Brazil returns to climate politics with Lula’s visit to COP27 in its final stretch

The climate summit in Egypt, COP27, enters its final stretch with the visit of Lula da Silva. The president-elect of Brazil thus stages the return of climate policies in the country, after the denial phase led by his rival, Jair Bolsonaro, who refused to hold the summit in Brazil in 2019, the year in which he was definitively transferred to Madrid. Under the presidency of the conservative leader, the deforestation of the Amazon, key to the global balance of carbon emissions, has undergone a strong advance together with other jungles such as Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

With his presence, Lula wants to strengthen the lost credibility of this country in climate matters and his first coup d’état was not long in coming. He has announced that he will offer the United Nations Brazil to host COP30 in 2025.

His intention, as he has stated, is for the world climate summit to be held in the Amazon so that “the people who defend it know this region and its reality”.

The Amazon and its protection have been at the center of the conversations he has had with different leaders and social groups. Lula’s goal is to create an alliance with the aforementioned nations – Indonesia and Congo – to stop deforestation in these regions.

These three enclaves, fundamental for the world’s carbon sinks, represent 58% of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere deriving from land use change, according to the latest report of the ‘Global Carbon Budget’ presented last Monday at COP27.

Most of these territories have gone from being virgin forest or jungle to exploited land for those employed in mining, cultivation or timber extraction, among others.

Assistance for damages and losses

In addition to announcing that Brazil will protect this lung of the planet, Lula will defend, aligned with the bloc on developing countries, the commitment of rich countries to provide financial aid to those who contribute least and suffer most from the consequences of climate change . practically.

This point, called ‘losses and damages’ in the COP27 agenda, which is being officially considered for the first time in the negotiations, is one of the most controversial, even though the summit presidency spokesman, Egyptian ambassador Wael Aboumagd, was very Positive yesterday in the press conference on the possibility of good news soon.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think tomorrow (for today) we can announce a ‘loss and damages’ agreement that takes into account the wishes of both parties.” As for the mechanism that would be used to pay developing countries’ climate bills, he did not disclose whether it would be a new fund.

Rather, he highlighted the well-known Santiago Network, an already existing United Nations mechanism that provides technical assistance and advice to countries affected by climate disasters. “All the indications we have are that the Santiago Network is moving forward. I know that funding is key and we hope that the loss and damage package is satisfactory,” she concluded on this point.

Frans Timmermans, the European Commissioner for the Green Deal, was less optimistic, saying directly that he is not sure that the parties will soon be able to find a consensus.

Other leaders also followed the same line who, in statements to Reuters, said that on Wednesday the negotiations were still blocked on this point due to the refusal of China and Saudi Arabia to recognize the Santiago Network as one of the mechanisms through which they can help provided .

Waiting for an official draft

As for the final declaration which should be concluded on Friday, the procedures are progressing slowly to say the least. An ‘unofficial’ draft was circulated on Monday night which contained only the declarations that the texts must contain. A sort of scheme of all the agreements of the topics that will be treated, a sum of statements devoid of content.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia have asked that the 1.5º objective not be made explicit and others such as China which instead of 1.5º reflect 2º, which goes against the majority and which for many is not negotiable. Others like India have called for an end to not just the use of coal, but all fossil fuels.

But the content that appears in the draft to draft a final agreement after the negotiations is still to be defined.