Lula’s victory in Brazil sparks optimism on deforestation, with ramifications for the world
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president, center, addresses supporters after winning the runoff presidential election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The narrow win by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Brazilian presidential election marks a key turning point on environmental issues, analysts say.
Da Silva, commonly known as Lula, took 50.9% of the second round vote to incumbent Jair Bolsonaro’s 49.1%, according to Brazil’s election authority.
The 77-year-old leftist campaigned on policies including exempting the lowest earners from income tax, raising the minimum wage and upping investment in public services to create new jobs. He has vowed to reduce poverty and boost economic growth, citing his record of doing so when he served two terms as president from 2003 to 2010.
The remarkable political return comes after he was jailed in 2017 on money laundering and corruption charges that were overturned in 2019.
“It’s a significant change, I can’t emphasize how much things will be different in this country with Lula’s election,” James Green, professor of Latin American History at Brown University, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Monday, citing planned increases in welfare provision, more public-inclusive decision making, and the return of a “government of transparency.”
It also, Green said, “means a return to policies to save the Amazon.” As well as containing 25% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, the Amazon plays a crucial global role through storing billions of tons of carbon and releasing billions of tons of water each year.
Lula used his victory address to pledge to combat climate change and deforestation — issues observers say have not just been sidelined but severely worsened under Bolsonaro’s tenure.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rose to an all-time high in the first half of 2022 and was 80% higher than the same period in 2018, the year before Bolsonaro took office, according to a report by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.
Bolsonaro has been criticized for enabling the proliferation of illegal activity in Brazilian rainforests — including land grabs and violence against indigenous people and campaigners — through funding cuts to on-the-ground law enforcement; slashing the national environment agency’s budget; seeking to overturn environmental regulations; approving thousands of new pesticides; and appeasing the country’s powerful agricultural businesses by failing to act on encroachment onto protected lands.
Brazil has also failed to detail plans to cut carbon emissions in line with international agreements, according to Human Rights Watch, and its emissions from agriculture and cattle-raising have risen to the highest level on record.
Bolsonaro’s office was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Bolsonaro has previously said he was taking action to protect the rainforest; but he has also defended the expansion of mining projects, while also accusing foreign governments and the media of exaggerating the damage being done. In 2019, he told foreign journalists: “No country in the world has the moral right to talk about the Amazon. You destroyed your own ecosystems.”
Environmental turnaround?
Organized crime has taken hold of several areas of the Amazon during Bolsonaro’s presidency, with many illegal miners and land grabbers seeing him as an ally, Carlos Rittl, international policy advisor and Brazil specialist at Norwegian NGO Rainforest Foundation, told CNBC on a call.
“Around 95% of deforestation in the last four years in the Amazon has had some level of illegality,” he said. “Areas that should have remained as forest have become private land, indigenous land has been invaded. It has reached this level because of the inaction of the government.”
“If we take a look at the promises Lula has made, including in his victory speech last night, he was addressing several major problems but also net zero deforestation, protecting indigenous people’s rights,” Rittl continued.
“We can expect him to re-strengthen the environmental agency and recover the budget to allow them to act against environmental crimes” — but only so long as he “walks the talk,” Rittl said.
It won’t be easy or immediate, he added, for a variety of reasons. A 2023 budget has already been agreed and systems have to be rebuilt and put to work. Lula will be seeking consensus in a strongly divided country and political system. And things have changed since his previous term (when annual deforestation of the Amazon plunged from 25,396 sqkm in 2003 to 7,000 sqkm in 2010) due to higher levels of organized crime with a strong foothold.
International cooperation on these efforts will be important, Rittl added. Norway is already looking to resume aid for anti-deforestation efforts to Brazil, which it suspended during Bolsonaro’s term, local newspaper Aftenposten reported Monday.
Growth targets
A further challenge is the pressure on Lula to start delivering on the economy, job creation and poverty alleviation, themes he became known for during his previous term.
