Bolsonaro highlights Brazil’s environmental commitments in letter to OECD

In a letter sent to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) highlighted the environmental commitments assumed by Brazil in the Paris Agreement and at COP26, the UN global climate meeting.

On Tuesday (25), the entity’s council gave the green light for the start of negotiations for the affiliation of Brazil and five other countries.

In the letter of invitation to countries and in a communiqué, OECD members emphasized that countries’ commitment to deforestation reduction and biodiversity loss targets should be considered in the assessment to authorize entry into the entity.

Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental rhetoric — and the advance of deforestation in the Amazon — are pointed out as the biggest obstacles today in the country’s relations with the United States and European countries.

In the document sent to Cormann, prepared by Itamaraty and to which the leaf had access, Bolsonaro gives special emphasis to the issue and tries to distance himself from the image of a leader uncommitted to the environmental agenda.

“In the environmental area, specifically, we have consistently shown our commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement. As we did at the recent COP26, when we joined other nations in the goal of achieving emission neutrality by 2050 by reducing emissions, which will be possible through public and private sector investments,” Bolsonaro wrote to Cormann.

“In this context, Brazil is committed to adopting and implementing public policies in line with its climate goals, taking concrete steps to achieve this objective, including ‘working collectively to prevent and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030, while achieving sustainable development and investing in promoting inclusive rural transformation’, as mentioned in the declaration by leaders in Glasgow on the use of land and forests, which was signed by Brazil”, concludes Bolsonaro.

In the same letter, Bolsonaro guarantees, “without any hesitation”, that Brazil is ready to start the process of joining the OECD.

The president also claims that the country endorses values ​​such as the preservation of individual freedom, democracy and the defense of human rights.

In another mention of the green agenda, he states that Brazil shares with the OECD the objective of supporting sustainable economic growth that protects the environment and “improves the lives and prospects of all”.

In a statement, the OECD said that details about the accession process of each of the countries will be prepared once the candidates confirm their endorsement of some values ​​of the organization – which Bolsonaro did in the letter.

Among them are “preservation of individual freedom; values ​​of democracy; protection of human rights, as well as open, competitive, sustainable and transparent market economies”.

In the invitation letter, the entity’s board members emphasize the need for policies in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement and to achieve net zero emission of greenhouse gases by 2050, through deep reductions in emissions made possible by public investments and private.

The invitation letter also talks about the importance of each country fully adopting and implementing policies in line with its climate objectives, including the targets for reducing deforestation and biodiversity loss agreed during COP 26 in Glasgow.

In an interview with leaf, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Marcelo Guaranys, recognized that the environmental issue is one of the biggest challenges for Brazil to join the OECD, alongside the tax issue.

“What we have suffered the most criticism are issues of deforestation. We have many forests, and these indicators of illegal deforestation need to be reduced. And that is what we have been working on within each area”, says Guaranys, adding that the most indicated to deal with policies on the subject is the Ministry of the Environment.

Joining the “rich countries club” is one of the priorities of the Bolsonaro government’s foreign policy.

Joining the OECD serves as a seal of quality for investors, as member countries commit to complying with good practices for the functioning of their governments and economies.

One of the signals already given by the country is the promise to zero the IOF (Tax on Financial Operations) by 2029 in operations involving the purchase and sale of foreign currency.

The commitment was signed by Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy), in a letter sent last week to the entity’s board members.​

After the formal invitation, a negotiation process begins, which should last at least two years. The average for the last members to complete the process was four years.

To be successful, Brazil will need to adhere to a series of regulatory instruments of the entity, in addition to having its candidacy analyzed in several committees.

Even before the negotiation process was formalized, Brazil had already been adopting these rules, precisely to signal its interest in being part of the group.

To date, Brazil has adhered to 103 of the 251 instruments.