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☆ Replanting the Amazon could slow global warming. Here’s why it’s hard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +24 min

Milton da Costa Junior nosed his pickup through a remote stretch of the western Brazilian Amazon to check on his babies. Local authorities said the September 2021 incident, which Da Costa outlined in a police report that was reviewed by Reuters, is being investigated. Out of dozens of reforestation initiatives in the country, Rioterra and The Black Jaguar Foundation, a Brazilian-European group, are among the largest. Illegal invaders destroy in hours what it takes Rioterra or Black Jaguar a year to plant. In all, Black Jaguar has signed contracts with 26 farms and planted 326 hectares (806 acres) to date.

Persons: Milton da Costa, Da Costa, Carlos Nobre, Alexis Bastos, Rioterra, ”, Nobre, “, Bastos, Jamari, Dejesus Aparecido Ramos, it’s, ” Bastos, Jair Bolsonaro, Germany –, Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Black, Ben Valks, Valks, Leandro Silveira, Silveira, São, ” Valks, aren’t, Cristina Banks, Leite, Marcos Mariani, Araguaia, Mariani, Tânia Irres, ” Irres, Regina Molke, I’ll, Clovis, Black Jaguar, Aquaverde, Renato Franklin, “ Ben, ” Franklin, L’Oreal, da Costa, ” Da Costa, da, Spring, Clare Trainor, Catherine Tai, Lais Morais, Ilan Rubens, Lucy Ha, John Emerson, Marla Dickerson Organizations: Milton da Costa Junior, Toyota, Reuters, Black Jaguar Foundation, National Institute for Space Research, Rioterra, Cultural, Environmental Studies, Petrobras, “, Amazon Fund, Environment Ministry, United, United Arab Emirates, São Paulo, Global, Farmers, Brazil’s Central Bank, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, Imperial College London, Santana, Bolsonaro, United Nations, Space Agency, Copernicus, Sentinel Locations: Machadinho, Rondônia, Brazil, Germany, Brazilian, European, Manhattan, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Bastos, Porto Velho, droves, Rio, Black, Itapuã, Oeste, Norway, United Arab, Pará, Caixa, “, Costa, Syria, Paris, Santana, Araguaia’s, Clovis, Regina, United States, South, Geneva, Rio Preto, da Costa

☆ Podcast: Inside the race to replant the Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Listen to Jake Spring’s special report on replanting the Amazon with host Kim Vinnell. As the climate clock ticks down, it's fallen to non-profits to restore vast portions of Brazil's decimated Amazon Rainforest. But they're battling illegal land grabs, tight budgets, and some botanical mysteries. Further ReadingReplanting the Amazon could help save the world’s climate. Here’s why it’s so hard to doThe Amazon’s little tipping pointsAmazon rainforest: jungle labOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jake Spring’s, Kim Vinnell, it's Organizations: Apple, Google, Reuters, Amazon, Thomson

[1/3] John Kerry, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, talks with Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva during a meeting in Brasilia, Brazil February 28, 2023. Lula and U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to work together on climate change in a meeting at the White House earlier this month. Protecting the Amazon is vital to curbing climate change because of the vast quantity of greenhouse gas its trees absorb. He said that the United States was still considering how much to give to the Amazon Fund. Silva said she discussed with Kerry the possibility of opening up the United States to more sustainable sourced products from Brazil.

The sharp contrast with Bolsonaro, who criticized environmental agents, was a relief to some scientists concerned that the retreating Amazon rainforest may be near a point of no return. Ibama's staffing and resources expanded in Lula's 2003-2010 presidency, when he managed to reduce Amazon deforestation by 72%. Rodrigo Agostinho, whom Lula tapped to run Ibama, told Reuters in an interview that the agency now has about 350 active field agents for all of Brazil. That is less than half what it had at the start of Bolsonaro's term and well below the 2,000 field agents at the peak of its powers, he added. Sidelining Ibama, Bolsonaro deployed the military to protect the Amazon, but their inexperience in conservation failed to lower deforestation while running up a massive bill.

