Brazil called on rich countries to pay for the world's sustainable energy transition, saying they need more commitments to compensate for their reliance on polluting energy sources, Mining.com reported, citing Bloomberg.
Alexandre Silveira, Brazil's energy minister, said in an interview in New York that developing countries "don't have as much money as Europe and the United States to drive the energy transition" and need help from the developed world. Industrialized countries should take on a greater challenge because "they consume more dirty energy than the countries of the Global South."
At the United Nations General Assembly this week, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is likely to make another appeal to other world leaders for rich countries to invest more to help wean the world off fossil fuels. Since returning to the presidency in January, the 77-year-old leftist leader has been calling on the international community to give more support to Amazon rainforest protection and develop climate finance solutions.
The Brazilian government has been a strong advocate for developed countries to meet their commitments on climate finance, leaving a trillion dollars short of the goal of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
According to Silveira, the developing countries of the Southern Hemisphere provide clean energy to the developed countries, strengthening their position in global trade. The minister wants Brazil to invest $400 billion in biofuel production over the next 10 years, including jet fuel oil and green diesel. Silveira sees biofuel production as Brazil's "magic weapon to escape the grip of Opec."
Brazil can "demand the respect of industrialized countries" that are increasingly dependent on biofuels and green hydrogen in Latin America's largest economy, he said. "It is clear to everyone that the green hydrogen needed to decarbonize the developed world will come from the countries of the global South. Brazil will lead the agenda."
Silveira wants Brazilian commodity giants Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Vale SA to accelerate the domestic energy transition, including the production and use of green hydrogen.
While pushing the global climate agenda, the Brazilian government is also seeking to increase domestic oil production. In the coming decades, Petrobras will continue to increase fossil fuel production. The country's fossil fuel production is set to record this year and continue to grow until 2030.
Petrobras will also explore new basins elsewhere in Brazil, including the so-called Equatorial Margin, an ecologically sensitive stretch of ocean in the country's far north. The regional survey plan has been protested by environmentalists and strained relations between Lula's Allies.
Silveira rejected criticism that the approach was contradictory, saying Brazil needed to find a way to finance the energy transition. The government acknowledged that the transition "requires time, development potential and financing."
