Climate change lawsuits take aim at French bank BNP Paribas

One of Europe’s biggest banks is facing two ambitious new lawsuits that claim it finances some of the worst contributors to environmental destruction and climate change. French bank BNP Paribas is being sued by a group of environmental and human rights advocacy groups that allege it provides financial services to oil and gas companies as […]

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Indonesian palm oil billionaire gets 15 years for corruption

JAKARTA — A court in Indonesia has sentenced palm oil billionaire Surya Darmadi to 15 years in prison for his role in the biggest corruption case in the country’s history. The Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court ruled on Feb. 23 that Surya had conspired with the elected head of Indragiri Hulu district in Sumatra, Raja Thamsir Rachman, […]

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Is El Salvador preparing to reverse its landmark mining ban?

MEXICO CITY — It was considered a major environmental victory, back in 2017, when El Salvador’s government announced it would be the first country in the world to issue a total ban on metal mining. For a half-century, the industry had been dumping waste and toxic chemicals into local rivers. Prioritizing clean drinking water was […]

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Mexico dismantles illegal fishing cartels killing off rare vaquita porpoise

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — Some of the country’s most ambitious and successful wildlife traffickers are now in jail, officials announced. Mexico’s navy confirmed in a press conference that members of cartels dedicated to the trafficking of totoaba have been arrested and put in prison, effectively dismantling some of the main organized crime groups contributing to […]

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Historic EU law against deforestation-linked imports ignores Brazil’s Cerrado

Officials and NGOs have hailed the European Union’s agreement on a law banning the import of commodities associated with deforestation, but say it falls short of protecting areas typically not considered forests yet nevertheless of huge ecological importance. Among the responses to the law are that it’s a “landmark,” “groundbreaking,” “radical,” a “great opportunity” for […]

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Indonesia’s Supreme Court rules President Widodo not liable in 2015 fires

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s Supreme Court has ruled President Joko Widodo not liable in the disastrous fires in 2015 that devastate large swathes of rainforests and peatlands in the country, despite three previous court rulings that found the president liable for the disaster. In 2016, a group of citizens and environmental activists in the province of […]

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In revising its criminal code, Indonesia risks unraveling environmental laws

JAKARTA — An ambitious and long-anticipated plan by Indonesian lawmakers to revise the country’s criminal code, inherited from the Dutch colonial era, could make it much more difficult to prosecute polluting companies, experts warn. The latest draft of the revised penal code, known as the RKUHP, was only recently made publicly available after an uproar […]

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