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Welcome to Carbon Brief’s Cropped.
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.

Key developments

COP29 skirts nature

BIODIVERSITY BLANK: Despite taking place just days after a major UN biodiversity summit, the COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, produced few new commitments on food, forests, land and nature. Countries negotiated a new text “reaffirming” the “importance of conserving, protecting and restoring nature”. However, countries failed to adopt this document during COP29’s chaotic final plenary session. The COP29 presidency also organised a “high level” event on a new “Rio trio” initiative, which seeks to strengthen ties between the UN Rio conventions on climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification. But many of the event’s speakers failed to show up, as the event coincided with the start of the endgame in the negotiations.

CARBON MARKETS: Elsewhere at COP29, countries did manage to find agreement on the remaining sections of Article 6 on carbon markets, meaning all elements of the Paris Agreement have now been finalised – nearly 10 years after it was signed. The COP29 presidency hailed the agreement as a “breakthrough” that “achieves full operationalisation of Article 6”, a COP “win” that it pushed from day one of the two-week talks. Observers, however, raised concerns that the agreed rules may not do enough to ensure that past issues with carbon offsets, including human rights violations and a failure to meaningfully cut emissions, are not repeated. Read Carbon Brief’s summary of all the key takeaways for food, land, forests and nature at COP29.

CIAO, COP16: Following an abrupt end in November triggered by negotiators needing to catch flights home, the COP16 biodiversity summit will resume for a three-day session in Rome in February 2025, the Convention on Biological Diversity has confirmed. Countries will aim to agree to the remaining items on COP16’s agenda, which include a monitoring framework for tracking progress on tackling biodiversity loss, a plan for reviewing progress at future COPs and – most contentiously – the issue of developed nations mobilising enough funds to help developing countries protect nature. Carbon Brief has tracked where countries stand on these issues in an interactive grid.

Historic climate case

CLIMATE CASE: A historic legal case on who bears responsibility for climate change has begun at the UN international court of justice (ICJ) at the Hague in the Netherlands. The Guardian reported that the case “is the culmination of years of campaigning by a group of Pacific island law students and diplomacy spearheaded by Vanuatu”, an island nation at risk of losing land from sea level rise. In 2025, it will deliver a verdict on “on what obligations states have to tackle climate change and what the legal consequences could be if they fail to do so”, it added.

‘BIGGEST IN HISTORY’:  Over the next two weeks, the court will hear statements from 98 countries, including small island nations and least-developed countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, as well as large historical emitters, the Guardian said. The participation of so many countries means “we can safely say that this is the biggest case in human history”, Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, legal counsel for Vanuatu’s ICJ case and international lawyer at Blue Ocean Law, told Justice Info, an international-law news site.

‘MORAL WEIGHT’: Justice Info added that ICJ opinions are non-binding, but “do carry legal and moral weight, often taken into account by national courts”. However, “there are difficulties in dealing with states such as China, who never accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the court, or the US who withdrew from it”, according to the outlet. As part of the advisory opinion process, the court is publishing written statements from countries, which include nations’ views on who should take responsibility for climate change and personal testimonies from those most affected. 

Spotlight

‘Land’ COP underway

This week, Carbon Brief looks at what is on the agenda for the “largest ever” UN land conference that is underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In a “triple COP” year, few expected the desertification COP to receive as much attention as its higher-profile climate and biodiversity cousins. In fact, getting international and regional media to engage with the lesser-known Rio treaty – the 30-year old UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) – is one of the actual objectives of the talks that began in Riyadh on Monday.

The headline numbers are stark.

According to the UNCCD’s own estimates, 1.2 billion people and 1.5bn hectares of land are affected by degradation, with another 100m hectares of land degrading each year. 

A new report looking at land use through the lens of “planetary boundaries” found that “a third of humanity now lives in drylands, which include three-quarters of Africa”. It added that unsustainable agricultural practices are the “main culprit” of degradation. And a newly released world drought atlas presents an even starker – but complex – picture of the state of the world’s land. 

Gaining prominence

With all this daunting research placed before its delegates, the two-week Riyadh COP marks a small series of firsts. According to the UN, it is the largest land conference ever and the first to be held in the Middle East and North Africa region, “which knows first-hand the impacts of desertification”. 

