Forest destruction surged to record highs in 2024 as the effects of climate change supercharged human-made fires in some of the planet’s most critical carbon stores, an annual survey by the World Resources Institute (WRI) found.
The world lost 6.7 million hectares of primary tropical forest last year – nearly twice as much as in 2023 – at a rate of 18 football fields vanishing every minute, said the report based on new data from the University of Maryland.
Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of the Global Forest Watch observatory, said this unprecedented level of forest loss sends a “global red alert”.
“Every country, every bank, every international business continuing down this path will devastate economies, people’s jobs, and any chance of staving off climate change’s worst effects,” she added.
Primary tropical forests – such as the Amazon in Latin America, the Congo Basin and rainforests in Southeast Asia – are critical carbon sinks that help regulate the global climate by absorbing vast amounts of planet-heating CO2.
In 2024, fires were the main cause of forest loss in tropical forests for the first time since WRI’s survey began two decades ago.
Climate-change feedback loop
In areas like the Amazon or the Congo Basin, fires do not occur naturally but are almost entirely caused by humans, usually as a quick way to clear land for agriculture, experts told reporters in a briefing.
But, while those humid ecosystems have historically been able to stop fires from spreading, hotter and drier conditions caused by climate change and the recurring El Niño weather pattern have now made them more flammable.
Comment: Why governments should not hide behind forests to meet their emissions goals
Rod Taylor, director of forests and nature conservation at WRI, said the world has entered a “new phase”.
“It is not just clearing for agriculture that is the main driver [of forest loss],” he explained. “Now we have this new amplifying effect – a real climate-change feedback loop with fires much more intense and much more ferocious than they have ever been.”
Latin American countries – home to the Amazon rainforest – led forest destruction in 2024 under the combined effect of surging fires made worse by extreme drought conditions and land clearing for large-scale agriculture and cattle-farming.
Agribusiness pressure in Brazil and Bolivia
Brazil alone accounted for 42% of all tropical forest loss last year, the data showed, more than reversing a decline seen in 2023 when it reached a low level under the new left-wing government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
After promising to achieve net zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, Lula’s administration has introduced measures aimed at curbing forest loss such as designating new protected areas.
But, following pressures from powerful agribusinesses, states including Rondonia and Mato Grosso have recently approved new legislation that experts say could threaten a moratorium banning soy plantations in recently deforested areas.
Brazil is hosting this year’s UN COP30 climate summit – which has been dubbed the “forest COP” – in the Amazonian city of Belém.
“It’s shameful”: Amazon Indigenous people call for oil drilling ban at COP30
Neighbouring Bolivia saw primary forest loss skyrocket by 200% in 2024 – climbing to second place in the forest destruction ranking for the first time. The dramatic rise follows the government’s efforts to incentivise large-scale agricultural development through tax breaks and subsidies, experts said.
Stasiek Czaplicki Cabezas, a Bolivian forest researcher at Revista Nomadas, said the expansion of agro-industrial agriculture and cattle ranching into forested areas has been compounded by the widespread use of fire as a cheap method of clearing land.
“Laws exist, but enforcement is minimal. Deforestation is rarely sanctioned and oversight in frontier regions is almost entirely absent,” he added.
DRC conflict drives up forest loss
Forest destruction also continued in the Congo Basin last year, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) marking its highest loss on record. Traditional drivers of deforestation in the region – such as reliance on forests for food and energy – have been exacerbated by military conflicts.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have intensified their offensive in eastern DRC, grabbing large swathes of land. Battling between the government and rebel groups over natural resources has created instability and displacement of people, driving up forest loss, the report said.
DRC’s huge Green Corridor project lacks buy-in from forest communities
The annual survey’s only bright spot was Southeast Asia, with both Indonesia and Malaysia cutting forest loss last year by 11% and 13% respectively. Concerns remain, however, over the expansion of plantations and mining, especially in Indonesia where the newly-installed government is pushing for food and energy independence.
No progress on deforestation pledge
Four years ago, at COP26, 145 countries pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. That goal remains way off track as forest loss keeps rising while the world needs to reduce deforestation by 20% every year to honour that commitment.
“Of the 20 signees with the largest area of primary forest, 17 had higher primary forest loss in 2024 than when they signed the agreement in 2021,” said WRI’s Goldman.
Experts said the solutions to reverse this negative trend are known and include support for deforestation-free supply chains for commodities, better enforcement of trade regulations and increased funding for forest protection and fire prevention measures. But the political will to implement these is still missing.
