Chile








Fossil Fuels

Environment

Environment

Human hair is a water-saving device in Chile, a country that has been hit by drought.

The small mats of hair at the base of the plants help to lock in moisture in orchards in Chile, which have suffered from drought for many years. According to the Matter of Trust Chile Foundation, who makes the mats, the hair is turned into sheets or discs of compostable mulch through mechanical weaving. This reduces direct evaporation of up to 71%, and can save as much as 48% of irrigation. "Hair is interesting. "Hair is very interesting. Maria Salazar, a farmer in Taltal in the arid Antofagasta Region of Chile, said that the hair had helped her get optimum...

Environment

Growing lettuce with fog in Chile's Atacama desert, the world's driest.

Researchers and growers in Chile's Atacama desert, the driest place on earth, are trying to capture moisture from fog to grow lemons and lettuces. They use a net that catches the drops. Near Chanaral, in the Atacama desert, where there are areas that have not seen rain for years, Orlando Rojas told reporters, "We grow hydroponic lettuce completely with fog water." "We've tried other crops and they didn't work, so we tended to do lettuce." Researchers at the UC Atacama Desert Center have launched a web-based mapping tool that allows anyone to see the locations of areas in the country...

Environment

The UN honors South America's camelids as heroes of the high plateau

Llamas and alpacas are being celebrated as the heroes of South America's high plateaus because they have adapted to harsh climates and environments, and their value is cultural, economic, and ecological. Early May, representatives from Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador met in Antofagasta, a city in northern Chile, to celebrate animals and improve management strategies. The meeting was sponsored by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Andres Gonzales, regional officer of Animal Health and Production for the FAO said that these animals were considered heroes because they thrived in harsh environments like the high plateau. They have a natural toughness that...

Environment

The dwindling glaciers are putting the Patagonian Ice Dragon, a resilient insect of Chile, at risk.

The Patagonian Ice Dragon of Chile is a tiny, but mighty insect. It lives in frozen glaciers and feeds on algae and bacteria. It is now an endangered species due to global warming, which is accelerating the loss of glaciers. Maribet Gamboa is a researcher from Chile's UCSC University. She leads a study aimed at conserving the Patagonian dragon, and the glaciers that it lives in. The research is aimed at understanding the Patagonian Dragon and the glacier. Gamboa added that scientists had taken samples of the insect in order to determine the genes which have been adapted to the...

Natural Gas Utilities

Chile fines Italy's Enel $19 million over 2024 power outages

The Chilean government fined Italian electrical energy supplier Enel's regional system $19 million on Wednesday over prolonged power interruptions in 2024. In a statement, the federal government stated it was fining the company over four violations after heavy storms at the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter season last August caused extended power outages, in many cases lasting more than 15 days. Chile's SEC electrical regulator stated the company failed to correctly preserve its facilities, took too long to restore power, stopped working to turn over details to the federal government and did not have an appropriate system to get...

Pollution

Chile's uncommon salt flat fish deals with threat from lithium mining project

At more than 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) above water level, the karachi. swims happily in thick salt flat waters, however residents worry a. future lithium task will threaten this extremeenvironment. fish. The Orestias ascotanensis is a little ray-finned fish that. grows to simply 7.5 centimeters (3 inches), however has actually adjusted to the. Ascotan salt flat's high concentrations of heavy metals and. variable salinity. The salt flat likewise sees high solar radiation and temperature level. variations that reach 26 Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) throughout the day. and below freezing in the evening, according to Marco Mendez, a. teacher at the University...

Electric Utilities

Enel cautious on US photovoltaic panel project, committed to Brazil grids

Italy's Enel has grown mindful on a solar panel project in the United States, however is committed to invest to keep its concessions in Brazil and Chile, the utility's chief executive stated on Monday. Presenting the group's upgraded three-year technique to 2027, Enel's CEO Flavio Cattaneo said the business would push ahead with a strategy to develop a photovoltaic panel factory in Oklahoma only if it discovers a U.S. investor all set to take most of the task. If a U.S. financier does not believes in it, why ought to I do it? Cattaneo stated. The task announced by previous...

