The recent rise in Abu Dhabi-listed energy stocks reflects growing investor confidence in the UAE’s increased strategic flexibility following its exit from OPEC, according to Sam North, Market Analyst at eToro. Iran has blocked oil exports so the UAE has gone around the OPEC block to make a clean exit and ship oil via its own pipeline.

Despite a month or so of missiles and expats fleeing Dubai and Abu Dhabi, confidence in the Emiratis is back. North explained that markets are not pricing in an immediate surge in oil production, but rather a longer-term shift in optionality. “The move is being interpreted as a structural change that allows the UAE to monetise its expanded production capacity more efficiently,” he said. “This creates a clearer growth narrative across upstream activity, drilling, infrastructure, gas processing and dividend potential.”

He cautioned that higher output is not guaranteed in the near term. “Production cannot simply ramp up overnight. Logistics, regional security risks and the broader oil price reaction remain critical constraints. If additional supply materially lowers crude prices, it could offset gains from higher volumes,” he added.

While the UAE’s departure raises questions about OPEC’s long-term cohesion, eToro noted, markets are not yet pricing in a full breakdown of the cartel’s pricing power. Instead, North noted a gradual shift. “This is more than a short-term disruption, but it is not the end of OPEC. The real risk is fragmentation over time if members prioritise individual revenue over collective discipline.”

Investors are increasingly monitoring key indicators to assess whether market control is shifting. These include compliance levels among remaining OPEC+ members, rising supply from non-OPEC producers such as the US, Brazil and Guyana, as well as inventory builds and oil futures pricing trends.

“OPEC’s influence is ultimately measured by whether its decisions continue to move physical barrels and prices, not by official statements,” North said.

Despite expectations of increased supply, oil prices remain supported by geopolitical tensions, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude trading near elevated levels reflects this balance between supply expectations and risk premiums.

“The UAE’s potential output acts more as a stabilising force preventing extreme price spikes, rather than driving a sustained sell-off,” North noted. “Around a quarter of global seaborne oil passes through Hormuz, so any disruption continues to embed a premium in prices.”

Energy equities are responding unevenly to the evolving landscape. Companies with direct exposure to UAE production growth and infrastructure are benefiting from increased activity expectations, while global oil majors face a more mixed outlook.

“Higher volumes support services and investment, but a weaker OPEC framework could lower long-term price floors,” North said. “Investors are rewarding firms tied to UAE expansion while becoming more selective toward producers reliant on high crude prices.”

Lower oil prices, if sustained, could provide support to global equity markets, particularly in oil-importing economies such as India. Cheaper crude typically improves trade balances, reduces inflationary pressure and supports consumer demand.

At a macro level, increased supply could help ease global inflation, though central bank responses will remain cautious. “Lower energy costs are disinflationary, but policymakers will look for sustained trends and broader indicators such as wages and core inflation before adjusting rates,” North said.

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As tensions rise in one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, the ripple effects go far beyond oil—touching food systems, climate pressures, and regional stability

By Dr. Osama Moh’d Gazal, Environmental and Climate Change Advisor, Jordan

The Arabs have controlled the region (The Gulf of the black gold oil), for a longer period, especially considering the spread of Islam and modern Arab states’ establishment. Persians, then known as the Sassanids, controlled it for about 1000 years before the Arab conquest. The term “Persian Gulf” was commonly used historically, while “Arabian Gulf” is often used by Arab states. The name reflects the region’s complex history and competing claims. Returning to the Historical overview of the strait we can find that Persians were the first major power to control the Gulf (definitely with the Strait of Hormuz), but Arabs have had a longer stretch of influence overall.

Historically, the name “Persian Gulf” stuck in Western maps, but Arab states prefer “Arabian Gulf” or “Gulf”. The modern geopolitics of the Gulf involves complex regional dynamics, with Arab states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar playing key roles. Iran’s influence and tensions with Arab states, especially over issues like nuclear deals and regional power struggles, are significant factors. However, in the last 20 years, after the Iraqi regime of Saddam was destroyed, the conflict between Arab and Iran escalated into three main dimensions (Iran-Arab tensions: Proxy conflicts in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon, Competition for resources and influence, lastly, and the most important, the Security pacts where US and European alliances with Gulf states). The Gulf has been a contested region, with various empires vying for control.

Amid the repercussions of war, the struggle for control, the imposition of influence, and the assertion of dominance by the strongest power in the region, the most potent leverage has emerged in the hands of the Persians, for now, the Hormuz. Whether this leverage remains in their grasp or is lost will depend on the unfolding course of the conflict. The Persian/Arabian Gulf has been strategically significant since ancient times, though it has experienced prolonged periods of Arab control, particularly following the collapse of the Persian Empire during the era of Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab. With the decline of the Arab Caliphate and the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Persian influence over the region was reasserted.

Today, we are witnessing a renewed struggle for dominance and control over one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints. The Strait of Hormuz represents a formidable asset for the Persians, who seek to leverage it to exert pressure on the global stage, particularly by influencing oil prices.

As one of the eight most strategically significant straits worldwide, it facilitates the transit of approximately 90% of globally traded petroleum fuels. More specifically, it ranks as the second most vital maritime passage, governing over 26% of the world’s seaborne petroleum trade. Any sustained disruption or restriction of maritime movement through this strait would not only jeopardize oil and natural gas supplies. Still, it would also have profound implications for food security, both regionally and globally.

From the outset, international warnings have emphasized the necessity of maintaining the unimpeded functionality of this critical waterway through diplomatic engagement and commitment to peaceful conflict resolution. The focus has been on upholding humanitarian considerations and ensuring that the strait continues to serve its vital role in global trade. However, amid escalating military tensions and intensifying geopolitical rivalries, diplomatic channels and multilateral agreements have collapsed, and the security of international maritime routes has been severely compromised. The prevailing dynamic is now dictated by the logic of military force.

