Italian Institute Of Health Drastically Reduces Its Official COVID Death Toll Number

The Italian Higher Institute of Health has drastically reduced the country’s official COVID death toll number by over 97 per cent after changing the definition of a fatality to someone who died from COVID rather than with COVID.

Italian newspaper Il Tempo reports that the Institute has revised downward the number of people who have died from COVID rather than with COVID from 130,000 to under 4,000.

“Yes, you read that right. Turns out 97.1% of deaths hitherto attributed to Covid were not due directly to Covid,” writes Toby Young.

Of the of the 130,468 deaths registered as official COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic, only 3,783 are directly attributable to the virus alone.

“All the other Italians who lost their lives had from between one and five pre-existing diseases. Of those aged over 67 who died, 7% had more than three co-morbidities, and 18% at least two,” writes Young.

“According to the Institute, 65.8% of Italians who died after being infected with Covid were ill with arterial hypertension (high blood pressure), 23.5% had dementia, 29.3% had diabetes, and 24.8% atrial fibrillation. Add to that, 17.4% had lung problems, 16.3% had had cancer in the last five years and 15.7% suffered from previous heart failures.”

The Institute’s new definition of a COVID death means that COVID has killed fewer people in Italy than (whisper it) the average bout of seasonal flu.

If a similar change were made by other national governments, the official COVID death toll would be cut by a margin of greater than 90 per cent.

Don’t expect many others to follow suit though, given that governments have invested so much of their authority in hyping the the threat posed by the virus.

For example, behavioral psychologists in the UK worked with the state to deliberately “exaggerate” the threat of COVID via “unethical” and “totalitarian” methods of propaganda in order to terrify the public into mass compliance.

And it worked.

A survey conducted after the first lockdown found that the average Brit thought 100 times more people had died from COVID than the official death toll.

Now we come to understand that the official killed ‘by COVID’ and not ‘with COVID’ figure is less than one tenth what is officially reported as the total COVID death toll.

Despite the change, Italy may yet take the decision to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory, although how such a scheme would be imposed remains unspecified.

https://www.cracknewz.com/2021/10/for-more-than-two-years-wild-elk-had.html

Jewish groups urge confirmation of Biden antisemitism envoy amid GOP holdup

Jewish Federations, Orthodox Union and ADL pen letter to heads of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calling for hearing on Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt’s nomination

Three major Jewish organizations on Thursday urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to convene a confirmation hearing for US President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the State Department’s antisemitism monitor, Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt.

“We are compelled to urge you to hold the Committee’s hearing on Prof. Lipstadt’s nomination without further delay,” said the letter from the Jewish Federations of North America, the Orthodox Union and the Anti-Defamation League.

The letter was addressed to the chairman of the committee, Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and its ranking member, Republican James Risch of Idaho, although its clearly intended target was Risch, who is using his prerogative to hold up a hearing.

Risch told Jewish Insider this week that he was concerned about past Lipstadt tweets in which she was critical of Republican lawmakers. Other Republican lawmakers fault her for appearing in an ad during last year’s presidential campaign likening former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric to those of the Nazis in the 1930s, before the Holocaust.

This week, Lipstadt testified on behalf of the plaintiffs in a civil suit against the organizers of the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Trump famously said there were “very fine people on both sides” and which Biden made a centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-groups-urge-confirmation-of-biden-antisemitism-envoy-amid-gop-holdup/

RINO Senator Partners With Chinese Communists Less Than A Year After Losing Re-Election.

Former Senator Cory Gardner – an establishment Republican and frequent critic of the MAGA agenda – is partnering with a premier Chinese Communist Party-linked influence group flagged by the U.S. government for its efforts to coerce American leaders to “take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing.”

Gardner, who called on Donald Trump to drop out of the 2016 presidential race and declared he would not vote for the candidate, is joining the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) less than one year after losing his Senate seat.

The former Colorado Senator is headlining a CUSEF webinar – “What to Expect from the Upcoming Biden-Xi Virtual Summit” – alongside Tsinghua University Professor Chen Qi. The alma mater of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, Tsinghua University has a history of launching cyberattacks against the U.S. government.

