Latin America & Caribbean

Hard Numbers: Big Biz funds Net Zero, ANC on the ropes in South Africa, Brazil COVID deaths drop, Asia’s mega-trade deal

Hard Numbers: Big Biz funds Net Zero, ANC on the ropes in South Africa, Brazil COVID deaths drop, Asia’s mega-trade deal
Paige Fusco

130 trillion: A group of the world's top banks, insurance companies, and asset managers will raise an astounding $130 trillion worth of private capital to help the world achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The initiative, launched at COP26 by former Bank of England boss Mark Carney and known by its somewhat odd acronym Gfanz, bans its members from funding any fossil fuel projects.

50: With three-quarters of votes counted, South Africa's ruling ANC party looks set to win less than 50 percent in Monday's local elections for the first time since the end of apartheid. The final result has been delayed due to power outages that the government promised to fix before the vote.

2,188: Brazil's weekly COVID death toll has fallen to 2,188, the lowest figure since the start of the pandemic. Latin America's largest nation has now fully vaccinated more than half the population, and a higher percentage of Brazilians have gotten a first shot than Americans.

53: Australia and New Zealand have ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which will become the world's largest trade agreement — covering 53 percent of global exports — when it goes into effect next year. The RCEP also includes China, Japan, South Korea, and the 10 ASEAN member countries.

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South Korean President Lee Jae Myung leaves after giving a speech on the Government's first supplemetary budget bill of 2026 at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 02 April 2026.
JEON HEON-KYUN/Pool via REUTERS

South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung's Democratic Party is poised to win 11 of 16 municipal races, a reversal from four years ago when the now-disgraced PPP dominated. But Lee’s surging popularity has foreign policy ramifications.

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