Brazil’s Lula, Britain’s Johnson to attend COP27 climate summit
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COP27 runs from Nov 6 to 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SAO PAULO - Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will participate in this month’s COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt, the head of his political party said on Tuesday.
Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson will also attend the United Nations climate change talks that start next week in Egypt, raising the pressure on the current premier, Rishi Sunak, to do likewise.
Asked by Sky News on Tuesday if he would travel to the Nov 6-18 summit, known as COP27, Johnson replied: “Yes, as it happens. I was invited by the Egyptians.”
Johnson’s confirmation adds to the pressure on Sunak to attend the talks to demonstrate his commitment to fighting climate change, especially as questions were asked about his seriousness in tackling the issue while he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Johnson.
Environmentalists in Brazil and abroad cheered Lula’s election win on Sunday
He defeated President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing nationalist who has overseen rising deforestation and appointed climate change skeptics as ministers.
Gleisi Hoffman, the head of Lula’s Workers Party, on Tuesday confirmed he would attend COP27.
“He was invited by (Amapa state) Governor Waldez Goes, who is coordinating the consortium of Amazon governors, to accompany them,” Hoffman said. “He will go, but we don’t have the dates yet.”
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also invited Lula to attend the summit in a message congratulating him on his election victory.
COP27 runs from Nov 6 to 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Two people with the Lula campaign, requesting anonymity as plans had not been confirmed, said he would likely attend during the second week of the conference.
Lula will “certainly” meet with the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at COP27, among other meetings, his adviser and former Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira told Reuters.
“I have absolute certainty that...various national representatives will request to meet with President Lula,” Teixeira said, adding that she was being directly consulted on the matter.
Attending COP27 as president-elect will send the world a strong message that climate is a priority for Brazil, she said.
“Lula is signaling to the developing world that Brazil is back,” Teixeira said. “He has signaled that, in his government, Brazil will return to its important role in strengthening multilateralism.”
Deforestation on the border between Amazonia and Cerrado in Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, on July 28, 2021.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Lula would not be part of Brazil’s official government delegation, as he will only assume the presidency on Jan 1. Bolsonaro is not expected to attend.
News of Lula’s of COP27 trip comes as Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions rose more than 12 per cent in 2021 largely due to surging deforestation in the Amazon rainforest under Bolsonaro, a non-profit report said on Tuesday.
Brazil emitted the most greenhouse gas last year since 2005, according to the so-called SEEG emissions monitoring project sponsored by the Climate Observatory environmental advocacy group.
Data shows that last year the country emitted 2.42 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), up from 2.16 billion tonnes in 2020.
Brazil, despite having a relatively clean electricity grids reliant on hydropower and renewable energy, is the globe’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gas mostly because of deforestation, agriculture and other land use.
The country is home to 60 per cent of the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, which absorbs vast amounts of climate warming carbon dioxide that is released when the forest is destroyed.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
