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Watch Reforestation in Action

Here’s some good news: Brazil included forest restoration in its Paris Climate Agreement commitment, with the aim of revitalizing 12 million hectares (29 million acres) by 2030. And it’s working. To watch that progress in real time, check out the Brazilian Restoration and Reforestation Observatory, an online mapping tool informed by satellite imagery and local data. The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture launched the Portuguese-language tool last week with support from WRI. Learn how to use it via this recorded webinar, offered in English and in Portuguese.

For more good news, meet the Brazilians who are making reforestation a reality in WRI’s Faces of Restoration videos.

In Extrema, Brazil, this was the first patch of forest to start regenerating after decades of deforestation. Photo by Rafael Albuquerque

We All Waste Food. Here’s How to Stop

A third of all food produced is lost or wasted, at a cost of nearly $1 trillion every year. WRI’s podcast, Big Ideas into Action, examines why food waste happens and how it can be stopped. WRI’s Liz Goodwin, together with Ecuador’s former environment minister Yolanda Kakabadse and Wageningen University researcher Toine Timmermans, offers solutions.

Big Ideas into Action is into its second season. Check out the full series of Season 1 podcasts and newly-released episodes of Season 2 on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

The U.S. CLEAN Future Act, recently introduced to Congress, is the first major piece of climate legislation during Biden's presidency. Photo by Darren Halstead/Unsplash

Unpacking the US CLEAN Future Act

U.S. Lawmakers have introduced the first major piece of climate legislation since President Biden took office. Its goal: a 100 percent clean economy by 2050, with a 50 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels. The 50-percent-by-2030 goal matches calls from climate advocates and analysis from WRI urging United States to include this target when updating of its UN climate pledge, the so-called Nationally-Determined Contribution or NDC.

The CLEAN Future Act proposes widespread, interconnected changes that would create jobs for people currently working in the fossil fuel industry, provide money to revitalize infrastructure and more. U.S. director Dan Lashof and WRI’s top energy and climate experts explain the proposed law here.

China’s New Five Year Plan Pushes Climate Action…

…but lacks details needed for success. The plan, unveiled last week, sets ambitious goals, including raising non-fossil fuel energy to 20 percent of the total by 2025. Manish Bapna, WRI’s Managing Director and Executive Vice President, said he hopes additional national and provincial plans released this year will include the missing specifics. “We look forward to seeing more details to inform when China will peak its total CO2 emissions and how it will achieve its vision of becoming net zero by 2060,” he said. Read the full statement here.