(by Fabio Govoni) Brazil obtains 88% of its electricity from renewable sources, is among the top producers of biofuels and is a candidate for global leadership in the ‘green transition’, from the chair of its current presidency of the G20, which will meet at the end of May in Belo Horizonte and, next year, by that of Cop30 which he will preside in Belem. “But Brazil could not do this without first consulting Pope Francis”, declared in an interview with ANSA the Brazilian Minister for Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, who met the pontiff in the Vatican yesterday in Rome.
“The Pope gave an interesting interview in which he said that the ecological transition must be ‘just, inclusive and obligatory’. Now, for this to be possible – said Silveira – the rich countries of the world must live up to the commitments made at the conferences on the climate of Copenhagen and Paris, because we all live in a single ecosystem and emissions have no borders. Everyone must do their part and this is the objective of the Lula presidency.”
The federal parliament is preparing to approve a law that will regulate the CO2 credit market, one of the most advanced among the countries of the South of the world. “But we must have global governance – explained Silveira – because individual countries cannot solve the problem without a more active attitude on the part of rich and poor”. The G7, currently chaired by Italy, “must have a leading role in promoting this mentality. We need collaboration between the G7 and the G20, that is, between the North and the South of the world. However, the rich must take a step further , not only with its own credit market, but including the countries of the Global South.”
“88% of our energy matrix is clean – biomass, wind, solar and especially hydroelectric – and we have a high production of ethanol, biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel (Saf), carbon dioxide storage (Ccus) etc., and we are investing heavy resources to reindustrialize Brazil to have better use of our renewable resources.” Precisely in accordance with the principle of inclusiveness, dear to the Pope, Brasilia launched the ‘Luz para todos’ (Light for all) program during Lula’s first presidency, which since 2003 has reached 13 million families, connecting them to the network. “And by 2027, we hope to reach another 300 thousand families living in the most remote areas of the country: especially indigenous people or those who live near rivers, to equip them with ‘off-the-grid’ systems, i.e. solar panels and batteries” .
As for the criticisms about the potential deforestation of the Amazon that biofuels – the cultivation of the plants from which they are extracted – entail, “in reality in Brazil we still have enormous land potential”, without taking anything away from the Amazon forest. “We have degraded lands, which can however produce food and biofuel. We have 11% of the planet’s clean water and 170,000 km of power lines and we can use the same land two and a half times every year to produce food. There are also areas that can be legally deforested – obviously not the Mato Grosso or the Mato Atlantic. By degraded areas we mean land that needs regeneration. Brazil has opened a significant line of investments to recover this degraded land, especially in semi-arid areas they are trying to reconvert, reducing polluting emissions in transport.”
But in this context, was it really necessary to grant authorization to drill the potential hydrocarbon deposits of the so-called Equatorial Margin, in the ocean facing the Amazon? “The 2012 authorization – replied Silveira – only concerns prospecting. If resources are actually found and if the transition criteria are respected, a decision will be made. Furthermore, if the green transition is effective and inclusive, the exploitation of fossil resources in the future will not have to last that long. And as for the national oil giant Petrobras, “our commitment is to maintain a balance between its attractiveness to shareholders and its social, environmental and legal obligations, compliant with the Constitution of Brazil”, concluded the minister.
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