By Shivam Patel
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Action to curb global warming is at risk from a “triple negative” effect triggered by the return of U.S. President Donald Trump to the White House, Brazil said on Thursday, as it prepares to host U.N. climate talks later this year.
Trump has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, launched a trade war with Canada, China and Mexico, and upended U.S. policy on the war in Ukraine.
Brazil’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva told reporters in Delhi, speaking through a translator, the “increasingly complex geopolitical context”, characterised by turmoil and trade tariffs, risked disrupting progress on curbing climate change.
“They may drain resources, and they also may hamper the environment of confidence and trust among parties. We have a triple negative effect because the less action we see, the less money we see, resulting in less cooperation across countries,” Silva said.
Brazil, which will host the COP30 annual United Nations global climate summit in November, has said that it will use its presidency to press for multilateralism and respect for science, in a rejoinder to Trump.
Since the disruption of Trump’s prioritisation of the United States over helping to solve global problems and provide international finance, Silva said other countries may feel they have to redistribute finances to areas such as defence.
She cast doubt on the agreement reached at last year’s COP summit to triple financing to poor nations to $300 billion annually by 2035, saying it “cannot be taken for granted”.
Silva also said disputes over trade tariffs were “bad for everyone” and only had short-term political benefits.
“In the long term, they may lead to inflation, they may lead to a decrease in popularity … People will not be supportive if their houses are burned by fires, if they have impact on their food security because of inflation,” she said.
(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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