Environment

Chile government readying bond to incentivize future preservation

Chile's federal government has actually created a new bond to encourage the South American nation to safeguard nature and guard conservation efforts from future modifications of government, Environment Minister Maisa Rojas stated on Tuesday. The bond structure, developed with Chile's finance ministry, consists of goals for preservation that could lead to financial penalties if they are not satisfied, Rojas told Reuters on the sidelines of the United Nations COP 16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia. It suggests that the country has a dedication due to the fact that we don't. wish to pay charges, Rojas said, adding that future financing....

Environment

Argentina's lithium hunters downsize as EV shift slows

The Argentine salt flats in South America's lithium triangle have been among the busiest websites for endeavors racing to extract the battery metal needed to power the worldwide shift to electrical cars. Now firms are striking the brakes. The worldwide lithium sector from Chile to Zimbabwe is struggling due to costs that have actually slumped over 80% because the start of in 2015 on oversupply and weaker-than-expected EV demand. That's gummed up financing and hit revenue margins at miners both large and little. Reuters interviews with nearly a dozen executives, authorities and experts demonstrate how serious the situation remains in...

Power Markets

Cuba keeps schools closed, workers home during healing from power failure, cyclone

Cuba said on Wednesday it would keep schools closed and inessential workers home through Sunday as the crisisracked Caribbean island nation had a hard time to recover from the collapse of its power grid last Friday and Typhoon Oscar today. The island's far eastern province of Guantanamo was especially hard hit by Oscar, that made landfall as a. classification one typhoon and unleashed more than 15 inches of rain. in some areas. The cyclone was devalued to a tropical storm. before veering north to the Bahamas earlier this week. The storm, combined with an almost extraordinary electrical. grid collapse on...

Environment

Havana, Cuban provinces see power restored; Tropical Storm Oscar leaves 6 dead

Cuba made fast development restoring power to swaths of the Caribbean island nation on Tuesday, both in Havana and distant provinces, even as emergency and grid workers had a hard time to reach areas damaged by Hurricane Oscar. Oscar, which first made landfall near Baracoa as a Classification 1 typhoon, was devalued to a tropical storm, however not previously wreaking havoc across much of eastern Cuba, tearing down powerlines, activating mudslides and flooding rivers. A violent flash flood nearly eliminated the small town of San Antonio del Sur because province early on Monday, killing 6, including a child, authorities stated....

Pollution

Easter Island battles global vortex of plastic waste

Easter Island, the tiny remote speck of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is stuck in an oceanic vortex of plastic. According to community data from Rapa Nui, the island's. regional name, it receives around 50 times more plastic and. microplastic than the coasts of Chile. This is mainly due to. its location in the South Pacific Gyre, which brings in trash. from Australia, South America and fishing vessels. The microplastic we find on the coasts isn't ours, stated. Moiko Pakomio, a marine biologist for the city government,. adding that globally most microplastics originate from fishing. vessels that...

Mining

Mining

SQM, a lithium miner in Chile, has cut 5% of its workforce due to the lackluster price recovery

According to a company spokesperson and a memo sent to employees on Wednesday, the world's second largest lithium miner SQM is laying off up to 5% of their Chilean staff as they struggle with a prolonged slump in global prices. Due to an overproduction of lithium in China, and lower-than-expected demand from electric vehicles the price has fallen nearly 90%. Some miners have been forced to cut jobs and stop expansions due to this. SQM, who missed its first-quarter profit estimate, had previously stated that it expected weak prices throughout the first half of this year. It declined to comment...

