Switzerland has banned the purchase, import and transit of Sudanese gold and restricted mining supplies such as mercury and cyanide, aligning its sanctions with European Union measures adopted on 13 July to cut funding to Sudan’s three-year conflict between the SAF and RSF. The Swiss rules also block related technical, brokering and financial services, and will be folded into its existing Ordinance on measures against Sudan, which already enforces a UN arms embargo and financial and travel bans on 36 listed individuals and entities. For refiners, traders and chemical suppliers, this tightens due-diligence and effectively closes a key European route for Sudan-linked gold flows.

Transport for London has released an updated Corporate Environment Plan detailing more than 70 actions to cut operational and embodied carbon and improve network resilience to extreme weather across the Underground, bus and road systems. Measures include accelerating fleet electrification, retrofitting stations and depots for energy efficiency, and upgrading drainage and track assets to cope with more intense rainfall and heat events. Civil and geotechnical engineers can expect tighter carbon requirements in design, materials selection and asset renewal, alongside higher design thresholds for flooding, overheating and slope stability.

Brazil’s newly approved Bill No. 2,780/2024 creates the National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals (PNMCE), establishing a CIMCE council of up to 20 members to classify minerals, prioritise projects and oversee transactions involving changes of control, foreign “significant influence”, strategic geological data access and sensitive offtake contracts. Exploration licences for critical/strategic minerals face an absolute 10‑year term with no extensions or tolling except for environmental licensing, raising timing risk where deposits are complex or critical minerals are identified mid‑programme. To offset tighter oversight, the bill enables a BRL 2 billion Mineral Activity Guarantee Fund funded by a 0.2% revenue levy, mandates 0.3–0.5% R&D spend, and offers CSLL tax credits capped at BRL 1 billion per year (2030–2034) for domestic processing investments.