5 July 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Kyodo News

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 5 — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pledged Friday to curb the growth of carbon dioxide emissions by compiling a national plan to tackle global warming.

‘’We will try to curb the pace of increase of CO2 emissions,'’ Lula da Silva said in a written reply to questions from Kyodo News prior to his trip to Japan to attend an outreach session of the Group of Eight summit in the Lake Toya resort area of Hokkaido starting Monday.

The Brazilian president, however, remained evasive about whether a specific target for reduced emissions would be set under the plan, saying a plan of this kind ‘’does not necessarily include'’ such a goal.

Brazil has urged developed countries to set a mandatory target for the reduction of CO2 emissions and other developing countries to take verifiable emissions policy measures.

Lula da Silva also said that Brazil is keen to promote the use of biofuels, which are deemed to produce no CO2 emissions, and dismissed criticism that biofuels are one the causes behind the recent surge in food prices.

Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of biofuels, ‘’has transferred technologies and expertise that have been accumulated for 30 years to developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia,'’ he said.

‘’We have also launched a project aimed at helping create the ethanol industry in developing countries in cooperation with developed countries,'’ the president said, expressing hope for cooperation with Japan and other countries.

On criticism that biofuels are causing high food prices because they are derived from agricultural products, Lula da Silva said, ‘’Such criticisms are mostly one-sided. Production of biofuels and the fight against famine do not contradict each other.'’

He added that the causes behind food shortages and rising prices are not necessarily limited to one thing and discussions on the matters are necessary.

Filed by Marina Garbutt under Climate Change