OC<\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s interim President, Michel Temer, will ratify the Paris climate agreement next Monday (29), in a ceremony in Bras\u00edlia. The deposition of the ratification instrument at the UN is expected for the following day.<\/p>\n
Brazil shall thus become the world\u2019s first big emitter of greenhouse gases to ratify the Paris Agreement. Ratification means that the treaty\u2019s provisions \u2013 among them the long-term goal of limiting global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius \u2013 will be domestic law in the South American country.<\/p>\n
Mr. Temer\u2019s goal is to get ahead of other big polluters, such as China and the United States, who had already committed to ratify the climate deal and shall do so by September. In September 21st<\/sup>, during the UN General Assembly, a special event organized by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will bring together parties to deposit their ratification instruments.<\/p>\n According to sources in the Brazilian Executive branch, the government has already begun to plan for the early implementation of its climate plan, or INCD (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution). After ratification, the INDC loses the \u201ci\u201d: it ceases to be a promise and becomes Brazil\u2019s formal climate commitment \u2013 its NDC.<\/p>\n The idea is to have the NDC implemented from 2017 onwards. Brazil\u2019s pledge is to cut 37% on its carbon emissions by 2025 from 2005 levels. To do so, the government has proposed a series of measures, such as restoring 15 million hectares in degraded pasturelands, reforesting and restoring 12 million hectares of forests and ending illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cBrazil takes up a leading role on implementing the Paris Agreement by being the first to ratify it among the world\u2019s top ten emitters\u201d, sais Andr\u00e9 Ferretti, head of Conservation Strategies at Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Grupo Botic\u00e1rio and general coordinator of the Brazilian Climate Observatory. \u201cThe message is clear: we can\u2019t wait four more years before we put the agreement into force. If we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we have to act now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe ratification is an excellent signal. Now we need it to be followed up by a re-orientation of Brazilian economy, so that the Paris Agreement can be more than words on paper\u201d, says the Climate Observatory\u2019s Executive Secretary, Carlos Rittl.<\/p>\n