Environment

Ding Xuexiang, vice premier of China, called on fellow leaders to show "true multiculturalism" at the climate summit held in Brazil. Ding, via a translation, said: "We must strengthen international collaboration in green technology and the industry, remove trade obstacles, and ensure free flow of high-quality green products, to better meet global sustainable development needs." Ding told the official Xinhua News Agency on Friday that the developed countries must fulfill their obligation "to lead in emission reduction and honour their funding commitments", as well as provide more assistance to developing countries. He said that China was willing to work with...

During its current nine-month session, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide on a number of important cases involving presidential powers, trade tariffs, guns, transgender sportspeople, race, campaign financing law, gay "conversion therapies", religious rights, and capital punishment. The Supreme Court's current term runs until the end of June. Here are some of the important cases that will be heard during this time. Separately, the court has also acted in emergency cases in several cases that challenge President Donald Trump's policy. TRUMP TARIFFS During arguments on 5 November, the justices raised questions about the legality Trump's sweeping Tariffs. This...

Vistra Corp forecast adjusted core profit for 2026 higher than the outlook it gave this year. This reflects its confidence in its expanding power generation portfolio, and its strong demand throughout U.S. market. As it expands its gas-fired energy and clean energy capacities, the Texas-based electricity company expects an adjusted EBITDA of between $6,8 billion and $7.6billion in 2026, up from a forecast range for 2025 of $5.7 to $5.9billion. Vistra's Board also approved an extra $1 billion worth of share buybacks. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a surge in AI- and cryptocurrency-based data centers combined with the...

Utility Evergy missed Wall Street's adjusted profit estimates for its third quarter on Thursday and cut the upper end of the adjusted earnings forecast 2025 due to the impact from milder summer weather conditions and higher interest costs. The quarter saw a drop in earnings for utilities like Evergy due to a cooler than normal summer. In a press release, CEO David Campbell stated that while we have implemented cost-saving and mitigation measures across the company, they do not completely offset weather headwinds in the second and third quarters. The high interest rates have made it difficult for utility companies...

Google's biggest deal to remove carbon emissions involves financing the restoration of Amazon rainforests with Brazilian startup Mombak. This comes as big tech searches for high-quality credits that can offset emissions from energy-hungry data centres. Companies said the deal would offset 200 metric tons carbon emissions. This is four times more than a pilot agreement signed in September 2024 between Google and Mombak, its sole supplier of forestry credits. Both companies declined comment on the deal's value. The agreement shows how big tech wants to mitigate the climate impact of its massive investment in data centers that use a lot...

The government revealed in its budget plan for the first budget of Prime Minister Mark Carney that Canada may scrap the cap on oil-and-gas emissions and replace it with other measures, such as industrial carbon pricing or the deployment of technology to capture and store carbon. In the climate plan that was part of the first budget of Prime Minister Mark Carney, it said the cap would be no longer needed because its value would be marginal. The Canada's emission cap is not being enforced by legislation, and it will not take effect before 2030. Canadian oil and natural gas...

The government revealed in its budget plan for the first budget of Prime Minister Mark Carney that Canada may scrap a cap on gas and oil emissions if other initiatives like carbon markets, stronger regulation, and carbon capture and storage technology prove successful. In the climate plan that was part of the first budget of Prime Minister Mark Carney, it said the cap would be no longer needed as its value would be marginal. The Canadian emissions cap is not legally enforced and will not take effect until 2030. However, Canadian oil and natural gas companies have condemned it because...

Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) first Amazonia Bond raised $100 million to combat deforestation, boost local communities and support them, according to its chief. Other countries will follow soon. The coupon rate for the five-year bond is 3.802%. Ilan Goldfajn, President of the IDB, said that the operation is the start of a plan for the IDB to issue bonds up to $1 billion "over time." He added that the Brazilian government has told them they intend to issue similar bonds using the same framework developed by the IDB and the World Bank. Brazil's Treasury said that "studies are underway" to...

