Brazil’s President Lula on global warming: No delay at Copenhagen

Just over two months ago in Copenhagen, I enjoyed one of the happiest days of my life when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. I am now returning to the Danish capital for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). The IOC event was the highpoint of Brazil’s successful bid. For the international community, it is the COP15 that marks a crucial juncture in a long negotiation process. Every day that we postpone the critical decisions before us, the greater the damage to the planet’s health.

While some still question the criteria used in assessing the scale of the damage, there is no disputing the gravity of the accumulated losses and the real and imminent threat they pose to humanity. Development and consumption patterns dating back to the Industrial Revolution became globalized in the 20th century. In the 21st century, their disruptive legacy is obvious in degradation that is not only environmental, but also social and economic. The task of building consensus and ensuring more balanced growth will require courage and openhandedness, virtues that have sadly been absent from this debate. 

It is therefore a cause for hope that more than 100 heads of state and government are attending the decisive moments of the conference. Gathering such a significant number of world leaders in Copenhagen is a good start, but clearly not enough. We must all make concessions and sacrifices, avoiding backroom maneuverings that only fuel suspicions and delay a final solution.

It is beyond doubt that both the benefits of economic development as well as the costs of environmental degradation over the past decades have been unevenly distributed both among and within countries. While some profited and continue to profit from the irrational exploitation of natural resources and unsustainable levels of consumption, the vast majority of the world’s population has little to show for it.

As if this were not enough, it is the poorest and most vulnerable that have been hit hardest. The time has come to discuss how best to share these costs and sacrifices. This means establishing concrete “housecleaning measures” to rethink the tasks and priorities ahead. It is time to pay up. However, for lack of agreement, interest arrears continue to pile up, leaving the coming generations to foot the bill. We must deal with this matter in a timely manner if we are to avert the environmental disasters that plagued the 20th century and to reverse, with the help of modern technology, the growing gap between rich and poor. This will require taking to heart the universally acknowledged concept of common but differentiated responsibilities. All accept it in theory, but endless excuses, disagreements and delays keep it from being put into practice.

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