Brazil’s economy has stuttered over the last decade, falling into a deep recession 2015 and 2016 which was followed by a period of political instability. It was also heavily hit by the coronavirus pandemic, when its population suffered one of the world’s worst death tolls and inequality increased, according to think tanks. Inflation is set to average 5.8% this year and interest rates are near 14%.
Meanwhile, described by some commentators as socially rather than economically right wing, Bolsonaro also leaves behind various subsidy and unfunded spending programs that have added to Brazil’s high levels of debt, which Brown University’s James Green called a “series of time bombs.”
However, the Brazilian real has been among the only currencies to outperform the U.S. dollar this year due to commodities demand, central bank tightening and the economy’s distance from volatility such as the war in Ukraine.
Loading chart…
It remains to be seen how international investors will respond to the return of a Lula presidency, especially one with significant spending pledges to fulfil, and where he will take Bolsonaro’s planned pro-market reforms and privatizations.
The real dropped 2% on the news, before trimming losses, and shares in U.S.-listed Brazilian companies, including oil giant Petrobras, fell in pre-market trading.
The immediate concern for markets and also Brazilians and the international community is political stability during the handover of power, which is set to take two months.
There are still questions over whether Bolsonaro will challenge the election outcome. He could also seek to block a smooth transition, Green noted.
Energy question
And if he has set ambitious goals to cut deforestation to zero and review emissions targets in line with the Paris Agreement, Lula has also acknowledged oil will be necessary for some time and would oversea an increase in oil and gas production, Climate Home News reports.
Brazil has a relatively clean domestic energy supply, with nearly half of its power coming from renewable sources. But it is also a major oil producer, with its crude oil exports providing a key income source along with soaring commodities demand during Lula’s previous terms.
Rittl said there was potential for an even greater shift toward renewable energy domestically.
Beyond that, he continued: “We need to see finance for agriculture that is linked to emissions reduction, protecting the environment, controlling fertiliser use and managing cattle. Brazil needs mandatory emissions reductions standards and an updated plan to fulfil them.”
“It needs economic policies that are aligned with climate policies to make sure that infrastructure, agriculture and industry are all drivers for change in Brazil,” Rittl added.
Robinhood stock hit an all-time high Friday as the financial services platform continued to rip higher this year, along with bitcoin and other crypto stocks.
Robinhood, up more than 160% in 2025, hit an intraday high above $101 before pulling back and closing slightly lower.
The reversal came after a Bloomberg report that JPMorgan plans to start charging fintechs for access to customer bank data, a move that could raise costs across the industry.
For fintech firms that rely on thin margins to offer free or low-cost services to customers, even slight disruptions to their cost structure can have major ripple effects. PayPal and Affirm both ended the day nearly 6% lower following the report.
Despite its stellar year, the online broker is facing several headwinds, with a regulatory probe in Florida, pushback over new staking fees and growing friction with one of the world’s most high-profile artificial intelligence companies.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a formal investigation into Robinhood Crypto on Thursday, alleging the platform misled users by claiming to offer the lowest-cost crypto trading.
“Robinhood has long claimed to be the best bargain, but we believe those representations were deceptive,” Uthmeier said in a statement.
The probe centers on Robinhood’s use of payment for order flow — a common practice where market makers pay to execute trades — which the AG said can result in worse pricing for customers.
Robinhood Crypto General Counsel Lucas Moskowitz told CNBC its disclosures are “best-in-class” and that it delivers the lowest average cost.
“We disclose pricing information to customers during the lifecycle of a trade that clearly outlines the spread or the fees associated with the transaction, and the revenue Robinhood receives,” added Moskowitz.
Robinhood is also facing opposition to a new 25% cut of staking rewards for U.S. users, set to begin October 1. In Europe, the platform will take a smaller 15% cut.
Staking allows crypto holders to earn yield by locking up their tokens to help secure blockchain networks like ethereum, but platforms often take a percentage of those rewards as commission.