Mirroring what has become the norm in other COPs, it is also the first time that the conference has a separate “action agenda” for leaders to announce voluntary commitments on thematic days, in addition to the official, negotiated decisions.

Interestingly, the “land COP” has drawn several leaders and ministers to Riyadh who gave Cali and Baku a miss.

Fresh from steering his party to an election win in the drought-prone state of Maharashtra, India’s climate minister Bhupender Yadav hailed India’s “proactive drought strategy”, reiterated a 26m-hectare land restoration pledge and support for the G20’s trillion trees initiative. 

Aside from high-profile ministerial discussions, delegates will have to undertake a midterm review of actions over 2018-30 and agree on what is holding back countries from implementing the drought convention.

Resources required

Finding resources to build drought resilience remains the running theme in Riyadh. 

On Monday, the UNCCD’s executive secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw, quantified the cost of “restoring the world’s degraded land and holding back its deserts” for the first time, calling for “at least $2.6tn” in investment by the end of the decade, according to Reuters. Thiaw also drew attention to the fact that the world spends as much on harmful subsidies each year, Earth Negotiations Bulletin reported.

Mohlago Flora Mokgohloa, South Africa’s deputy director general of biodiversity and conservation outlined her delegation’s key negotiation priorities to Carbon Brief. She said:

“The African position is ensuring we come out with an ambitious decision on drought, which is deciding on a drought protocol. This is one convention that does not have a protocol, so it does not have an implementation mechanism.”

A protocol is a legally-binding instrument that interprets a treaty and can establish additional rights and obligations. A drought management protocol, for instance, could set up clear obligations for who should pay for restoration and could link the UNCCD to climate and biodiversity conventions.

Mokgohloa told Carbon Brief:

“We are also saying that a decision on a protocol must also come with a discussion around how it’s going to be financed, because that affects all of us, and we can’t just say ‘let’s decide on the money after’. The 54 countries of Africa are not moving on our position.”

News and views

IRA-TE FARMERS: US farmers “are urging the White House to crack down on Chinese imports of used cooking oil”, the Financial Times reported. The country’s farmers “invested in green fuel crops such as corn, camelina and soybeans” based on an expected surge in demand for low-carbon fuels after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed, the story said. However, it points out that the IRA’s rules “have not been finalised” and the law – which does not limit incentives just to domestic farmers – “may be scrapped by Donald Trump’s incoming administration”. Meanwhile, used cooking oil imports from China “have reached record highs”, driving fears that imports could “undercut” tax credits to US farmers even before they take effect in January, according to the story.

SHOOTS, NOT BOMBS: At the recent G20 summit in Rio, Mexico’s president Dr Claudia Sheinbaum proposed “dedicating 1% of the military annual budgets of the world’s biggest economies” towards global reforestation efforts, Mongabay reported. If successful, the programme could reforest 15m hectares of land “across the globe”, according to the story. Sheinbaum also “plans to continue” the country’s existing Sembrano Vida (planting life) programme, which incentivises farmers to protect trees, it added. While that programme has “reforested 1.1bn trees” since 2018, it is currently mired in “serious allegations of corruption, labour threats and data manipulation”, a column in El Siglo De Durango pointed out.

GAZA FOOD CRISIS: Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed more than 90% of cattle and destroyed 70% of cropland, a UN analysis of satellite imagery has found, according to the Guardian. More than three-quarters of Gaza’s orchards, known for producing olive oil and fruits, have also been destroyed, the Guardian said. Before the violence started in October last year, 40% of Gaza was covered by farms and food production met around a third of local demand, the newspaper reported. It added that aid officials in Gaza have described the situation in much of Gaza, where more than two-thirds of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, as “apocalyptic”.

‘FRANKENCHICKENS’: Fast food chain KFC has ditched a pledge in the UK to improve its animal welfare by sourcing chicken from slower-growing breeds by 2026, the publication Restaurant reported. Back in 2019, KFC committed to transition away from using so-called “Frankenchickens”, which are bred at an accelerated rate that is linked to a range of health issues, including higher mortality rates, lameness and muscle disease, the publication said. However, speaking at the UK’s egg and poultry industry conference in November, a representative of the fried-chicken giant said the UK’s poultry industry is not yet in a “commercial or operational position” to allow the delivery of such a pledge, according to Restaurant.

