Address by Minister Carlos Alberto Franco França at the European Union-Brazil High-level Dialogue on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development - April 14th 2021

Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries,

Mr. Ricardo Salles, Minister of the Environment of Brazil,

Mr. João Pedro Matos Fernandes, Minister of the Environment and Energy Transition of Portugal

Distinguished participants of the Brazil - EU Dialogue,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning and good afternoon,

I would like to welcome my European and Brazilian colleagues to this important Dialogue on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development. Dialogue is the essence of diplomacy. It is a valuable instrument for finding common ground in the pursuit of shared interests.

The pandemic has prevented us from meeting in person, but not from moving forward. Brazil has been actively participating in international virtual dialogues on climate change, biodiversity and other crucial issues of the international environment agenda. The pandemic has demanded additional efforts from us, by adding new layers of complexity to the problems we face. There is an urgency to deal with the climate crisis and other crucial environmental goals, as well as to promote sustainable development. The time for action is now.

Brazil and the European Union are strategic partners in many global affairs. Together, for almost three decades now, we have been playing an important role in international environment negotiations and fora. I welcome the expansion of our dialogue on these crucial issues.

Brazil and the members of the European Union have widely divergent levels of development. This should not be seen as an obstacle to cooperation, but rather as an opportunity to join complementary efforts and experiences to protect the environment and to promote sustainable development, always respecting the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

More than ever, we need to support economic recovery, social development and environmental protection. The concept of sustainable development, with its three equally important pillars – social, economic and environmental – is more relevant today than ever before. The pandemic has only further aggravated the challenges we face.

Brazil was the first country to sign the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at the historic Rio-92 Conference, and has since then remained a major and active participant in the international regime underpinned by the said Convention.

We assumed ambitious voluntary commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. As pointed out by Minister Salles, in his opening speech, although Brazil is responsible for less than 1% of historical global greenhouse emissions and less than 3% of current emissions, it has worked hard to contribute to the global effort to tackle climate change.

In December 2020, Brazil presented its new updated NDC to the UNFCCC. The updated NDC reaffirms the country’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to reducing total net greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent in 2025 and officially takes on the commitment to reducing Brazilian emissions by 43 percent in 2030 below 2005 levels. Brazil’s NDC also expresses the indicative objective of achieving net-zero emissions in 2060.

Moreover, over the last two years, the percentage of renewable energy in the Brazilian electricity and energy matrix is on an upward trend.

In this sense, we call on other countries to also fulfill their commitments, regarding not only mitigation but also climate finance and means of implementation. Unfortunately, the efforts of developing countries at adapting to climate change and mitigating their emissions have not been followed by increased international financial support, which is one of the key enablers for developing countries to implement ambitious climate actions.

At COP 26, we hope that parties can show ambition and flexibility to finish the negotiations from the Paris Agreement, in order to allow us to halt climate change. We can no longer wait. Negotiated outcomes on carbon markets, finance and adaptation are of the essence and of crucial importance to developing countries.

As the world’s most biodiverse country, Brazil plays an indispensable role in all discussions and processes unfolding within the Convention on Biological Diversity, the most pressing of which at the moment is the negotiation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Brazil firmly believes that the GBF should address the three pillars of the Convention in a balanced way, granting the often-neglected sustainable use and benefit-sharing pillars the same importance traditionally attached to the conservation pillar.

By recently ratifying the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing, Brazil acts by example, and we look forward to seeing every Party make their best efforts so that we may come to agree on an ambitious, balanced and realistic GBF at COP 15 in Kunming, China. In order to attain that required balance, developed countries should agree to take on new commitments related to capacity building, technology transfer, and innovative financing mechanisms, such as payment for environmental services, bringing to fruition the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities embedded in Article 20 of the Convention.

An unfaltering respect for all three equally important dimensions of sustainable development must underpin all of our efforts to tackle environmental challenges, in line with the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. Through the “More Sustainable Brazil Agenda”, we are mapping all Government actions that contribute to the fulfillment of the SDGs, making it possible to identify the sectors on which we must concentrate resources so as to increase the spillover effect of our policies. In the face of such challenging times, sustainable development provides the perfect roadmap for all of us to build back better after the pandemic.

I hope this dialogue can promote a fruitful debate that could contribute to improve our actions and our cooperation into a better future for our citizens.

Thank you very much.