Robinhood’s 25% cut puts it in line with Coinbase, which charges between 25.25% and 35% depending on the token. The cut is notably higher than Gemini’s flat 15% fee.
It marks a shift for the company, which had previously steered clear of staking amid regulatory uncertainty.
Under President Joe Biden‘s administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on U.S. platforms offering staking services, arguing they constituted unregistered securities.
With President Donald Trump in the White House, the agency has reversed course on several crypto enforcement actions, dropping cases against major players like Coinbase and Binance and signaling a more permissive stance.
Even as enforcement actions ease, Robinhood is under fresh scrutiny for its tokenized stock push, which is a growing part of its international strategy.
The company now offers blockchain-based assets in Europe that give users synthetic exposure to private firms like OpenAI and SpaceX through special purpose vehicles, or SPVs.
An SPV is a separate entity that acquires shares in a company. Users then buy tokens of the SPV and don’t have shareholder privileges or voting rights directly in the company.
OpenAI has publicly objected, warning the tokens do not represent real equity and were issued without its approval. In an interview with CNBC International, CEO Vlad Tenev acknowledged the tokens aren’t technically equity shares, but said that misses the broader point.
“What’s important is that retail customers have an opportunity to get exposure to this asset,” he said, pointing to the disruptive nature of AI and the historically limited access to pre-IPO companies.
“It is true that these are not technically equity,” Tenev added, noting that institutional investors often gain similar exposure through structured financial instruments.
The Bank of Lithuania — Robinhood’s lead regulator in the EU — told CNBC on Monday that it is “awaiting clarifications” following OpenAI’s statement.
“Only after receiving and evaluating this information will we be able to assess the legality and compliance of these specific instruments,” a spokesperson said, adding that information for investors must be “clear, fair, and non-misleading.”
Tenev responded that Robinhood is “happy to continue to answer questions from our regulators,” and said the company built its tokenized stock program to withstand scrutiny.
“Since this is a new thing, regulators are going to want to look at it,” he said. “And we expect to be scrutinized as a large, innovative player in this space.”
SEC Chair Paul Atkins recently called the model “an innovation” on CNBC’s Squawk Box, offering some validation as Robinhood leans further into its synthetic equity strategy — even as legal clarity remains in flux across jurisdictions.
Despite the regulatory noise, many investors remain focused on Robinhood’s upside, and particularly the political tailwinds.
The company is positioning itself as a key beneficiary of Trump’s newly signed megabill, which includes $1,000 government-seeded investment accounts for newborns. Robinhood said it’s already prototyping an app for the ‘Trump Accounts‘ initiative.
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev
Korean auto giants Hyundai and Kia think lower-priced EVs will help minimize the blow from the new US auto tariffs. Hyundai is set to unveil a new entry-level electric car soon, which will be sold alongside the Kia EV2. Will it be the IONIQ 2?
Hyundai and Kia shift to lower-priced EVs
Hyundai and Kia already offer some of the most affordable and efficient electric vehicles on the market, with models like the IONIQ 5 and EV6.
In Europe, Korea, Japan, and other overseas markets, Hyundai sells the Inster EV (sold as the Casper Electric in Korea), an electric city car. The Inster EV starts at about $27,000 (€23,900), but Hyundai will soon offer another lower-priced EV, similar to the upcoming Kia EV2.
The Inster EV is seeing strong initial demand in Europe and Japan. According to a local report (via Newsis), demand for the Casper Electric is so high that buyers are waiting over a year for delivery.
Hyundai is doubling down with plans to introduce an even more affordable EV, rumored to be the IONIQ 2. Xavier Martinet, CEO of Hyundai Motor Europe, said during a recent interview that “The new electric vehicle will be unveiled in the next few months.”
The new EV is expected to be a compact SUV, which will likely resemble the upcoming Kia EV2. Kia will launch the EV2 in Europe and other global regions in 2026.
