Brazil's President-Elect Lula da Silva Signal's Country’s Renewed Environmental Efforts In COP27 Climate Talks

Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva found himself in Egypt attending the COP27 talks on Tuesday as he met with representatives of China and the United States to recommit the country in the battle to reduce the effects of climate change.

Lula’s presence in the climate talks is reportedly a way of saying that “Brazil is back” in their environmental commitments, planning meetings and talks with envoys from the two superpowers as well as the European Union representative as he plans to reveal a sweeping change in Brazil’s climate policy, especially compared to his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, according to Reuters.

He will also be doing a series of bilateral meetings with other nations in attendance to speak about his climate policy, though the names of these nations have been kept from the public due to security reasons.

Diplomats from Brazil feel like the country is in a stronger position to negotiate the terms of their compliance to climate policy due to Lula’s victory, as Bolsonaro’s skeptical view of the worldwide phenomenon tended to stall talks related to the matter.

Some of the policies being pursued by Lula are for wealthy and developed nations to pay for the effects of their historic greenhouse gas usage and emissions to poorer nations who are affected by the change. He is also planning for additonal announcements on his plans to protect the Amazon rainforest from further deforestation through the beefing up of law enforcement protecting the area, NPR reported.

Outside of ending the deforestation of the Amazon, Lula also plans to create a Brazilian climate authority to help push for similar policies, and to potentially host the next COP30 talks in Brazil in 2027, the Egyptian Streets reported.

Beyond ending the deforestation of the Amazon, Lula is also looking to working with conservation groups to help keep the Amazon intact, and has proposed a summit for developed nations and countries within the Amazon to discuss future plans for the rainforest and its conservation.

“There is a new political context in Latin America,” Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said. “We have to work on a communal policy in the Amazon.”