We must broaden our assessment of the potential consequences beyond the prevailing discourse centered on oil. While economists and military analysts have naturally concentrated on the hydrocarbon sector given its strategic importance and the immediate disruptions to energy markets caused by deteriorating security in the Strait of Hormuz, the repercussions extend far beyond petroleum. Despite the overwhelming military superiority of the primary adversary of the Persians, an ally of Arab states in this confrontation, the strait remains a highly advantageous asset for the Persians in this struggle. Even if the conflict remains confined to sporadic threats and patrols by small naval vessels, the strategic value of this chokepoint endures. However, the current reality involves more than posturing; it includes the mining of waters and tangible measures to maintain control over this historically contested passage.

Now we can’t understand issues related to the Oil-Food Security Nexus without returning to the recent Oil Price Shocks and Food Security in the region, recognizing that these are food-import-dependent nations. The 1991 Gulf War led to a sharp increase in oil prices, which in turn raised transportation and production costs for food commodities. This resulted in higher food prices, disproportionately affecting low-income households. Countries in the Arabian Gulf region, already reliant on food imports, faced exacerbated food insecurity due to increased costs and disrupted supply chains. The current crisis calls for global food price volatility. The war-induced oil price spike contributed to global food price instability, emphasizing the vulnerability of food systems to energy market shocks.

Current oil prices already offer a glimpse into the potential impact of a full-scale closure of the strait. Yet, the threat to global food security is equally dire and will become increasingly evident over time, affecting both the region and the world at large.

Furthermore, the environmental toll is mounting, with elevated greenhouse gas emissions resulting from military operations, the destruction of vast fuel storage facilities, and the potential ignition of oil wells should the conflict escalate. (The consequences will not be confined to the Gulf states and Iraq, affecting tens of millions of people, but will reverberate across the interconnected global system. Food security is at risk, agricultural productivity will decline, and production costs will surge. Farmers will face increased operational expenses and greater difficulties in exporting goods, all of which will contribute to rising prices and exacerbate food insecurity. This raises a critical question: Are the countries in the region prepared to withstand these far-reaching and debilitating indirect consequences should the conflict persist? This burden will weigh most heavily on nations with fragile economies and vulnerable food systems.

Natural disasters caused by climate change were historically several times more devastating than those caused by other factors, but the impact of these disasters has now become more balanced as a result of humanity’ ability to adapt to climate change and lessen loss of life. However, the impact of these calamities on food security remains significant due to the lack of sustainable human agricultural systems. Military conflicts and wars related to the control and expansion of influence, such as those currently taking place in the Middle Eastern Gulf region, known as the Arabian or Persian Gulf today, are among the most significant human-related activities contributing to climate change, given their link to emissions that exacerbate this phenomenon.

Despite my scientific perspective and in-depth understanding of climate change, which is regarded as a natural periodic phenomenon on Earth that existed before humans and their activities, human-caused pollution has piqued the interest of numerous experts. They investigated the potential influence of higher concentrations of specific human-caused emissions on climate change using mathematical and statistical models. And because many activists in this field are not specialists but merely amateurs in the world of climate change, participating in workshops, traveling, and gaining fame, the idea of real climate change has shifted to be associated only with the gas emissions resulting from direct human activities, such as energy production from fossil fuels, or indirect activities, such as livestock and poultry farming, among other activities that many accuse of causing climate change.

Climate change is a reality, despite mistakes in mathematical and statistical models that underpin all scenario forecasts based on carbon dioxide levels, despite studies showing that carbon dioxide concentrations were far higher during ice ages. These errors result from assigning scientific topics to unqualified individuals who are only interested in money and fame and do not delve into understanding the meanings of the phenomenon of climate change in a scientifically precise manner, rather than going beyond logic and science in terms of Earth’s climate history. Although their violations of logic have become sophisticated and presented through statistical and mathematical models that astonish people and even impress those managing these models into believing results that are built on non-scientific foundations, without considering a scientific historical study of Earth’s climate and the real factors influencing this climate, and excluding factors related to the primary energy source for the planets of the solar system and the changes occurring in this system.

In my opinion, any model intended to imitate reality and predict the future is a failure if it does not account for sun-related phenomena and their impact on Earth’s climate. However, as scientists, we must acknowledge that climate change is a reality that we face, and we must adapt as humans to the dangers of climate change, particularly during periods of drought and rainfall scarcity, as well as seasonal overlap and irregular rainfall distribution in comparison to what we and the Earth’s biosphere are accustomed to. And let us not forget the risk that has gone unnoticed due to the focus on global warming and the greenhouse effect, which is associated with a fall in temperature as well as a reduction in carbon dioxide levels, resulting in reduced agricultural production and affecting food security.

Interestingly, this more genuine hazard, from which we are now clearly experiencing, demonstrates that death rates from severe cold waves greatly outnumber those from heat waves. Many specialized scientists have written on the subject, and their studies have demonstrated that the future will be worse, especially as the current solar cycle brings us into a period of low solar activity, increasing the risk of the Earth entering a little ice age.

Our readiness for food security concerns is inadequate and has not been thoroughly investigated, as we continue to rely on investment strategies in four key crops: wheat, rice, corn, and soy, to assure more efficient production, but with less diversification and greater fragility. Our agricultural policies have utterly overlooked the value of crop diversity in ensuring a more resilient and sustainable food system in the face of climate change and the hazards of disrupted supply chains, as is currently occurring because of the Strait of Hormuz issue.

