Land

Companies still missing in action on methane-cutting goals

The farming and fossil fuel industries must help governments cut methane emissions 30% this decade by harnessing existing technologies and changing practices

UN climate fund axes Nicaragua forest project over human rights concerns

In its first such move, the Green Climate Fund has pulled out of a project after developers failed to address environmental and social compliance issues

While Europe’s green backlash grows, Poland tells different story

As the backlash against laws protecting nature intensifies across Europe, public pressure has helped push forests centre stage in Poland

Amazon nations to tackle rainforest crime together in donor-funded new office

The $1.8 million Centre for International Police Cooperation will be built in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus and funded by the Norwegian-backed Amazon Fund

Germany and US warn Brazil against using Amazon Fund to pave rainforest road

The Brazilian government wants to tap forest protection funds to pave a major highway. Western donors say that goes against the fund’s rules.

Shades of green hydrogen: EU demand set to transform Namibia

Backed by the EU, Namibia has a $20 billion plan to export green hydrogen. A secretive tender process raises concerns for nature and citizens.

UK aid cuts leave Malawi vulnerable to droughts and cyclones

After the UK cut short a £52m climate adaptation scheme in Malawi, vulnerable communities saw their livelihoods destroyed by Cyclone Freddy

Forests, methane, finance: Where are the Cop26 pledges now?

Climate Home analysed how highly-publicised commitments are faring two years on from their announcement

Exposed: carbon offsets linked to high forest loss still on sale

Project owners in Cambodia and Brazil are selling carbon offsets to Uber, Marathon and ArcelorMittal despite an uptick in deforestation

Brazilian government eyes money from Amazon Fund for controversial road

Brazil’s transport ministry plans to bid for money from the Amazon Fund to pave the world’s “most sustainable highway”

Land

Agriculture

Sugar rush: how farmers spurred India’s G20 biofuels alliance

Nineteen countries signed up to an India-led alliance this month to boost production of biofuels, but experts raise sustainability concerns

Soy, beef and gold gangsters: Why Bolivia and Venezuela won’t protect the Amazon

Bolivia wants to chop down trees to grow soy, beef and palm oil while Venezuela is unwilling or unable to restrain illegal gold mining

Multilateral banks’ investments in industrial livestock undermine their Paris climate commitments

Public money should stop flowing towards the expansion of animal agriculture, which is responsible for a fifth of the world’s emissions

World Bank body delays vote on controversial loan to Brazilian dairy firm

Campaigners say the $32m loan to dairy firm Alvoar Lacteos could damage forests in Brazil

Revealed: How Shell cashed in on dubious carbon offsets from Chinese rice paddies

Shell’s rice farming offset projects are under review. Climate Home found them riddled with accounting loopholes and questionable integrity claims.

Cost of a KitKat: Big brands leave sugar farmers at the mercy of climate extremes

Nestlé, Coca Cola and Pepsi are among the buyers from Nanglamal Sugar Complex, which smallholders say gives no help with climate resilience

India’s female cane cutters face child marriage and hysterectomy

Women and girls in India’s sugar fields are exposed to sexual harassment, backbreaking work and inadequate healthcare

Migrant labourers suffer exploitation in India’s sugar fields

Millions of people migrate each year to work in India’s sugar fields under extreme heat, harsh conditions and debt bondage

Agriculture

Biodiversity

Nature fund launched but financing questions remain

The new fund aims to be the primary tool to implement the Kunming-Montreal deal and deliver $200 billion a year to nature protection initiatives

Indonesia falls short on peatland restoration, risking destructive fire season

Data from the Indonesian government suggests efforts to restore peatlands, a key part of the country’s climate strategy, do not match government claims.

Amazon nations fail to agree on deforestation goal at summit

Eight South American nations agreed on a list of joint actions to protect the Amazon rainforest, but failed to mention a long-awaited target to halt deforestation.

UN deep-sea mining talks deadlocked over agenda clash

A dozen countries want to officially debate for the first time in history the possibility to halt deep-sea mining, but have faced opposition from China and the island-nation of Nauru.

Pressure grows on governments and banks to stop supporting Amazon oil and gas 

An upcoming summit on protecting the Amazon has become the focus of a Indigenous and civil society-led campaign to set up an exclusion zone for fossil fuels

‘Historic milestone’: Ecuador nears vote to keep Amazon oil in the ground

Experts consulted by Climate Home News suggested the vote will define Ecuador’s economic model for the future.

“Green” funds destroy Indonesia’s forests – Climate Weekly

Sign up to get our weekly newsletter straight to your inbox, plus breaking news, investigations and extra bulletins from key events

China and Brazil to cooperate in stopping illegal trade fueling deforestation

Brazil’s president, Lula da Silva, met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping in China and announced new collaborations to control illegal deforestation.

Biodiversity

Forests

Kenyan president William Ruto courts logging controversy

Known internationally as one of Africa’s climate champions, President Ruto faces a legal challenge over plans to restart commercial forestry

Dis-united States of the Amazon – Climate Weekly

Sign up to get our weekly newsletter straight to your inbox, plus breaking news, investigations and extra bulletins from key events

Amazon nations decry EU deforestation rules in thinly-veiled joint condemnation

The Belem Declaration echoes growing discontent with a new law prohibiting firms from importing goods linked to deforestation

FSC’s rehab scheme for forest destroyers under fire after fresh allegations

Indonesian pulp and paper giants are trying to rehabilitate themselves with the FSC despite continued accusations of deforestation in their supply chains

Biden promises to “work with Congress” to fund Amazon protection

With Jair Bolsonaro out of power, one obstacle to US funding for Amazon rainforest protection has gone – but Republicans in Congress could still block funding.

France seeks EU loophole for French Guiana to power space sector with biofuels

Campaigners have warned the exemption risks setting an incentive for increased logging in Europe’s corner of the Amazon forest.

Brazil launches first raids against Amazon tree-cutters under Lula’s new government

Brazil’s new government is already having an impact on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, an environmental enforcement agent claimed

Lula revives $1 billion Amazon Fund and environmental protections

On his first day in office as Brazil’s president, Lula da Silva signed a package of seven executive orders to protect the environment

Forests

Cities

Devastating Beijing floods test China’s ‘sponge cities’

Despite Beijing’s sponge city project, the capital was overwhelmed by recent floods with dozens dying and a new “sponge airport” shut down

Cooling towers, fake snow: What the Beijing Winter Olympics says about climate change

The spectacle of fake snow and an old steel mill’s cooling towers has sparked climate debate among Olympics-watchers

Covid exposes Mexico City’s water access gap between rich and poor

The coronavirus pandemic lays bare the impact of Mexico City’s mounting water crisis on vulnerable households, while gated communities enjoy reliable supplies

It will take more than a few cycle lanes to make green, pandemic-proof cities

The coronavirus lockdown gave a glimpse of what cleaner cities can look like, but as people turn to private cars for safety from infection, pollution could soar

Addis Ababa riverside project gives priority to development over residents

Ethiopia wants $900 million riverside project to be a model of green development – yet one resident says shelters were demolished ‘without warning’

Car boom brings gridlock misery to ‘green and happy’ Bhutan

Bhutan’s growing economy brings growing gridlock – and a potential threat to the country’s vaunted carbon-negative status

Two million in Zimbabwe’s capital have no water as city turns off taps

‘The situation is bad, period’, says spokesman for Harare council, as suburbs go weeks without water and cases of typhoid are reported

Trains deliver emergency water to drought-hit Chennai

Millions of people are experiencing water shortages as Chennai’s reservoirs are running dry and other sources of water are dwindling

Cities