South America
Uruguay pushes 100% renewables, just don’t mention the cows
NEWS: South America’s clean energy poster child is skewering its fossil fuel use, but reducing emissions from its meat industry is tough
World’s first cactus-powered plant opens in Mexico
NEWS: Pilot scheme will run cars and a small power plant on biogas from prickly pear harvested in Michoacan state
Is climate change driving the spread of zika virus?
NEWS: Record temperatures could be creating the conditions for a spike in the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes, scientists say
Cleared rainforest bounces back faster than thought – study
NEWS: Recovering forests’ uptake of carbon dioxide outstrips pristine jungle and could play a bigger role in countering climate change
Brazil inflames forest fires with pro-deforestation laws
NEWS: New laws under consideration will likely spark more tree-cutting − despite serious drought already contributing to a big increase in vast destructive fires
Brazil climate plan on standby as Rousseff totters
ANALYSIS: Brasilia is too preoccupied with economic crisis and attempts to impeach the president to push the low carbon agenda
Brazil faces human rights probe over Amazon hydropower dam
NEWS: Regional commission forces official response to alleged abuses at Belo Monte hydro plant in Para state
Venezuela: From bloodied hand to shock climate pledge
ANALYSIS: Once a fierce critic of the UN climate negotiations, Claudia Salerno became one of the strongest supporters of a Paris deal
Brazil backs ‘high ambition coalition’ to break Paris deadlock
NEWS: Decision marks a rupture in BASIC bloc as India, China opposed to groups’ faster carbon-cutting aims
Ecuador minister ‘quietly optimistic’ at Paris climate summit
INTERVIEW: Daniel Ortega Pacheco tells Climate Home French presidency has impressed but main test is to come, and questions impact of EU’s new ‘coalition of ambition’
Paris climate talks: What do the last 3 days have in store?
ANALYSIS: Oil producers, forest nations, high-tech trading centres, low lying and desert countries all have distinct interests to protect. This is where it gets serious.
Will Venezuela opposition victory revise climate stance?
ANALYSIS: Opposition’s rout of Maduro government unlikely to transform South American petropower though ideological posturing could make way for pragmatism
Brazil tasked with resolving rich-poor divide at climate talks
NEWS: Hosts hope Latin American giant can help draft compromise allowing developed and developing nations to back new global climate deal on Friday
Pragmatic Peru to crisis-hit Venezuela: Latin America at COP21
ANALYSIS: Continent brings a colourful tapestry of perspectives to UN climate talks in Paris. Guy Edwards rounds up the latest developments
Ecuador: US has no right to ‘kidnap’ Paris climate talks
VIDEO: US-led drive for pact without legal force is conditioning outcome at UN COP21 summit, warns environment minister
Nicaragua to defy UN in climate pledge refusal
VIDEO: Latin American state won’t legitimise ‘failed mechanism’ with national plan as world still on track for dangerous climate change, lead envoy says
Latin American leadership is critical to securing a Paris climate pact
ANALYSIS: Latin America may be a fragmented continent at the UN climate talks but they have much in common given their vulnerability to climate impacts and potential for clean energy expansion.
COP21: What do countries want from a Paris climate deal?
ANALYSIS: China, the EU, US, small island states and the least developed countries outline what they want to see in a proposed global agreement
Cuba slams US trade embargo in UN climate pledge
NEWS: 55-year blockade has imposed “serious difficulties” on sustainable development, communist state says
Brazil: Redeemer of a Paris climate deal?
ANALYSIS: South American giant straddles the rich-poor divide at UN talks and could build bridges at COP21