Matt Hansen, a land use change expert at the University of Maryland, said this “frightening” data should not just spur concern but some form of action.
“Governance is the primary limitation and we have to influence those governments to act in the face of increasing threats to these ecosystems,” he added.
The post Global forest loss hits “frightening” record high with climate-fuelled fires appeared first on Climate Home News.
Global forest loss hits “frightening” record high with climate-fuelled fires
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Greenpeace’s Dutch Anti-SLAPP Case Against Oil Pipeline Giant Advances
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The world has already lost more than half of its coral reefs, and most of what remains is at risk of disappearing in the next 25 years.
Climate Change
DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Bonn talks close
‘SIDE-STEPPING AND STALLING’: UN climate talks in Bonn have ended in “gridlock”, according to Climate Home News. The outlet reported on the failure to balance developing countries’ need for climate-adaptation finance with “richer nations’ desire to move forward” on emissions cuts. It added that both topics were subject to “rule 16”, meaning no agreement could be reached and work will be pushed to the COP31 summit in Turkey. Inside Climate News quoted UN climate executive secretary Simon Stiell, who said the talks had seen “side-stepping and stalling”.
JUST TRANSITION: One “glimmer of hope” came from negotiations on achieving a “just transition”, reported Euronews. The news outlet said negotiators “made headway on operationalising the Belém-Antalya mechanism”, intended to support people in the shift to a low-carbon economy. However, Politico concluded that much of the focus in Bonn had “shift[ed] to efforts outside diplomatic talks – raising questions about the future of global climate negotiations”.
‘ATTACKING SCIENCE’: Agence France-Presse reported on the EU, Switzerland and “dozens of developing nations” warning of “attacks on science” by a “small group of fossil-fuels interests” in Bonn. Table Briefings explained that “the 1.5C target is increasingly being challenged” and the role of the UN climate-science panel – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – in an upcoming assessment of global climate progress “remains controversial”. See Carbon Brief’s full write-up of the talks for more detail.
US-Iran deal
PRICE DROP: The US and Iran announced that they have reached an interim agreement to halt the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz, reported Bloomberg. Oil prices have fallen, as the “long-awaited deal” began the process of “eas[ing]” the global energy crisis triggered by the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Associated Press noted that high fuel prices will “likely outlast the Iran war”.
‘OIL GLUT’: The Financial Times reported that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast a “glut of oil” emerging next year, if the peace deal holds. The IEA said this would allow countries to build new strategic reserves, as they “review their energy strategies and policies in response to the crisis”, according to Reuters.
‘NEW ERA’: Agence France-Presse reported that oil and gas companies have “few illusions about a return to normal for the Gulf energy industry after more than three months of blockage”. One analyst told the newswire that the war “showed the oil and gas industry that Hormuz risk is no longer just a geopolitical headline”.
Around the world
- OCEAN MONITOR: The Trump administration is “abandoning its plan” to dismantle a $368m ocean monitoring system key for tracking climate change after a “bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill”, reported the New York Times.
- CORAL HAVEN: The New York Times covered preliminary research, presented at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, suggesting there could be three times as many “coral refugia” – where corals are relatively safe from climate change – than previously thought.
- BAD CREDIT: Down to Earth reported that the first carbon credits issued under the Paris Agreement’s new Article 6.4 mechanism are “facing scrutiny over alleged links to institutions controlled by Myanmar’s military junta”.
- OIL BACKTRACK: Reuters reported that oil-and-gas company Equinor has dropped a renewable-energy target and scaled back clean investments, while another Reuters story noted that Shell is selling off its offshore wind assets.
1.1 billion
The number of children facing “at least three overlapping climate hazards”, according to a new Unicef report covered by Agence France-Presse.
Latest climate research
- Including the “permafrost carbon-climate feedback” in climate models increases the chance of exceeding “tipping elements” – such as the Greenland ice sheets, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or Amazon rainforest – by up to 50% | Environmental Research Letters
- The intensity of influenza outbreaks could decline in temperate regions, but increase in tropical areas over the next century, as the climate warms | PNAS Nexus
- European snow cover has declined by 20% for December and January since the start of the industrial era, revealing an “unprecedented ongoing shrinkage of European winters” | Communications Earth & Environment
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
The more than 2m battery electric vehicles (BEVs), 1m “plug-in” hybrids (PHEVs) and 100,000 electric vans on UK roads are already saving drivers a total of around £3bn a year, according to new Carbon Brief analysis. This amounts to savings of more than £1,100 a year in fuel costs for each BEV driver in the UK. The analysis comes amid reports in UK media this week that the government is considering “watering down” its EV sales targets.