With great thankfulness, the focus and debate were on human activities that produce gas emissions that are thought to exacerbate or accelerate climate change on Earth. However, there has been only timid discussion of the impact of wars in this equation, as they are regarded as one of the most prominent and dangerous reasons, not only for the direct suffering of peoples involved in conflicts or forced to participate in bitter wars between great powers seeking control and extending influence, but also for the indirect effects, which are regarded as the most difficult and dangerous in the long run.

Conflicts, the desire for control, and the expansion of influence, away from the meanings of humanity and the spirit of sharing in the Earth’s resources, and prioritizing the principles of diplomacy and agreements that guarantee everyone’s rights, lead to an increased focus on heavy military industries and the pollution and gas emissions they produce, which are accused by mathematical and statistical model studies of causing climate change, global warming, and extreme events related to heat waves or extreme cold periods or heavy rain and hard drought periods.

The Gulf War and subsequent conflicts underscore the intricate relationship between oil prices and food security. Policymakers must consider the food security implications of oil price volatility when addressing regional stability and global food systems. Representing Jordan, our recommendations include:

1. Diversify energy sources to reduce dependence on oil.

2. Enhance regional food production and trade cooperation.

3. Implement policies to mitigate the impact of oil price shocks on vulnerable populations.

4. To address future challenges following the escalation of global food insecurity risks as a result of the Strait of Hormuz crisis, it is critical to first defuse the crisis and develop plans to prevent vital waterways for global food and energy supply chains from becoming threats and tools in the hands of regimes that disregard international law and respect for the integrity of global trade, exploiting such situations to exert pressure and control. Perhaps the solution is to put these critical waterways under international supervision.

5. Furthermore, it is critical to expand efforts to urge countries to strengthen their food security strategy and prepare for emergencies, whether natural disasters caused by climate change, such as droughts, or by conflict.

The Persians are known for wisdom, civilization, legacy, and a worldview with deep roots in administration and the capacity to govern and expand their power. But the problem with the Persians is not with the people who carry on this great heritage, which I personally respect and admire; rather, the problem is with the system that uses religious beliefs to control and be hostile to others, not with the ancient Persian civilization. Despite America’s vast dominance, there have been several studies and projections, but has Iran opted to commit suicide? And will it take positive steps for the benefit of its people and the region, as Japanese Emperor Hirohito did after World War II, adopting a peace, development, and renunciation of foreign interventions and the nuclear issue to save the country (similar to Japan’s renaissance), because continuing on the path of confrontation is very costly and will lead to Iran’s destruction and return to the Stone Age.

The Middle East, particularly Jordan, faces significant food security challenges exacerbated by regional conflicts, economic vulnerabilities, and climate-related stressors. Key factors complicating food security in Jordan include:

1. Trade Disruptions: Jordan’s reliance on imports for staple foods (e.g., wheat, sugar) makes it vulnerable to trade disruptions in neighboring countries, especially given the current regional instability.

2. Economic Pressures: High unemployment, inflation, and a substantial public debt burden strain household purchasing power, limiting access to food.

3. Water Scarcity: Jordan’s severe water scarcity impacts agricultural production, increasing dependence on imports and vulnerability to global price shocks.

4. Refugee Crisis: Hosting a large refugee population (e.g., Syrians) strains food systems and increases demand for limited resources.

5. Climate Change: Decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures threaten agricultural productivity, further straining food availability.

6. Global Price Volatility: Jordan’s import-dependent food system is exposed to international price fluctuations, particularly for staples like wheat and oil.

Jordan’s food security is intricately linked to regional stability, global market trends, and climate resilience. Addressing these challenges requires, enhancing regional trade cooperation, investing in water-efficient agriculture, implementing social protection programs for vulnerable populations, diversifying energy sources to reduce import bills. We pray for a peaceful resolution to this conflict and an end to power struggles that come at the expense of peaceful nations.

May God grant the peoples of this region the strength to overcome these tribulations and crises, and to transcend the sectarian divisions and animosities that have plagued them for decades. We also pray for the protection of our leadership, our people, and our nation, Jordan, as an oasis of security, peace, love, and coexistence in a region that has long endured more than its share of global conflicts.

Editor’s note: Green Prophet, founded by Karin Kloosterman, has been a leading voice on ecological issues in the Middle East for 20 years, while following Hormuz, Iran, water, war, freight, food security and climate resilience across the region. For related reading:

A Fact-Based Reflection on Sustainability and Tourism in Hormuz

The Aga Khan is greenwashing their awards

Design a Bridge for the Strait of Hormuz

Electric and hydrogen long-haul trucks are finally leaving the prototype era

The future of trucking and freight is electric and hydrogen

Tesla Semi, electric road trains and the safer freight future

From “Water Terrorist” to Global Laureate: Iran’s Kaveh Madani Wins the Nobel of Water

Renewables hit 5149 GW in 2025 as the world edges away from oil shocks and fossil-Iran’s water mafia and thirst for war leaves the country on brink of being dry.

The post Hormuz 2026 Conflict Poses an Energy and Food Security Dilemma in a Warming World appeared first on Green Prophet.

Paris has long dictated what the world wears. But a quieter movement is reshaping that influence — one that covers more, not less. Paris Modest Fashion Week is part of a growing global shift toward clothing that balances style with cultural, religious, or personal values of modesty. Designers from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, and beyond are using the Paris platform to show that fashion doesn’t have to rely on skin to be expressive.

France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as “one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe”.

Flowing silhouettes, layered textures, structured tailoring, and inventive fabrics dominate the runway. The aesthetic is less about concealment and more about how fabric moves, how it frames the body, and how identity is communicated.