AMAZON AT RISK: Several Brazilian states “are trying to rid themselves of rainforest protections, bowing to pressure from cattle ranchers and soybean growers to cut down trees and expand agriculture”, the Associated Press reported. It said that the Acre state unanimously passed a new law allowing the privatisation of almost 900km2 of protected forest, an area the size of New York City. In neighbouring Rondonia state, lawmakers are seeking to annul 11 “conservation units” covering thousands of square kilometres of pristine rainforest, the publication reported. Another Amazonian state, Pará, is pushing a similar initiative, it added. Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, with deforestation accounting for more emissions than any other driver, AP noted.

MISSING MAU: Kenya’s Mau forest, which plays a key role in capturing water for millions of people, experienced a sharp rise in deforestation this year, according to satellite data reported on by Mongabay. The ecosystem, which is one of the largest forests in east Africa and is home to endangered African bush elephants, African golden cats and bongo antelopes, lost a quarter of its tree cover between 1984 and 2020. Forest loss slowed over 2021-22, but has since increased dramatically, according to Global Forest Watch data seen by Mongabay. Separately, Mongabay covered how the Kenyan government has spent years evicting Indigenous Ogiek communities from Mau forest over unfounded claims that they are to blame for deforestation.

Watch, read, listen

‘THE GREAT ABANDONMENT’: A long read in the Guardian looked at “what happens to the land left behind” when people and development are displaced by climate change. 

REIMAGINING BRETTON WOODS: A talk by Dr Nicola Ranger for the Leverhume Centre for Nature Recovery explored how the global financial system can be reformed to address biodiversity loss and climate change.

COLD TURKEY: From meat-free days to making plant-based foods “taste at least as good”, Bloomberg listed strategies to “shift diets at scale away from meat-centric meals”.

‘TOXIC TRADE’: An investigation by SourceMaterial and Data Desk uncovered evidence of European companies shipping high-sulphur car fuels to west Africa, with catastrophic impacts for local people.

New science

  • China’s forests increased in size by 4m hectares a year over 2000-15 and by 2m hectares a year over 2015-22, according to a new Geophysical Research Letters study. The research used high-resolution satellite data to examine how tree cover has changed in the world’s fastest “greening” nation. 
  • A Science Advances study uncovered “compelling evidence” that temperature can affect the immune performance of wild capuchin monkeys. The results “offer insight into how climate change will affect the immune system of wild mammals”.
  • Reducing deforestation pressure and forest fires in the Amazon region “leads to a reduction” in hospitalisation and deaths arising from respiratory health problems, a new study in Communications Earth & Environment found. Researchers estimated a decrease of 678 deaths and almost $6m in savings from hospitalisation costs each year.

In the diary

Cropped is researched and written by Dr Giuliana Viglione, Aruna Chandrasekhar, Daisy Dunne, Orla Dwyer and Yanine Quiroz. Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org

Cropped 20 November 2024: Food at COP29; ‘Big ag’ in Baku; Brazil’s new climate pledge

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20.11.24

Cropped 6 November 2024: COP16 concludes; Recognition for Indigenous peoples; Spain’s farms hit by ‘deadly floods’

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06.11.24

Cropped 30 October 2024: The state of play at COP16

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30.10.24

Cropped 23 October 2024: COP16 kicks off; Water woes; Coral bleaching ‘worst ever’

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23.10.24

The post Cropped 4 December 2024: Climate talks omit nature; Land COP underway; ‘Frankenchickens’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.

Cropped 4 December 2024: Climate talks omit nature; Land COP underway; ‘Frankenchickens’

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Big fishing nations secure last-minute seat to write rules on deep sea conservation

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January 20, 2026

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As a treaty to protect the High Seas entered into force this month with backing from more than 80 countries, major fishing nations China, Japan and Brazil secured a last-minute seat at the table to negotiate the procedural rules, funding and other key issues ahead of the treaty’s first COP.

The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) pact – known as the High Seas Treaty – was agreed in 2023. It is seen as key to achieving a global goal to protect at least 30% of the planet’s ecosystems by 2030, as it lays the legal foundation for creating international marine protected areas (MPAs) in the deep ocean. The high seas encompass two-thirds of the world’s ocean.

