Addressing the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on 17 December, President Lula called for the 'common good of humanity' to take precedence over 'corporate interests'.

He reiterated countries' common but differentiated responsibilities for tackling climate change – the principle underlying the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997) – and insisted that developed countries must have 'ambitious' aims with regard to reducing carbon emissions if global temperatures are to be prevented from rising by more than two degrees centigrade. A genuinely ambitious aim on the part of the industrialised world, he said, would be to reduce emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 (the upper end of the target range proposed by the International Panel on Climate Change in 2007). He added that the Kyoto Protocol should still be considered a point of reference and should not be replaced by any mechanism that is 'less demanding' with regard to developed countries.

President Lula also emphasised that developing countries will only be able to combine economic growth with emissions reductions if the rich world provides major technological and financial support, as opposed to what he called the 'timid promises' offered so far.

Brazil recently declared that by 2020 it aims to cut its own emissions by between 36% and 39% (in comparison with projected emissions in 2020 if no action were taken), which will include an 80% reduction in Amazon deforestation (in comparison with the average between 1996 and 2005). The most recent annual deforestation figures in Brazil, for August 2008 to July 2009, were the lowest in more than 20 years.

Source: Embassy of Brazil in London