being kept open.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 24/11/2025
NEW: We've seen documents revealing Amazon's hidden data centres—and hidden impact on the environment. The AI giant has twice as many data centres as previously reported, our investigation found. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...
source-material.org
Amazon has twice as many data centres worldwide as previously reported
Amazon uses far more data centres across the globe—and has a bigger impact on the environment—than previously reported, leaked data reveals.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 21/11/2025
Nathan Gill has been jailed for accepting bribes to push the Kremlin's agenda. The money ultimately came from Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of Putin. In 2022 we took a look at Medvedchuk's relationship with Glencore, the London-listed commodities giant. www.source-material.org/glencore-and...
source-material.org
Glencore and the Order of Friendship – SourceMaterial
The trading giant’s lucrative deals with allies of Vladimir Putin When Vladimir Putin awarded Glencore’s billionaire boss the Order of Friendship it was seen as the Kremlin’s stamp of approval on an a...
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 14/11/2025
We're thrilled to have won the Society of Editors Media Freedom Award 2025 for environment journalism! Our investigation into the millions of UK tyres being dumped in India - and boiled in highly dangerous conditions - with our ace BBC co-reporters had widespread impact.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 10/11/2025
We are supporting a new project convened by @earthjournalism.bsky.social in Asia Pacific, involving 11 news organisations in the region, looking into the environmental impact of the AI boom. There are more stories to come, but read the first few here: earthjournalism.net/special-repo...
earthjournalism.net
Dark Side of the Boom
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 04/11/2025
Our latest investigation pieces together the career of Francesco Mazzagatti, the 39-year-old entrepreneur poised to become owner of a terminal that supplies a fifth of Britain's gas. A trail that leads from a warehouse in Calabria to London's High Court. www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
source-material.org
North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial
Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 27/10/2025
NEW: We've seen a leaked internal strategy document from Amazon Web Services. It shows the company strategising about keeping the true water usage of its data centres secret from the public. www.source-material.org/amazon-leak-...
source-material.org
Leak reveals Amazon plan to keep water use of data centres secret
Amazon strategised about ways to keep the public in the dark over the true extent of its data centres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 25/10/2025
NEW: Amazon strategised about ways to keep the public in the dark over the true extent of its data centres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals. Our latest investigation with @theguardian.com www.source-material.org/amazon-leak-...
source-material.org
Leak reveals Amazon plan to keep water use of data centres secret
Amazon strategised about ways to keep the public in the dark over the true extent of its data centres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/10/2025
And since we're talking awards... we've been on a roll recently! 🏆 On Tuesday, we won the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism for another investigation into Russia's shadow fleet, alongside over 40 collaborators from all around Europe.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/10/2025
We're very proud to be shortlisted in the British Journalism Awards alongside many other excellent journalists. Here's a quick 🧵 of the stories included in our submission:
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 06/10/2025
The Shadow Fleet shipping Russia's oil is already leaving trails of oil in its wake, raising the question of who will pay up if the worst is to happen. Our latest investigation with @victorjack.bsky.social of @politico.eu, using data from @skytruth.org. www.source-material.org/shadow-fleet...
source-material.org
Shadow fleet slicks test limits of EU sanctions – SourceMaterial
As the West continues to blacklist ship carrying Russian oil, new slicks near Europe’s shores test the limits of Western sanctions
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Victor Jack @victorjack.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
NEW: Russian-linked vessels are continuing to leak oil off Europe’s shores — despite Western sanctions — underscoring the continent’s inability to rein in Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet. Read our joint investigation with @source-material.org here: www.politico.eu/article/russ...
politico.eu
Russia’s blacklisted tankers keep dumping oil in Europe’s seas
Shadow fleet vessels sailed unimpeded in EU waters after leaving slicks near the continent.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 03/10/2025
We're delighted that The Shadow Fleet Secrets – a project we worked on with @ftm.nl and a team of international outlets – has been shortlisted for the Daphne Caruana Prize for Journalism. daphnejournalismprize.eu/edition-2025...
daphnejournalismprize.eu
Finalists 2025 – Daphne Caruana Galizia
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 29/09/2025
We're very pleased to have been shortlisted for the Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards 2025 for our story 'Burning Rubber: the poisonous afterlife of waste tyres', in partnership with the BBC.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 22/09/2025
We're delighted to have won in the 'Conflict & Climate Change' category at this year's Covering Climate Now awards with a project in partnership with our colleagues at Le Monde 🏆
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 21/08/2025
At dawn in Accra, Ghana, Lydia Bamfo (51) sets out to collect plastic waste. For 25 years she’s battled the tide of rubbish overwhelming her city. Now she says the World Bank’s “solution” has done nothing to help workers like her. 🧵
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 07/08/2025
NEW: SourceMaterial's investigation into a World Bank-backed plastic credits scheme shows it has sparked controversy in Accra, Ghana. Waste picker associations say they are 'sick and tired' of the 'false solution'. With @ajenglish.bsky.social: www.aljazeera.com/features/lon...
