Category: 3. Business

Brazil’s Petrobras has been given permission to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River, casting a shadow over the country’s green ambitions as it prepares to host UN climate talks.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president, has come under fire from conservationists who argue his oil expansion plans clash with his image as a global leader on climate change.

Brazil will host Cop30 climate talks in the Amazon city of Belem next month.

Petrobras said drilling in the Foz de Amazonas region will begin immediately and will last for five months, after its five-year battle to get permission to explore the area.

“Petrobras met all the requirements established by (environmental watchdog) Ibama, fully complying with the environmental licensing process,” the oil giant said in a statement sent to AFP.

“We hope to obtain excellent results from this research and prove the existence of oil in the Brazilian portion of this new global energy frontier,” said Magda Chambriard, president of Petrobras.

The company will drill an exploratory well at an offshore site that lies 500km (310 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon River at a depth of more than 2,800 meters (9,200ft).

The drilling of Block 59 – which is 160 km from the coastline – has been a passion project for Lula, who insists oil revenues will help fund Brazil’s climate transition.

Environmentalists have raised alarm about drilling for oil off the coast of the world’s largest tropical rainforest, a biodiverse area that is home to several Indigenous communities.

Brazil’s Climate Observatory NGO said civil society organizations would go to court to fight the decision, based on “illegalities and technical flaws” in the licensing process.

“The approval sabotages the Cop and goes against the role of climate leader claimed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the international stage,” said the Climate Observatory.

“The decision is disastrous from an environmental, climate, and sociobiodiversity perspective.”

Foz de Amazonas is part of a promising new offshore oil frontier, with nearby Guyana emerging as a major oil producer in less than a decade following large offshore discoveries.

Ibama denied Petrobras an exploration license in 2023, citing inadequate plans to protect wildlife in case of an oil spill.

As Petrobras appealed, pressure rose from Lula who said earlier this year that Ibama was a government agency acting as if it was “against the government”.

In February, an opinion signed by 29 Ibama technical staff and seen by AFP said the recommendation remained to “deny the environmental license”, highlighting the risk of “massive biodiversity loss in a highly sensitive marine ecosystem”.

However, in May, Rodrigo Agostinho overruled the opinion and allowed Petrobras to go ahead with an oil spill accident response drill that was considered the last step before the license is granted.

In September, Ibama approved the pre-operational environmental assessment, despite Petrobras failing to demonstrate it can “reliably protect fauna in the event of an oil spill.”

Ibama said a new fauna simulation would take place “after the license is issued.”

Ibama’s technical staff noted in February that drilling conditions were very challenging in the Foz de Amazonas basin, prone to intense storms and strong ocean currents.

The attainment of both certifications recognizes the company’s sustainability efforts

GALVESTON, Texas, Oct. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Caribbean Group’s (NYSE: RCL) Galveston Cruise Terminal (GCT) is the first cruise terminal to formally achieve both Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Net Zero Energy and LEED Net Zero Carbon certifications for its ongoing operations. These two new certifications build on Royal Caribbean Group’s existing LEED Gold certification for the design and construction of GCT, which began operations in November 2022.

“Earning three prestigious LEED certifications in under three years is both a testament to Royal Caribbean Group’s mission to deliver the best vacations responsibly and to the incredible drive of our partners, at SSA Marine, CodeGreen and the Port of Galveston,” said Joshua Carroll, senior vice president, Destination Development, Royal Caribbean Group. 

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED is a globally recognized rating system and framework for identifying and implementing practical green building strategies. The LEED Zero Carbon certification recognizes buildings operating with net zero carbon emissions over the course of the past year, and the LEED Zero Energy certification recognizes buildings that achieve a source energy use balance of zero for the past year.

“Achieving LEED certification is more than just implementing sustainable practices. It represents a commitment to making the world a better place and influencing others to do better,” said Peter Templeton, president and CEO, USGBC. “Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection and the central role buildings play in that effort, Royal Caribbean Group is creating a path forward through their LEED certification.”

