Lula in Europe seeks to shine the spotlight on sustainability – 07/17/2023 – Market

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s (PT) strategy during the Celac-UE summit in Brussels, Belgium, is to draw as much attention as possible to Brazil’s commitment to sustainability, so that it helps pave the way for for the final signing of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union by the end of this year.

In the two speeches he made this Monday (17th), Lula highlighted the issue and even repeated sentences, such as this one: “Brazil already has one of the cleanest energy matrixes on the planet: 87% of our electricity already comes from renewable sources, against 27 % of the world average, and 50% of all our energy is clean, while the world average is 15%”.

In the opening speech of the summit’s business forum, the president stated that “we are going to improve these numbers even more, because we are prioritizing the generation of solar, wind, biomass, ethanol and biodiesel energy. Our potential for producing hydrogen is also enormous. green”.

He directly cited Mercosur. “A balanced agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, which we intend to conclude this year, will open new horizons.” The summit in Brussels brings together leaders of the 33 countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the 25 of the European Union (EU).

“We want an agreement that preserves the ability of the parties to respond to present and future challenges,” he added. Lula was referring to the fact that, although negotiations for the agreement were concluded in 2019, in March of this year, the EU sent a new document, which provides for sanctions on environmental issues.

On Friday (14th), Brazil shared with the other Mercosur countries a counter-proposal to this text. If approved in the block, the document goes back to the EU.

“We are holders of a unique natural heritage in terms of forests, biodiversity and fresh water. This condition makes us responsible for the management of wealth whose preservation and sustainable exploitation, in an inclusive manner, is a national imperative”, continued Lula, in the same speech.

“In previous mandates, we reduced deforestation by 80%. This time we made the commitment to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, and already in this first half we reduced it by 34% compared to last year. We are laying the foundations for the reindustrialization of the country with projects with less pollutants, with greater technological density and with the generation of green and quality jobs.”

“Brazil has returned to the international scene to contribute to facing the challenges of our planet, such as the climate change crisis and the increase in inequalities. We are going to prove, as we have done in the past, that it is possible to produce and grow in a sustainable and efficient way. “

In the other speech, alongside the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Brazilian’s tactic was maintained.

“This year, when we now present a development program for Brazil in August, a major energy transition program will be included in that program. This program we want to invite the European Union to participate in, because it will possibly be the most profound transition program made at that time in a developing country.”

“Brazil, everyone knows, will fulfill its part in the climate issue. We have a commitment to zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030. This is a commitment assumed before, during and after a political campaign”, said Lula.

As for von der Leyen, she announced investments of €45 billion (R$242 billion) in Latin America and the Caribbean, as part of the Global Gateway program.