BRASILIA — On the expected announcement by the Brazilian government of Brazil ratifying last year’s Paris Agreement, Nicole Figueiredo de Oliveira, Director of 350.org Brazil and Latin America, issued the following statement:
“By joining the Paris Agreement, the Brazilian government should be signaling a paradigm shift in its development model through a complete restructure of the energy matrix, redirecting resources to renewable energy initiatives instead of investing in the fossil fuel industry.
The only way to achieve the goals of the Agreement is by keeping coal, oil and gas in the ground. But what we are seeing nationally is a complete lack of political will to transition away from fossil fuels. Instead, we see the government heading in the opposite direction by opening the energy sector to unconventional forms of oil and gas extraction, such as fracking, encouraging investments in the natural gas industry, and making changes in the environmental licensing laws to ease the processes to approve large energy projects.
There is still a dangerous gap between what governments are committing to at the international level and what they really do nationally. As part of a global movement, we will continue to pressure governments worldwide to go beyond their current goals and accelerate the transition to an economy with low carbon emissions and 100% renewable energy sources.”
Contact: Nathália Clark, 350.org Brazil and Latin America Communications Coordinator [email protected] / +55 61 98160-5551