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Farmers hold their nerve as El Niño threatens summer crops

A resilient start to the summer crop season

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WATCH: Food security under pressure as drought looms and funding fails

Poverty levels set to rise as El Niño drought bites

Sarah Frazee.

From grasslands to global markets, farmers cash in on carbon

KZN's communal cattle farmers' new cash crop

WANDILE SIHLOBO: Little room for error as El Niño looms

El Niño, shrinking aid, threaten regional food security

Can South Africa keep its agricultural edge?

How the country can remain the region’s food basket

WANDILE SIHLOBO: Sowing for a summer season of uncertainty

Iran and El Niño could scupper higher plantings

WANDILE SIHLOBO: El Niño – here’s the good news

South Africa is well placed to weather El Niño

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WATCH: The true impact of the Western Cape floods

Wandile Sihlobo speaks to Phillip Retief of Van Loveren Family Vineyards

(Non-extinct) Siberian cranes.

Why a doomed curlew rings alarm bells for the planet

Rising threat to the world’s greatest wanderers

CHRIS ROPER: Making a killing on oil

There’s a disturbing arithmetic to profiteering amid catastrophe. The $93bn that oil companies have made off the Iran war is testament to this

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WATCH: Concerns about the upcoming 2026/2027 agricultural season in South Africa

It could be a summer of discontent for farmers this year, given the possibility of a severe El Niño climate event and the disruption to fuel and fertiliser supplies caused by the…

Komati Power Station was decommissioned in late 2022. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee. Oxpeckers

Why billions in climate finance are still sitting on the sidelines

Billions are available for South Africa’s just transition, but the real challenge is building a pipeline of credible projects

GREENSIDE, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 13: A bucket wheel excavator processes coal at a Thungela run Greenside coal mine on December 13, 2024 in Greenside, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

Thungela digs in over shareholder rights   

The coal producer is digging in against what it says could lead to shareholders having unfettered rights to interfere in its business

Board directors. Rawpixel/Currency collage

Insurers and courts – coming for a board near you  

‘Weather attributions science’ sounds futuristic – but it could see insurers and courts enforce until-now formulaic board decisions on ESG

Capitalism positive. Rawpixel/Currency collage

Capitalism with guardrails: harnessing its power for good

Without guardrails, capitalism rewards exploitation. Fair rules and labour protections can channel its energy towards planetary good

Cyril Ramaphosa Sona climate concerns. Photo by Gallo Images/Jeffrey Abrahams / Rawpixel / Currency collage

Silence speaks loudest: the climate contradictions in Cyril’s Sona

The president’s address shows a government that wants to manage climate impacts without fully taking responsibility for their causes

From Africa to the world: a new climate-finance blueprint

South Africa has secured a landmark role in an EU-backed climate-finance deal. Sanlam Alternative Investments’ Bridge Facility will accelerate climate-resilience projects in…

The poor continent

Africa badly needs governments that allow the conditions for sustained growth before the climate turns against them

US President Donald Trump at the UN. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Why Trump is not a death knell for global climate action

Given Trump’s climate-change denialism, what does his administration mean for international climate efforts?

Banks and climate change. Rawpixel/Currency collage

Banks retreat from climate change commitments – but it’s business more than politics

The Net-Zero Banking Alliance suspended activities in August. Why did such initiatives rise and then fall?