Crypto News: Brazil sees forests as climate quick fix

Today's newsletter looks at Brazil's vision for COP30. The host of the next UN climate talks is making a big push for funding forests as a way to slow climate change. Also, Mark Carney has won Canada's contest to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister. What does this mean for climate action? Read more on these stories below, and get the latest updates on Bloomberg.com. For unlimited access to climate and energy news, please subscribe.

Nature's climate solution

By John Ainger

Brazil will push for more funding to reverse deforestation when it hosts United Nations climate talks later this year, arguing natural carbon sinks can provide a buffer against the sluggish fight to curb global warming.

"Forests can buy us time in climate action in our rapidly closing window of opportunity," Andre Correa do Lago, president-designate of the summit, known as COP30, wrote in an open letter published Monday. "Tapping into such an outstanding potential requires enhanced global support and investment."

Negotiators are gathering in the Amazonian city of Belém in November, ten years on from the landmark Paris Agreement, in which countries agreed for the first time to limit global warming. The future of international climate diplomacy has been put into doubt by President Donald Trump's decision to leave the pact for the second time.

Andre Correa do Lago Photographer: Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images

As it outlines plans for its COP30 presidency, Brazil is setting out to not only counter deforestation, but also scale up climate finance and elevate indigenous voices in a bid to show that multilateralism can still work amid the US retreat.

Do Lago acknowledged the "sadness and indignation" felt by those who fear a backslide on climate action and called on world leaders to honor their commitments to keep the rise in global temperatures to ideally 1.5C — and well below 2C — above pre-industrial levels. Countries are expected to submit their updated plans for how to reach that goal before the summit, after most nations missed a February deadline set under the Paris accord.

Already Earth's warming exceeded 1.5C on an annual basis for the first time last year, and temperatures will continue to rise unless drastic action is taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Forests, which absorb billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year, are seen as essential in the effort to combat climate change.

COP30 will "take place at the epicenter of the climate crisis, and the first to be hosted in the Amazon," do Lago said, noting the vital ecosystem is now at risk of reaching an irreversible tipping point.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made tackling destruction of the Amazon a priority when he took office at the beginning of 2023. The country cut the rate of deforestation 50% in that year and made further gains in 2024, Marina Silva, the country's environment minister, said last year, citing government data.

Still, deforestation has been on the rise globally as trees are cleared for agriculture and mining or burned through intensifying wildfires.

"In coming to terms with reality when countering doom, cynicism, and denial, COP30 must be the moment of hope and possibilities through action – never paralysis and fragmentation," do Lago said.

Last year climate negotiators agreed that developed countries would provide developing nations with $300 billion annually by 2035 to help them transition and adapt to climate change. Yet the credibility of that promise is already coming into question with Trump leaving the Paris Agreement and slashing international aid. In Europe, countries are choosing to massively boost spending to bolster defense, at the expense of international development programs.

One of the key challenges will be to show there is still money available for developing countries' climate plans. Alongside COP29 host Azerbaijan, Brazil will produce a report outlining how to realize another commitment made last year to mobilize $1.3 trillion in climate finance from private sources for poor nations, according to the letter.

Vanishing opportunity

6.4 million

This is how many hectares of forests were lost in 2023, 45% higher than the rate required to put the world on a pathway to meet the 2030 target, according to the Forest Declaration Assessment.

COP30's big agenda

"If we are ambitious about announcing goals, we have to be ambitious about implementing them. Brazil's COP has to be the COP for reducing CO2 emissions."

Marina Silva

Brazil's environment minister and top climate diplomat

Read more on how Silva, a renowned former activist, helped push climate change to the top of President Lula's agenda. Her next task is to do the same thing for the world.

Data deep dive

Brazil has no path to net zero without tackling farming emissions and deforestation. When looking at the country's total greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture and land-use change together account for 63%.

In its New Energy Outlook report published last month, BloombergNEF also notes that Brazil has one of the cleanest power sectors in the Group of 20, but fossil fuels are still widely used in other sectors like transportation and industry.

Canada prepares for a new prime minister

Mark Carney has won the race to become Canada's next prime minister. In his victory speech on Sunday, the new head of the Liberal Party pledged to retain retaliatory tariffs on American goods and protect Canadian interests in the escalating trade war with the US.

The ex-Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor also took aim at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, criticizing his ability to lead Canada during a time of economic insecurity and his approach to climate policy.

Carney resigned his posts as chair of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Bloomberg Inc. to run for the leadership. Read the full story here

Mark Carney, leader of Canada's Liberal Party, speaks during the party's leadership announcement event in Ottawa, Ontario on Sunday. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg

Worth a listen

What's next for Canada? Rick Smith, president of the Canadian Climate Institute, recently spoke with Zero podcast host Akshat Rathi about what shape the country's climate ambitions might take under new leadership, how it can deal with challenges posed by US President Donald Trump, and why he expects meaningful climate policy to be driven by provinces and municipalities. Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday.

More from Green

California Governor Gavin Newsom has told state regulators to go back to the drawing board on sweeping rules that would drastically reduce single-use plastics, citing concerns over the measure's cost.

The governor's office said the draft regulations, set to clear a key rulemaking hurdle on March 8, would impose unacceptable burdens on businesses. Newsom is worried that the added cost will also affect consumers, said spokesperson Daniel Villasenor.

The governor is directing the state agency CalRecycle to redraft the regulations and wants to "ensure California's bold recycling law can achieve its goal of cutting plastic pollution and is implemented fairly — minimizing costs for small businesses and working families as much as possible," Villasenor said in a statement.

Plastic straws Photographer: Cole Burston/Bloomberg

Weather watch

By Brian K Sullivan, Mary Hui, and Joe Wertz

First came a dry spell that parched the land, then a spark, followed by some wind. Suddenly, swaths of South Carolina were consumed by voracious flames.

More than 100 fires ignited in the state in recent weeks — an unusually high total even in the heart of fire season. It was the perfect combination of arid air, dry fuels and gusting winds that combined to spread the flames, said Doug Wood, a spokesman for the state's Forestry Commission.

The South Carolina disaster is the latest high-profile example of compound weather, or two or more concurrent events that collectively yield a result worse than if each had occurred on its own. It's a global phenomenon — and its prevalence in a warming world portends the risks ahead.

Malaysia recently struggled with devastating floods that killed at least five people, sent thousands fleeing their homes, crimped palm oil production and caused mudslides throughout the region. In January, a cascading series of weather disasters led to historic Los Angeles wildfires that killed 29.

Firefighters battle flames during the Palisades Fire that struck Los Angeles in January. Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg

Texas — the US epicenter of extreme weather — has been hit by a string of compound events in recent years. The great freeze in 2021 that killed at least 200 people has been tied back to a series of compound events, as has last year's record Smokehouse Creek Fire that had its roots in a massive 2023 drought that hit the Great Plains.

As the planet heats up and weather whiplash spreads, compound weather events are poised to wreak even greater havoc: A study published last year in Nature projected climate damages could cost the global economy $38 trillion (in 2005 dollars) per year by mid-century.

Read the full story on Bloomberg.com. For more weather insights sent straight to your inbox, sign up for the Weather Watch newsletter.