Reuters exclusively accompanied raids led by environmental agency Ibama in the rainforest state of Para to stop loggers and ranchers illegally clearing the forest. The agency has also launched raids this week in the states of Roraima and Acre, Ibama environmental enforcement coordinator Tatiane Leite said. Lula on the campaign trail last year pledged to put Ibama back in charge of combating deforestation with beefed-up funding and personnel. But Ibama agents told Reuters that they already felt more empowered by Lula announcing environmental protection as a top priority. His government instituted a gag order forbidding Ibama agents from speaking to the press, which agents say has already been reversed under Lula.

MONTREAL/BOGOTA Dec 16 (Reuters) - Latin America is drawing early investment for jet fuel produced from materials like forest residues and palm oil as emission-conscious airlines scour emerging markets for less-polluting fuel to power flights, industry executives say. While most sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is produced in the United States, Europe, and Singapore, Latin America is emerging as a budding market. "Latin America right now is really a hot spot for Honeywell." Producing and distributing SAF in regions with faster-growing traffic like Latin America is key to meeting industry targets, said Landon Loomis, Latin America president for U.S. planemaker Boeing (BA.N). And Vibra Energia (VBBR3.SA) is working with Brasil BioFuels (BBF) to produce palm oil-based jet fuel in 2025.

REUTERS/Amanda PerobelliSAO PAULO/MONTREAL, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado savanna rose to a seven-year high, government data showed on Wednesday, destroying a vital habitat for threatened species and releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Destruction of native vegetation rose 25% to 10,689 square kilometers (4,127 square miles) – an area larger than Lebanon. Brazil's official deforestation statistics run from August to July to minimize clouds obscuring the destruction. The Cerrado, the world's most species-rich savanna, has given way to Brazil's expanding agricultural frontier for decades. "We need COP15 negotiators to prioritise ending deforestation and conversion in areas where the yearly rate of ecosystem losses prove alarming, like the Cerrado."

Brazil has yet to publish its official annual figures for Cerrado deforestation, based on satellite analysis by the government's space research agency Inpe. The Cerrado neighbors the Amazon, occupying more than 2 million square kilometers in central Brazil – larger than Mexico. FARM-DRIVEN DEFORESTATIONThe Brazilian savanna is now a major concern for top grains traders, who have broadly pledged to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2025. The sources discussed Cerrado deforestation data from Brazil's PRODES program, which produces annual data that is far more accurate than rapid alert data published on a weekly and monthly basis. An Inpe official said earlier this year that Brazil would soon stop publishing PRODES Cerrado data due to lack of funding.

☆ China's CATL to provide EV batteries for Honda starting in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] People walk past the R&D centre of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) in Ningde, Fujian province, China, December 16, 2016. REUTERS/Jake Spring/File PhotoTOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said on Thursday that Chinese battery giant CATL (300750.SZ) would supply batteries for seven years for its electric vehicles (EV) in China. The Japanese automaker said the Chinese firm would provide 123 GWh worth of batteries starting in 2024 through 2030 for the Honda's e:N Series. Honda said at that time it would launch its first EV with a CATL battery in China in 2022 and would expand the partnership with stable EV battery supply globally in the future. It unveiled the second model of its new China-only EV lineup in November as part of its effort to roll out the e:N Series.

While indigenous groups account for about 5% of the world's population, their lands safeguard about 80% of Earth's remaining plant and animal species, according to the World Bank. Indigenous groups have a range of concerns about the U.N. summit negotiations. Some critics worry that the 30-by-30 target could be used to erode indigenous rights under the guise of conservation. Others, like Tuxa of Brazil and Ngomo of Congo argue that a 30% conservation target does not go far enough to ensure nature's protection. Adopting a 30% target at the national level could backfire, Tuxa said, in suggesting Brazil can open more land to development.

