Explaining Brazil #177: What Brazil did at COP26

When COP26 kicked off in Glasgow, the world looked to Brazil with skepticism. Deforestation rates have been on the rise in the country over recent years, and President Jair Bolsonaro has turned himself into something of a global environmental bogeyman, after years of slashing the budgets of anti-deforestation agencies and empowering loggers.

At the end of the day, however, Brazil showed up in the west of Scotland ready to listen and compromise with the international community, taking part in a number of pledges to curb climate change-inducing emissions. 

But were these commitments enough? And will Brazil abide by them?

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Guest:

• Euan Marshall is an editor at The Brazilian Report and also hosts the Explaining Brazil podcast in the absence of Gustavo Ribeiro.

This episode used music from Uppbeat. License codes: HXPEYHKWUUSE5YOL, ECMJD5C9BMUZ6CK3, QHUOQ9QGOAMMNF6S, VRHQFATZSF3FT3D9.

Background reading:

• A new, sweeping UN-sponsored report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that floods, droughts, and rainfalls will hit Latin America harder than ever.
• Revelations by Greenpeace UK show that meat-producing countries such as ​​Brazil and Argentina acted to dilute findings and recommendations that run counter to agro interests in the IPCC report just ahead of COP26.
• Brazil is undergoing an energy crisis which has forced the country to turn to thermoelectric plants. But spending on polluting energy will increase inequality levels, writes Amanda Audi.
• Some 11 million Brazilians could be living in conditions of extreme heat by the end of the century as a result of Amazon deforestation and climate change.
• Climate change litigation is becoming more and more common around the world, and the trend is gaining ground in Brazil.
• The so-called Global Forest Finance Pledge will provide billions in funding to boost climate initiatives in developing countries, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch for the Brazilian government, with Big Agro set to face changes.

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• #unitedNations