The grain traders group Abiove said that the vote of Brazil's Supreme Court, which took place on Monday, recognising legality and effectiveness of the soy-moratorium, a corporate agreement under investigation by Brazil’s antitrust agency, confirms its legitimacy and efficiency. Why it's important The ruling by Supreme Court Justice Flavio DiNo supports a longstanding corporate environment agreement that prohibits soybean traders from purchasing from farmers who cleared land from the Amazon rainforest in July 2008. It also shapes the soy trading in Brazil, which is the world's biggest soybean exporter. CONTEXT The soy ban was intended to reduce deforestation by limiting...

The utility, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, warned Monday that it may face tightened liquidity and could lose its investment grade status after a court accelerated the pace of the trials in Oregon for the wildfires expected to occur during the Labor Day Weekend 2020. PacifiCorp already set aside 2,85 billion dollars, including $100 millions in the third quarter. The company is suing for $55 billion in damages over the burning of 2,000 buildings and 500,000 acres on Oregon and Northern California. Portland, Oregon victims accuse the utility of negligence for failing to turn off power lines in a...

Executives revealed that a climate finance platform, co-founded by MUFG (Japan's largest financial group), has raised $600 million in order to assist countries in developing markets to adapt to climate change impacts and reduce emissions. Bill Gates, a billionaire investor and business leader in Brazil, made the announcement as business leaders gathered ahead of COP30 climate talks. The GAIA Climate Loan Fund will support projects that build resilience in countries as extreme weather events like floods and droughts become more intense. Ariane Pvide, Director of Climate and Blended Finance, MUFG, stated in an emailed comment that "Adaptation Finance has become...

A White House official confirmed that the U.S. would not be sending any high-level officials for the upcoming COP30 Climate Summit in Brazil. This will ease some concerns among world leaders who were worried Washington might send a team of negotiators to sabotage the talks. Brazil will host the high-level leaders summit in Belem, Amazonian City next week. The UN climate talks begin there two weeks later. Earlier this week, the U.S. warned that it would use visa restrictions and sanction to retaliate to nations who voted in favor of a UN shipping agency plan, the International Maritime Organization (IMO),...

The U.N. Climate conference generates hundreds of headlines every year about global efforts to save the world from a climate catastrophe. The conference begins in Belem, a Brazilian rainforest city. What exactly takes place at these annual summits, then? What you should know WHAT IS A COP? The annual Conference is called a COP. This stands for Conference of the Parties who signed the U.N. Climate Treaty of 1992. The U.N. The Framework on Climate Change Convention, or UNFCCC, committed countries to work together to combat climate change. The treaty established the principle "common, but differentiated responsibility", which means that...

Exxon Mobil's CEO Darren Woods stated on Friday that oil and gas would continue to play a crucial role for a very long time. He added that the real question is whether they will be used to fuel vehicles. Woods stated that while future technological advances may see a shift in the way hydrocarbons are burned, they will still be used in other areas, like the medical industry. Woods said that crude oil and hydrocarbons will play a crucial role in everyone's lives for many years to come. Carbon emissions from fossils fuels, such as coal and oil, but also...

Brazil raised $2.25bn on Thursday through a new dollar-bond sale. This was its fourth international market transaction this year. It also included sustainable notes, as the country hosts world leaders at the United Nations Climate Summit. Brazil's Treasury issued a statement saying it had sold $1.5 billion of new sustainable bonds that are due in 2033, and $750 million more through a retap on its benchmark 10-year bond. IFR, a fixed-income news service, was the first to report on these values. Treasury said the 8-year bond was issued with a 5.75% yield, while the 2035 bonds have a yield 6.2%....

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres ripped into nations for failing to limit warming to 1,5 degrees Celsius. Brazil hosted world leaders in Belem, a rainforest city for a summit before the COP30 Climate Conference. Scientists confirm that the world will cross the threshold of 1.5 C around 2030. This could lead to extreme warming and irreversible effects. Guterres stated in his speech that "too many corporations make record profits by destroying the climate, and billions are spent on lobbying, misleading the public, and obstructing advancement." "Too many politicians remain captive to entrenched interests." Subventions for fossil fuels amount to about...