Last September, the treaty reached the key threshold of 60 national ratifications needed for it to enter into force – a number that has kept growing and currently stands at 83. In total, 145 countries have signed the pact, which indicates their intention to ratify it. The treaty formally took effect on January 17.

    “In a world of accelerating crises – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – the agreement fills a critical governance gap to secure a resilient and productive ocean for all,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

    Julio Cordano, Chile’s director of environment, climate change and oceans, said the treaty is “one of the most important victories of our time”. He added that the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridge – off the coast of South America in the Pacific – could be one of the first intact biodiversity hotspots to gain protection.

    Scientists have warned the ocean is losing its capacity to act as a carbon sink, as emissions and global temperatures rise. Currently, the ocean traps around 90% of the excess planetary heat building up from global warming. Marine protected areas could become a tool to restore “blue carbon sinks”, by boosting carbon absorption in the seafloor and protecting carbon-trapping organisms such as microalgae.

    Last-minute ratifications

    Countries that have ratified the BBNJ will now be bound by some of its rules, including a key provision requiring countries to carry out environmental impact assessments (EIA) for activities that could have an impact on the deep ocean’s biodiversity, such as fisheries.

    Activities that affect the ocean floor, such as deep-sea mining, will still fall under the jurisdiction of the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

    Nations are still negotiating the rules of the BBNJ’s other provisions, including creating new MPAs and sharing genetic resources from biodiversity in the deep ocean. They will meet in one last negotiating session in late March, ahead of the treaty’s first COP (conference of the parties) set to take place in late 2026 or early 2027.

    China and Japan – which are major fishing nations that operate in deep waters – ratified the BBNJ in December 2025, just as the treaty was about to enter into force. Other top fishing nations on the high seas like South Korea and Spain had already ratified the BBNJ last year.

    Power play: Can a defensive Europe stick with decarbonisation in Davos?

    Tom Pickerell, ocean programme director at the World Resources Institute (WRI), said that while the last-minute ratifications from China, Japan and Brazil were not required for the treaty’s entry into force, they were about high-seas players ensuring they have a “seat at the table”.

    “As major fishing nations and geopolitical powers, these countries recognise that upcoming BBNJ COP negotiations will shape rules affecting critical commercial sectors – from shipping and fisheries to biotechnology – and influence how governments engage with the treaty going forward,” Pickerell told Climate Home News.

    Some major Western countries – including the US, Canada, Germany and the UK – have yet to ratify the treaty and unless they do, they will be left out of drafting its procedural rules. A group of 18 environmental groups urged the UK government to ratify it quickly, saying it would be a “failure of leadership” to miss the BBNJ’s first COP.

    Finalising the rules

    Countries will meet from March 23 to April 2 for the treaty’s last “preparatory commission” (PrepCom) session in New York, which is set to draft a proposal for the treaty’s procedural rules, among them on funding processes and where the secretariat will be hosted – with current offers coming from China in the city of Xiamen, Chile’s Valparaiso and Brussels in Belgium.

    Janine Felson, a diplomat from Belize and co-chair of the “PrepCom”, told journalists in an online briefing “we’re now at a critical stage” because, with the treaty having entered into force, the preparatory commission is “pretty much a definitive moment for the agreement”.

    Felson said countries will meet to “tidy up those rules that are necessary for the conference of the parties to convene” and for states to begin implementation. The first COP will adopt the rules of engagement.

    She noted there are “some contentious issues” on whether the BBNJ should follow the structure of other international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as differing opinions on how prescriptive its procedures should be.

    “While there is this tension on how far can we be held to precedent, there is also recognition that this BBNJ agreement has quite a bit to contribute in enhancing global ocean governance,” she added.

    The post Big fishing nations secure last-minute seat to write rules on deep sea conservation appeared first on Climate Home News.

    Big fishing nations secure last-minute seat to write rules on deep sea conservation

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    Climate Change

    Climate at Davos: Energy security in the geopolitical driving seat 

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    January 20, 2026

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    The annual World Economic Forum got underway on Tuesday in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, providing a snowy stage for government and business leaders to opine on international affairs. With attention focused on the latest crisis – a potential US-European trade war over Greenland – climate change has slid down the agenda.

