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| Rousseff and Obama. Photo credit: Reuters / Kevin Lamarque. |
By Anders Lorenzen
US President Barack Obama has been busy in the past year. After forging legally binding CO2 regulations at home, on the international stage he has been busy setting up climate and clean energy partnerships. This has led to an impressive climate partnership with China and a clean energy agreement with India.
Now, having made tackling climate change one of his key objectives in his second term in office, the US President has agreed a deal with Brazil to increase renewable energy output as well as reforestation projects.
During a White House meeting, Brazil’s President, Dilma Rousseff and Obama agreed that renewable energy power output (excluding hydropower) should rise to 20% by 2030 in both countries.
Rousseff also pledged that Brazil would reforest 12 million hectares of land by 2030 and agreed to put forward a broader climate change plan that is “fair and ambitious” and “represents its highest possible effort beyond its current actions,” according to a recent statement. Brazil also said it intends to improve low-carbon agricultural and land grazing practices, as well as promote new clean energy standards for industry and boost energy efficiency measures.
Brian Deese, a White House senior advisor, said this was big news as it means the US will have to triple its renewable energy output and Brazil double its to reach 2030 targets.
Brazil is yet to submit its official climate strategy ahead of the crucial UN climate talks in Paris at the end of the year. Currently the South American country relies heavily on hydropower for its electricity, but climate scientists are saying that with the impacts of climate change, hydropower generation could become a lot more unpredictable.
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Categories: Brazil, clean energy standards, climate agreement, climate goals, climate impacts, Obama, reforestation, South America, US, White House
A greener life, a greener world 
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