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Plataforma CIPÓ delivers “Climate and International Strategy: New Pathways for Brazil” to Brazilian President-elect at COP27

Press Release

Contributed by Plataforma CIPÓ

Posted 18 November 2022

   

This article was originally published on Foreign Policy. Read the full article here.

After meeting with envoys from both the United States and China on Tuesday, Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave a speech on Wednesday at the United Nations climate change conference, known as COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. As expected, he laid out ambitious goals for restoring Brazil’s record of rainforest stewardship that was greatly diminished under incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro. But Lula also went further, reflecting on the current international order and Brazil’s role in it.

The themes in Lula’s speech were consistent with those of a 68-page policy paper titled “Climate and International Strategy: New Directions for Brazil” that was formally presented to Lula at COP27. His advisors had gotten their hands on the paper before the conference, co-author Adriana Abdenur tweeted, and they used it as input for Lula’s remarks.

A partnership between a think tank affiliated with Lula’s Workers’ Party and the Brazilian environmental policy organization Plataforma CIPÓ, the paper’s co-authors include two members of Lula’s presidential transition team. A third author was reportedly in talks to join the transition team on Thursday. Lula’s foreign affairs advisor, Celso Amorim, wrote its preface, in which he argued that “the fight against the climate crisis will occupy a central space in [Brazil’s] international activity.”

Other organizations have also submitted policy proposals to Lula since his election. But the fact that the aforementioned paper was written by members of his own party and transition team—and featured so prominently in his speech—suggests it may be key to informing his policy as president.

If the plans outlined in the paper come to pass, Brazil’s climate policies under Lula would go beyond simply reducing deforestation and pressuring rich countries to provide more climate financing to poorer ones. The paper’s authors wrote, for example, that the Brazil-Indonesia-Congo rainforest alliance could work together to promote deforestation-free products for sale. In his speech, Lula similarly said medicines and cosmetics could be responsibly sourced from the rainforest.

The paper also proposed that Brazil gradually transform state oil company Petrobras into an energy company with a greater focus on renewables. They suggested that lithium-rich Bolivia be incorporated into South American customs union Mercosur, and that together with Chile—which is not part of the bloc—Mercosur could create a regional governance framework for lithium. Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina together hold more than half of the world’s known lithium reserves, while Brazil holds under 1 percent.

Another recommendation is that Brazil seek Chinese investments for green infrastructure and examine whether the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—a landmark climate bill—could lead to new international cooperation or funding. Though the IRA’s money is overwhelmingly targeted at U.S. businesses, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans urged Washington in September to spread some of the money overseas. The BRICS alliance, the authors suggested, could also be mobilized to invest more in green energy projects through its development bank.

Together, the policies pitched in the document would contribute to green industrialization in Brazil. But passing and implementing the proposals is far easier said than done. The United States—which does not face the same fiscal constraints as South American countries—tussled for months over the details of the IRA. In Colombia, new President Gustavo Petro’s pledges to carry out an ambitious transition away from new oil exploration are stoking economic concerns and dividing policymakers, the New York Times reported this week.

It’s precisely because Latin American countries don’t have hundreds of billions of dollars in green stimulus money that it makes sense for them to work together on policies for their green transitions, analysts have argued. The authors of the Brazilian strategy document made the same case. They warned that in another recent global scramble for new technologies—the COVID-19 pandemic and the race for vaccines—the global south got left behind.

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Climate and International Strategy: New Pathways for Brazil is currently available here in Portuguese and will soon be made available in english.

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Climate Governance, Global Green Growth
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