Hyundai is keeping most details under wraps, but the expected IONIQ 2 is likely to sit below the Kona Electric as a smaller city EV.
More affordable electric cars are on the way
Although nothing is confirmed, it’s expected to be priced at around €30,000 ($35,000), or slightly less than the Kia EV3.
The Kia EV3 starts at €35,990 in Europe and £33,005 in the UK, or about $42,000. Through the first half of the year, Kia’s compact electric SUV is the UK’s most popular EV.
Like the Hyundai IONIQ models and Kia’s other electric vehicles, the EV3 is based on the E-GMP platform. It’s available with two battery packs: 58.3 kWh or 81.48 kWh, providing a WLTP range of up to 430 km (270 miles) and 599 km (375 miles), respectively.
Hyundai is expected to reveal the new EV at the IAA Mobility show in Munich in September. Meanwhile, Kia is working on a smaller electric car to sit below the EV2 that could start at under €25,000 ($30,000).
According to the report, Hyundai and Kia are doubling down on lower-priced EVs to balance potential losses from the new US auto tariffs.
Despite opening its new EV manufacturing plant in Georgia to boost local production, Hyundai is still expected to expand sales in other regions. An industry insider explained, “Considering the risk of US tariffs, Hyundai’s move to target the European market with small electric vehicles is a natural strategy.”
Although Hyundai is expanding in other markets, it remains a leading EV brand in the US. The IONIQ 5 remains a top-selling EV with over 19,000 units sold through June.
After delivering the first IONIQ 9 models in May, Hyundai reported that over 1,000 models had been sold through the end of June, its three-row electric SUV.
While the $7,500 EV tax credit is still here, Hyundai is offering generous savings with leases for the 2025 IONIQ 5 starting as low as $179 per month. The three-row IONIQ 9 starts at just $419 per month. And Hyundai is even throwing in a free ChargePoint Home Flex Level 2 charger if you buy or lease either model.
Unfortunately, we likely won’t see the entry-level EV2 or IONIQ 2 in the US. However, Kia is set to launch its first electric sedan, the EV4, in early 2026.
Ready to take advantage of the savings while they are still here? You can use our links below to find deals on Hyundai and Kia EV models in your area.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
As EVBox shuts down its Everon business across Europe and North America, EV charging provider Blink Charging is stepping up to offer support to customers caught in the transition.
EVBox’s software arm Everon recently announced it’s winding down operations alongside EVBox’s AC charger business. That’s left a lot of charging station hosts and drivers wondering what comes next. Now, EVBox Everon is pointing its customers toward Blink as a recommended alternative.
Blink says it’s ready to help, whether that means keeping existing chargers up and running or replacing aging gear with new Blink chargers.
“EVBox has played a significant role in the growth of EV charging infrastructure across the UK and Mainland Europe, and we recognize the trust hosts have placed in its solutions,” said Alex Calnan, Blink Charging’s managing director of Europe. “With the recent announcement of Everon’s withdrawal from the EV charging market, it’s natural to have questions about what this means for operations. At Blink, we want to assure Everon customers that we are here to help them navigate this transition.”
Blink says it’s able to offer advice, replacements, and ongoing network management to make the changeover as smooth as possible.
Everon users who switch to Blink will get access to the Blink Network portal via the Blink Charging app. That opens up real-time insight into charger usage and lets hosts set pricing, manage users, and download performance reports.
“At Blink, our charging technology is future-ready,” added Calnan. “With advancements like vehicle-to-grid technology on the horizon, our chargers are built to support the future of electric vehicles and charging habits.”
The company says its chargers are in stock and ready to ship now for any Everon customers looking to make the jump.
In October 2024, France’s Engie announced it would liquidate the entire EVBox group, which it said posted total losses of €800 million since Engie took over in 2017. EVBox is closing its operations in the Netherlands, Germany, and the US.
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike