A former chief executive of Braskem S.A., Brazil's largest petrochemicals company, pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiracy charges in connection with an alleged bribery scheme that U.S. prosecutors said involved Braskem's parent Odebrecht S.A. The defendant, Jose Carlos Grubisich, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn, New York.

Apr 16, 2021 - Yahoo Finance

New Fortress Energy Inc. announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a subsidiary of Norsk Hydro to supply natural gas to the Alunorte Alumina Refinery in Pará, Brazil for a term of 15 years. "We look forward to this long-term partnership and are pleased to assist Hydro with the transition of the Alunorte refinery to utilizing a cleaner and more affordable supply of energy," said Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO of New Fortress Energy. Hydro is converting the calcination process and part of the steam generation at the Alunorte Alumina Refinery from fuel oil to natural gas, which is expected to reduce emissions by approximately 20%. NFE will deliver a minimum agreed amount of natural gas to the refinery from the company’s Barcarena LNG receiving and regasification terminal located in the state of Pará.

Apr 16, 2021 - IMF Blog

Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean recovered briskly in the second half of 2020, yet still more slowly than the global economy and other emerging markets. That’s despite unprecedented policy support, strong performance of trading partners, soaring commodity prices and accommodative global financial conditions. The persistence of the health crisis in many countries casts a shadow on the near-term outlook. People and economies continue to require a short-term shot to exit from the COVID-19 crisis, while the aggravation of several underlying structural fragilities poses significant long-term challenges.

Apr 16, 2021 - NRDC.Org

In the past several years, the United States has greatly increased its exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to other countries. One major importer of U.S. LNG is Brazil, a country grappling with a president and administration that are antithetical to climate progress. As the U.S. engages with Brazil to rein in its emission from deforestation, it should not in parallel be facilitating higher emissions in Brazil’s energy sector. Often championed as a “bridge fuel” to move away from “dirtier” fossil fuels, LNG has been touted as “cleaner” because just the combustion phase has lower carbon dioxide emissions than coal or oil. However, when LNG’s entire lifecycle is taken into account, LNG is neither clean nor particularly low in emissions.