CUSEF was founded by the Vice-Chairman of the “highest-ranking entity overseeing” China’s United Front, which the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission identifies as Beijing’s effor “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and “influence foreign governments to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing.”

CUSEF has deployed this tactic on American journalists and former Congressmen, offering free trips to the country in exchange for “favorable coverage,” according to Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings. The trips function as part of a broader effort to “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding the Chinese Communist Party.

The November 9th CUSEF event is also held “in partnership with the Association for Former Members of Congress.”

https://thenationalpulse.com/news/cory-gardner-headlines-cusef-event/

25 Individuals Charged in Rocky Mount Cigarette Smuggling and Money Laundering Operation

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/25-individuals-charged-rocky-mount-cigarette-smuggling-and-money-laundering-operation

An Open Secret

2014

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3677412/

AZ State Senator Wendy Rogers: “I Want To See PERP WALKS. I Want To See ARRESTS And I’m Going To Bear Down On The Issue Until We Do.”

On Wednesday, Patriots rallied in Phoenix, Arizona for election integrity and Arizona’s audit.

AZ Gubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake hosted a spectacular Election Integrity rally featuring the heroic Arizona State Legislators, Congressman Paul Gosar, Mike Lindell, OANN’s Christina Bobb and President Trump.

It was exactly one year after our corrupt dictatorship scammed us out of our votes.

Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers gave a firey speech where she lambasted the RNC for their recent New Jersey election disaster, and called on Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to proceed with indictments, perp walks and “arrests for those who shamed us”.

The Gateway Pundit correspondent Jordan Conradson spoke to Senator Rogers after the event.

Conradson: Itis November 3 2021. It’s been one year since this fraudulent election and Americans are tired of waiting. What is the next step with Arizona audit?

Rogers: Well, first of all, great to be with you, Jordan here down in Phoenix at the Kari Lake event for election integrity. One year later, elections have consequences. Stolen elections have far worse consequences. We barely won Virginia last night. We won it because we won Chesterfield, we won rural Virginia, and we won Virginia Beach. They turned out in massive amounts, more than typical, which overcame the fraud and corruption that was attempted in Fairfax County. We’re losing New Jersey. I don’t know if we lost it now as of tonight, because of this fraud and corruption. I am doing everything I can here in Arizona to prevent this from happening, to get to the bottom of the truth, which means Brnovich needs to do his job. And I want to see perp walks. I want to see arrests and I’m going to bear down on the issue until we do.

Conradson: so I just saw Adrian Fontes, former Maricopa County Recorder he was brought in for some questions by Attorney General Brnovich. What do you think will come out of that? Who do you think needs to be in question next?

Rogers: Well, something needs to come out of it and just because fontes has was an attorney with the Attorney General’s Office at one time, he thinks he can skate he thinks he can skirt what is gonna come down on him. And I believe that the justice will be served. And I’ll tell you my constituents in northern Arizona are absolutely adamant, emphatic, HOT that arrests are being made.

Conradson: And not just constituents in your district, constituents around the country, not even your constituents. Constituents of other Legislators. They’re signing your letter to audit 50 states. Yes. How many signatures from how many states have you received?

Rogers: Well, we’re almost to 200 My phone is blowing up every day. I just got two from North Carolina this morning. I’ve got folks on Telegram, on Gab, Gettr, Twitter, Facebook, reaching out to their state representatives and state senators imploring them to get on board on my audit 50 states letter. It’s the only vehicle by which we state legislators from around the country are coming together to demand that we do audits in our states. And if corruption is found, that electors can be recalled.

Conradson: We know laws were violated here in Arizona, we know this election was stolen. We know they’re covering it up. What do we do If they get away with it?

Rogers: They’re not going to get away with it. And here’s the other thing to answer your question. If you know about monkey business that occurred in your county, in Arizona, I represent Gila, Yavapai, Navajo and Coconino counties. I have told my constituents if you know about fraud in one of our counties, you need to do affidavits, and then you need to present them to the sheriff, the sheriff which has broad authority, so that the sheriff can conduct an investigation.

This is on us. We are the plan. God Bless America.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/video-az-state-senator-wendy-rogers-want-see-perp-walks-want-see-arrests-going-bear-issue/

Are Vaccined Athletes Suffering Heart Attacks?