Spotlight
Oceans rising at UN climate talks
The state of the world’s oceans is inextricably linked to the changing climate – and many delegates at UN climate talks want to see more focus on this issue, reports Carbon Brief.
Oceans are often described as the world’s “greatest ally” against climate change – absorbing 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and most of the heat generated by those emissions.
They are also the site of important climate solutions, such as huge offshore windfarms and the shipping industry’s transition to cleaner fuels.
At the same time, the oceans themselves present a growing danger to coastal communities and sea life due to sea level rise, marine heatwaves and ocean acidification.
These diverse issues have led to growing calls within the UN climate process for more focus on oceans. During climate negotiations this week in Bonn – known as SB64 – nations and civil society had a chance to air these views during an “ocean and climate change dialogue”.
‘Elevate action’
Oceans first entered UN climate outcomes in 2019, when the final COP25 negotiated text requested a new “dialogue” on “the ocean and climate change to consider how to strengthen mitigation and adaptation action”.
The following years saw this dialogue established as an annual event. However, the political weight of these discussions has been limited.
COP31 is being co-led by Turkey and Australia, but with Pacific islands playing a supporting role. These small islands sometimes self-identify as “large ocean states”, stressing the ocean’s centrality in their societies.
In Bonn, figures from across the presidency threw their weight behind this issue. Chris Bowen, an Australian minister and incoming COP31 “president of negotiations”, told attendees:
“Australia, Turkey and the Pacific see an important opportunity to elevate ocean-based climate action.”
Strategies and finance
The two-day dialogue in Bonn involved a series of panels, statements and breakout groups.
One of the main topics was how oceans are integrated into national climate plans under the Paris Agreement, known as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs).
Three-quarters of the latest round of NDCs mention oceans, with conservation of “blue carbon” ecosystems the most frequently described action. (Landscapes such as mangroves can both absorb CO2 and protect coastal areas.)
Delegates also discussed alignment with the UN biodiversity process, as well as ocean finance, which currently makes up less than 1% of all climate finance.
(As discussions were taking place in Bonn, country officials also gathered in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference. Carbon Brief’s associate editor Giuliana Viglione attended the conference and will publish a full summary shortly.)
Developing countries were clear that many of the ocean-related actions in their NDCs would depend on receiving more financial support.
‘Political momentum’
With the backing of the COP31 presidency, delegates were hopeful about where this year’s dialogue could lead.
Charles Hamilton, an advisor for the Bahamas who spoke for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the dialogue, told Carbon Brief that island representatives “are not traveling thousands of miles to just talk and pat ourselves on the back”. He added:
“A dialogue that just remains a dialogue is just more talk – no action.”
Given that, he said “discussions in the dialogue must move into COP decisions and the decisions must be actioned”, noting the importance of finance.
Marina Corrêa, oceans lead at WWF-Brazil, pointed to an upcoming UN climate change Standing Committee on Finance forum as a space to ramp up pressure on ocean finance.
More broadly, she wanted to see the presidencies translate their support into a “leader-level ocean initiative” that could “mainstream” oceans across negotiations.
“We have a really interesting opportunity, in terms of political momentum,” Corrêa told Carbon Brief.
Watch, read, listen
‘HOTTER THAN HELL’: An episode of the BBC’s Rare Earth podcast titled “hotter than hell” considered the issue of extreme heat, with input from experts and “people facing up to the hottest temperatures on the planet”.
NOT BROKEN?: John Drake, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, wrote an essay for Aeon – also re-published as a Guardian “long read” – questioning the framing of ecosystems and climate systems “breaking down”.
ON COURSE: On his Volts podcast, US climate journalist David Roberts interviewed UK climate minister Katie White, quizzing her about whether the UK will “stay the course with its climate plans”.
Coming up
- 20-28 June: London climate action week
- 21 June: Colombia presidential runoff
- 24 June: UK Climate Change Committee progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to parliament
Pick of the jobs
- Mongabay, managing editor – Africa | Salary: Unknown. Location: Global
- Contexte, environment reporter – Brussels | Salary: €45,000-€60,000. Location: Brussels
- Climate 200, communications director | Salary: Unknown. Location: Australia
- Energy Tracker Asia, energy transition correspondent | Salary: $3,000-$4,000 per month. Location: South-east Asia (remote)
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 19 June 2026: Bonn talks end in ‘gridlock’ | Energy’s ‘new era’ | Oceans in climate negotiations appeared first on Carbon Brief.
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