Brazil wants a just and long-lasting agreement on climate

Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Under Secretary-General for Environment, Energy, Science and Technology Ambassador José Antônio Marcondes de Carvalho said Thursday (Nov. 26) that Brazil will try to reach a climate agreement that is fair, balanced, ambitious and long-lasting. The new global climate agreement will start to be discussed in Paris on Monday (Nov. 30).

The 195 countries attending the 21th Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will face the challenge of defining political actions to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 2C by the end of the century.

According to Marcondes, we must properly handle with the issue of differentiated responsibility between developed and developing countries and take into account each countries' historical responsibility for greenhouse gases emissions.

Brazil also defends an agreement not focused only on the issues of mitigation and emission reduction, but aiming to achieve a balance between mitigating, adapting to the new climate situation and implementing enough means, consistent with the climate change challenges.

"It is important to prepare a robust financial forecast, to arrive at an understanding on the issue of technology transfer and on the required training developing countries [must receive] to fulfill their commitments," he said, explaining that the financing fund should be raised by public resources from developed countries and from the financial actions of the private sector, including international financial institutions.

Countries should pursue more ambitious goals, according to the ambassador, in order to work with long-term prospects. "To strengthen the Convention's new scheme will not be concluded, but it will only begin in Paris. The new agreement will come into force in 2020, and until then we expect improve conditions for the countries to make further contributions," he explained.

In the ambassador's view, the time used to legislate for climate change was "excessively" long, and this is the moment to implement an agreement. "We do not want a minimalist agreement to postpone decisions. We want it to be robust and to meet the countries' aspirations and needs regarding their climate situation."

COP21 will end on December 11th.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta

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