This is a special edition of our Brazil Daily newsletter. Today, we reveal the new climate goals Brazil will present to the world next week.
Brazil updates climate goals … for the worse
Brazil’s newly created Interministerial Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Growth will meet for the first time on Monday to discuss and approve the country’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, announced at the latest UN Climate Summit in Glasgow (COP26).
- The Brazilian Report had access to the draft under discussion, which was penned on February 16 by Paulo Alexandre Alves, the Environment Ministry’s Climate Change Director.
Why it matters. The government claims its new NDC is one of the world’s boldest climate pledges. It is anything but. In fact, the draft actually gives the country more leeway in terms of carbon emissions than its original commitments to the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Moving the goalpost. At first glance, it appears that Brazil is improving its goals toward net-zero, from a 43- to a 50-percent cut in emissions (with 2005 levels as a reference). However, the government is constantly changing the baseline.
- Back in 2015, Brazil pledged to cut emissions down to 1.2...