(Bloomberg) -- Brazil is set to back the U.K.’s push to keep alive the chances of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as Latin America’s biggest economy seeks to mend its tarnished climate reputation.
Environment Minister Joaquim Leite is expected to support the initiative when he addresses leaders at climate talks in Scotland this week, said Paulino de Carvalho Neto, the Foreign Ministry’s secretary for multilateral political affairs.
The move would be the latest sign of a change in policy by the administration of climate-skeptic President Jair Bolsonaro. Officials have sought to show a more flexible stance in negotiations, also surprising observers by joining a collective pledge to curb methane emissions and agreeing to halt forest loss and end land degradation by 2030.
“We want 1.5, we will state this publicly,” de Carvalho Neto said by phone from Glasgow on Sunday. “We have no difficulty in concentrating our efforts at 1.5 instead of 2. We are in favor of that.”
COP26 President Alok Sharma has said that countries need to focus on keeping alive the chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees compared with pre-industrial levels. The landmark Paris agreement pledges to keep it below 2 degrees, with countries agreeing to strive for the lower mark.
BNEF Theme: COP26 in Glasgow
Brazil will bring its net-zero goal forward to 2050 and curb emissions by 50% by 2030 from 2005 levels, de Carvalho Neto said. Its updated pledge, known as Nationally Determined Contribution, is expected to be filed in the coming days, he said.
Some countries are pushing for the NDCs to be updated every year. The text of the Paris agreement calls for that to be done at least every five years, but that wording is unlikely to change in Glasgow.
“What could happen indeed -- and Brazil has no objections to that -- is a recommendation that countries seek or mobilize efforts to update their NDCs on an annual basis,” he said.
Carbon Market
The nation is also willing to compromise to reach a deal setting out rules for a global carbon market -- known as Article 6 after its place in the Paris Agreement. It argues that an agreement is still within reach, even though talks have stumbled on difficulties over a transaction tax that would see proceeds directed to a fund for the most climate-vulnerable countries.
“We favor what the developing countries have been saying,” de Carvalho Neto said. “But by no means is that a sign that we don’t want to reach an agreement, that we can’t and aren’t being flexible to reach an understanding. The issue of share of proceeds is more important for the least developed countries, the smaller economies and small islands that have been suffering a lot from climate change.”
A key sticking point for the South American nation is the transfer of old credits generated under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. While Brazil initially wanted a cut off date of 2013 or 2014 for the carryover of credits from the defunct Clean Development Mechanism, it’s now willing to move that date to somewhere around 2016, according to the official.
The country is also willing to accept rules that avoid having more than one country count credits toward its emissions-reduction target. However, it has raised questions on how that can be done in practice and suggested the creation of an independent body to judge whether emissions reductions are additional to what would have normally happened.
“We don’t want double counting, we want the corresponding adjustments to be done,” de Carvalho Neto said.
The change in stance could be crucial for any agreement on Article 6, one of the main goals for the Glasgow meeting. The 2019 talks in Madrid ended without a compromise, with Brazil and the European Union at loggerheads.
“On Article 6, there’s great desire from all parts to overcome the difficulties, to turn the page,” he said.
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