<article><p class="lead">Brazil is reinstating stricter greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets that were previously announced in 2015 under the Paris climate agreement.</p><p>The country's newly formed climate change committee (CIM) issued a decree revoking changes to Brazil's 2020 nationally determined contribution (NDC), which were made during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro.</p><p>The previous NDC presented at the UN's Cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, raised the emissions levels of the 2005 base year to <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2269918">2.8bn t CO2e t</a> of CO2e from 2.1bn t CO2e, following a methodological change to the emissions inventory. With higher base-year emissions, Brazil's 2030 target net emissions levels increased to 1.8bn t CO2e from 1.2bn t CO2e. The changes would have allowed the country to increase emissions and still meet its targets under the agreement.</p><p>The commissions' decision means that Brazil will once again have a target of net emissions of 1.2bn t CO2e for 2030, which is a 43pc reduction from 2005 levels.</p><p>The climate change committee was created in June and includes representatives from 18 government ministries. It has launched a total of five decrees as the country works to bolster its image ahead of the Cop 28 meeting at the end of the year.</p><p>The committee announced the creation of a working group to update its national climate change plan and one to elaborate the country's new emissions reduction targets.</p><p>A separate group will be responsible for regulating and implementing the Brazilian emissions trading system (SBCE), which will be created when the country passes legislation for a new carbon market. <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2484574">The bill</a> is in congress waiting for approval.</p></article>
