[ad_1]
As the Paris climate accord celebrates its fifth anniversary on December 12, several countries, including the UK, Colombia, Canada and Jamaica, have recently launched new and more ambitious climate plans. They were joined this week by Brazil, but the country’s plan is drawing fire from environmentalists and reviving thorny and unresolved issues from the Paris negotiations.
Brazil ranks fourteenth among the countries in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, producing less than 5% of the United States’ carbon footprint. But as the main steward of the Amazon rainforest, it plays a critical role in protecting one of the world’s largest natural carbon sinks. And under President Jair Bolsonaro, who has worked to weaken environmental regulations, deforestation has skyrocketed to a record high.
That means the world is holding Brazil’s climate commitments at a high level and, so far, they have not been approved. The country’s new climate goal, announced on December 8, is essentially the same as the one proposed by the country in 2015: a 43% reduction in emissions below 2005 levels by 2030 and grid neutrality by 2060. That is bad enough on its own, since The Paris Agreement is based on the notion that countries will increase their ambitions over time. “The announced [climate plan] it is insufficient and immoral, ”said the Brazilian NGO Climate Observatory in a statement. “The world has changed, but Brazil’s objectives have not.”
But to complicate matters, the plan now includes an additional caveat: meeting that goal will only be possible if the country receives $ 10 billion per year, continuing indefinitely, from richer countries to pay for necessary carbon mitigation measures.
In theory, the request is reasonable. Economists and ethicists have long argued that the richest countries, whose historical emissions are the main cause of climate change, have a financial obligation to the poorest. And, indeed, the Paris agreement includes language that states that “developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with regard to mitigation and adaptation.” It also set a non-binding fundraising goal of $ 100 billion annually for this purpose by 2020.
The problem is that the Paris agreement is vague and elusive about who will pay how much to whom and when. Under President Donald Trump, the United States crushed $ 2 billion in climate finance commitments, and countries like Russia and Australia used it as a hedge to evade their own obligations. Overall, climate finance raised by developed countries reached just $ 78.9 billion in 2018, according to a UN report released Dec. 11, and is expected to fall short of the $ 100 billion target for this year. , especially as the pandemic left even the wealthiest economies with little to spare.
“Everything must be done to support anything that helps us reach the 1.5 degree C warming target,” said Amina Mohammed, the UN Under-Secretary-General, in an interview with Quartz. “Brazil will certainly need help in that regard, but leveraging resources for many adaptation requests is quite difficult.”
Without external financing, Brazil can make a credible case that it cannot meet the aggressive carbon cuts needed to halt the worst impacts of global warming. However, the country has not shown that it can use the funds adequately: “The country has to look inward and see what it is doing to help,” Mohammed said.
Carolina Genin, climate director for the World Resources Institute in Brazil, said Brazil needs to demonstrate more transparency about its climate plans if it wants everyone else to pick up the tab.
“First, we need a solid plan for how we are going to invest those funds and hold ourselves accountable for measurable results,” he said. “A weak climate target is the exact opposite of what was needed.”
