Residents of a high-rise building use mobile phones to illuminate their path as they descend the stairs in the dark during a blackout in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 20, 2022. Blackouts—a long-term problem in South Africa—reached a new level in recent months, affecting every facet of daily life. Image by Joao Silva/The New York Times
A teacher plays with children at the Kleiner Fratz child daycare center in Neukoelln on September 14, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. Child daycare centers across Germany are facing rising costs for energy and food as well as a shortage of staff. At the Kleiner Fratz center, instalment payments for energy have gone up 50 percent and food prices 9 percent, yet the amount of money the center receives from the city per child has been unchanged. Image by Sean Gallup/Getty Images
A man levels the coal before covering the trailer parked outside the Sobieski coal mine in Poland. People are queueing up for days for coal at mines, following an embargo on Russian coal, which led to an eight million tonne coal deficit and price rises. The lack of coal in the Polish market is due to the decarbonisation process where domestic production was reduced and the market needs were supplemented with imports from Russia. Image by Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
An employee works in the bakehouse of the Bonert bakery in Munich, Germany, on September 15, 2022. Rising energy prices are taking a toll on German bakeries that are heavily dependent on gas and electricity, threatening the existence of many small family businesses and the affordability of this key staple food in Germany.Image by Lukas Barth / Reuters
Protesters Tracey Booker (left) and Pauline Jones, with dog Lizzie, at a fracking site in Little Plumpton, near Blackpool, England, on September 8, 2022. A ban on fracking in England has been lifted as the government pushes for an increase in domestic energy production in the face of soaring bills. Prime Minister Liz Truss has said the controversial move to end the moratorium, which was imposed in 2019 after tremors were caused by fracking in Lancashire, could get gas flowing from onshore shale wells in as little as six months.Image by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images
Indonesian students during a protest against fuel price hike in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 5, 2022. The Indonesian government raised the price of subsidised fuels by about 30 percent following an increase in oil prices worldwide. Image by Jefri Tarigan/Jefta Images/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Lorenzo Pinamonte, owner of Hotel Nettuno, walks past electricity bills he has displayed in protest of the near-600 percent price hike in his last month’s electricity bill compared to the same period last year, in Brenzone Sul Garda, Italy, September 13, 2022. Increasing number of businesses in Italy are facing bankruptcy due to the rise in power costs.Image by Michel Porro/Getty Images
The Seitelo family waits for electricity to come back to finish cooking during a blackout in Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 20, 2022. Blackouts reached a new level of crisis in recent months as the state-owned power supplier, Eskom, is crippled by dilapidated plants and corruptionImage by Joao Silva/The New York Times
Hit by unsustainable cost of living, people queue for free food at non-profit association Pane Quotidiano in Milan, Italy on August 31, 2022. According to ISTAT, Italy’s office for national statistics, 1.9 million Italian households, and 5.6 million individuals were in absolute poverty last year, beating the previous record in 2020, the year of the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Image by Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
