Developed countries must fully engage in climate finance to support developing countriestrying to meet Paris agreement goals, top Brazilian officials said at the Brics summit held in Rio de Janeiro on 6-7 July.
"One decade after the Paris agreement, [the world] lacks resources for a fair and planned transition," Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said. "Developing countries will be the most affected by losses and damages, while they are also the ones that havefewer ways to fund mitigation and adaptation," Lula da Silva said during his keynote address Monday.
The Brics summit discussed climate finance in anticipation of the UN Cop 30 climate summit, which will be also be held Brazil, in November. The group issued a declaration that reinforced its commitment to uphold multilateralism as a solution for climate actions, while it also emphasized developed countries' responsibility towards developing countries to financially enable just transition pathways and sustainable development aligned with the Paris agreement.
The Cop 29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024 managed to reach an agreement to allocate $300bn/yr in resources for climate action. But delegates to the upcoming UN Cop 30 summit are targeting at least $1.3bn/yr in public and private funds to tackle climate change, focusing especially on countries that are already dealing with extreme weather conditions and lack financial resources to mitigate it.
The Brics also announced a memorandum of understanding on the Brics Carbon Markets Partnership focused on capacity building and multinational cooperation to support climate strategies such as mitigation efforts and emergency resource mobilization. The declaration opposes unilateral protectionist measures, arguing that they "deliberately disrupt the global supply and production chains and distort competition."
Climate justice, the fight against desertification, strengthened climate diplomacy and subsidies to environmental services were the main topics of discussion during the Brics summit, Brazil's environment minister Marina Silva said. Brazil will launch its own initiatives to promote climate finance in Cop 30. One program already launched is the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) fund that aims to raise $125bn to preserve 1bn hectares of global tropical forests across 80 developing countries.
Brics' development bank NDB will target 40pc of its investments to promote sustainable development, such as energy transition. The bank has approved $40bn in investments for clean energy, environment protection and water supply, it said last week. Brazil accounts for $6.4bn of total investments, gathering resources to 29 projects under climate actions, according to the institution.
Brazil currently holds the presidency of the Brics, which also includes Russia, China, India and South Africa. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran are also members. Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia, Nigeria, Vietnam and Uzbekistan act as partner nations.
Heated speech
During his keynote address, Lula criticized the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an institution that promotes unilateralism and stressed his support for reforming institutions of the UN to promote multilateralism and political equity for developing countries.
He also mentioned that 65 of the biggest banks in the world committed to a $869bn investment to the fossil fuels sector last year. "Market incentives run contrary to sustainability," he said.
