Chile to close 8 coal plants by 2024, phase out coal entirely by 2040
The move would slash the share of coal within the electricity grid from 40% to 20% in five years, with a view to phasing out the fuel completely by 2040.
South America
Brazil’s top court votes to make homophobia and transphobia crimes
Six out of 11 judges voted to consider discrimination against gays and transgender people equivalent to racism.
Ecuador Amazon tribe win first victory against oil companies
Ecuador’s Waorani indigenous tribe won their first victory against big oil companies in a ruling that blocks entry onto ancestral lands for oil exploration.
Brazilian couple plant 4 million trees in 20 years to restore a destroyed forest
Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado founded Instituto Terra, a small organization that has since planted 4 million saplings and has brought the forest back from the dead.
11.9 GW of wind capacity installed in the Americas in 2018
Total installed wind capacity in North, Central, and South America increased to 135 gigawatts (GW) in 2018 with the addition of 11.9 GW of new wind capacity, an increase of 12% on 2017.
Iguanas successfully reintroduced to Galapagos island after 200 years
More than 1,400 land iguanas, scientific name Conolophus subcristatus, were taken from the neighboring North Seymour Island and released on Santiago Island between January 3 and 4.
Investor coalition joins manifesto to halt deforestation in the Cerrado region of Brazil
A coalition of investors managing over US$5.6 trillion in assets joined a coalition of more than 70 large food companies in calling for zero deforestation in Brazil’s Cerrado region.
World Health Organization certifies Paraguay malaria-free
The World Health Organization (WHO) certified Paraguay as having eliminated malaria, the first country in the Americas to be granted this status since Cuba in 1973.
Chile set to become first American country to ban plastic bags
In a historic decision, Chile’s House of Representatives voted this Wednesday to ban the usage of plastic bags in all types of shops across the entire territory, making it the only country to prohibit them in the American continent.
Brazil’s solar capacity expected increase by 358% in 2018
Brazil now has 320 MW of distributed solar generation, a sector which grew 270% in 2016, 304% in 2017, and is expected to increase by 358% in 2018.