Two West Indies Players - Chinelle Henry, Chedean Nation Collapse on Field: https://www.india.com/sports/cricket-two-west-indies-players-chinelle-henry-chedean-nation-collapse-on-field-during-2nd-t20i-against-pakistan-women-watch-video-4785827/

Dembele, 29, Atletico Madrid striker collapses in training, requires medical attention https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R2_5LMobXc

Alex Apolinario, 24, Brazilian soccer player dies after collapsing on pitch during match: https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/brazilian-soccer-player-alex-apolinario-dies-after-collapsing-on-pitch-during-match-in-portugal/

Britain's Jack Draper, 19, collapses at Miami Open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDuOP0V1nUw

Mirko Kido, 36, Olympic gold medalist dies of heart attack during game: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/indonesian-doubles-star-kido-dies-heart-attack-36-2021-06-14/

Ghanaian referee collapses during AFCON Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvPQO44NzN4

Referee Bert Smith collapses on court due to blood clot during Gonzaga-USC men's Elite Eight game: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/31222546/referee-bert-smith-says-blood-clot-lung-caused-fall-ncaa-tourney

Josh Downie, 24, cricketer dies after heart attack at practice: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-57058626

Giuseppe Perrino, 29, ex-Parma footballer dies at memorial match after collapsing https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/15151824/giuseppe-perrino-dead-29-parma-brother/

Raymond van Barneveld collapses and receives paramedic attention during PDC Championship: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/darts/pdc-players-championship-8-suspended-23759939

Devaraj Anchan, 33, volleyball player collapses during game, dies: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/volleyball-player-collapses-during-game-dies/article34185430.ece

Garissone Innocent, 20, fell unconscious due to abnormal electrical impulse in heart during game: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/13901939/goalkeepers-rushed-hospital-collapsing/

Ethan Jovani Trejo, 16-year-old soccer player, collapsed on the field during training: https://eu.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/06/25/teen-dies-after-medical-incident-princeton-high-school-field/5344293001/

Samuel Kalu, 24, Bordeaux star collapses minutes into football game: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/58228778

Roy Butler, 23, Irish footballer Watford FC dies after Jansen: https://twitter.com/NewsForAllIre/status/1428301909715296263?s=20

Dylan Rich, 19, FA Youth Cup - player suffered sudden cardiac arrest on the field, passes away: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-58496077

Vinny Curry, 33, out for season due to blood clots: https://nypost.com/2021/08/25/jets-vinny-curry-out-after-rare-blood-disorder-diagnosis/

Cameron Dale, 29, Australian sailor dies after catastrophic stroke: https://7news.com.au/sport/sailing/australian-sailor-jessica-watson-reveals-sudden-death-of-partner-cameron-dale-c-3845979

Two young Columbia High school footballers die: https://www.wistv.com/2021/09/04/he-would-love-it-donadrian-robinsons-family-reacts-tribute-wj-keenan-high-school/?outputType=apps

Bollywood's star, 40, dies following heart attack https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9950385/Indian-TV-film-star-Siddharth-Shukla-40-dies-heart-attack.html#reader-comments

Tom Felton, 34, collapses during golf game: https://bbc.in/3i4YpI5?fbclid=IwAR0aZBaXpiX9ky34g3eLiG3pcMs5r2udih4kRGUIi7GOBK3iciefX1-qoXk

Francis Perron, 25, Ottawa footballer dies after game: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/usports-ottawa-gee-gees-francis-perron-dies-1.6182332

Parys Haralson, 37, former Saints line backer dies: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2021/09/13/parys-haralson-former-49-ers-and-saints-lb-dies-37/8328669002/

Jimmy Hayes, 31, former Bruins player unexpectedly dies: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/23/sports/jimmy-hayes-former-bruin-boston-college-hockey-champ-dies-31/

Kjeld Nuis, 31, Dutch professional skater admitted to hospital with inflamed heart: https://www.rtlboulevard.nl/entertainment/news/artikel/5243606/kjeld-nuis-vaccinatie-ziek-update

John Stokes, 21, athlete at Tennessee Uni hospitalized with heart inflammation: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/student-athlete-john-stokes-myocarditis-covid-vaccine-002451374.html?guccounter=1

Jake Ehlinger, 20, found dead - cause unknown: https://usdaynews.com/celebrities/celebrity-death/sam-ehlinger-brother-death-cause/

New York Times, FBI Confirm Legitimacy of Ashley Biden Diary Published by National File

National File's reporting is confirmed by the New York Times and, strangely enough, the FBI

Last year, National File published the entirety of Ashley Biden’s diary, in which she revealed she had inappropriate showers with her father, Joe Biden. Today, the diary has been confirmed as real.

