Brazil no longer running to host UN Climate Conference

The Brazilian government announced it is withdrawing its candidacy to host the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations (UN) Conference on Climate Change (COP-25), aimed at negotiating the implementation of the Paris Agreement, an event slated to take place from November 11–22, 2019. The Foreign Ministry informed the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of the decision.

According to the text submitted to the UN on Wednesday (Nov. 27), the move comes as a result of “fiscal and budgetary constraints likely to remain” in the coming administration.

“Bearing in mind the current fiscal and budgetary constraints, which are likely to remain under the recently elected administration—to begin on January 1, 2019—the Brazilian government was compelled to withdraw its offer to host COP-25.”

NGOs

Environmental and indigenous NGOs regretted the decision. In a note, the Climate Observatory warned that, by no longer running to host the event, Brazil may lose its central role in climate-related discussions.

“To leave its leading position in the international arena means that business, investment, and employment generation opportunities are also left behind,” a note released by the Climate Observatory reads.

Environmentalist and activist Natalie Unterstell sets off for Poland to attend COP-24 from December 8–15. The decision is expected to be reversed, she said. Unterstell is a Brazilian national among the global ambassadors in the Homeward Bound program, which encourages the participation of women in science and politics.