International: South America
Bolsonaro accused of ecocide
28 Jun 2021
Indigenous leaders and human rights groups in Brazil want President Jair Bolsonaro prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
Brazil's slash and burning of regulations threatens Amazon
24 May 2021
President Bolsonaro wants to slash Brazil’s environmental licences, a move critics say will open a free-for-all in the Amazon.
Amazon is now net GHG emitter: study finds
3 May 2021
Something is wrong in the lungs of the world. Decades of burning, logging, mining and development have tipped the scales, and now the Amazon Basin may be emitting more greenhouse gases than it absorbs.
Mexico’s cactuses find novel path to cooler climate
15 Apr 2021
Rainforests are prized for storing carbon, but Mexico’s cactuses are also vital to climate cooling, and provide leather too.
Biden in risky talks to save Amazon
13 Apr 2021
The US is negotiating a multi-billion dollar climate deal with Brazil that observers fear could help the reelection of president Jair Bolsonaro and reward illegal forest clearance in the Amazon.
Brazil to pay farmers to protect nature
26 Mar 2021
Brazil's lawmakers have cleared the way for the creation of a national system to pay farmers, local communities and others to protect natural habitats that provide key environmental services such as water and carbon storage.
Meat giant vows net-zero by 2040 amid record profits
26 Mar 2021
Brazilian company JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, has announced record profits a day after it pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 – the first global meat and poultry company to do so.
Brazil sets ‘indicative’ goal of carbon neutrality by 2060
10 Dec 2020
Brazil has announced it will aim for carbon neutrality by 2060, sparking anger among campaigners who say the pledge is meaningless and a deliberate distraction from president Jair Bolsonaro’s destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Brazilian spies intimidated government’s own delegates at climate talks
15 Oct 2020
Brazil’s spy agency has been accused of trying to intimidate its own government’s negotiators and Brazilian environmentalists at the COP25 climate talks in Madrid last year.
Chinese fishing vessels sound alarm off Galapagos
29 Jul 2020
Ecuador has sounded the alarm after its navy discovered a huge fishing fleet of mostly Chinese-flagged vessels 200 miles from the Galápagos Islands.
New Brazilian map unmasks illegal foresters
23 Jul 2020
Shoppers should have a bone to pick with Brazil. A new map shows just how much of the country's beef and animal feed exports are tainted by the illegal destruction of rainforest and savannah.
Supermarket chains threaten Brazil boycott
21 May 2020
British supermarkets have warned Brazil they might have to boycott its products if lawmakers there pass a contentious bill that could enable faster destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Bolsonaro sends in his soldiers
13 May 2020
Brazil has deployed thousands of soldiers to protect the Amazon rainforest as the government mounts a response to surging deforestation ahead of the high season for forest fires.
Chile sets new target of peak emissions by 2025
14 Apr 2020
Chile has committed to peaking its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, in an updated national plan presented virtually to the UN.
Big Money firms back Amazon oil boom
17 Mar 2020
Five large financial firms from the US and UK are bankrolling an oil boom in the western Amazon, says a new report.
Military man takes command of the Amazon
3 Feb 2020
President Jair Bolsonaro has caused widespread dismay by appointing an ex-military colleague to oversee protection of the Amazon.
Amazon fires are melting Andes glaciers
2 Dec 2019
Black carbon from Amazon rainforest fires is settling on Andes glaciers and making them melt faster, according to new research.
Bolsosnaro accuses DiCaprio: You're burning the Amazon
2 Dec 2019
Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro has accused actor Leonardo DiCaprio of bankrolling the deliberate incineration of the Amazon rainforest.
Amazon deforestation soars to 11-year high
20 Nov 2019
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest this year rose to its highest in over a decade.
Casualties mount in Bolivia's battle for white gold
20 Nov 2019
The overthrow of Bolivian president Evo Morales shows how the politics of environmentalism and social justice intersect in a silvery-white metal.
Argentina changes waste rule and opens doors to plastics
4 Nov 2019
Argentina has changed its definition of waste in a move that could allow it to import millions of tonnes of plastic waste discarded in the US.
Catholic church denounces Amazon policies
1 Nov 2019
The Catholic church in the Amazon has denounced attacks on the environment and the life of indigenous people — setting out on a collision course with Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro.
JUNGLE BUNGLE: Brazil pushes Amazon to 2021 tipping point
25 Oct 2019
The destructive policies of Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro could push the Amazon rainforest to an irreversible tipping point within two years.
Sorry about that, says Ecuador, and reinstates Big Oil subsidies
18 Oct 2019
Calm has returned to the streets of Quito after Ecuador’s government agreed to reinstate fuel subsidies following 11 days of nationwide, violent protests.
Pope v president as Amazon burns
8 Oct 2019
Two of the most powerful forces in Brazil, the president and the pope, are pulling in opposite directions on an issue critical to climate change.
'CHAOS, CHAOS, CHAOS': A trip through Bolsonaro's inferno
11 Sep 2019
From afar, it resembles a tornado: an immense grey column shooting thousands of feet upwards from the forest canopy into the Amazonian skies.
Central America climate change driving people out
10 Sep 2019
Droughts and damaging storms are impacting smallholder farmers in Central America and driving higher levels of migration from the region.
BOLIVIA BURNING: It’s not just Brazil's forests that are ablaze
29 Aug 2019
While the world watches the Brazilian Amazon burn, across the border in Bolivia it’s also ablaze.
Without our help, the world's forests would not be burning
26 Aug 2019
Fuel is everywhere in rainforests, but it seems unimaginable that such humid ecosystems could ever catch fire. And without human intervention, they don’t.