For some, modest fashion is rooted in faith: Islamic, Jewish, or Christian traditions. For others, it’s about autonomy: rejecting fast-fashion norms that equate confidence with revealing clothing. In a world saturated with hyper-sexualized imagery, modest fashion offers an alternative language. I can relate. In my early 20s I went through a hyper modesty stage to avoid the male gaze.

There’s also a sustainability angle because modest fashion made from hemp and linen often leans toward longer-lasting garments such coats, abayas, tailored pieces which are designed for repeat wear rather than seasonal disposal. Many designers in the space are also experimenting with natural fibers, ethical production, and slower design cycles.

As luxury brands begin to tap into modest markets, questions arise about authenticity and cultural appropriation. Who is telling the story — and who profits from it? Paris Modest Fashion Week sits at that intersection: culture, commerce, and changing values.

Same is true for Saudi Arabia, which in 2024, held its first “immodest” fashion runway, featuring bathing suits.

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Conservation tillage practices, such as no-till and reduced till, are critical for sustainable agriculture, and they are gradually becoming popular with farmers across the Midwest. Monitoring tillage usage can provide insights into soil health, water levels, and nutrient loss, as well as guide management and policy decisions.

A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research team has developed a dynamic framework that uses satellite imagery and machine learning to detect tillage practices over large areas and long time periods. The team discusses their methodology and findings in a new paper.

“Conservation tillage helps reduce soil erosion, and it affects soil nutrients and moisture retention. Mapping tillage practices across large areas is also important to quantify soil carbon change. But current data are mainly obtained from farmer surveys, which lack timely and detailed spatial information,” said lead author Xiaocui Wu, a research scientist affiliated with the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center.

Other studies have applied remote sensing with hyperspectral or multispectral imagery to monitor tillage practices by estimating crop residue. But these approaches are typically limited to smaller regions, and the images are sensitive to soil and weather variations, which can lead to inaccuracies.

“We found that satellite signals could vary across regions, as they are affected by soil type, moisture levels, and weather variables. The model needs to account for those elements,” Wu said.

To address these challenges, the researchers developed a new framework that combines crop residue indices from remote sensing data with environmental factors and machine learning to create a dynamic model. They used the approach to estimate tillage percentage across the U.S. Midwest from 2000 to 2022.

“It is a novel solution as one of the first studies to have this level of detailed, long-term tillage information. We have filled a major data gap and scientific gap for this work,” said Kaiyu Guan, the principal investigator of the study, the founding director of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center and ACES Levenick Professor.  “This is especially valuable for policymakers for conservation planning and policy evaluation.”

Overall, the researchers found that conservation tillage increased gradually across the Midwest for both corn and soybean from 2000 to 2022. The maps also revealed clear differences by crop and region: soybean fields generally showed higher no-till adoption, while corn fields relied more on reduced-till practices, and adoption trends varied substantially across the northern and eastern Midwest.

No-till adoption is more common in drier regions such as the Great Plains, where leaving crop residues on the soil surface helps conserve soil moisture. It is also more prevalent in warmer regions, where slower soil warming under residue cover does not strongly constrain planting, the researchers found.

“Understanding how farmers manage soil is essential for evaluating agriculture’s impacts on soil health, water quality, and long-term resilience,” Guan said. “These insights from our study can help agencies and policy makers refine programs and policies for greater effectiveness in the future.”

Tillage is one of the clearest signals of how a farm treats its soil. Intensive plowing can degrade structure, release carbon, and increase erosion. Conservation practices—no-till, cover cropping, minimal disturbance—do the opposite. They build soil, retain water, and support biodiversity. But until now, measuring these practices at scale has been slow, expensive, and often self-reported.

The findings are also important for researchers, who implement tillage practice effects in their modeling of soil, water, nutrients, and environmental impacts.

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Sometimes conservation doesn’t begin with moving animals around in cages or intervening in their genes. Sometimes it begins with something quieter and easier: where you place water, how you let a landscape develop, how you choose to share its resources. And in this research project, it’s a first for me: the first one that I have seen that is funded between the UAE, and Israel. Peace happens when partners have a common interest

A research team from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is suggesting that small, thoughtful shifts in habitat management can ripple outward into the genetic future of a species.

In a paper published this month in Ecological Applications, Dr. Shirli Bar-David, Prof. Amos Bouskila, and PhD researcher Noa Yaffa Kan-Lingwood explore how the simple redistribution of essential resources can reshape mating systems, reproductive success, and ultimately genetic diversity in wild populations.

Their case study takes us into the Negev Desert, where the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus) still moves across a harsh and beautiful terrain. Here, survival (and love!) revolves around water.

Related: see how watering holes are helping animals in the jungle

These animals follow a mating system known as resource-defense polygyny: males establish territories near scarce water sources, and in doing so, gain access to females. Control the water, and you shape the social order, hypothesized the researchers.

So they something deceptively simple: they increased the number of water points from one to three. The result wasn’t just ecological, it was social, and political.

Before the intervention, only about 16% to 18% of males held territories and reproduced. Afterward, that number rose sharply to 42%to 48% because more males had a chance. And in terms of science, more makle voices entered the genetic conversation.

And with that, genetic diversity increased as well, from 34.9 to 38.4.

“We saw new reproducing males establishing themselves בעיקר near the new water sources,” says Kan-Lingwood, pointing to how quickly landscapes can reorganize social hierarchies when resources shift.

The new males didn’t come from nowhere. They emerged at the edges, near the newly available water, claiming space that didn’t exist before. A quiet redistribution of opportunity.

Bar-David notes that the implications stretch far beyond the Negev: species under pressure — especially those clustered around limited resources in deserts may benefit from this kind of low-intervention thinking. In a warming world, where habitats are shrinking and fragmenting, the idea that we can support genetic resilience without capture, relocation, or heavy-handed management is more than useful.

