1 of 2 President Lula with other leaders during the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, May 2023. — Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / POOL President Lula with other leaders during the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, May 2023. — Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / POOL
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) called for action and resources from the most polluting countries during the G7 working session focused on sustainability this Saturday (20) in Japan. Lula also said that Brazil wants to be a world leader in environmental protection.
Lula made the statement during the meeting, “Together Efforts for a Sustainable Planet.” It’s the seventh time Lula has been invited to the G7 meeting. The group brings together the world’s major economies: United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada.
“We insist so much that rich countries fulfill their promise to spend $100 billion a year on climate change. Further efforts would be welcome, but they do not replace what was agreed at the Copenhagen COP,” said Lula.
The Brazilian President also stated that it was necessary for countries to think together about an “ecological and just transition”, with sustainable industrialization and infrastructure, job creation and the fight against inequality.
“It’s no use for rich countries and regions to move forward with elaborate transition plans if the rest of the world is left behind or, worse, is harmed by the process,” Lula said.
Lula begins bilateral meetings during G7 summit amid debates over war in Ukraine
Brazil wants to lead in conservation
The President also stated that Brazil intends to lead a process to reverse climate change and work with Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in Africa and Asia to protect the world’s most important tropical forests.
“Brazil will be relentless in its fight against environmental crimes. We want to lead the process that saves the planet. We will deliver on our commitments to zero deforestation by 2030 and meet the targets voluntarily adopted in the Paris Agreement,” said the President.
Before the session, Lula met French President Emmanuel Macron for a bilateral meeting, during which they discussed the preservation of the Amazon region, which includes France along with the overseas territory of French Guiana, and the war in Ukraine.
“Renewed meeting with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, at the G7 summit. We talked about preserving the Amazon and ways to create peace in Ukraine. We resume friendship and partnership between our countries, we can do many things together,” Lula wrote on a social network.
2 of 2 Macron and Lula shake hands at G7 meeting in Japan Photo: Ludovic MARIN / POOL Macron and Lula shake hands at G7 meeting in Japan Photo: Ludovic MARIN / POOL
The information was confirmed by Itamaraty to TV Globo. However, there is still no confirmation of the date of the possible meeting.
When asked this Saturday (20) about a possible meeting with Zelenskyy, President Lula replied that he did not know if the meeting would take place.
Read Lula’s speech in full at the G7 Joint Efforts for a Sustainable Planet session:
“When the G7 was formed in 1975, the biggest global crisis was about oil. 48 years later, the world has still not rid itself of its dependence on fossil fuels.
Scientific evidence confirms that the current pace of emissions will lead to an unprecedented climate crisis.
We are approaching an irreversible point.
Kyoto is not just a vibrant Japanese metropolis. It gives its name to a protocol that has become the benchmark for the lack of collective action.
We are not acting fast enough to contain the rise in global temperature, as agreed in the Paris Agreement.
But this is a crisis that is not affecting everyone in the same way, to the same extent, and not at the same pace.
More than 3 billion people are already directly affected by climate change, especially in low and middleincome countries. And depending on the way we go, that number will continue to increase.
We cannot bet on magic solutions.
Technology will be an essential ally as long as there is broad access. Socalled market approaches can help, but it is unrealistic to think that they will solve the crisis.
The main problem is political in nature. In my opinion, we have three major challenges ahead.
The first concerns the appreciation of the most legitimate and democratic spaces of global governance. In 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, we hosted the Summit that gave birth to the three main conventions that guide our actions: climate, biodiversity and desertification.
These agreements were signed as part of an extensive dialogue with civil society. We cannot allow these agreements to be watered down.
The second challenge has to do with the imbalance in the climate agenda. There is no doubt that we need to scale up our mitigation efforts, particularly in those countries that have historically been the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, but we must not lose sight of the growing need for adaptation and loss and damage.
And that’s why we’re so adamant that rich countries deliver on their pledge to commit $100 billion a year to climate action. Further efforts would be welcome, but do not replace the agreements made at the Copenhagen COP.
We also need to think together about the ecological and just transition, which includes industrialization and green infrastructure to create decent jobs and fight poverty, hunger and inequality.
It does no good for rich countries and regions to make progress on implementing elaborate transition plans if the rest of the world lags behind or, worse, suffers in the process.
Developing countries will continue to need finance, technology and technical assistance to transform their economies, combat climate change, preserve biodiversity and combat desertification.
To break this vicious circle, we must address the third policy challenge: leadership. We must mobilize all sectors in a unified but differentiated effort to prevent an even worse worsening of climate change.
Brazil’s credentials are solid. Our energy matrix is among the cleanest on the planet. Half of the energy consumed in the country is renewable. Worldwide, this value is only 15%.
In addition, 87 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources, compared to the world average of 28 percent.
With the potential we have in solar, wind, biomass, ethanol, biodiesel and green hydrogen energy, Brazil will be an exporter of sustainability by the end of my term.
We are aware that protected Amazon is part of the solution. That is why we are holding a summit of the Amazon countries in Belém this August. And that is why Brazil’s candidacy to host the climate COP30 was approved following a unanimous vote by the Latin American and Caribbean Group.
We remain open to international collaboration to preserve our biomes, whether in the form of investment or collaboration on scientific research.
With that in mind, I would like to express my appreciation for the recently announced contributions to the Amazon Fund.
The indigenous people and the inhabitants of the Amazon will be the protagonists of its conservation. The 50 million South Americans living in the Amazon must be the first partners, actors and beneficiaries of an inclusive and sustainable development model.
Together with Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in Africa and Asia, we will work to defend the world’s most important tropical forests.
Brazil will be relentless in its fight against environmental crimes. We want to lead the process that saves the planet.
We will deliver on our commitments to zero deforestation by 2030 and meet the targets voluntarily adopted in the Paris Agreement.