Outcry goes global as Amazon forests burn
23 Aug 2019
The environment minister of Brazil, where wildfires have been sweeping the Amazon rainforest, was booed at a climate event yesterday as celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio and Ariana Grande joined an international chorus of criticism.
Germany pulls millions in Amazon funding
13 Aug 2019
Germany will suspend $39 million in funds sent to Brazil to finance projects aimed at preserving the Amazon forest.
We might be expecting too much of the Amazon
7 Aug 2019
The Amazon might not be sequestering as much carbon dioxide as we think, scientists say.
Rampant deforestation driven by greed for meat
5 Jul 2019
Brazil’s huge beef sector continues to threaten health of world’s largest rainforest.
Brazil leader guts environmental agencies
12 Jun 2019
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appears intent on decriminalizing Amazon deforestation, ending most fines, straitjacketing law enforcement, and gutting environmental agencies with mass firings.
Coal-dependent Chile vows to come clean by 2040
7 Jun 2019
Chile, host of the next UN climate talks, has unveiled its plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which will require one of the fastest coal shutdowns anywhere.
Scientists fight Brazilian leader's cutbacks
31 May 2019
Brazil’s scientists are fighting back against President Jair Bolsonaro’s plans to slash funding for research and education programmes.
In the land of El Dorado, clean water has become ‘blue gold’
11 Apr 2019
In the land where the legend of El Dorado began, the race is on to solve the mystery of a vital 21st century treasure – the water that tens of millions of people rely upon across northern South America.
Climate change drives migrants to the US
9 Apr 2019
The northern triangle of Central America, the largest source of asylum seekers crossing the US border, is deeply affected by environmental degradation.
Costa Rica aims to show world the way
28 Feb 2019
Costa Rica has launched an economy-wide plan to “decarbonize” the country by 2050, as the Central American nation aims to show other nations what is possible to address climate change.
UN calls Brazil dam burst a crime
5 Feb 2019
The Brazil dam burst last week happened less than a month after the country’s new climate-sceptic government came to office promising a relaxation of environmental laws and inspections to “take the yoke off producers”.
Brazil's resources open for business, says Bolsonaro
25 Jan 2019
Brazil will strike a balance between environment and “much-needed economic development”, Brazilian president Joao Bolsonaro has said in his first overseas speech.
Bolsonaro appoints 'beef caucus' minister
11 Dec 2018
Brazil’s far right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has named Ricardo de Aquino Salles, a 43-year-old lawyer and a staunch ‘beef caucus’ ally to lead his environment department.
Bolsonaro names climate denier as key minister
19 Nov 2018
Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has named an anti-globalist diplomat to lead on foreign affairs and his country’s relationship to the Paris Agreement.
Bolsonaro already at work in the Amazon
15 Nov 2018
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon jumped almost 50 per cent during the three-month electoral season that brought Jair Bolsonaro to power, according to preliminary official figures.
Amazon is adapting, but not fast enough
13 Nov 2018
A 30-year analysis of Amazonian trees finds the world’s largest rainforest is already adapting to climate change, but probably not fast enough.
How fund managers could help save Amazon
12 Nov 2018
Large asset managers could play a pivotal role in safeguarding the Amazon forest, a new report shows, amid concerns Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro could strip the planet of its lungs.
Bolsonaro to merge environment and agriculture
2 Nov 2018
Brazil President-elect Jair Bolsonaro will merge the environment and agriculture ministries, a move activists have warned could imperil the Amazon rainforest.
Will Trump of the Tropics wreck Amazon rainforest?
30 Oct 2018
Will Jair Bolsonaro dedicate himself to the meticulous destruction of the Amazon now he has won Brazil's presidential election?
We can’t take many more populists like Bolsonaro
26 Oct 2018
Just when Earth badly needs pro-environment leaders, we get big-business strongmen. There’s a reason for this grim irony.
Likely Brazil leader is full of climate threats
11 Oct 2018
No more Paris Agreement. No more ministry of environment. A paved highway cutting through the Amazon. That's what Jair Bolsonaro will bring to the presidency of Brazil.
Australian Nationals formally abandon commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050
Mon 3 Nov 2025
Nationals leader David Littleproud said the party would shift its focus to climate adaptation instead of being "focused solely" on reducing emissions, noting Australia's small share of the global effort.
‘How did we get here?’: Documentary explores how Republicans changed course on the climate
Wed 5 Nov 2025
In The White House Effect, now available on Netflix, archival footage is used to show how the US right moved from believing to disputing the climate crisis.
Why climate change now threatens China’s future
Tue 4 Nov 2025
Extreme weather is hurting its economy and worrying its leaders.
TotalEnergies loses in Paris court, marking a turning point for fossil fuel truth-in-advertising
Wed 5 Nov 2025
TotalEnergies was found to have misled consumers about its role in the energy transition.
Bank of England must better address climate risk to tackle inflation
Tue 4 Nov 2025
The central bank is being urged to take a series of actions to better respond to environmental risks.
Renewables are a global economic engine, not a culture war threat
2 Oct 2025
Energy companies are learning this lesson faster than Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Big banks’ lending to coal backers undermines Indonesia’s green plans
Wed 5 Nov 2025
Foreign banks involved in Indonesia’s $20-billion Just Energy Transition Partnership have also funded companies working on coal power expansion.
Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
21 Oct 2025
The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Nigerian billionaire plans expansion of Africa’s biggest oil refinery
Fri 31 Oct 2025
The billionaire owner of Africa’s largest refinery plans to expand its capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day to meet growing fuel needs in the continent and beyond.
UNEP: New country climate plans ‘barely move needle’ on expected warming
Wed 5 Nov 2025
Executive director Inger Anderson made the comments as UNEP published its 16th annual assessment of the global “emissions gap”.