A week and a half before the 2020 election, a Project Veritas whistleblower provided a digital copy of Ashley Biden’s diary to National File.

Covfefe Coffee

Entries in the diary include the author revealing she believes she was sexually molested as a child and shared “probably not appropriate” showers with her father, some that detail the author’s struggle with drug abuse and the author’s crumbling marriage with multiple affairs, along with entries showing the family’s fears of a potential scandal due to her brother’s new home, and those that show a deep resentment for her father due to his money, control, and emotional manipulation.

While the vast majority of the media ignored the bombshell revelations, perhaps dismissing their verifiability, The New York Times on Friday reported that the FBI had engaged in two raids on addresses as part of an investigation into how Ashley Biden’s diary was obtained.

Despite naming both National File’s reporter Patrick Howley and the legal name of the company that owns National File, the article does not name National File at all, nor does the article discuss anything that was contained within the diary itself.

Similarly, mainstream journalists when tweeting about the New York Times article, also fail to mention National File, or any of the bombshells themselves:

The article claims that the federal investigators are comprised of FBI agents and “federal prosecutors in Manhattan who work on public corruption matters” on behalf of the Southern District of New York. The investigation was seemingly opened by then-Attorney General Bill Barr, after a Biden family representative allegedly reported in October 2020 that the diary, along with “several” of Ashley Biden’s personal items had been stolen in a burglary.

This is contrary to the information provided to National File by a Project Veritas whistleblower, who explained that the diary was left at an address where Joe Biden’s daughter used to stay.

According to the article, the FBI would not comment on the investigation, saying only that agents had “performed law enforcement activity related to an ongoing investigation” at two locations.

In a video posted to social media, Project Viertas’ James O’Keefe notes that Ashley Biden’s father’s FBI may be setting a dangerous precedent by, apparently, pursuing criminal charges against reporters for the crime of gathering information from sources.

National File has no business relationship with Project Veritas and any circumstantial geographical overlaps are purely convenient.

https://nationalfile.com/bombshell-new-york-times-fbi-confirm-legitimacy-of-ashley-biden-diary/

Dan Andrews Takes Australia Further Into a Fascist Hole

The Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, has just tabled legislation in parliament which is possibly the most monstrous ever introduced into a country calling itself democratic. Basically it gives Andrews the power to do whatever he wants and whenever he wants it. He has been turning Victoria into a police state for the past year and a half but behind the bland face and earnest manner, the legislation openly stamps him as a totalitarian psychopath.

Here are some of the salient points of the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021. Read on and be amazed that this can actually be happening in Australia, the laidback happy country of beaches, sunshine, beer and prawns on the barby.

The legislation allows Andrews to declare a pandemic even if there is not one. He only has to think there could be one. This antipodean combination of commissar and gauleiter is taking complete personal control of the state and its people. He can close down parts of the state or the whole state and prevent people from entering or leaving in whole or part. He can extend closures without limit.

Enforcement will rest in the hands of police and ‘authorised officers.’ For those who don’t do what they are told there will be heavy fines, up to $90,000 for individuals and $450,000 for businesses. People can be detained for two years and will have to pay the cost of their own detention in the massive internment camp that has been built at Mickleham, on the outskirts of Melbourne. The legislation authorizes police to use ‘reasonable force’ to help an ‘authorised officer’ when he/she detains them.

The Mickleham camp is capable of taking in thousands of people. The likely victims in this Australian gulag will be the minority who have refused vaccination either on the basis of their human right to reject medical intervention they don’t want or because of the known dangers to health of the vaccines on offer, known to them but suppressed from public knowledge by the media. Abused by the politicians and media commentators, shut out of many normal activities of daily life, they have already been turned into social pariahs whom those who obey orders without asking questions will no doubt think will deserve to be locked away in this Australian gulag.

