International: South America
Colombia’s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle
Tue 26 May 2026
Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking?
Amazon deforestation at eight-year low, report shows
20 May 2026
Despite a drop in the size of deforested areas, the number of wildfires in the region increased by more than 30 percent.
The country where lethal hantavirus cases are on the rise. Experts blame climate change
13 May 2026
Experts believe environmental degradation caused by climate change and human activity is contributing to its spread by allowing the rodents that transmit the virus to thrive in new areas.
What tree rings reveal about climate change in the Amazon
12 May 2026
Scientists analysed tree growth rings to investigate whether the Amazon Basin is indeed drying up, as shown by extreme droughts in 2023 and 2024.
Climate change could erase most South American cloud forests, study warns
11 May 2026
Climate change could eliminate up to 91% of South America’s cloud forests by 2070 under a high-emissions scenario; even the most optimistic projections show significant losses.
Chile landfill tops global list of methane emitters in UN report
7 May 2026
One of the world's largest sources of climate-warming methane gas is a landfill protruding from hills on the outskirts of Chile's capital of Santiago, a recent study, opens new tab by the UN environment agency shows.
‘Suicidal’ model of capitalism leading to war and fascism, climate summit told
5 May 2026
Colombia president Gustavo Petro tells 57-country talks on a green energy transition that fossil fuel interests could destroy humanity.
‘Historic breakthrough’: Colombia climate talks end with hopes raised for fossil fuel phaseout
4 May 2026
Nearly 60 countries back voluntary roadmaps to wean world off coal, oil and gas, at conference prompted by frustration with UN climate summits.
Beef production drives 40% of agriculture-linked forest destruction, Brazil leads
26 Mar 2026
Beef production is the leading driver of agriculture-linked deforestation, accounting for 40% of all forest clearing done to open space for food production, according to details of a study released on Tuesday.
Surfing’s big break: how climate crisis insurance may save El Salvador’s waves
19 Mar 2026
Fearing that extreme weather threatened its epic breaks, Oriente Salvaje is piloting the first surf insurance policy to protect livelihoods and ecosystems.
Companies – including Blackrock – retired 2 million carbon credits after Verra suspended project
12 Mar 2026
Verra suspended the Pacajai REDD project in Brazil in September 2023, pending an investigation into the project’s validity. That didn’t stop Mastercard, BlackRock, Philip Morris International from retiring carbon credits from the project to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Floods and landslides in Brazil kill at least 30 after record rainfall
26 Feb 2026
Three firefighters pulled a man’s body from the mud amid the rubble of houses swept away in a landslide in south-eastern Brazil, where 30 people died and 39 were still missing on Tuesday after torrential rains.
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity
4 Feb 2026
The wildfires, among the worst to hit the drought-stricken Patagonia region in decades, have devastated more than 45,000 hectares (174 square miles) of Argentina’s forests in the last month and a half, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
Thousands of climate disasters are not included in official reports from Amazonian countries
12 Dec 2025
More than 12,500 extreme weather events impacted the Amazon and its population in 10 years, but countries have not generated enough information about it, according to a new scientific study.
In blow to Lula, Brazil Congress revives controversial environmental bill
2 Dec 2025
Brazil's conservative-led Congress on Thursday reinstated much of a bill that makes it easier for companies to secure environmental permits, infuriating the leftist government and green groups.
Brazil sees issues related to import of US biofuels 'practically resolved'
28 Nov 2025
Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said on Tuesday that unspecified issues related to the country's imports of U.S. biofuels were "practically resolved".
Ecuador’s voters protect rights of nature, reject proposal to rewrite constitution
19 Nov 2025
Ecuadorians handed their Trump-allied president a resounding defeat, choosing to maintain their “ecological constitution” and rejecting an attempt to allow foreign military bases in the country.
Brazilian lawmakers seek to decimate green laws one week after hosting climate summit
18 Nov 2025
Changes would damage President Lula’s efforts to cast Brazil as an environmental leader.
A fossil fuel fight brews at COP30 as delegates draft road map
17 Nov 2025
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva surprised many at the opening ceremony of the COP30 leaders summit in Belém last week when he called for world leaders to prepare a road map to “overcome dependence on fossil fuels.”
COP30: Brazil tries to find a home for tricky issues
14 Nov 2025
Brazil is trying to craft a compromise package on several contentious issues and has dismissed the idea of a roadmap away from fossil fuels.
Brazil’s Lula puts forward new vision for protecting the Amazon rainforest
7 Nov 2025
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva put forward his vision for how the Amazon rainforest should be protected, a future that didn’t depend on donations from wealthy nations and large philanthropies but instead included a major fund that paid countries to keep forests standing.
