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

Developed countries can no longer avoid sharing in the costs and sacrifices. Brazil believes that developing countries should equally be part of the solution. We have therefore made a significant offer at the negotiating table in COP15: an ambitious proposal to reduce by 2020 national CO2 emissions by between 36.1 percent and 38.9 percent. We have also committed to cutting deforestation in the Amazon by 80 percent over the same period. This year alone deforestation of the Amazon dropped 45.7 percent by comparison to 2008, a testament to Brazil’s earnestness. These proposed reductions in emissions from deforestation alone will be larger than those offered by many developing countries in Copenhagen. Such glaring disparities will have to be ironed out during negotiations. 

Brazil’s successful experience in renewable energy – which accounts for an impressive 47 percent of the country’s energy mix – compares very favorably with the global average of just 13 percent. In fact, large-scale use of hydropower as well as flex-fuel cars that run on sugarcane-based ethanol have for decades helped Brazil fight global warming. Brazil’s use of ethanol fuel starting in the 1970s has alone avoided 800 million tons of CO2 emissions.

If Copenhagen is to be a success, all must pull their weight. This means avoiding the temptation to polarize the debate along the North-South divide, or wasting time looking for scapegoats. It we are to avoid such traps, we must focus on identifying partners truly committed to working toward common goals and leave aside jaundiced preconceptions and vested interests.

My conversations over recent months as well as the media coverage of the first week of COP15 offer hope that the leaders gathered in Copenhagen will have the courage of their convictions. Let us rise to the challenge. As a politician and a former labor leader, I am coming back to Denmark fully aware that no breakthrough is possible without open dialogue and earnest negotiating. I am prepared to engage in a frank discussion with all those committed to finding meaningful answers to climate change. The G-20’s effective response to the international financial crisis offers an encouraging example of how multilateral dialogue can come up with solutions that avoid catastrophic outcomes. Let us take to heart this inspiring example and commit the necessary resources to fighting climate change, just as we did to avoid the global financial meltdown.

The time to act is now. Let us not waste the opportunity at Copenhagen. Postponing hard decisions will only make an already tragic predicament worse. Let us tackle it without delay.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil.

© 2009 Global Viewpoint Network/Tribune Media Services. Hosted online by The Christian Science Monitor.

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