?? Brazil champions diversity in green funds
This is an excerpt from the Reuters Sustainable Switch Climate Focus newsletter that goes into the heart of how companies and governments are grappling with climate change, diversity, and human rights. Click here to receive the full newsletter in your inbox.
Hello!
?? Brazil is taking on the fight for sustainable policies as the nation plans to propose social diversity as a global criterion for labeling sustainable investments at the U.N. climate summit it will host this year, despite rising resistance to diversity goals from the United States.
?? Cristina Reis, deputy secretary for sustainable economic development at Brazil's finance ministry, told Reuters that the government is already including racial and gender equality among national standards for classifying investments as sustainable.
?? While some see the return of U.S. President Donald Trump as a setback for Brazil's climate ambitions and global cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the COP30 in November, Reis said the host country is undeterred.
? Speaking of the U.S., the Trump administration has placed on leave over 100 employees who work on environmental justice programs at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is pursuing staff reductions in similar programs at the Department of Justice (DOJ), sources told Reuters.
The EPA had also notified over 1,000 "probationary" employees – who were in the job for less than a year – that they could face immediate termination if they did not make the case for preserving their jobs. Many of those employees worked on climate change programs, one source said.
?? The Trump administration has already suspended all environmental litigation and sidelined senior career section chiefs at the DOJ who oversee the natural resources, environmental enforcement, appellate and environmental crimes sections.
The moves are in line with Trump's broader orders to remove U.S. government support for diversity, equity and inclusion practices within the federal government, as well as to weaken Biden-era climate regulation.
?? On the topic of Biden-era climate regulations, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor in North Dakota threw out a Biden administration rule governing the U.S. environmental review process for infrastructure projects, saying the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacks authority to issue regulations.
Traynor, who was appointed by Trump in his first term in office, sided with 20 Republican-led states who in a lawsuit filed in May argued the council exceeded its authority by adopting a rule that they said would increase project costs and unfairly favor clean energy projects.
?? That 2024 rule sought to streamline analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, a 1969 law that requires environmental reviews for major projects that receive federal permits or funding.
?? And in keeping with clean energy projects, the cost of clean energy technologies worldwide, such as wind, solar and battery storage, are expected to fall further this year, according to a report by BloombergNEF. Click here for a brief explainer on why the costs are falling.
What to Watch
I’m always one to ‘skip ads’ where possible, but during the Super Bowl LIX on February 9, Science Moms, a nonpartisan group of climate scientists who are also moms, will run an emotional ad campaign about climate change.
?? Click here for Reuters exclusive preview of the campaign which sounds the alarm about the climate challenges a child born today will face, and it ends with a call to donate to LA wildfire recovery efforts.
?? Climate Spotlight
?? To wrap things up with today’s spotlight, here’s a much-needed palate cleanser on the work of scientists in Cyprus who have enlisted children to help recycle used cooking oil into biofuel under an initiative that has received international acclaim.
?? The "Tiganokinisi," or frying pan, initiative visits schools in a caravan, performs scientific experiments and encourages children to bring in used cooking oil from their homes that is then collected, filtered and sold on to be used as biodiesel.
The aim is for Cyprus to do its part to tackle a major global problem, which sees millions of litres of used cooking oil thrown away each year, often clogging drains, sparking fires in landfills or contaminating underground water deposits.
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