<p>On August 9, Brazil's Environment Ministry announced that the country has cut its greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in 2017 to levels below its 2020 emission goals under the 2009 Copenhagen Accord. More specifically, the country reduced deforestation emissions by 610 million tons of carbon dioxide in the Amazon rainforest and 170 million tons of carbon dioxide in the Cerrado savanna compared to its targets of 564 million tons and 104 million tons, respectively.

<p>Shanxi province, a major coal mining hub in China, plans to curb industrial manufacturing output voluntarily over the next three winters. The province seeks to lower its sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 20 percent by 2020 from 2015 levels, which goes beyond the national requirement of cutting emissions by 15 percent, and match national targets on reducing hazardous particles in its 11 cities.

<p>Madagascar's government is proposing to pay illegal loggers for access to their illicit stockpiles of rosewood in an effort to clear the way for the wood to be exported legally and eliminate all stockpiles of the wood to make it easier to keep tabs on any new logging. The illicit stockpiles are the product of a wave of illegal logging in the country's national parks during a political crisis surrounding a 2009 coup d'état.