International: South America
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.
Amazon floods have increased fivefold
24 Sep 2018
New data suggest that flooding in the Amazon River has dramatically increased by as much as five times in both intensity and frequency in the last 100 years.
Brazil court overturns glyphosate ruling
6 Sep 2018
Brazilian farmers will continue to have access to the world’s most-used weed killer after a court reversed a ruling which had suspended the existing and new registration of glyphosate-based products.
Deforestation claims movie-star macaw
6 Sep 2018
Spix’s macaw, a brilliant blue species of Brazilian parrot that starred in the children’s animation Rio, has become extinct this century, according to a new assessment of endangered birds.
Brazil could restore a huge swathe of the Amazon
30 Aug 2018
Although almost 40 per cent of the Brazilian Amazon is conserved by protected areas and indigenous lands, some 428,721 sq km has been deforested over the past three decades.
Brazil candidate threatens to quit Paris pact
16 Aug 2018
Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is threatening to take Brazil out of the Paris Agreement if he wins the October election.
Brazil hits deforestation cuts ahead of schedule
13 Aug 2018
Brazil has already hit its 2020 targets for cutting emissions from deforestation, according to the government.
China gives Venezuela $250m to boost oil
6 Jul 2018
Venezuela will receive $250 million from the China Development Bank to boost oil production, the South American country’s Finance Ministry said.
Farming goes underground to win the climate change fight
22 Jun 2018
Bolivian farmers are going underground in order to protect their crops from drought, flash floods and increasing temperatures.
Costa Rica reckons it can be the first country free of carbon
14 May 2018
Costa Rica’s newly elected president is vowing to make his country the world's first truly carbon-zero territory.
New river brings havoc to Argentina
3 Apr 2018
A new river in Argentina is playing havoc with farmland and roads and even threatening a city – but also highlights the potential cost of the country’s dependence on soya beans.
Forget net zero. We need ‘real zero’ – and these companies prove it’s profitable
Fri 15 Aug 2025
OPINION: Three huge global companies – IKEA, Lendlease and Fortescue Mining – are heading towards real zero. If they can do it, so can everyone.
Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims
Fri 15 Aug 2025
A “critical assessment” report commissioned by the Trump administration to justify a rollback of US climate regulations contains at least 100 false or misleading statements, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists.
Why China is still building new coal – and when it might stop
Thu 14 Aug 2025
Last year, China started construction on an estimated 95 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power capacity, enough to power the entire UK twice over.
Wildfires fanned by heatwave and strong winds rage across Europe
Fri 15 Aug 2025
Wildfires caused by arsonists or thunderstorms and fanned by a heatwave and strong winds wreaked destruction across southern Europe on Wednesday, burning homes and forcing thousands of residents and tourists to flee.
Climate scientists criticise Ireland over new ‘temperature neutrality’ proposal
Wed 13 Aug 2025
Climate scientists have criticised Ireland over proposed measures that would weaken the country’s commitments to reducing methane emissions.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
India misses chance to tackle UK carbon tax in trade pact
28 Jul 2025
India’s efforts to secure a concession for its small and medium enterprises under the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism did not materialise, as the text of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement made no mention of a resolution on the contentious issue.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
Wed 13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Nordic countries hit by ‘truly unprecedented’ heatwave
5 Aug 2025
Scientists have recorded the longest streak of temperatures higher than 30C in the region in records going back to 1961.
African $60 billion high-speed rail project takes shape
Fri 15 Aug 2025
One of the largest infrastructure projects in Africa has received a new update that could see construction begin soon.
How could the UN climate talks be reformed?
Wed 13 Aug 2025
This year marks a decade since nations successfully negotiated the Paris Agreement, a landmark treaty that has been the guiding force for international climate politics ever since.
