Brazil has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 67% by 2035, setting a more ambitious target than its previous goal of a 59% reduction.
Brazil’s new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) will be presented at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which started on Monday, November 11.
The NDC is the climate target that Brazil has adopted as a reference for complying with the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015. This agreement set a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (ºC) on average global warming compared to the pre-industrial period.
“This commitment paves the way for Brazil to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, the long-term goal of the country’s climate strategy,” the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change stated.
From the ministry’s perspective, the revision made to the NDC follows the Paris Agreement principle of gradually increasing ambition.
What is COP29?
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) took place in November, in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The overall aim of the meeting is for states to agree, develop and share plans for addressing climate change. This means preventing further global warming, and also helping those who have been most affected so far to adapt or to rebuild their lives.
In 2015, the Paris Agreement made it a legal requirement for all states to set targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, in order to limit the global temperature increase to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Since then, however, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has stressed that the most catastrophic effects of climate change can only be avoided if we limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century.
It is important to note that even 1.5°C of warming will entail mass displacement, harm to livelihoods, and loss of life, with lower-income countries the worst affected. At present, the world is on track for an increase of 2.6 to 3.1°C this century.
Source: Agencia Brasil and COP29