In a world of higher electricity demand growth, clean electricity is stepping up to the challenge. Spearheaded by exponential solar expansion, clean power is set to grow faster than demand, marking the start of a permanent decline in fossil generation. 2024 both clarified and consolidated the shape of the global …
Intact tropical forests, free from substantial anthropogenic influence, store and sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon but are currently neglected in international climate policy. We show that between 2000 and 2013, direct clearance of intact tropical forest areas accounted for 3.2% of gross carbon emissions from all deforestation across the …
National development banks (NDBs) and development finance institutions – domestically focused, publicly owned financial institutions with a specific development mandate – are poised to play a role in bridging the investment gap for climate-compatible infrastructure in developing countries. But delivering on the Paris Agreement will require NDBs to transition from …
Several viruses from the genus Orthohantavirus are known to cause lethal disease in humans. Sigmodontinae rodents are the main hosts responsible for hantavirus transmission in the tropical forests, savannas, and wetlands of South America. These rodents can shed different hantaviruses, such as the lethal and emerging Araraquara orthohantavirus. Original Source
Brazil’s advanced biofuel industry lags far behind the production capacity of its first-generation biofuel industry. Brazil’s reliance on crop-derived biofuel feedstocks, in conjunction with its vulnerable forests and savannah, presents unique risks to the climate if biofuel industry expansion continues without implementing adequate sustainability measures. This briefing provides an overview …
President Jair Bolsonaro’s nuclear plan is leaving many of his fellow Brazilians distinctly unenthusiastic at the prospect not of pollution alone but also of perceptible risk. A few days ago a procession of men, women and children carrying banners and placards wound its way through the dry parched fields in …
The overall renewable power capacity (excluding small hydropower) in Brazil is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6% from 31GW in 2018 to 60.8GW in 2030. The report titled ‘Brazil Power Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2019 – Market Trends, Regulations, and Competitive Landscape’, which …
Rural regions are often seen as key sources of urban water supply, creating pressure for reallocation and potential hotspots of competition for water between cities and agriculture. How effective and equitable is reallocation from rural to urban regions, and what have we learned from the global experience? This synthesis report …
Fishermen like Jose da Cruz have made their living for decades hunting for crabs among Brazil's vast coastal mangrove forests, dense thickets of twisted plants in deep black mud that grow where fresh-water rivers meet the brackish Atlantic Ocean. Cruz, who is known by the nickname Vampire because of his …
Natural forests store more carbon for longer compared to plantations and agroforestry. The carbon sequestration potential of natural forests is 40 times greater than that of plantations, a new analysis has found. But countries like Brazil, China and Indonesia are relying more on expanding plantations to meet their regreening goals. …
Torrential rains doused Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, killing at least six people and sowing chaos in Brazil’s second largest city, which declared a state of emergency after a storm that the mayor described as “absolutely abnormal.” A woman and her 7-year-old granddaughter were buried in a mudslide as they …
Brazil intends to reduce the size of its environmental policymaking body but does not plan to have it report to a new council controlled by President Jair Bolsonaro as his aides proposed last year, a government minister said on Monday. Environment Minister Ricardo Salles denied an Associated Press report on …
Scientists have unearthed a scandal at the heart of global plans to tackle climate change through tree planting. Forest restoration has long been hailed as a vital tool to combat global warming, as trees are able to suck climate-warming CO2 from the atmosphere and keep it stored. This vital mechanism …
Brazil’s government has resumed studies to build a large hydroelectric power plant in the northern border state Roraima, which currently relies on the shaky Venezuelan grid, officials at state energy planning agency EPE told Reuters. Roraima, the only state not connected to Brazil’s national grid, has faced repeated shortages of …
Independent monitoring of a giant Amazon catfish population in the Madeira River, a major tributary of the Amazon, confirms that two hydroelectric dams have virtually blocked the species’ homing migration upstream — the longest known freshwater fish migration in the world. Research completed in 2018 indicates a serious decline in …
Brazil possesses vast tracts of public lands, especially in the Amazon, which exist in the public domain. Traditional peoples, landless movements, quilombolas (communities established more than a century ago by Afro-Brazilian slave descendants), and other homesteaders have the legal right to lay claim to these lands. It is the job …
Transportation network companies (TNCs), defined as digital applications that match potential riders with drivers in real time, will never substitute for a robust, high-capacity transit network and compact, pedestrian-friendly development in terms of enabling large numbers of people to move efficiently around cities. However, TNCs have been successful at providing …
Norway's $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has pulled out of more than 33 palm oil companies over deforestation risks during the last seven years, a green group said on Thursday. Norway's Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which released its annual report on Wednesday, sold stakes in more …
The 2015-2016 El Niño event brought weather conditions that triggered regional disease outbreaks throughout the world, according to a new NASA study that is the first to comprehensively assess the public health impacts of the major climate event on a global scale. El Niño is an irregularly recurring climate pattern …
Biofuels are an essential renewable energy resource, with 40% (90 exajoules) of renewable energy resources projected to come from biofuel sources by 2050. In order to meet these projected energetic demands, biofuel production must be increased from the current annual biofuel yield of 50 exajoules. Sustainable intensification of pastureland, or …
Brazil's Health Ministry said Tuesday that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 2, the number of registered suspected dengue cases increased by 149 percent year-on-year to 54,777, which means 2.63 out of every 10,000 inhabitants have been infected. According to the ministry, 32,821 of the cases were registered in the southeastern …
