"We're really counting on Indian support for a very successful COP30," says Brazilian envoy

New Delhi [India], September 1 (ANI): Kenneth Felix Haczynski Da Nobrega, Ambassador of Brazil to India, on Monday said that Brazil and India share a strong responsibility in addressing global challenges such as climate change.
"I think that Brazil and India have a lot to offer to the world in terms of solutions and paths to solve the climate crisis. We're really counting on Indian support to ensure that we have a very successful COP30..." he said.
Speaking on the issue of US tariffs, the Brazilian envoy noted India's approach in the evolving geopolitical scenario. "India is trying to see what opportunities are arising within this new geopolitical context. We are exploring ways to collaborate on various initiatives. We are focused on developing our people. Climate change is a phenomenon that will persist for years to come. So we are also focusing on the longer term, on the importance of ensuring that climate change will not affect our societies..." he said.
On the transition of the G20 presidency from India to Brazil, Da Nobrega highlighted the constructive nature of the process. "I think there has been a very smooth and constructive transition from your (India) presidency of G20 to our presidency of G20. I think we are going to replicate the success story of two brotherly countries handing over to one another presidencies of important multilateral, plurilateral groups," he added.
Carrying forward the spirit of cooperation into global climate discussions, the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, is scheduled to be held in Belem, Brazil, from November 10 to 21. Speaking about the upcoming summit, Andre Aranha Correa Do Lago, President of COP30, said on Monday that multilateralism is extremely important for India and Brazil.
Lago, while talking to ANI, underlined the significance of multilateral approaches for developing nations. "I think that for most developing countries and even more for economies like Brazil and India, multilateralism is extremely important. So we need to make sure that COP30 brings back this trust in multilateralism that we cannot believe that unilateral measures is the answer. We need to prepare the world with multilateral solutions and I think this is the very first thing we want to achieve," he said.
Lago further stressed that the world must begin to view itself through the lens of countries such as India and Brazil. "I think we had a very interesting sequence regarding G20, that Brazil followed India. And I think that the world has to start to look at itself from the point of view of countries like India and Brazil. And I think this is working very well, and we have to strengthen that. So it will be very good that India holds COP33," he said.
Highlighting the similarities between the two nations, he said they share common goals despite different circumstances. "We have very similar objectives, although we have different circumstances. Brazil has a very large territory with a population that is much smaller than India. We are only 220 million. But there are many things that we are developing together. So biofuels, for instance, is something that we can work, and we are working together, and we are leaders technologically and also commercially because India and Brazil are the two largest producers of sugar and we can do biofuels from many other origins," he said.
He also drew attention to renewable energy cooperation, particularly solar energy. "But there is also solar that India took the lead very clearly and Brazil also is following very strongly. We already have almost 15% of our electricity now comes from solar. But Brazil and India have many other technologies that we are developing together and so I believe that this agenda is a positive agenda if we use it to change together and not wait for the consequences of climate change to start moving. We have to move early," he said.
Commenting on the role of the United States in climate negotiations, Lago acknowledged challenges but also pointed to opportunities. "It's more challenging for everybody that the government of the US has this reluctance to participate in the negotiation. But we have to remember that the US is not only the government. It's the companies, it's the different states. So if you just take the governors that want to continue to follow the Paris Accord independently of the central government, you have more than 60% of the American GDP that is following it. So I think that we have to put it in relative terms, but we definitely have to work all together," he said.
He added that this is precisely why Brazil and India firmly believe in multilateralism. "That's why we believe in multilateralism and we would obviously prefer that the US would be in this effort as a central government. So we will work with the US business, governments, etc. that want to follow this agenda," he said. (ANI)