RESOURCES
The article reports record tropical forest loss in 2024, totaling 6.7 million hectares. For the first time, fires became the main global cause, especially across Latin America, with severe impacts in Brazil and Bolivia. Colombia’s forest loss rose mainly from illegal farming and mining, not fire. The article links the surge to climate change, drought, and weak forest governance, and calls for stronger policies and fire prevention.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers has projected that if the rate of global CO2 emissions continues to increase and reaches a high emission scenario, sea levels would as a result very likely rise between 0.5 and 1.9 meters by 2100. The high end of this projection's range is 90 centimeters higher than the latest United Nations' global projection of 0.6 to 1.0 meters. The method combines multiple existing models and expert judgment to better account for uncertain processes like ice sheet collapse. The article stresses that the wider uncertainty range underscores how critical it is to plan for more extreme sea-level rise
According to a recent IEA report, global investment in the energy sector is expected to reach $3.3 trillion in 2025, up ~2 % from 2024. Of that, $2.2 trillion will go to clean energy (renewables, efficiency, grids, nuclear, low-emissions fuels), while ~$1.1 trillion will target fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). Investment in solar, electrification, and low-emissions technologies is rising rapidly, but grid infrastructure and permitting challenges pose constraints.
Published in October 2022, this report reviews global finance flows for forests and asks whether they’re enough to meet 2030 goals to halt and reverse deforestation. It finds finance for forests is far below what is needed — current funding is less than 1 % of required levels (about USD 2.3 billion/year vs up to USD 460 billion/year required. The report also highlights that many promises and pledges (e.g. from COP26) have not yet materialized in terms of disbursed funds, and that Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities receive a disproportionately small share of finance relative to their needs. It calls for governments, financial institutions, companies, and donors to increase forest-aligned spending, shift finance away from activities that harm forests, improve transparency of pledges vs actual funding, and include Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples in decision-making and funding mechanisms
The global forestry & land use carbon credit market was valued at about USD 25.8 billion in 2024, and is projected to grow to USD 105.2 billion by 2034, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 15.7 %. Global Market Insights Inc. Key growth drivers include rising conservation and biodiversity goals, more reforestation and sustainable land-use projects, increasing consumer awareness, and improving verification via tech like AI, remote sensing, and blockchain. Global Market Insights Inc. The compliance segment (i.e. credits issued due to regulation) dominates (≈ 99.7 % share in 2024), while the voluntary market is smaller but growing.
Global fossil fuel CO₂ emissions that were estimated at 37.4 gigatonnes in 2024 and USA represents 12 percent of global CO₂ emissions
The Global Carbon Budget provides annual data on CO₂ emissions and how they’re absorbed by oceans, land, and the atmosphere. It’s a key resource for tracking progress toward global climate targets and understanding the carbon cycle through detailed datasets and model results.
A 2025 executive order by President Trump directs U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and ends financial commitments under international climate frameworks. It prioritizes U.S. economic interests and mandates agencies to reverse previous climate finance and energy agreements.
Global energy investment is expected to reach USD 3.3 trillion in 2025, with two-thirds going to clean technologies and the rest to fossil fuels. The article highlights growing investment in renewables but notes ongoing bottlenecks in grids and permitting.
In 2024, primary tropical forest loss surged to 6.7 million ha, driven mainly by fires across Latin America. Researchers link this to severe droughts, weak governance, and expanding agricultural fronts, warning of escalating climate and biodiversity impacts.
The assessment finds global forest finance drastically below needs—only a few billion dollars yearly versus the hundreds required. It urges redirecting subsidies, improving transparency, and channeling more funds to local and Indigenous actors to meet forest and climate goals.
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change. Chapter 2, building on prior assessments, provides a global assessment of the observed impacts and projected risks of climate change to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, including their component species and the services they provide to people. Where possible, differences among regions, taxonomic groups and ecosystem types are presented. Adaptation options to reduce risks to ecosystems and people are assessed.
Global carbon dioxide removal rates from forest landscape restoration activities. Biomass accumulation rates for a set of FLR activities (natural regeneration, planted forests and woodlots, agroforestry, and mangrove restoration) across the globe and global CO2 removal rates with corresponding confidence intervals, grouped by FLR activity and region/climate.
The article investigates the Kariba carbon offset project in Zimbabwe, revealing that despite generating over €100 million in carbon credit revenues since 2011, very little of that money has reached local communities; most of it was absorbed in fees, profits, and overheads by developers, brokers, and coordinators. It raises serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and fairness in voluntary carbon markets, highlighting how communities are often promised benefits that never materialize and suggesting systemic issues with how offset projects are regulated and audited.