Germany and Brazil – No going back after Paris Agreement

State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth visits Brazil and Argentina for environmental policy talks.

Germany and Brazil have committed to ambitious goals in implementing the Paris Climate Agreement and intend to work together closely to achieve them. This was agreed by German State Secretary for Environment Jochen Flasbarth and Brazilian Minister of the Environment José Sarney Filho. Flasbarth held environmental policy talks in Brazil and Argentina from 7 to 10 February 2017. The discussions covered bilateral cooperation with the two countries on climate change mitigation, forest conservation, chemicals policy and sustainability.

State Secretary Flasbarth and Minister of the Environment Filho stressed that there was no going back following the Paris Climate Agreement. They agreed to further expand the already positive cooperation between the two countries.

Flasbarth: ‘Germany and Brazil have a long-standing working relationship, especially in the area of climate change mitigation and forest conservation. This is underscored by the Brazilian–German Joint Statement on Climate Change signed in 2015 and by the key role that Brazil is playing in the German Environment Ministry’s International Climate Initiative (IKI). We can also count on Brazil as a reliable partner in the next steps towards ending our use of coal, oil and natural gas.’

In this Initiative the German Environment Ministry (BMUB) is promoting 27 projects in Brazil, including the ‘Programme Support for Implementation PNMC (National Policy on Climate Change)’, for which it is providing EUR 9 million in finance. This programme aims to help Brazil achieve its voluntary reduction targets of up to 38.9 per cent by 2020.

In Argentina, State Secretary Flasbarth met with Environment Minister Sergio Bergmann, the Energy and Agriculture Ministers, and the Deputy Foreign Minister. They discussed ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation between Germany and Argentina in the fields of sustainable development and climate change mitigation, with a focus on the G20 context.