Brazil Poised to Provide Climate Leadership

We are a short month away from the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference slated to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, during December 7-18.

As reported by Nature, the nation of Brazil appears poised to give the rest of the world a primer in what climate leadership looks like, which should come in handy in inspiring other nations to step up and follow suit when the time comes to roll up their sleeves and get some real work done.

Brazil has already made major strides in addressing rates of deforestation in the Amazon basin, and the current news Nature delivers is that it is setting sights squarely on its greenhouse gas emissions as we approach COP15. Nature describes the still-developing, not officially announced initiatives reportedly being pieced together by the Brazilian government as "the most significant step yet by a developing country going into December's United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen."

The primary source of excitement surrounding Brazil's nascent initiative is its apparent intent to leap well over the bar set for it as a developing nation. Current climate change constructs leave for fully industrialized nations the challenge of capping and reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, while developing nations are encouraged to reduce the growth in their greenhouse gas emissions, and to work toward low- and no-carbon technologies as they are able and as such greener technologies are supported directly by wealthier nations.

Nature reports that Brazil is mulling over a comprehensive program that will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by a full third from projected 2020 levels, which would represent a nearly 10 percent drop from 2007 emissions.

Details are reportedly under discussion by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his cabinet this week, with the possibility for an official policy statement or proposal set to appear over the next few days.

Photo courtesy of NASA, via Wikimedia Commons