Police raids in Brazil’s Rio kill 64 ahead of events related to COP30 climate summit
30 Oct 2025
At least 64 people died on Oct 28 in Rio de Janeiro’s most deadly police operation ever, which targeted a major gang days before the city hosts global events related to the United Nations climate summit known as COP30.
Brazil's Indigenous battle with a dry Amazon rainforest
23 Oct 2025
As pastures and thirsty crops dry up the Amazon, Indigenous people try to adapt traditional farming methods.
Brazil greenlights oil drilling in Amazon as environmentalists raise alarm
22 Oct 2025
Conservationists argue president’s oil expansion plans clash with his image as a global leader on climate change.
Four Brazilians to watch at COP30
15 Oct 2025
Influential Brazilians, from government figures to Indigenous activists, will take center stage during UN climate talks in the Amazon next month.
MPs across Latin America unite to stop fossil fuels in the Amazon
14 Oct 2025
A network of more than 900 lawmakers presented the results of a parliamentary investigation into the phaseout of fossil fuels in the Amazon at the Brazilian National Congress in Brasília.
Brazil implores businesses to attend COP30 climate summit, despite 'second thoughts' amid Trump backlash
5 Sep 2025
November's COP30 summit comes at a precarious time for climate action, as companies back away from environmental initiatives, and attacks on green energy by President Trump.
Lessons from the Incas: How llamas, terraces and trees could help the Andes survive climate change
28 Aug 2025
New research suggests solutions may lie in environmental knowledge that the Incas and their predecessors developed centuries ago.
Amazon nations pledge support for Brazil's COP30 rainforest fund
27 Aug 2025
The fund will be backed by an initial, one-time $25-billion contribution from donor nations, along with $100 billion in private funds.
Bolivia will choose a new president but environmental activists see little hope of progress
22 Aug 2025
Many Indigenous and environmental leaders doubt the election will bring progress in stopping deforestation, wildfires or pollution in the Amazon.
Leaders should put the Amazon at the heart of a new green economy
21 Aug 2025
OPINION: Amazon nations meeting in Colombia can bring unified, bold commitments to COP30 – and define a model that prioritises people and planet through long-term prosperity.
Brazil's Lula vetoes parts of environment bill pushed by the opposition that could harm the Amazon
13 Aug 2025
Brazil’s president has vetoed parts of a controversial congressional bill that sought to loosen the country’s environmental licensing rules.
BP makes its biggest oil and gas discovery in 25 years off coast of Brazil
6 Aug 2025
BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery of the past 25 years off the coast of Brazil as it continues to shift its focus away from renewables and back to fossil fuels.
COP30 must make good on past climate commitments
24 Jul 2025
By Jacinda Ardern, Carlos Lopes, and Laurence Tubiana | COMMENT: COP presidencies tend to seek fresh agreements and ambitious initiatives, but when the celebrations are over, implementation often falls short. That is why Brazil’s COP30 presidency must eschew flashy results in favour of pragmatic pathways to deliver on past agreements.
Brazil’s Congress passes ‘devastation bill’ in major environmental setback
21 Jul 2025
In the early hours of July 17, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to ease environmental licensing, which NGOs and environmentalists have dubbed the “devastation bill” and consider the nation’s most significant environmental setback in nearly 40 years.
Illegal loggers profit from Brazil’s carbon credit projects
17 Jul 2025
How a system designed to protect the world’s biggest rainforest is funding businesses with a track record of illegal deforestation.
Over 90 arrests made in global crackdown on environmental crime in the Amazon Basin
14 Jul 2025
Assets worth over $64 million were seized and 94 people arrested as part of a multinational law enforcement operation targeting environmental crime in the Amazon Basin.
In Latin America, the energy transition stirs a rise in human rights lawsuits
8 Jul 2025
A new report shows that more than half of the 95 energy transition-related lawsuits recorded globally since 2009 took place in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Countries must protect human right to a stable climate, court rules
7 Jul 2025
Costa Rica-based inter-American court of human rights says states have obligation to respond to climate change.
‘We are perilously close to the point of no return’: climate scientist on Amazon rainforest’s future
1 Jul 2025
Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached.
Pará’s Amazon forest carbon deal in doubt as prosecutors move to block it
13 Jun 2025
The Brazilian state’s contract with foreign governments and companies has run into trouble over concerns it was premature and agreed without consulting Indigenous communities.
