Brazil President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will attend the upcoming COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt, said Gleisi Hoffman, the head of his Workers Party, on Tuesday to Reuters. This is also in line with one of Lula’s campaign promises which includes protecting the Amazon rainforest as well as restoring Brazil’s leadership on climate change.
Hoffman said that Lula was invited by the Governor of Amapa state, Waldez Goes, “who is coordinating the consortium of Amazon governors, to accompany them.” He added that while the president-elect will go, they do not have the dates yet. Furthermore, Lula has reportedly been invited by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to attend the summit who also congratulated him on his election victory.
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Former Environment Minister and Lula’s adviser, Izabella Teixeira, said that the president-elect will also meet United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, among others at the summit. “Lula is signalling to the developing world that Brazil is back”, and that during his tenure his government, “Brazil will return to its important role in strengthening multilateralism,” said Teixeira.
She added that by attending COP27 as the president-elect, Lula will send a strong message of climate change being a priority in Brazil. Notably, Lula will not be attending as a part of Brazil’s official government delegation since he will assume the presidency on January 1.
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This comes after the president-elect defeated the incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro who over the years has been accused of overseeing deforestation and appointed climate change sceptics as ministers in his government.
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