Additional contributors to the study include Dr. Liran Sagi, Prof. Alan R. Templeton, Naama Shahar, Ariel Altman, Nurit Gordon, Prof. Daniel I. Rubenstein, and Prof. Amos Bouskila.

The research was supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. In the end, it’s a reminder: sometimes the most powerful conservation tool isn’t intervention. It’s placement.

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Today, most large companies have established sustainability goals that they pursue both to mitigate their environmental impact and improve their public reputation. But if you want to see the full benefits, you’ll need to promote those goals – and your progress – effectively. This article will explain how to do it.

Why This Strategy Matters

Sustainability progress does not automatically translate into public awareness or brand value. Without thoughtful communication strategies, meaningful achievements can remain largely invisible to customers, partners, and stakeholders. That is why many companies increasingly view sustainability messaging as both a marketing and communications challenge. 

In some cases, organizations bring in experienced marketing leadership, such as a fractional CMO, to help develop a structured strategy for promoting sustainability initiatives while maintaining credibility and transparency. When sustainability efforts are communicated thoughtfully, they can strengthen brand reputation, deepen customer trust, and differentiate a company in competitive markets.

Start With Real Substance Before Promotion

Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown. Effective sustainability communication begins with real actions. These may include measurable reductions in energy use, responsible sourcing policies, improved recycling programs, or investments in renewable energy.

Documenting progress carefully is essential. Metrics, timelines, and clearly defined goals provide the foundation for credible communication. When organizations can demonstrate specific improvements rather than general intentions, their messaging carries far greater weight.

Align Sustainability With the Brand Narrative

Sustainability messaging is most powerful when it aligns naturally with a company’s broader brand identity. Rather than presenting sustainability as a separate initiative, successful organizations integrate it into their overall story. For example, a manufacturing company might emphasize improvements in energy efficiency and material sourcing. A logistics firm might highlight efforts to reduce transportation emissions. A technology company may focus on energy-efficient infrastructure or responsible product design. The key is ensuring that sustainability initiatives feel authentic to the organization’s core mission.

Use Marketing Channels Strategically

Promoting sustainability progress requires more than a single press release or website update. Effective communication uses a range of marketing channels to reinforce the message consistently. Company websites often serve as the central hub for sustainability information. Dedicated sustainability pages, annual reports, and progress dashboards allow stakeholders to explore the details behind the company’s efforts.

Social media can amplify these messages by sharing updates, milestones, and behind-the-scenes insights into sustainability projects. Video content, infographics, and visual storytelling often perform especially well in this context. Email newsletters and blog content provide additional opportunities to explain the company’s initiatives in greater depth. Using multiple channels helps ensure the message reaches diverse audiences.

Make Data Understandable and Engaging

Sustainability progress often involves complex data, like carbon reduction metrics, waste diversion rates, supply chain certifications, and more. While these numbers are important, they must be presented in ways that audiences can easily understand. Clear visuals, simple explanations, and real-world examples help translate technical achievements into meaningful stories. For example, instead of only reporting a reduction in emissions, a company might explain what that reduction represents in practical terms, such as the equivalent of removing a certain number of vehicles from the road. Making data relatable helps audiences grasp the significance of the progress being made.

Leverage Public Relations Opportunities

Public relations plays a powerful role in amplifying sustainability messaging. Media coverage, industry publications, and speaking opportunities can significantly expand the reach of a company’s story. Journalists and trade publications are often interested in sustainability initiatives that demonstrate genuine innovation or measurable impact. Sharing detailed information about new programs, partnerships, or environmental milestones can attract valuable attention. Participation in industry panels, sustainability conferences, and professional events can further reinforce the company’s commitment.

Be Transparent About Challenges

One of the most effective ways to build credibility in sustainability communication is acknowledging that progress is rarely perfect. Companies that openly discuss both achievements and challenges tend to earn greater trust from their audiences. For example, if certain sustainability goals are still in development or require additional investment, explaining those realities can demonstrate honesty and commitment. Transparency also signals that the organization is engaged in a long-term effort rather than a short-term marketing campaign.

Turning Progress Into Reputation

Sustainability initiatives can deliver real environmental benefits, but they can also strengthen brand reputation when communicated effectively. Organizations that share their progress thoughtfully often gain recognition as responsible and forward-thinking leaders. The key is ensuring that communication reflects genuine achievements rather than marketing slogans. When sustainability messaging is grounded in real data, integrated into the brand story, and shared consistently through multiple channels, it becomes a powerful part of a company’s public identity. By combining meaningful action with thoughtful marketing and PR strategies, companies can ensure that their sustainability progress receives the attention it deserves.

The post How to Effectively Promote Your Sustainability Progress appeared first on Green Prophet.

Every day, the Middle East’s desalination industry produces more brine than freshwater. Aquifers are drying up and becoming full of brine. Companies like Iyris claim to be able to farm on brackish water, solving part of the problem of access to freshwater. But a a small Saudi startup has found a solution to the problem inside the problem itself.

The math of desalination has long been troubling. Its energy-intensive and polluting. For every gallon of water pulled from the sea, a typical reverse osmosis plant discharges roughly 1.5 times the among of concentrated, chemically laden brine back into the ocean. Multiply that across the Middle East and North Africa, which is the region responsible for more than half of the world’s desalination output, and the scale of brine becomes alarming.

Global brine discharge now exceeds 140 million cubic meters per day, according to a 2019 UN-backed study, with Saudi Arabia alone accounting for 22 percent of the world’s total, according to a UN University Institute for Water study. The Arabian Gulf, already naturally one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth at 45 grams of salt per liter compared to a global ocean average nearer 35, is absorbing the consequences.

