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COP30 Brazilian presidency calls for new global climate governance

According to a letter released by the Brazilian presidency on Thursday, COP30, which is this year's global climate summit, has called for new global governance mechanisms in order to help countries implement their commitments and curb global warming.

The summit in the Amazonian town of Belem, in November, will mark the 10th anniversary since the Paris Accord when signatories agreed that warming should be kept well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

Many nations are still struggling to bring their plans to life and reduce carbon emissions to the level necessary to prevent the planet from reaching catastrophic levels of warming.

In a letter from the COP30 Presidency, it is stated that "the international community must investigate ways in which climate cooperation can be improved to accelerate" the implementation.

Luiz inacio Lula da So, the Brazilian president, first made this proposal during the G20 summit held in Rio de Janeiro last November. Lula suggested at the time creating a “United Nations Climate Change Council” to help countries implement the commitments they made in 2015 to combat climate change.

Lula stated that "negotiating new commitments is pointless if we do not have an effective way to accelerate the implementation" of the Paris Agreement. "We need stronger climate governance."

Andre Correa do Lago will be the Brazilian ambassador at COP30. Correa do lago said that the UNFCCC Climate Convention has been the subject of decades-long debates. However, it lacks the implementation capability.

Lago, a journalist on Wednesday, said: "The UNFCCC or the Paris Agreement do not have the power or the mandate to move this forward. We propose to reconsider how institutionally we can strengthen implementation."

The COP Presidency Letter suggests that this discussion should take place at the United Nations General Assembly and not COP30.

The letter says that "debates at U.N. General Assembly can explore innovative governance approaches for endowing international cooperation with the capabilities of rapid sharing data, knowledge, and intelligence as well as leveraging networks, aggregate efforts, and articulating processes, mechanisms, and actors both within and outside the U.N."

According to sources in the Brazilian Government, the creation of an U.N. Lula has discussed the creation of a Climate Council in his diplomatic talks with world leaders. However, there are no immediate results expected in the near future.

One source stated that "it's still a first convincing effort." (Reporting by Lisandra paraguassu; editing by Manuela andreoni, Lincoln Feast)

(source: Reuters)