    Despite this, a number of panels are addressing issues like electric vehicles, energy security and climate science. Keep up with top takeaways from those discussions and other climate news from Davos in our bulletin, which we’ll update throughout the day.

    From oil to electrons – energy security enters a new era

    Energy crises spurred by geopolitical tensions are nothing new – remember the 1970s oil shock spurred by the embargo Arab producers slapped on countries that had supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War, leading to rocketing inflation and huge economic pain.

    But, a Davos panel on energy security heard, the situation has since changed. Oil now accounts for less than 30% of the world’s energy supply, down from more than 50% in 1973. This shift, combined with a supply glut, means oil is taking more of a back seat, according to International Energy Agency boss Fatih Birol.

    Instead, in an “age of electricity” driven by transport and technology, energy diplomacy is more focused on key elements of that supply chain, in the form of critical minerals, natural gas and the security buffer renewables can provide. That requires new thinking, Birol added.

    “Energy and geopolitics were always interwoven but I have never ever seen that the energy security risks are so multiplied,” he said. “Energy security, in my view, should be elevated to the level of national security today.”

    In this context, he noted how many countries are now seeking to generate their own energy as far as possible, including from nuclear and renewables, and when doing energy deals, they are considering not only costs but also whether they can rely on partners in the long-term.

      In the case of Europe – which saw energy prices jump after sanctions on Russian gas imports in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine – energy security rooted in homegrown supply is a top priority, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Davos on Tuesday.

      Outlining the bloc’s “affordable energy action plan” in a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum, she emphasised that Europe is “massively investing in our energy security and independence” with interconnectors and grids based on domestically produced sources of power.

      The EU, she said, is trying to promote nuclear and renewables as much as possible “to bring down prices and cut dependencies; to put an end to price volatility, manipulation and supply shocks,” calling for a faster transition to clean energy.

      “Because homegrown, reliable, resilient and cheaper energy will drive our economic growth and deliver for Europeans and secure our independence,” she added.

      Comment – Power play: Can a defensive Europe stick with decarbonisation in Davos?

      AES boss calls for “more technical talk” on supply chains

      Earlier, the energy security panel tackled the risks related to supply chains for clean energy and electrification, which are being partly fuelled by rising demand from data centres and electric vehicles.

      The minerals and metals that are required for batteries, cables and other components are largely under the control of China, which has invested massively in extracting and processing those materials both at home and overseas. Efforts to boost energy security by breaking dependence on China will continue shaping diplomacy now and in the future, the experts noted.

      Copper – a key raw material for the energy transition – is set for a 70% increase in demand over the next 25 years, said Mike Henry, CEO of mining giant BHP, with remaining deposits now harder to exploit. Prices are on an upward trend, and this offers opportunities for Latin America, a region rich in the metal, he added.

      At ‘Davos of mining’, Saudi Arabia shapes new narrative on minerals

      Andrés Gluski, CEO of AES – which describes itself as “the largest US-based global power company”, generating and selling all kinds of energy to companies – said there is a lack of discussion about supply chains compared with ideological positioning on energy sources.

      Instead he called for “more technical talk” about boosting battery storage to smooth out electricity supply and using existing infrastructure “smarter”. While new nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors are promising, it will be at least a decade before they can be deployed effectively, he noted.

      In the meantime, with electricity demand rising rapidly, the politicisation of the debate around renewables as an energy source “makes no sense whatsoever”, he added.

      The post Climate at Davos: Energy security in the geopolitical driving seat  appeared first on Climate Home News.

      Climate at Davos: Energy security in the geopolitical driving seat 

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      Climate Change

      A Record Wildfire Season Inspires Wyoming to Prepare for an Increasingly Fiery Future

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      January 20, 2026

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      As the Cowboy State faces larger and costlier blazes, scientists warn that the flames could make many of its iconic landscapes unrecognizable within decades.

      By Jake Bolster

      In six generations, Jake Christian’s family had never seen a fire like the one that blazed toward his ranch near Buffalo, Wyoming, late in the summer of 2024. Its flames towered a dozen feet in the air, consuming grassland at a terrifying speed and jumping a four-lane highway on its race northward.

      A Record Wildfire Season Inspires Wyoming to Prepare for an Increasingly Fiery Future

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