Mining

Goldman increases copper price forecast for 2H25 on the basis of tariff-driven supply risk and China demand

Goldman Sachs predicts that copper prices will rise to $9,890 on average per metric ton in the second half 2025, according to a bank note. The bank cited fears of a global shortage of supply due to U.S. Tariffs and increased Chinese activity. The world's biggest economy has imported copper in excess, approximately 400,000 kilotonnes this year. The bank reports that, while the global market has a surplus at the moment, the excess imports are causing concern about a possible shortage of copper in countries outside the U.S. Goldman expects that the Trump administration will impose a 25 percent tariff...

Mining

Fastmarkets predicts that China will surpass Australia by 2026 as the world's largest lithium miner.

Fastmarkets has forecast that China will surpass Australia by the end of next year as the top producer of lithium for battery use. Its market dominance is also expected to increase through 2035, even though many Chinese producers are still unprofitable. These projections highlight Beijing's dominance in the global metals industry. China is the largest miner and refiner of over half the minerals deemed critical by the U.S. Geological Survey. Paul Lusty said, "China has a very specific strategy for developing its mineral resources" on the sidelines at the Fastmarkets Lithium and Battery Raw Materials Conference, held in Las Vegas....

Mineral Resources

Climate Change

Climate Change

Mining and warming waters are threatening Chile's underwater forests

Underwater forests teem with life in the icy waters off Chile's northern coast. Red and green towers of seaweed rise from the ocean floor. They provide food for wildlife and income for the locals, as well as oxygen and carbon for the planet. Scientists believe that these forests have even greater potential for sustainable food, protein and other materials, despite the fact that they are threatened due to human pollution and warming oceans. "They form a band along the coastal edge, which is essentially an armour of protection and biodiversity," said Alejandra González, a marine scientist from the University of...

Climate Change

U.N.: Global temperatures are increasing and melting glaciers around the world.

According to a report by UNESCO released on Friday, glaciers are disappearing more quickly than ever. The last three years saw the greatest loss of mass on record. Michael Zemp of the Switzerland-based World Glacier Monitoring Service said that the 9,000 gigatons (or a quarter of a million tons) of ice lost by glaciers since 1975 is roughly equivalent to an ice block as large as Germany and with a thickness of 25 meters. This was revealed at a Geneva press conference to announce the report. Climate change caused by fossil fuels will likely cause global temperatures to rise, accelerating...

Climate Change

Chile orders Lundin copper mine to close after massive sinkhole

The environmental regulator of Chile said that Canadian mining company Lundin will have to permanently close the Alcaparrosa Copper Mine in Chile after a sinkhole opened up near the mine in 2022. Lundin had stopped work on the site when a sinkhole of more than 60 meters in depth opened up in the Tierra Amarilla Village in northern Chile. However, it had pushed for the restarting of mining at Alcaparrosa. The SMA regulator in Chile said that they had determined that Lundin is responsible for the sinkhole and that the company must close the mine. They also fined the company...

Climate Change

Back from the edge of extinction, Chilean frogs start journey home

storyp1> SANTIAGO, Oct 17 (Reuters) Sandwiched between wet towels in temperaturemonitored containers, a dozen seriously threatened Loa water frogs were flown from Santiago to Calama previously this month, the initial step conservationists have actually required to return the amphibians to their natural environment in a river that runs through the world's driest desert. The frogs were on the verge of termination in 2019 after water extraction from mining, farming and development, worsened by environment modification, annihilated their habitat. Researchers had the ability to save the remaining malnourished and sickly frogs, transferring 60 and carrying 14 to the Parquemet Zoo in...

Pollution

Why are NDCs crucial in international environment talks?

On the planet's struggle to halt and reverse climate modification, nations regularly report on their strategies and development in lowering national levels of planetwarming carbon emissions. These strategies are called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs for brief. WHAT IS AN NDC? A nation's NDC explains its national policies or decisions toward reaching net-zero emissions, and was upgraded every five years until delegates at the 2021 U.N. climate top, COP26, in Glasgow called for more regular updates every couple of years. Altogether, these reports help nations collaborate their environment policies action with one another. More right away, they can tell us...

