At COP 28, Brazil will have the chance to show the world its efforts and progress in relation to the commitments made in the Paris Agreement and to take a consistent position on the climate agenda.

By Marina Grossi*

“The era of global turmoil has arrived” – these were the words used by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, in July of this year to define the current phase of the climate crisis. With temperature records being broken month after month, 2023 is on track to be the hottest year in history. According to the Climate Change Service of the European observatory Copernicus, from January to September the average global temperature was 1.4ºC higher than the pre-industrial average; in September alone, the thermometers were 1.75ºC higher than they were before industrialization.

Brazil is following the trend: a strong heat wave has spread across the country and caused temperatures to reach extreme levels in some capitals, well above what would be considered normal for the beginning of spring – São Paulo, for example, reached 36.5ºC; Rio, 39.9ºC, and Cuiabá reached 42ºC. In addition, Brazil has entered the map of extreme weather events. The heavy rains that have been affecting the southern region of the country since September have already caused more than 40 deaths and damage to more than 80 municipalities; in the northern region, the severe drought has placed 58 municipalities in a state of emergency and is expected to affect 500,000 people, with incalculable social and economic losses.

The climate emergency is pressing. We are on the eve of COP 28, the UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held this year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at the end of November. The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical. At COP 28, for the first time, the countries that are parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take stock of the implementation of the climate commitments made in the Paris Agreement.

This transparency mechanism is called Global Stocktake. In early September, the initiative's first report was released, confirming what was already expected: the world is far from preventing the global average temperature from rising above 1.5ºC. At the current rate of compliance with NDCs (nationally determined contributions), humanity is on track to reach between 2.4ºC and 2.6ºC by 2100.

With commitment, the document emphasizes, it would be possible to reduce warming to a range between 1.7ºC and 2.1ºC, if the net zero commitments are strictly met. Thus, COP 28 should be a major stage for discussions on the steps needed to avoid the most drastic scenarios of climate change.

Brazil will have the chance to show the world its efforts and progress in relation to the commitments made in the Paris Agreement and to take a consistent position on the climate agenda by all segments of society – government, business sector and organized civil society.

Among the deliverables that Brazil will take to the COP are the measures announced in the federal government's Ecological Transformation Plan, to which CEBDS has been actively contributing and which includes the regulation of the carbon market, a topic that the business sector has been working on since 2016 and which has recently shown progress, with the approval of a bill in the Senate on October 4.

We have a path to build that starts at COP 28 and continues through COP 30 in Belém in 2025 – the first on Amazonian soil and loaded with symbolism for the country, given that the Amazon is a key player in tackling the two serious environmental crises that threaten life on Earth – the climate emergency and the loss of biodiversity. And it continues forward, with the aim of becoming a country that is a protagonist in a new development model, based on a low-carbon economy and social inclusion, in a just transition for all people.

The Brazilian business sector is engaged in the search for solutions and in working with governments and civil society to advance important issues, such as the regulated carbon market, sustainable taxonomy and green neo-industrialization, as well as a new economic model for the Amazon that will allow for prosperity to be generated while the forest remains standing. Until 2030, we have a unique window of opportunity to make this happen.

* Marina Grossi He is president of CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development), an entity with more than 110 associated companies whose combined revenue is equivalent to almost 50% of Brazilian GDP.