The deal to create a "loss and damage" fund was hailed as a breakthrough for developing country negotiators at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt, overcoming years of resistance from wealthy nations in European Union and United States. Morgan, along with Chile's environment minister, led the working group that came up with the U.N. deal on loss and damage. The fund was created on the principle that rich, industrialized nations that are responsible for most of the world's greenhouse emissions should pay developing countries for the damage caused to the climate. But Morgan said the fund needed to go beyond public money from industrialized countries to find innovative funding sources. Climate Envoy John Kerry told Reuters that the United States consulted with COP27 host Egypt and the United Nations on loss and damage, proposing that the fund be created in 2023 rather than 2024.

REUTERS/Rebecca Naden/File PhotoMONTREAL, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Countries are gathering Tuesday for a key U.N. nature conference in Montreal, aiming to broker a new global agreement to protect what's left of Earth's wildlife and natural spaces. Global Land Outlook assessment. Like many other campaigners, Zabey called for "an ambitious, clear and enforceable international agreement" similar to the Paris Agreement on climate change. Unlike the U.N. climate talks, Montreal's summit will see few world leaders, which negotiators say could make it tougher to reach an ambitious agreement. Meanwhile, Montreal police have put up a 3-meter (10-foot) fence around the downtown summit venue, Palais des congrès, and are preparing for thousands of student protesters expected to swarm the Montreal's streets to demand a strong deal to protect nature.

BRASILIA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's transition team has held meetings with the soy industry to discuss a new pact to stop deforestation in the Cerrado savanna, modeled on an agreement for the Amazon, a Lula adviser said on Wednesday. In 2006, soy traders voluntarily agreed to stop buying soy from areas deforested in the Amazon after a certain date. Since then, soy farming has expanded rapidly in the Cerrado, where environmental advocates have lobbied for a similar pact. "There are all the pacts that were done in the past - the soy moratorium, the legal wood pact, legal minerals. Minc did not give further details, and the transition team said it was still finalizing its first report to detail Lula's likely future environmental policy.

SAO PAULO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell in the 12 months through July, according to government data released on Wednesday, retreating from a 15-year high under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro. The destruction declined 11% from a year earlier to 11,568 square kilometers (4,466 square miles), according to annual data from Brazilian space research agency Inpe. That was still more Amazon deforestation than any year from 2009 to 2020. Ane Alencar, science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, said that there has been no change in Bolsonaro's policy of weakening environmental agencies to explain the drop in deforestation. Those months will instead be reflected in the first annual PRODES data released under Lula in 2023.

The Amazon Fund, started under leftist Lula's first administration from 2003-2010, bankrolled conservation projects and counts Norway and Germany as its biggest donors. Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro froze the fund, citing unspecified spending irregularities among fund-backed projects run by nongovernmental organizations, without providing evidence. The British embassy said its government was studying the invitation to join the Amazon Fund. Izabella Teixeira, Lula's former environment minister and current climate change adviser, told Reuters she had met with Norwegian and German officials on Monday about restarting the fund. Deforestation soared to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro, who called for more farming and mining in the Amazon region.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Beyond the headlines from the annual U.N. climate conference, progress in advancing the global climate agenda relies on the behind-the-scenes efforts of technocrats over years. Offsets allow countries or companies to pay others to cut greenhouse gas emissions to make up for their own. But discussions on how to curb those emissions are relatively new within U.N. climate negotiations. The work also deals with food security and the economic impacts of global warming. As the initial mandate expired, countries at COP27 authorised the KJWA work to continue for another four years.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 19 (Reuters) - China's top climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua said on Saturday he expects to continue direct cooperation on climate change with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry after the COP27 summit taking place in Egypt comes to a close. China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden had agreed to restart cooperation on climate change earlier this week after a months-long hiatus due to tensions over Taiwan. "(It) satisfies developing countries' requirement and represents major progress," Xie said about the inclusion of loss and damage on the official agenda. "The recipient should be developing countries, but it should go to those that need it first," he said. "We should all make an effort but not put more burden on developing countries."

