At COP 28, Brazil’s ambitious stance is Lula

For Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, this event is of utmost importance, and he wants to show that. From November 30 to December 12, Brazil will send the largest delegation in its history to the 28th session^H Climate Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai. In all, 2,400 of its citizens were accredited for the event: members of civil society, business leaders, local authorities, 400 government representatives and no less than a dozen ministers.

The leftist president saw the big picture. It is a matter of reasserting herself as a global climate champion, but also of highlighting her difference with her far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, an outspoken climate denier and promoter of the destruction of the Amazon. Lula will not go to Dubai empty-handed: in one year, from August 2022 to July 2023, deforestation has already fallen by 22.3% in the Greater Tropical Forest.

IPBES knows it is in a position of strength and will propose at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) the creation of a new international fund to help 80 countries conserve their tropical forests. According to Environment Minister Marina Silva, it is about rewarding each country “per hectare” From the protected forest. However, he did not detail which countries would contribute to this fund and which would manage it “Multilateral financial institution”

Reconverting 40 million hectares

Lola promised “Zero deforestation” In the Amazon region by 2030, it must also present to Dubai an ambitious program to restore the state’s lands that have been degraded by livestock farming and have become unsuitable for agriculture. R$120 billion (€22.3 billion) must be invested over a decade to reconvert 40 million hectares – roughly the size of Sweden – and allow agribusiness expansion without deforestation.

However, few promises have been made regarding energy production. It is no wonder that 48% of Brazilian energy production already comes from renewable energy sources, a figure that rises to 83% if we look only at electricity production. “Brazil has a special profile: its emissions come mainly from deforestation, so commitments focus on preserving the forest.”“, explains Marcel Burstein, professor at the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Brasilia.

“Country of the moment”

After recovering from hip surgery at the end of September, the 78-year-old Brazilian president has to go to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) on 1^any And December 2 to personally lead his delegation. With his apparent confidence, he even went so far as to give himself a feeling of satisfaction recently: “Brazil is seen as the country of the moment. When people think of Brazil, they think of forests, the Amazon, green and clean energy… People have realized that Brazil can offer the world what it needs: zero-carbon agricultural production and a preserved forest.Lula announced this on November 21, during his weekly live program called “Conversa com O Presidente” (“Conversation with the President”).

You have 50% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.