Into this problem has stepped Qalzam, a Saudi startup with a counterintuitive proposition: the brine is not the problem. It is the raw material.

Founded in Riyadh and incubated at the Saudi Water Innovation Center (SWIC), Qalzam has developed a process to extract sodium hypochlorite (the active compound in chlorine disinfectant) directly from the waste brine produced by reverse osmosis plants. That sodium hypochlorite is then fed straight back into the same plant to disinfect the freshwater it has just produced, closing what Qalzam describes as a circular loop within the desalination process itself. In conventional plants, sodium hypochlorite must be manufactured separately, transported to site, and purchased as a chemical input.

Qalzam eliminates all three steps simultaneously.

The chemistry is not new. Sodium hypochlorite can be generated electrochemically from saline solutions, which is a process long understood in laboratory settings and applied at small scales in wastewater treatment. What Qalzam is engineering is the industrial translation of that process specifically for the high-salinity, high-volume conditions of Gulf desalination, where brine concentrations are substantially higher than those seen elsewhere in the world, and where the scale of operations can make even marginal improvements in cost or chemistry enormously significant.

“The chemicals should be all neutralized,” said Noreddine Ghaffour, a research professor at the Water Desalination and Reuse Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), speaking about brine management at Saudi desalination plants more broadly. His comment reflects a growing scientific and regulatory consensus: the era of dumping chemically complex brine into already-stressed marine environments is approaching its limits.

The timing is propitious. Saudi Arabia has positioned itself as a global leader in desalination capacity, doubling its output in recent years and announcing $9.33 billion across 60 new projects in its latest expansion.

The Saudi Water Partnership Company is targeting a near-tripling of national desalination capacity to 7.5 million cubic meters per day by 2027. Each new plant that comes online represents both a new source of brine and a potential customer for Qalzam’s on-sitewater

disinfectant solution. The startup has also graduated from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources’ “Numuw” industrial incubator and accelerator program, giving it institutional credibility at a formative stage.

The wider scientific case for brine valorization is strengthening rapidly. Research published in the journal Water in November 2025 modeled a 100,000-cubic-meter-per-day reverse osmosis facility and found that a sequential brine recovery process could achieve over 90 percent total salt recovery while producing marketable materials including sodium chloride, magnesium hydroxide, and bromine.

The estimated revenue from recovered materials in such scenarios ranges between $4.5 million and $6.8 million per year, potentially offsetting 65 to 90 percent of annual desalination operating costs, with a payback period of three to five years.

Qalzam’s narrower focus on sodium hypochlorite extraction and reuse sits within this broader economic logic but is considerably simpler to implement, requiring no complex mineral separation trains or crystallization equipment. This matters because complexity has consistently been the enemy of adoption in industrial water treatment. The technologies that scale are typically those that integrate cleanly into existing infrastructure rather than requiring its wholesale redesign. A bolt-on electrochemical unit that converts waste brine into a disinfectant that the plant already needs is, in engineering terms, a much easier sell than a full brine-mining operation requiring downstream chemical processing and commodity markets for the outputs.

Beyond the economics, the environmental calculus is straightforward. Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coastline is already under documented ecological stress from brine discharge, with dense, oxygen-depleted plumes affecting benthic marine life near major outfalls. Over in the Red Sea, dolphins, coral reef and at-risk species cannot tolerate more stress on the already noisy and polluted shipping areas.

Any technology that reduces both the volume and chemical load of that discharge addresses a concern that regulators, ecologists, and increasingly the operators themselves recognize as unsustainable at the scale to which the region is building.

Qalzam is still early-stage, with its team small and its first commercial deployments ahead of it. But the company sits at the intersection of three converging forces: a region building desalination capacity at a pace unmatched anywhere on earth (despite the scaling back of Saudis’ Vision 2030 with lowering prices of oil), a scientific community that has spent a decade documenting the harms of brine disposal, and a policy environment.

Saudi Vision 2030 and the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 strategy incentivize circular economy approaches to industrial water management.

The Middle East did not choose to become the world’s desalination laboratory. Geography and hydrology made that decision for it. But the region’s sheer scale of operations means that solutions proven here, including whatever Qalzam refines on the shores of the Gulf, will be exportable to every water-stressed coast on the planet.

Red Sea Farms (now Iyris) who we interviewed here, is a separate but thematically related KAUST spinout worth contextualizing alongside Qalzam, not as partners, but as parallel examples of Saudi water innovation coming out of the same university ecosystem.

Not far away, with Jordan between them, Israel’s IDE Technologies, founded in 1965 and headquartered in Kadima-Zoran, built the Sorek desalination plant south of Tel Aviv, which for years was the largest seawater reverse osmosis desalination facility on earth, producing 624,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day and supplying roughly 20 percent of Israel’s municipal water demand.

Today, desalination supplies over 70 percent of Israel’s domestic water consumption, a figure that has effectively drought-proofed a country that receives less than 200 millimeters of rainfall annually across much of its territory.

::Qalzam

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PFAS — often called “forever chemicals” — are among the most stubborn pollutants on Earth. Used for decades in firefighting foams, industrial coatings, and consumer products, their carbon–fluorine bonds make them extraordinarily persistent in soil, water, and living organisms. Worse, PFAS don’t just stay put. Even at low concentrations, they can be taken up by crops and move through the food chain, with short-chain PFAS proving especially mobile.

A growing body of research suggests that biohacking soil chemistry, rather than removing contaminated soil entirely, may offer a practical way forward. One promising tool: biochar.

