Brazil announces new climate change pledge ahead of COP29 summit

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil announced details of its new climate change pledge late on Friday night that sets a target to lower the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, which it will present during the United Nations climate summit COP29 in Azerbaijan, according to a government statement.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Brazil is the largest country in Latin American and one of the world’s biggest emitters of climate-warming carbon dioxide.
The U.N. has said countries must do more if the world is to keep within reach of the Paris Agreement target to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. The international body had requested new pledges by February of 2025.
BY THE NUMBERS
The new target aims to reduce emissions by 59% to 67% by 2035, as compared to 2005. Brazil had previously set a target of a 53% reduction by 2030.
KEY QUOTE
“This commitment will allow Brazil to move towards climate neutrality by 2050, the long-term objective of the climate commitment,” said the government in the statement.
CONTEXT
The government says its target aligns with the global 1.5C goal, but Brazilian lobby group Climate Observatory said that it is not ambitious enough to match up with the global target.
It said, however, that a full analysis of the pledge will only be possible when Brazil’s government makes the formal documentation of the climate pledge – known as a Nationally Determined contribution – available.
(Reporting by Fabio Teixeira)