Jair Bolsonaro slashed budget for Brazil’s environment ministry hours after attending Climate Summit

The budget of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment for next year He fell despite President Jair Bolsonaro pledging at the White House leaders summit on Thursday that he would redouble his efforts. fight against climate change and reduce polluting gas emissions.

About 24 hours after this pledge, which provided for a ten-year advance – until 2050 – of the carbon neutrality goal, budgets were published that envision 2 billion reais (roughly $ 365 million) for the ministry of the environment, below 2,600 million the previous year.

The Ministry of the Economy explained that it was not a reduction as such, but rather the veto of the provisions adopted in Congress and valued at 240 million reais (about $ 43 million), according to local media. Among the blocked funds are R $ 11.6 million specifically earmarked for “control and inspection” tasks..

The Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, announced on his Twitter account that he had already formalized a proposal to the Economy to complete the budget with 270 million additional reais which would go to “control, prevention and fight against illegal deforestation and forest fires and environmental monitoring“.

Bolsonaro promised at the summit convened by his American counterpart, Joe biden, What would work to eradicate illegal deforestation by 2030 and pledged to double funding.

Brazil, according to its president, aspires to be “First line”From the global fight against climate change, despite the fact that the policies of recent years have been harshly criticized by environmental organizations.

Bolsonaro’s speech at the Climate Summit

The president said that the South American giant aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, ten years earlier than previously engaged, in an attempt to keep the country “at the forefront” in the global fight against climate change.

Bolsonaro, whose environmental policies have received much criticism from environmental organizations in recent years, used his telematic address at the top leaders to reaffirm Brazil’s “commitment” to the environmental challenge.

Thus, it updated the objectives of reducing polluting gas emissions, so that in 2025, they were reduced by 37% and by 2030, the decrease is already 40% a decade later.

“We agree, Mr. President (Joe Biden) with your call to establish ambitious commitments,” he said, before announcing that “climate neutrality” could happen in 2050 instead of 2060.

Bolsonaro, however, He also argued that Brazil has not traditionally been one of the most polluting countries. and pointed out that today it emits 3 percent of polluting emissions in the world. He also argued that the country has one of the “cleanest energy mixes” in the world..

The president pledged to protect Brazil’s natural potential, for example by eradicating illegal deforestation before 2030, while calling on the international community to recognize the country’s particular weight in global biomass.

“There must be fair compensation for the environmental services our biomes provide to the planet to recognize the economic nature of conservation activities», He stressed.

(With information from Europa Press and EFE)

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