Ahead of UN climate talks, Brazil fast-tracks oil and highway projects that threaten the Amazon
12 Jun 2025
Months before hosting the U.N.'s first climate talks held in the Amazon, Brazil is fast-tracking a series of controversial decisions that undercut President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s lofty environmental rhetoric and show widening divisions within his cabinet.
Brazil’s civil society pledges tested as COP30 climate summit approaches
9 Jun 2025
Hopes of real civil influence at November’s UN negotiations in Belém are being undermined by costs, bureaucracy and mixed messaging.
South America sets historic benchmark: Zero new coal plants planned
28 May 2025
South America just achieved a remarkable energy milestone, quietly setting a global benchmark: for the first time in history, the entire continent now has zero new coal-fired power plants planned.
In Panama, an Indigenous-led project rewrites the rules of reforestation
27 May 2025
Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are collaborating with local communities in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, a protected Indigenous territory, to foster a ground-up reforestation strategy using native trees and carbon payments.
Brazil seeks early deals on two stalled issues at Bonn climate talks
26 May 2025
Moving forward work on just transition and implementing recommendations from the Global Stocktake of climate progress are key priorities for upcoming UN negotiations.
Tropical forest loss hit new heights in 2024; fire a major driver in Latin America
23 May 2025
Tropical forest loss skyrocketed in 2024, with vast swaths of primary forest consumed by fire, according to new satellite data.
Surfer, first lady and former PM among Brazil’s COP30 envoys
21 May 2025
Brazil has appointed 30 envoys including the first lady Janja Lula da Silva and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern to liaise with “priority” sectors and regions.
‘Significant’ risk of Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5C
19 May 2025
Even passing 1.5C of global warming temporarily would trigger a “significant” risk of Amazon forest “dieback”, says a new study.
Who has the right to decide what happens on indigenous lands?
7 May 2025
In Ecuador, Indigenous communities are fighting for stronger safeguards to protect their sovereignty as more oil drilling looms. A right to say no to unwanted development could revolutionize consultation processes used around the world.
Aus power prices to fall for most customers, with bigger drops for businesses
Today 12:00pm
Surging levels of renewable energy and better reliability from coal-fired generators are set to give consumers a break, with benchmark power prices to fall up to 10 per cent for consumers and more for small businesses.
Revealed: huge climate cost of harmful emissions from US immigration flights
Today 12:00pm
US immigration enforcement flights are producing hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions as officials shuttle unprecedented numbers of people to detention centers far from home and deport them to countries across the world.
China’s new carbon metric leaves Germany-sized gap in its emissions
Wed 27 May 2026
A major change in the way that China measures its core climate goal has effectively halved the growth in the country’s carbon dioxide emissions over the past five years.
Europe heatwave 'brutal reminder' of climate change: UN
Today 12:00pm
The UN climate chief said Wednesday that a record-breaking early heatwave scorching a swathe of western Europe was "a brutal reminder of the spiraling impacts of the climate crisis".
Britain’s green transition should belong to everyone
Today 12:00pm
Opinion: Tearing up planning and using protest laws to criminalise local people – this isn’t how to build the broad consent needed.
Once a climate leader, Canada is now doubling down on oil
Mon 25 May 2026
Mark Carney is counting on Alberta’s oil sands to help him survive Trump’s trade agenda.
Indian city records 48.2C temperature as sizzling heatwave empties roads
Tue 26 May 2026
The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures Thursday of around 45 degrees Celsius in the capital, Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope.
The nation holding back the sea
Fri 22 May 2026
A Pacific island nation on the front line of the climate change threat is building land to try to hold back rising sea levels. But as the majority of Tuvalu’s population applies to relocate to Australia, a haunting question is being confronted: what happens to a country if the people have to leave?
‘Triple whammy of climate chaos’: Why Antarctica's sea ice collapse is no longer a mystery
11 May 2026
Scientists have finally identified the ‘triple whammy’ behind Antarctica’s dramatic collapse, shedding new light on the chain reaction that has pushed its sea ice to record lows.
ExxonMobil seeks environmental approval for new offshore project in Guyana
Wed 27 May 2026
Exxon Mobil has applied to Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for authorization to develop the Haimara gas-condensate discovery in the offshore Stabroek block, the agency said on Sunday. The project would be the consortium's ninth development in the block.
UN backs historic climate crisis ruling, despite US attempts to stop resolution
Fri 22 May 2026
The UN has voted 141-8 to adopt a resolution backing a world court opinion that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change, with the US – which is the world’s biggest historical emitter – among the small group opposing it.
