Federico Villegas, president of the Human Rights Council, at a special session on Ukraine, 12 May 2022 (Credit: UN Photo/Jean Marc Ferré)

Human Rights Council president: it’s no longer ‘business as usual’. The rights body is at a “crucial moment” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heightened the focus on its work as the UN’s protector of human rights – especially now with its independent investigation into alleged war crimes underway, Federico Villegas, president of the council, said. The Argentinian ambassador was speaking at an event in Geneva on Friday, on the role of the Human Rights Council in investigating war crimes in Ukraine, as other justice players and NGOs also work to document human rights abuses on the ground. “All these mechanisms are complementary because they all want the same thing, which is justice. That's the real reparation for the victims of these atrocities.”

A collage of drawings made by one of the children with whom Yulia Yakovleva spoke. (Credit: Yulia Yakovleva)

🚸What do Russian children say when their motherland is an ogre? Russian children's author Yulia Yakovleva talks to children in Russia for two months about their experiences of the war. She discovers that the propaganda does not answer their more pertinent questions. Quickly, she comes across a child who says to her: “Tell me what happened in Bucha, nobody talks to me about it.” This article was published in published in partnership with independent Russian media, Holod.

Hydrogen is the new gold. What can’t hydrogen do to save the climate crisis? This simple gas fills the media sometimes with serious claims, but also with exaggerated hopes and visions. Yes, hydrogen can do much, for example, for long-term energy storage. But when it comes to powering a car on a daily basis, it remains poorly competitive. One of the best diagrammes showing what hydrogen can or can’t do is analyst and investor Michael Liebreich’s Clean Hydrogen Ladder which he regularly updates (last iteration was in summer 2021).

To know all the details about real market opportunities, I also recommend listening to Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View podcast, published by the Harvard Business Review. On the latest edition, the analyst speaks to Raffi Garabedian, co-founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen, about what the hydrogen industry can learn from scaling up renewables like solar and wind, why hydrogen will be most effective in helping to decarbonise heavy industries, and what the potential of using hydrogen is to store and transport huge amounts of renewable energy between continents.

All this while bearing in mind that research on hydrogen storage and production is very dynamic, as shown in an article by The Economist (read below), explaining how H2 can be generated with the help of a “wonder” carbon material called graphene.

Could it already be time for an update of the Liebreich’s Ladder?

Olivier Dessibourg, GESDA

The wonder material graphene may have found its killer app. It will help decarbonise industry, produce greener concrete and make hydrogen.

If tech fails to design for the most vulnerable, it fails us all. Building around the so-called typical user is a dangerous mistake.

Top 18 leading quantum computing research institutions in 2022 – so far a banner year for quantum computing research.

The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it. Chatter about these tools could be doing the field a disservice.

Playing God with pork xenotransplantation could save lives and money. But is it ethical?

Here's how agricultural research in Antarctica helps scientists grow food in space.

This selection is proposed by the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator GESDA, working on anticipating cutting-edge science and technological advances to develop innovative and inclusive solutions for the benefit of the planet and its inhabitants.

GS news is a new media project covering the world of international cooperation and development. Don’t hesitate to forward our newsletter!

Have a good day!

Avenue du Bouchet 2
1209 Genève
Suisse