(CNN) – The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, highlighted inequality and the climate crisis in his speech at the opening of the annual UN General Debate this Tuesday in New York. In his speech, the President lamented that the international community had “fallen asleep” in the face of its responsibility to care for the world’s poor.
“We must overcome the resignation that leads us to accept so much injustice as a natural phenomenon,” Lula said. “There is a lack of political will from those who run the world to overcome inequality,” he emphasized.
In his first appearance at the world summit since returning to office earlier this year after more than a decade out of power, Lula also announced a new geopolitical order that could challenge the West’s global economic dominance and urged greater dialogue around it the war in Ukraine.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the United Nations on September 19, 2023. Photo credit: Richard Drew/AP
Since returning to the Brazilian presidency, Lula has worked quickly to position himself as a climate progressive and global leader on the issue, bringing deforestation in the Amazon to its lowest level in six years this summer, a notable post-polluting level policies of his predecessor. Jair Bolsonaro.
“The whole world has always talked about the Amazon. Now the Amazon speaks for itself,” he said this Tuesday.
Lula called on rich countries to meet their clean energy and international climate finance goals, arguing that a $100 billion financing plan had already become an “insufficient” sum.
“Rich countries grew on the basis of a model with high emission rates of climate-damaging gases,” he said. “We, the developing countries, do not want to repeat this model. In Brazil we have already shown once and will prove again that a socially just and ecologically sustainable model is possible.”
Still, Lula has faced criticism over his government’s investments in fossil fuels, including plans for a possible offshore drilling project.
In statements on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that G20 countries, including Brazil, were responsible for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.
“They have to break their dependence on fossil fuels,” Guterres said.
The UN meeting comes less than a month after the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, where Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed to open their coalition to new participants, extending an alternative geopolitical and economic vision to the West .
“The recent expansion of the group at the Johannesburg Summit strengthens the fight for an order that takes into account the economic, geographical and political plurality of the 21st century,” Lula said. “We are a force that advocates for fairer global trade against the backdrop of a serious crisis in multilateralism.”
Lula has sought to establish himself as a possible peace broker amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, presenting a controversial negotiation plan earlier this year. Although not clearly defined, the proposal included the formation of a coalition of other non-aligned countries to mediate.
Lula also suggested that Ukraine give up Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, in search of a peace deal. The idea was rejected by Kiev and condemned by Washington.
“We do not underestimate the difficulties of achieving peace, but no solution will be lasting if it is not based on dialogue,” Lula said on Tuesday. “I reiterated that we must work to create space for negotiations.”
According to his spokeswoman Cynthia Ribeiro, Lula is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York this Wednesday.