Brazil's updated climate plan seen lacking credibility as forests shrink

(Reuters, 10 Dec 2020) Brazil's revised plan to limit climate change shows it is "not interested in contributing" to the global effort, critics say.

Continuing large-scale deforestation in Brazil's Amazon region suggests a new government aim to become "carbon neutral" by 2060 lacks credibility, Brazilian scientists said Thursday.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, countries are due to submit updated plans to cut planet-heating emissions and better adapt to climate impacts by the end of this year.

But Brazil's revised plan, announced this week, lacks updated goals to cut emissions by 2030, suggesting it will not put the country on a realistic path to carbon neutrality by 2060, scientists said.

"This shows that Brazil is not interested in contributing to solving the problem of the climate crisis," said Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The observatory, a network of nearly 60 civil society groups, has put together its own proposal for an updated plan for Brazil compatible with the Paris climate agreement goals.

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Reuters, 10 Dec 2020: Brazil's updated climate plan seen lacking credibility as forests shrink