Ignition powder for munitions is shown by a worker as an Artillery Modular Charge System is seen in the background in the production line of the Nitrochemie technology company, part of the German automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in Aschau am Inn, southern Germany, on July 22, 2026, during a visit prior to the opening and ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone of a new powder plant. (Photo by Alexandra BEIER / AFP via Getty Images)

A 155 mm Artillery Modular Charge System with ignition powder for munitions is seen in the production line of the Nitrochemie technology company, part of the German automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in Aschau am Inn, southern Germany, on July 22, 2026, during a visit prior to the opening and ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone of Europe's largest powder plant. (Photo by Alexandra BEIER / AFP via Getty Images)

A 155 mm Artillery Modular Charge System with ignition powder for munitions is seen in the production line of the Nitrochemie technology company, part of the German automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in Aschau am Inn, southern Germany, on July 22, 2026, during a visit prior to the opening and ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone of Europe's largest powder plant. (Photo by Alexandra BEIER / AFP via Getty Images)

A worker points to a 155 mm Artillery Modular Charge ProP in the production line of the Nitrochemie technology company, part of the German automotive and arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in Aschau am Inn, southern Germany, on July 22, 2026, during a visit prior to the opening and laying ceremony of the foundation stone for Europe's largest powder plant. (Photo by Alexandra BEIER / AFP via Getty Images)

Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (3rdL) and German Chief of Staff Thorsten Frei (R) walk past German Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace Dorothee Baer (L) and German Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Baerbel Bas to take their seats prior the start of a weekly meeting of the German cabinet at the Chancellery in Berlin, on July 21, 2026. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP via Getty Images)

This undated handout photo obtained on July 21, 2026, from Luke Bridgestock of the University of St Andrews shows a view of the Tinto River, with pollution from acid mine drainage, in the Iberian Pyrite Belt in southwest Spain. New research published in Environmental Science and Technology on July 22, 2026, shows the carbon footprint linked to metal mining could be 10 times greater than previously thought, with major implications for net-zero ambitions. Metal mining is highly energy-intensive, and conventional estimates for its carbon footprint attribute most of its emissions to heavy equipment on-site, as well as diesel transport required to haul ore away. Luke Bridgestock of the University of St Andrews and colleagues instead looked at a process called acid mine drainage, a common side effect of mining that, despite being well-understood, had never properly been quantified before this study. The team focused on the Iberian Pyrite Belt in Spain, a copper-mining region with 82 active or historic mines going back to 1875 that generates more acid mine drainage than anywhere else in the world. (Photo by Luke Bridgestock / University of St Andrews / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / University of St Andrews / Luke Bridgestock" - HANDOUT - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Issam AHMED, "Metal mining's carbon footprint could be 10 times greater than thought: study"

Volunteer coordinator Tatyana Kozyk cleans the skeleton of a mastodonsaurus, a huge amphibian that walked the Earth 240 million years ago, at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)

Scientist Tomasz Sulej, from the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, inspects the skeleton of a mastodonsaurus, a huge amphibian that walked the Earth 240 million years ago, at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Claudia Ciobanu)