HSBC released a new set of climate targets on Thursday that are softer and more flexible for near-term sectors like oil and gas. This is in response to the slow rate of change in real economy. The targets for the end of the decade follow a review that was announced by British bank earlier this year, when it dropped its goal to reach net-zero emissions in all of its operations by 2030. HSBC is still aiming for its operations, funded by the loan book, to produce zero emissions by 2050. It and other banks who have set similar climate goals...

The world leaders who are gathering in Brazil to discuss climate change are deliberately thousands of miles from the finance and business leaders that they hope will fund the fight against global heating. The executives who have attended the recent U.N. Climate Summits in Baku and Dubai, Sharm el-Sheikh, Glasgow, are now gathered in Sao Paulo's business district, instead of battling for hotel rooms in Belem, the small Amazonian town hosting the summit this year. The Brazilian government has given the green light to finance-focused conferences hosted by third parties. This has attracted thousands of registrants around the globe. The...

Prince William of Britain expressed optimism about the global environmental challenges on Wednesday at an event with a star studded crowd in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate the fifth edition EarthShot Prize. William's visit to Latin America is just a few days before Brazil hosts the UN Climate Summit COP30 in next week. William, who founded the award in 2020 after being inspired by his visit to Namibia, said: "I can understand why some people might be discouraged during these uncertain times." I understand that so much work remains to be done. This is not the time to be complacent....

After a full year of discussions, COP30 hosts Brazil laid out a plan on Wednesday to increase climate finance from $1.3 trillion a years to $1.3 trillion a day. They also faced early signs that the political landscape was becoming more challenging as the Amazonian City of Belem prepared to host world leaders. The document, which is almost 100 pages long, has been dubbed Baku to Belem Roadmap. It was created after months of discussions with various stakeholders following the conclusion of the event held in Azerbaijan last year. As emissions continue to increase, some of the world's poorest nations...

Luiz inacio Lula da Solo, Brazil's president, is still reeling from the aftermath of his country's deadliest police operation. He has been left unable to handle political fallout as he tries to reconcile growing international concern over human rights abuses with public support for an aggressive crackdown on crime. This divide highlights a broader problem facing Lula. He is hoping to be re-elected next year, and has devoted much of his political capital towards an "ecological transform" of Brazil's economic system, capped off by the U.N. Climate Conference COP30, which starts this week. However, most Brazilians seem more concerned with...

A new U.N. study said that record wildfires in combination with rising temperatures could turn vital carbon sinks like forests into carbon emitters. According to a report released by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe ahead of the COP30 Climate Conference in Brazil, forests in Europe, North America and Central Asia have slowed their ability absorb carbon dioxide. It warned that if current trends continue these forests may reach a tipping-point where they start releasing more CO2 than they can absorb. The Paris Agreement targets a reduction of CO2 emissions in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius....

Luiz inacio Lula da Sol was left stunned by the most deadly police operation Brazil has ever seen. He is now trying to deal with the political fallout as he tries to reconcile growing international concern over human rights violations and public support for an aggressive crackdown on crime. This divide highlights a broader problem facing Lula. He is hoping to be re-elected next year, and has devoted much of his political capital towards an "ecological transform" of Brazil's economic system, capped off by the U.N. Climate Conference COP30, which starts this week. However, most Brazilians seem more concerned with...

Brazil's President said that a U.N. Report warning that global carbon emissions are too high to stop global warming has prompted him to declare that the U.N. Climate Change Summit in the Amazon this month will be a COP of Truth and offer real solutions. Despite 30 years of global negotiations, the Paris Agreement of a decade back failed to prevent the world from warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. The United Nations Environment Programme stated on Tuesday that the world is heading for a 2.3 to 2.5degC extreme warming. The forecast is based on the assumption that countries will meet...