A study published in Environmental and Biogeochemical Processes (27 November 2025) by Jason C. White and colleagues at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station shows that iron-fortified biochar can significantly reduce PFAS uptake in food crops. In controlled soil–plant experiments, iron-modified biochar lowered total PFAS accumulation in radish plants by nearly 50%, and reduced PFAS concentrations in the edible bulb by more than 25%.

The researchers worked with PFAS-contaminated sandy loam soil impacted by legacy firefighting foams. They tested hemp-derived biochar produced at different temperatures, with and without iron fortification. While standard biochar showed mixed results, low-temperature (500 °C) biochar fortified with ~8% iron proved highly effective, immobilizing PFAS and preventing them from moving into plant tissue.

Why iron? Lab analysis revealed that iron fortification dramatically increased biochar’s surface area and pore volume, creating reactive sites that bind PFAS molecules through electrostatic and ligand-exchange interactions. Importantly, the biochar caused no phytotoxic effects and often improved plant growth — a critical factor for agricultural use.

The implications are significant. Instead of costly soil removal or long-term land abandonment, farmers could use iron-enhanced biochar as a soil amendment to lock PFAS in place, reducing human exposure through food. Because biochar can be made from agricultural waste like hemp and applied using existing farming practices, the approach fits neatly within circular-economy and climate-smart agriculture frameworks.

Biohacking soil won’t erase PFAS from the planet. But this research suggests it may help break the chain between polluted land and polluted food — a meaningful step toward safer agriculture in a contaminated world.

How Biochar Is Made

Biochar is produced by heating organic material in a low-oxygen environment so it does not burn. This process, known as pyrolysis, transforms plant matter into a stable, carbon-rich material.

The feedstock can include agricultural residues such as wood chips, crop waste, nutshells, hemp stalks, or manure. These materials are first dried, then heated to temperatures typically ranging from 350 to 700 degrees Celsius in a sealed kiln or reactor where oxygen is limited. Because oxygen is absent, the biomass does not combust; instead, volatile gases are driven off, and the remaining carbon reorganizes into a porous, charcoal-like structure.

Once the heating phase is complete, the material is cooled in low oxygen to prevent ignition. The resulting biochar contains a network of microscopic pores that give it a large surface area and unique chemical properties. These pores allow biochar to retain water, nutrients, and contaminants when added to soil.

Biochar can also be engineered after production. It may be steam-activated to increase surface area, fortified with minerals such as iron to bind pollutants, or “charged” with compost or nutrients before soil application. When applied correctly, biochar can persist in soil for hundreds to thousands of years.

How Biochar Is Different From Coal

Although biochar and coal may look similar, they are fundamentally different materials with very different roles in the carbon cycle.

Coal is a fossil fuel formed from ancient plant matter that was buried and transformed under heat and pressure over millions of years. It is mined from the ground and burned for energy, releasing carbon that has been locked away since prehistoric times. Coal often contains sulfur, heavy metals, and other impurities, and its primary purpose is combustion.

Biochar, by contrast, is made from recent plant material and produced intentionally in modern systems over hours or days. It is not designed to be burned. Instead, biochar is meant to remain stable in soil, where it can improve soil structure, retain nutrients, immobilize pollutants, and store carbon.

From a climate perspective, the distinction matters. Burning coal releases ancient carbon into the atmosphere, increasing net emissions. Biochar locks up carbon from the current biological cycle, helping reduce atmospheric carbon when used as a soil amendment.

In short, coal is an energy source. Biochar is a soil tool. And it’s an investable commodity.  A new fund manager in Texas has her eye on the growing demand for carbon credit projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Biochar, created through a process called pyrolysis that involves heating biomass and biowaste, is an emerging solution for trapping carbon. The biochar not only sequesters carbon, it can restore soil health and enable soil to store greater amounts of carbon. Founder Heather Stiles and her firm Kemet make debt and equity investments in companies supporting biochar production and use, waste-to-energy projects, and carbon trading. “The nascent biochar market lacks dominant players,” the company says. And now they have a new market: in agriculture.

Biochar companies in the US and Canada

NY Carbon – Large-scale biochar producer serving New York and New England markets

Finger Lakes Biochar – Regional biochar production for agriculture and remediation

Vermont Biochar – Farm- and soil-focused biochar production

The Biochar Company – Biochar for agriculture, remediation, and carbon storage

Integro Earth Fuels – Biomass pyrolysis and biochar production

Re:char – Mobile and modular biochar systems, soil and waste applications

Seattle Biochar – Biochar production from regional biomass waste

Whitfield Biochar – Biochar and carbon materials for soil and remediation

Carbonity (Airex Energy subsidiary) – Industrial-scale biochar and biocarbon production (Canada)

Canadian Biochar Investments (CBCI) – Modular biochar systems and carbon removal projects across Canada

The post Can biochar reduce ‘Forever Chemicals’ in food if it’s used in farms? appeared first on Green Prophet.

“People who had never picked up trash before, and people who weren’t particularly interested in environmental issues, were starting to join. I think that’s because we presented litter picking as a sport.”

That insight comes from Kenichi Mamitsuka, the Japanese innovator who turned garbage collection into a competitive team sport known as spogomi — a portmanteau of sport and gomi, the Japanese word for trash. If you’ve ever visited Tokyo, you will get a taste for just how fussy the Japanese are about picking up trash. They use claw graspers for tiny bits of things, and scrub brushes on sidewalks.

What began as a local experiment has grown into something unexpectedly global. Spogomi now includes organized leagues, referees, time limits, scoring systems, and even a World Cup, drawing participants who might otherwise never attend a beach cleanup or environmental rally. The story, recently highlighted by National Geographic, points to a powerful truth: behavior change doesn’t always start with ideology. Sometimes, it starts with play.