[1/5] A general view of the entrance to the Sharm El-Sheikh International Convention Centre grounds, during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 19, 2022. Kunal Satyarthi, a negotiator for India, said he thought the loss and damage deal would "certainly" pass, and thanked other countries for their flexibility. Norway's climate minister, Espen Barth Eide, meanwhile, said his country was happy with the agreement to create a loss and damage fund. But the possible breakthrough on loss and damage was significant, and "I don't think that should be lost in the mix," he said. For daily comprehensive coverage on COP27 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

Brazil's 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro set the stage for all major international environmental agreements since, with the signing of U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is aimed at preventing extreme climate change and was the foundation of the COP meetings. He said Lula would turn around Brazil's environmental policies "180 degrees" from those of Bolsonaro. Lula won office last month over Bolsonaro, who appointed climate skeptics as ministers and saw deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest spike to a 15-year high. On Thursday, Lula will meet with civil society and indigenous groups, as well as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

☆ COP27:Brazil's Lula says Amazon rainforest vital to global climate security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said climate change will have the highest profile in his government, and that he will prioritize efforts to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. "There is no climate security for the world without a protected Amazon," said Lula in a speech at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. "We will do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation and the degradation of our biomes." Lula said he believed the struggle against global warming was also inseparable from the struggle against poverty. Reporting by Jake Spring, William James and Gloria Dickie; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Lula's team also worked to secure a jungle conservation alliance announced on Monday between the three largest rainforest nations - Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That includes pushing for rich nations with high greenhouse gas emissions to pay poor nations for historic damage the climate. Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said Lula's election would allow for renewed regional cooperation among Amazon rainforest nations to tackle deforestation, a major contributor to climate change. Lula environmental advisor Izabella Teixeira said she felt the mood about Brazil has shifted at COP27 from previous summits. "When I come to COP and meet people after the election of President Lula, there is hope," she said.

An EU official said Lula would also meet on Wednesday with EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans. Last month, Lula defeated right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who oversaw mounting destruction of the Amazon rainforest and refused to host the 2019 climate summit originally planned for Brazil. His team also worked to secure a jungle conservation alliance announced on Monday between the three largest rainforest nations - Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. They said other countries know Brazil will soon have a Lula government that has promised to take the issue more seriously than Bolsonaro, a climate change sceptic. Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said Lula's election would allow renewed regional cooperation among Amazon rainforest nations to tackle deforestation, a major contributor to climate change.

4 U.S. soy state by planted acres, which ships about 70% of its harvest of the high-protein oilseed to China annually. Instead, the new facilities will be able to process half of the state's soy harvest into oil for biofuel and meal for livestock feed. The crush plant will draw soybeans from farmers 60 miles in each direction, said Mike Keller, vice president with ADM. EXPORT EXPANSIONU.S. grain exports have been reaching global buyers for decades via Gulf Coast and Pacific Northwest terminals. U.S. soybean farmers and industry groups pledged an additional $1.3 million to help offset design and development costs.

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Anshuman DagaMarkets have got all excited after last week's rip-roaring rally in global equities, a big tumble in U.S. Treasury yields and a bruising sell-off in the mighty dollar. But don't pop the champagne just yet. While U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected in October, pushing the annual increase below 8% for the first time in eight months, Waller said the markets shouldn't get carried away over just one "data point." This week, U.S. retail sales will dominate the data calendar, while markets will also pay attention to euro zone flash Q3 GDP estimates. In the crypto world, after Friday's shocking collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Bahamas authorities said they were scrutinising the demise of the exchange, co-founded by 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried.

Reuters reported in August that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, elected as Brazil's president at the end of October, would seek a partnership with the two other leading rainforest nations to pressure the rich world to finance forest conservation. The rapid destruction of rainforests, which through their dense vegetation serve as carbon sinks, releases planet-warming carbon dioxide, imperiling global climate targets. "South-to-south cooperation - Brazil, Indonesia, DRC - is very natural," the Democratic Republic of Congo's Environment Minister Eve Bazaiba said prior to the signing. In the agreement, the alliance said that countries should be paid for reducing deforestation and maintaining forests as carbon sinks. Talks on the alliance to protect rainforest until now had foundered due to "institutional difficulties," Teixeira said.

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