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To keep profits rolling in, oil and gas companies want to turn fossil fuels into a mounting pile of packaging and other plastic products

When China banned plastic waste imports in 2018, exporters in wealthy countries targeted other developing nations. Faced with an unending stream of unrecyclable waste, Indonesia has tightened its regulations and has begun to make progress in stemming the plastics flow.

Fed up with pricey electricity from an unreliable grid, Pakistanis have snapped up cheap solar panels. In an interview, Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, of Islamabad-based Renewables First, says his country can stand as a model for other nations as they transition away from fossil fuels.

Christian Menefee, the first Black person to serve as Harris County Attorney, has deep roots in Houston’s notoriously polluted Fifth Ward. Now, as he pushes oil and gas companies and other industries to clean up their operations, he finds the state of Texas standing in the way.

Since attorney and activist Tiza Mafira cofounded Plasticdiet Indonesia in 2013, the group has helped more than 100 local governments pass single-use plastic bag bans and is now tackling straws, cutlery, and sachets. Next up: slashing subsidies for petrochemical companies.

For decades, 1960s research for the American Petroleum Institute warning of the risks of burning fossil fuels had been forgotten. But two papers discovered by a crusading lawyer are now playing a key role in lawsuits aimed at holding oil companies accountable for climate change.