Want to know the rules?

Environmental movements have long struggled with a perception problem. Too often, they feel moralistic, joyless, or reserved for the already converted. Spogomi flips that script. It reframes responsibility as action, and action as something social, physical, and — crucially — fun. Teams compete not just on volume of trash collected, but on sorting accuracy and teamwork. Winning isn’t symbolic – you can measure it.

There’s something quietly radical about this approach. By removing guilt and replacing it with momentum, spogomi attracts people motivated by camaraderie, competition, and pride rather than climate anxiety. It also sidesteps politics. You don’t need to agree on why waste is a problem to agree that it shouldn’t be on the street.

In a world saturated with environmental messaging, spogomi offers a reminder that solutions don’t always need to be heavier. Sometimes they need to be lighter — structured like a game, grounded in community, and designed to meet people where they already are.

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When Zarathustra started preaching around 1200 BCE in ancient Persia, which is known today as Iran, he wasn’t just founding a religion—he was creating the world’s first environmental protection movement. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds. But there was a mantra and words to live by: don’t pollute the earth, water, or fire. Ever.

Take Zoroastrian burial practices. We’ve covered the Towers of Silence here at Green Prophet before—those circular stone structures where bodies were placed on top for vultures to consume. Why did they do this? Because Zoroastrians believed dead bodies were contaminated with evil (druj) and could not touch the sacred elements: earth, water, or fire.

No burial (pollutes earth). No cremation (pollutes fire). No river disposal (pollutes water). Sky burial was the only option that honored nature. The body became food for birds, a final act of charity. Today most Zoroastrians use cement-lined coffins to prevent earth contamination, or they’ve moved to other methods as vulture populations crashed from human causes such as electrical shocks and poisoning. But the principle remains: respect the elements that sustain life.

Celebrating Nature’s Turning Points

Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated on the spring equinox, is perhaps Zoroastrianism’s most visible environmental legacy. As we’ve written about on Green Prophet, this isn’t just a cultural festival—it’s a celebration of nature reawakening. Families grow sabzeh (wheat or lentil sprouts) weeks before Nowruz, watching green life emerge from seeds.

Goldfish are a traditional symbol of life, renewal, and fortune on the Haft-Seen table for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, representing vitality and a prosperous year ahead, though animal welfare concerns have risen due to millions dying after being released into ponds, leading some to use edible alternatives like marzipan goldfish or sugar fish instead.

The holiday marks when day and night are equal, when light spreads evenly across hemispheres. Fire is lit. People jump over flames during Chaharshanbe Suri, singing “my yellowness is yours, your redness is mine”—asking fire to take weakness and give strength.  The whole celebration is about alignment with natural cycles. Spring cleaning before the new year. Visiting graves on the last Friday. Placing hyacinths and tulips in homes. Everything synchronized with the earth’s rhythm around the sun.

Engineering in Harmony with Nature

Ancient Persians didn’t just philosophize about respecting the elements—they engineered around them. As we’ve explored in previous Green Prophet articles, their architecture shows remarkable environmental sophistication.

Wind catchers (badgir) in Yazd and other desert cities are essentially ancient air conditioning. These tall towers catch breezes and channel them down through buildings, sometimes over underground water channels called qanats. The Dolat Abad windcatcher in Yazd stands 34 meters tall—still the highest in Iran—and can drop indoor temperatures by 10 degrees without electricity.

Qanats themselves are engineering marvels: underground channels that move water from mountain aquifers to desert cities without pumping. Some are still functioning after a thousand years. UNESCO recognizes them as world heritage because they represent “creative genius” in sustainable water management.

These weren’t just practical solutions to live by. They were Zorastrian expressions of a worldview that said: work with the elements, don’t violate them. Here’s what makes Zoroastrianism ecologically radical even today: it treats environmental degradation as moral corruption.

The world is a battlefield between truth (asha) and lies (druj). When you pollute water, you’re choosing druj. When you contaminate earth, you’re siding with evil. Every small choice—where you put your waste, how you use fire, whether you honor or desecrate water is a moral decision that tilts the cosmic balance.

You can’t separate ethics from ecology in this system because they are the same thing.

Modern environmentalism often frames nature protection as enlightened self-interest or future-oriented planning. Zoroastrianism says: the earth itself is holy. Polluting it is sacrilege. You don’t need utilitarian arguments. You need to not be an asshole to creation.

There are maybe 100,000 to 200,000 Zoroastrians left worldwide, mostly in Iran and India (where they’re called Parsis).

Zoroastrianism introduced a radical idea for its time: that humans stand inside a moral universe. That our choices matter. Long before monotheism found its later forms, Zoroastrianism articulated heaven and hell, angels and judgment, free will and ethical responsibility. Judaism absorbed these ideas during the Persian period. Christianity and Islam carried them forward.

Today, Zoroastrians are not fighting for dominance. They are fighting for continuity. Intermarriage, migration, shrinking birth rates, and cultural dilution place constant pressure on a faith that does not proselytize and does not adapt easily. They don’t have a leader or a “Pope” figure making it difficult to create leadership.

Yet the ecological principles remain stubbornly relevant. In a world drowning in plastic, choking on emissions, and treating the planet like an expendable resource, Zoroastrianism’s insistence that nature is sacred, not because it’s useful to humans, but because it is sacred.

If Iran becomes free, consider visiting the eternal flame: The Yazd Atash Behram in Iran shelters one of the world’s oldest living flames — a sacred fire burning continuously since 470 AD. Though the temple itself was built in 1934, the “Victorious Fire” has survived centuries of exile, invasion, and careful guardianship, standing as a quiet, stubborn symbol of Zoroastrian endurance and divine purity.

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