The legislation includes a points system as punishment for bad behavior. Individuals and business owners who don’t obey an authorized officer will lose points and more points if the offence is regarded as aggravated. What Andrews has done here is slip into the legislation the beginning of a social credit system of full state control of the individual’s life.

People can be detained on the basis of their ‘characteristics, attributes and circumstances’ as assessed by an authorised officer. This extraordinary clause surely has no parentage in any legislation passed in any country regarding itself as democratic. It would seem to allow the detention of anyone for any reason.

Detained individuals can be required to submit to medical testing and their detention can be extended if they refuse to accept it. If they cannot pay the cost of their detention, however long it might be, they will be fined. All orders can be extended or varied without limit by

https://21stcenturywire.com/2021/11/05/dan-andrew-takes-australia-further-into-a-fascist-hole/

Army surgeon says military ignored her warnings over COVID-19 ‘vaccine injuries’

An Army surgeon testified this week that her warnings about the COVID-19 vaccine were ignored by United States military leaders, who later notified the doctor that she would no longer see sick patients.

Army Lt. Col. Theresa Long, an Army flight surgeon and aviation safety officer stationed at Fort Rucker, testified at a Capitol Hill roundtable on Tuesday under the Military Whistleblower Protection Act. The discussion was hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), according to the Washington Times.

Long said the military ignored her warnings after she was forced to ground vaccinated pilots who showed symptoms of myocarditis – including chronic fatigue – out of concern they could die from heart failure in mid-air.

“I made numerous efforts to get senior medical leaders to at the very least inform soldiers of this risk; my concerns were ignored,” Long told lawmakers.

The doctor testified that two of her patients reported chest pain after taking the COVID-19 vaccination, and both were diagnosed with pericarditis, a condition in which the outer lining of the heart swells.

“After I reported to my command my concerns that in one morning I had to ground three out of three pilots due to vaccine injuries, the next day my patients were canceled, my charts were pulled for review, and I was told I would not be seeing acute patients anymore, just healthy pilots there for their flight physical,” she said, according to AL.com.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said that it is “actively monitoring” cases of pericarditis in patients who receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but maintained that the benefits of the shot “far outweigh” the risks of having a “rare adverse reaction to vaccination.”

A spokesperson for the 1st Aviation Brigade at Fort Rucker told The Washington Times in a statement that Long spoke at the roundtable in her “own individual capacity.”

Last week, a federal judge issued a minute order requesting that President Joe Biden and his administration agree to stop terminating both U.S. service members and civilian federal employees amid a legal challenge to Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The Biden administration later responded, saying it would not halt disciplinary actions and terminations of any federal employees awaiting the court’s ruling on a temporary restraining order (TRO) motion against the vaccine mandate.

The lawsuit brought by 20 plaintiffs includes U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Andrew Soto and Marine Corps Cpl. Christopher Hall, who both submitted religious exemption requests to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/11/army-surgeon-says-military-ignored-her-warnings-over-covid-19-vaccine-injuries/

Australia One Party - Riccardo Bosi Is Coming

“It’s Hard to Watch:” Hospital ERs Across The Nation Are Completely Overwhelmed With Non-Covid Patients “Sicker Than They Have Ever Seen” – Nurses Forced to Give Treatments in Hallways Because No Beds are Available

Emergency Rooms across the nation are experiencing a bed shortage ‘crisis’ because of the massive influx of patients that are showing up “much sicker than” the medical professionals “has ever seen.”

The increase is baffling. After all, the experimental vaccines have been available in the US for almost a full year, and the number of new daily positive cases has been declining for months. Right now, the number of cases each day is less than half what it was just a couple of months ago.

With fewer people catching the virus, you should reasonably expect hospitals to see a decline in ER visits, but, somehow, the opposite is happening. Throughout the country, even in places that are not considered ‘Covid hotspots,’ emergency rooms are absolutely overrun with seriously ill patients, forcing hospital staff – in many cases – to provide care in the hallway because every bed is already occupied.

