MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula urges developed countries to up their climate contributions

“These trillions exist, but they are being wasted on armaments, while the planet is in agony,” Lula argued

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva insisted Tuesday that G20 developed countries should bring forward by up to ten years the climate neutrality targets currently set for 2050, Agencia Brasil reported. He made those remarks during his appearance at the Group's Summit in Rio de Janeiro. “To the developed members of the G20, I propose that you bring forward your climate neutrality targets from 2050 to 2040 or even 2045,” Lula stressed during a panel on sustainable development and energy transition.

“Even if we're not moving at the same speed, we can all take a step forward,” he went on. Climate neutrality consists of a country being able to offset all its emissions of polluting gases with measures such as carbon sequestration. Concern about the climate is one of the priorities of the Brazilian presidency at the G20, which ends its two-day summit this Tuesday.

Lula also demanded a higher responsibility from the more industrialized countries, which have a longer history of greenhouse gas emissions. “Our compass remains the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This is an imperative of climate justice.”

“Without assuming their historical responsibilities, rich nations will have no credibility to demand ambition from others,” he went on.

Lula also recalled that the three United Nations conventions on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification were born in Rio de Janeiro during Rio 92. But three decades on, the planet is facing the hottest year in history, with floods, fires, droughts, and hurricanes becoming more intense and frequent. He then pointed out that previous initiatives had helped to avoid a worse scenario, but governments still needed to “do more and do it better” because “there is no more time to lose.”

The former union leader underlined that agreements such as the Quito Protocol (1997); CPO15 (2009) on climate change in Denmark; and the Paris Agreement (2015) have not achieved the results needed.

Given that G20 countries account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, the Brazilian presidency launched the Task Force for Global Mobilization against Climate Change, bringing together ministers of Finance, Environment and Climate, Foreign Affairs, and Central Bank presidents to discuss how to tackle the climate challenge.

The Brazilian president stressed that, alongside the United Nations (UN), he was asking for the G20's commitment to raise the level of ambition of the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). “It is essential that the new NDCs are aligned with the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5ºC [degree Celsius],” he said. “I call on developing countries to ensure that their NDCs cover the entire economy and all greenhouse gases.”

In Lula's view, countries need to adopt absolute emission reduction targets. He also recalled that at the ongoing 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Brazil presented a new NDC, which covers all greenhouse gases and economic sectors. He also pointed out that Brazil has one of the cleanest energy matrices in the world, with 90% of its electricity coming from renewable sources. “We are champions in biofuels, we are advancing in wind and solar generation and in green hydrogen,” he added.

The Brazilian head of State also said that most of the reduction in Brazilian emissions will result from the fall in deforestation, “which has decreased by 45% in the last two years.” He added that “we will not compromise with environmental crimes; deforestation will be eradicated by 2030,” he promised while asking the world to recognize the role played by forests and to value the contribution of indigenous peoples and traditional communities. Along these lines, the president thanked the G20 for its collaboration in designing the Tropical Forests Forever Fund, which will pay developing countries that maintain standing forests.

However, conservation initiatives will be innocuous if the international community does not do its part. “Even if we don't cut down any more trees, the Amazon will continue to be threatened if the rest of the world doesn't fulfill its mission to contain global warming,” said Lula, who also drew attention to the importance of conserving the oceans.

Regarding denialism and misinformation, Brazil's President pointed out that his country was working with the UN and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on a Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. And citing the unfulfilled terms of the Paris Agreement, Lula reinforced Brazil's position that international funding was needed for rich countries to help others reverse global warming. “No ambition can be sustained without the means to implement it. In Paris, we were talking about a hundred billion dollars a year, which the developed world failed to meet. Today, we're talking about trillions. These trillions exist, but they are being wasted on armaments, while the planet is in agony.”

“We can't postpone Baku's task to Belém,” he said, referring to the capital of the Brazilian State of Pará, which will host COP30 in 2025, Lula also noted. “COP30 will be our last chance to avoid an irreversible breakdown in the climate system. I'm counting on everyone to make Belém the COP of the turning point.”

Lula also invited the international community to consider the creation of a Climate Change Council at the UN, which would bring together different actors, processes, and mechanisms that, according to him, are currently fragmented. “Hope is reborn with every commitment and act of courage in defense of life and the preservation of the conditions in which it was given to us,” he concluded.

The G20 is made up of 19 countries: South Africa, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, the United States, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Russia and Turkey, as well as the European Union and the African Union, representing around 85% of the world's economy, more than 75% of global trade and around two-thirds of the planet's population.