Charging ahead with renewables
The switch is gathering pace, despite resistance in some countries where NOCs are dominant
Central and Latin America in recent years have been hit hard by the impact of climate change. The region is never likely to forget 2017, when hurricanes struck parts of Central America, causing severe flooding and resulting in deaths in parts of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Honduras. It's beginning to look like a pattern. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change counted 613 extreme climate- and hydro-meteorological events (typhoons, hurricanes, floods and droughts) in the region between 2000 and 2013. In 2014, Brazil was hit by one of the worst droughts in decades, causing knock-on effects in electricity prices, inflation and business confidence. Panama has seen extended dry seasons leadin
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