The sharp uptick has mainly been driven by much more severe illnesses and conditions than Covid. In fact, the bulk of the ER visits have been to treat things like abdominal pain, respiratory problems, blood clots, and HEART CONDITIONS – suicide attempts are also way up.

Is this the ‘vaccine effect’ in action?

From Kaiser Health News (KHN):

“Months of treatment delays have exacerbated chronic conditions and worsened symptoms. Doctors and nurses say the severity of illness ranges widely and includes abdominal pain, respiratory problems, blood clots, heart conditions, and suicide attempts, among other conditions.”

KHN was able to interview some of the staff at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, MI, which has been one of the hardest-hit ERs in the country. Tiffany Dusang, the facility’s ER director, said that the entire ordeal is “hard to watch,” and that she feels terrible when she walks the halls and sees dozens of patients sitting in chairs who are in pain. She knows that they will not be getting a bed anytime soon because the hospital’s 72 ER rooms are already full, and more people keep flooding in seeking care.

“I always feel very, very bad when I walk down the hallway and see that people are in pain, or needing to sleep, or needing quiet. But they have to be in the hallway with, as you can see, 10 or 15 people walking by every minute.”

Sparrow has even turned a separate wing of the hospital into a specialty ER overflow unit, but that only provided slight relief for a moment. The majority of severely ill patients are forced to sit in chairs that line the hallways to receive their care with no privacy whatsoever.

One man, Alejos Perrientoz, had come to the ER with numbness and pain in his arm that had persisted for over a week. He was shocked to learn when he arrived that he would not be getting a room and instead was given a full physical exam in front of everyone in the hallway.

“I felt a little uncomfortable. But I have no choice, you know?

I’m in the hallway. There are no rooms. We could have just done the physical in the parking lot.”

“I cannot tell you how many of them tell me they went home crying [after their shift].”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/hard-watch-hospital-ers-across-nation-completely-overwhelmed-non-covid-patients-sicker-ever-seen-nurses-forced-give-treatments-hallways-no/

Dr. David Martin: Heavy but Must See Information Found Here

https://www.bitchute.com/video/0AdpxXcu0i6D/

Santos, CSIRO aim to suck greenhouse gases from the Australian sky

Energy giant Santos has struck a deal with the CSIRO to trial technology aiming to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and pump it underground, as governments and industry explore new ways to neutralise emissions and stop the planet from overheating.

The collaboration will seek to develop a so-called “direct air capture” project – the first of its kind in Australia – and connect it to Santos’s $220 million Moomba carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which the Santos board agreed to finance earlier this week.

Direct-air capture has long been criticised as too costly and an impractical solution to arrest global warming. But the fledgling technology is attracting a growing level of interest from governments and investors worldwide as scientists warn of the need to remove more carbon from the atmosphere this century than tree-planting programs are capable of absorbing.

In a separate announcement on Friday, Australian energy giant Woodside said it was investigating the feasibility of storing carbon emissions in gas reservoirs off the Pilbara coast.

Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher, who has travelled to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit, said the partnership with CSIRO came at an important time for the global community as the world “struggles to find a credible pathway to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050”.

“This technology literally has the potential to negate emissions elsewhere in the economy, especially in hard-to-abate sectors that Australia still needs to manufacture essential everyday products,” he said.

There are some direct air-capture plants operating around the world, the biggest being Climeworks’ Orca plant in Iceland, which uses dozens of huge fans to draw air into its ducts and filter out the carbon dioxide.

Australian National University Climate Change Institute’s Mark Howden said the process remained highly energy-intensive and prohibitively expensive.

“We are talking several hundreds of dollars a tonne,” Professor Howden said last week.

“It’s much cheaper to reduce your emissions in the first place, and you can do it much cheaper than hundreds of dollars a tonne.”

Carbon-capture and storage has also become a hugely divisive area of climate policy in Australia. Supporters of CCS argue it is a necessary and unavoidable component of the world’s decarbonisation goals to avoid the worst and most immediate impacts of global warming. The International Energy Agency says carbon capture projects are needed now to start reducing the pollution from difficult-to-abate industrial processes like cement production.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/santos-csiro-aim-to-suck-greenhouse-gases-from-the-australian-sky-20211104-p5963j.html