Royal Caribbean Group’s Destination Development team, Galveston terminal operator SSA Marine, and environmental consulting firm CodeGreen worked together on the project. CodeGreen audited and benchmarked the terminal’s energy, water and waste use. The SSA Marine operations team used these metrics to make necessary upgrades and improvements, including retro-commissioning building systems, to reach peak performance. This year-long process concluded in March 2025, and the two Net Zero certifications were awarded on June 18, 2025.  

To commemorate these milestones, a plaque was hung in the terminal’s grand lobby, as a testament of Royal Caribbean Group’s commitment to sustainability and delivering vacations responsibly.

About Royal Caribbean Group:
Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) is a vacation industry leader with a global fleet of 68 ships across its five brands traveling to all seven continents. With a mission to deliver the best vacations responsibly, Royal Caribbean Group serves millions of guests each year through its portfolio of best-in-class brands, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea; and an expanding portfolio of land-based vacation experiences through Perfect Day at CocoCay and Royal Beach Club collection. The company also owns a 50% joint venture interest in TUI Cruises, which operates partner brands Mein Shiff and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. With a rich history of innovating, Royal Caribbean Group continually delivers exciting new products and guest experiences that help shape the future of leisure travel. Learn more at royalcaribbeangroup.com or rclinvestor.com.

SOURCE Royal Caribbean Group

The French bank will pay more than $20m to three plaintiffs amid allegations of human rights abuses.

BNP Paribas shares have tumbled as much as 10 percent after a United States jury found the French bank helped Sudan’s government commit genocide by providing banking services that violated American sanctions, raising questions about whether the lender will be exposed to further legal claims.

The bank’s shares were down on Monday morning in New York.

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The federal jury in Manhattan on Friday ordered BNP Paribas to pay a combined $20.5m to three Sudanese plaintiffs who testified about human rights abuses perpetrated under former President Omar al-Bashir’s rule.

The Paris, France-based bank said it will appeal the verdict.

“This result is clearly wrong and ignores important evidence the bank was not permitted to introduce,” the company said in a statement on Monday.

Uncertainty about whether BNP Paribas could face further claims or penalties weighed on the bank’s shares on Monday, and would likely continue to do so, traders and analysts said.

The shares dropped as much as 10 percent at one point, and were last down 8.7 percent – set for their biggest daily fall since March 2023.

Lawyers for the three plaintiffs, who now reside in the US, said the verdict opens the door for more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees in the US to seek billions of dollars in damages from the French bank.

BNP said, “this verdict is specific to these three plaintiffs and should not have broader application. Any attempt to extrapolate is necessarily wrong as is any speculation regarding a potential settlement.”

Nonetheless, analysts say the news will likely drag on the bank’s shares in the coming months.

“A combination of a lack of visibility on the potential financial impact and next legal steps, a reminder of 2014 share price performance as well as a capital path that leaves relatively little room for error, is likely to hang over the shares until more visibility is provided,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a note.

BNP Paribas in 2014 agreed to plead guilty and pay an $8.97bn penalty to settle US charges that it transferred billions of dollars for Sudanese, Iranian and Cuban entities subject to economic sanctions.

RBC said the bank’s shares underperformed the sector by 10 percent from the first litigation provision booked in early 2014 to the settlement in June 2014.

The rationale for MB-AL-0287 aluminium 6063 & 6060 extrusion billet premium, cif Brazilian main ports had erroneously stated that “One indication was collected at 310 c/lb and four indications at $310-350/t.” This has been corrected to: “One indication was collected at $310/t and four indications at $310-350/t.”

The published price is unaffected by this change.

This price is part of the Fastmarkets base metals package.

For more information or to provide feedback on this correction notice or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please contact Pedro Conterno Rodrigues by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com and basemetals@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Pedro Conterno Rodrigues, re: Aluminium 6063 & 6060 extrusion billet premium, cif Brazilian main ports.”

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