Brazil's Lula, world leaders bolster UN climate talks

UN climate talks got a fillip Wednesday as Brazilian presidentelect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched the country back into the battle to curb global warming and global leaders reaffirmed key pledges.

Lula arrived Tuesday in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and went straight into climate diplomacy with meetings with US envoy John Kerry and China's Xie Zhenhua.

The leftist politician, who served as president from 2003 to 2010, is expected to inject much needed momentum into the COP27 climate talks in his first international trip since defeating far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, who presided over years of rampant Amazon deforestation.

"Brazil is back in the world to debate the climate issue," Lula tweeted. "We will be a source of pride for the world." Lula is expected to present his plan for "zero deforestation" in a speech Wednesday afternoon at the COP27 conference. Kerry told a COP27 biodiversity panel on Wednesday that the United States would work with other nations to help protect the Amazon.

"I was pleased last night to meet with president-elect Lula and was really encouraged by the ways in which he talked about for once and for all getting it right ... in order to preserve the Amazon," Kerry said.

"We will work diligently in order to achieve that goal together with our allies, particularly Norway and Germany and other countries that have been deeply committed to this for a period of time." Under Bolsonaro, a staunch ally of agribusiness, average annual deforestation increased 75 percent compared to the previous decade.

"We need a new sense of hope to build trust and momentum towards a positive outcome at COP27," said Brazilian climate campaigner, Mariana Paoli, Christian Aid's global advocacy lead.

"President Lula's election victory in Brazil has the potential to breathe new life into this process with his progressive agenda that seeks to bring Brazil back to the table and end the disastrous climate policies of his predecessor."

In another boost to the UN climate process, a final communique from world leaders meeting at the Group of 20 talks in Bali, Indonesia included key promises to "pursue efforts" to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a safer limit according to scientists.