Climate Change

Rocket scientists build robot probes to gauge melting below Antarctica ice shelf

Engineers who specialize in building NASA spacecraft to check out remote worlds are designing a fleet of undersea robotic probes to measure how rapidly environment modification is melting huge ice sheets around Antarctica and what that implies for rising sea levels. A prototype of the submersible automobiles, under advancement by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab near Los Angeles, was evaluated from a U.S. Navy laboratory camp in the Arctic, where it was released beneath the frozen Beaufort Sea north of Alaska in March. These robotics are a platform to bring science instruments to the hardest-to-reach places on Earth, Paul Glick, a...

Climate Change

Chile's capital sees first rainless July on record

Not a single drop of rain fell in Santiago or Chile's metropolitan area this July for the very first time considering that records have been kept. Alicia Moya, a meteorologist for Chile's government, said that several meteorological stations across the metropolitan area had actually registered no millimeters of rainfall and others around the nation had actually registered record-low readings. This hasn't occurred since the 1950s, which is when we have records, Moya said, adding that the unusually dry July is unusual throughout the austral winter. Chile has actually been suffering a destructive dry spell for more than a years and...

Pollution

Chile's Humboldt penguins could face termination as population plummets

The Humboldt penguin population has actually significantly decreased in locations along the main coast of Chile, making them among the most vulnerable of the world's 18 penguin species and putting them at risk of termination, specialists caution. Last year, scientists surveyed 2 islands off the central Chilean coast and found 842 breeding pairs or active nests. This year they found simply one reproducing set. Paulina Arce, a vet who specializes in penguins, says that penguin populations in all islands surveyed reduced or stayed the very same. This could result in a lot more drastic situation, which might be the extinction...

Climate Change

Chile's capital deals with fiercest cold snap in decades

Chileans are wrapping with more clothing and clutching cups of hot coffee as the nation deals with the most intense cold wave in nearly 70 years, bringing winter season weather condition in the middle of fall. Given that 1950, that is, in the last 74 years, we had actually not had a. cold wave as intense as the current one in May, climatologist. at the University of Santiago, Raul Cordero, told . So we remain in the presence of the longest cold wave ever. taped in the capital, a minimum of considering that 1950 for fall. For Thursday, the meteorological...

Climate Change

South America weather professionals see La Nina, El Nino frequency rising

The environment phenomena known as El Nino and La Nina, which bring waves of heat, cold, rain or drought, will be more regular and extreme in coming years, after South America suffered the most extreme El Nino in decades, weather professionals said on Thursday. According to the Ecuador-based International Center for Research study on the El Nino Phenomenon (CIIFEN) and the Peruvian meteorology and hydrology company SENAMHI, the current El Nino was among the 5 greatest because 1950. The pattern has actually changed a lot, stated Yolanda Gonzalez Hernandez, director of CIIFEN, at a press conference after a. meeting of...

Climate Change

Latin America need to brace as El Nino flips to La Nina, specialists caution

Latin American countries must be on high alert as the weather condition phenomenon called El Nino rapidly switch to La Nina, experts stated on Thursday, leaving populations and crops little time to recuperate. El Nino and its plentiful rains could quickly turn into dry spells caused by La Nina along with an extreme cyclone season across South America, specialists said at a panel arranged by the United Countries' Food and Farming Organization (FAO). The full weather condition pattern including El Nino, La Nina and a. neutral phase typically lasts in between two to seven years. However. professionals stated that the...

Energy Markets

Yellen vows to work for closer ties, work on green energy in visit to Chile

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday highlighted the United States' keen interest in deepening ties with Chile, a key manufacturer of copper and lithium, as both allies work to address climate change and speed up the energy shift. Yellen kicked off a visit to Chile with remarks at a green energy roundtable, where she hailed President Joe Biden's. landmark Inflation Reduction Act. The act provides tax credits for. electrical cars, photovoltaic panels and other renewable energy. items made from metals extracted in the United States or. nations with U.S. free trade deals - consisting of Chile. The United States...