aljazeera.com
Ghana’s waste pickers brave mountains of plastic – and big industry
Accra has been picked by a World Bank bond to end the waste crisis. But for informal recyclers, it is a false solution.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 18/06/2025
Keir Starmer said he's "tightening the screws" on Putin as he announced a raft of new sanctions, including two companies involved in crewing and managing ships involved in Russia's illegal oil exports. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Starmer tightens screws on Putin with raft of fresh sanctions against Russia
Keir Starmer said his sanctions would choke off Putin’s ability to continue his war
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 02/06/2025
The French oil giant Total has quietly abandoned its offsetting project in the Republic of Congo, @reporterre.net reports. Back in December 2022, farmers told us the tree-planting project had barred them from their fields and threatened their livelihoods. www.source-material.org/total-oil-co...
source-material.org
Total’s Congo offsetting project ‘snatched our land’
Farmers say oil giant’s tree-planting scheme has barred them from their fields and threatens livelihoods.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 29/05/2025
Fresnillo is a goldminer worth £8bn, listed on the London Stock Exchange and majority-owned by the billionaire Baillères family. For years it has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Bajío agrarian community on whose land it encroached in the desert of Mexico's Sonora state.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 21/05/2025
The data centre boom in the desert: in Nevada, tech companies are transforming the landscape by building huge data centres and using vast amounts of water in the process. Read @jtemple.bsky.social's long-read for @techreviewjp.bsky.social here: www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...
technologyreview.com
The data center boom in the desert
The AI race is transforming northwestern Nevada into one of the world's largest data-center markets—and sparking fears of water strains in the nation’s driest state.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 01/05/2025
This week MPs debated UK waste tyres illegally burned in India following our investigation with BBC File on 4 Investigates. "Investigators used GPS tracking devices in several consignments of waste tyres" to expose the trade, says MP @tessamunt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...
source-material.org
Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial
Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/04/2025
Pope Francis was a pontiff in a new mould: an advocate for migrant rights and global action on climate change. Those positions won him powerful enemies. In 2019 our investigation The Heretic in the Vatican revealed the extent of the plot against him. www.source-material.org/the-heretic-...
source-material.org
How Pope Francis became a hate figure for the far right
On a mountain outside Rome, Steve Bannon’s anti-immigrant populism joins forces with Catholic extremists who say a “gay plague” has infected the Vatican.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 23/04/2025
We're incredibly excited to welcome @rosafurneaux.bsky.social to our team.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 10/04/2025
NEW: SourceMaterial's investigation identified 38 active data centres operated by Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in parts of the world already facing water scarcity, as well as 24 more under development. Read the full story here: www.source-material.org/amazon-micro...
source-material.org
Big Tech's data centres will take water from world's driest areas
Amazon, Microsoft and Google's data centres use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and they are building more.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 09/04/2025
“The question of water is going to become crucial,” says @lopalasi.bsky.social, founder of The Ethical Tech Society, as our investigation reveals data centres are being developed in the driest parts of the world. www.source-material.org/amazon-micro...
source-material.org
Big Tech's data centres will take water from world's driest areas
Amazon, Microsoft and Google's data centres use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and they are building more.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 09/04/2025
“They're using too much water. They're using too much energy,” said Aurora Gómez of the campaign group Tu Nube Seca Mi Río—Spanish for ‘Your cloud is drying my river’—commenting on our investigation into data centres in Aragon. Read the full story here: www.source-material.org/amazon-micro...
source-material.org
Big Tech's data centres will take water from world's driest areas
Amazon, Microsoft and Google's data centres use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and they are building more.
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Luke Barratt @lukewbarratt.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
New from me: I've spent the last 6 months compiling a map of data centres, whose locations are generally secret, operated by Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Cross-referencing that map with areas of water scarcity shows many are in the world's driest areas. www.source-material.org/amazon-micro...
source-material.org
Big Tech's data centres will take water from world's driest areas
Amazon, Microsoft and Google's data centres use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and they are building more.
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Joe Sandler Clarke @jsandlerclarke.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas A really clever data story from @source-material.org and the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas
Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacentres in water-scarce parts of five continents
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 09/04/2025
NEW: Big Tech’s data centre push will take water from the world’s driest areas, our investigation with the @theguardian.com has found. We saw examples from five continents of the strain data centres are putting on communities already short of water. www.source-material.org/amazon-micro...
source-material.org
Big Tech's data centres will take water from world's driest areas
Amazon, Microsoft and Google's data centres use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and they are building more.
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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 04/04/2025
The Carbon Offset Trap: BBC File on 4 has taken an in-depth look at the current state of carbon markets. Our reporter @lukewbarratt.bsky.social spoke to them about some of their findings. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - File on 4 Investigates, The Carbon Offset Trap
Max de Haldevang investigates problems with carbon offset projects.
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