VZCZCXRO8791
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHBR #0507/01 1141943
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241943Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4120
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 3906
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7596
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 9402
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000507 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC DAVID SCHNIER 
STATE FOR OES/OGS BARBARA DEROSA-JOYNT 
STATE FOR S/SECC PETER OGDEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG ECON KSCA BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL ON THE MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM 
 
REF:  A) STATE 27497, B) WHITE HOUSE 3210815, 
C) STATE 40579, D) BRASILIA 202 
 
BRASILIA 00000507  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED AND NOT FOR 
INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Overcoming some earlier concerns, Brazil has 
embraced the Major Economies Forum (MEF) process.  Brazil will send 
its chief negotiator, Ambassador Vera Machado, the Ministry of 
External Relations Under Secretary for Political Affairs, as the 
Leader's Representative plus three other members of the climate 
change negotiating team.  Coming out of the recent meeting in Bonn, 
the Brazilian team is concerned that the participants have not yet 
entered into full negotiating mode.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BRAZILIAN PARTICIPATION AT THE MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Government of Brazil (GOB) initially had questioned 
the value of continuing the Major Economies Meeting (MEM) process in 
2009 (REFTEL D).  Once the decision was made to launch the Major 
Economies Forum (MEF), however, it has determined to actively 
participate.  In fact, the Minister of Exterior Relations (MRE) 
Celso Amorim contacted Post to confirm Brazil's inclusion in the 
MEF.  The GOB initially wanted to send a delegation larger than 
permitted, but now has pared it down to three additional members. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Brazil proposes to send the following delegation: 
 
Leader's Representative: 
VERA Lucia Barrouin Crivano MACHADO 
MRE, Ambassador, Under Secretary for Political Affairs 
 
Other Delegation Members: 
 
LUIZ Alberto Figueiredo MACHADO (no relation) 
MRE, Minister, Director-General of the Department of Environment and 
Special Affairs 
 
JOSE Domingos Gonzalez MIGUEZ 
Executive Secretary of the Interministerial Commission on Global 
Climate Change 
Ministry of Science and Technology 
 
BRANCA Bastos AMERICANO 
Director, Department of Climate Change 
Ministry of Environment 
 
STATE OF PLAY AFTER BONN 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On April 17, Post's Environment, Science & Technology, and 
Health (ESTH) Counselor met with Sergio Serra, MRE's Special 
Ambassador for Climate Change, and Andre Odenbreit, MRE's Director 
of the Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development Division, to 
learn Brazil's views on the state of negotiations coming out of the 
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Bonn, 
March 29 - April 8.  Serra and Odenbreit expressed satisfaction in 
hearing and meeting with Todd Stern and Jonathan Pershing in Bonn. 
(REFTEL C)  They saw the USG playing a critical role in the 
negotiations and so were concerned that the U.S. negotiators were 
being reserved as they wait to see what climate change legislation 
the U.S. Congress will produce later this year.  Serra thought the 
timing was very tight, especially if the U.S. Congress doesn't enact 
something before later in the summer. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) At Bonn, Serra and Odenbreit had mixed reactions.  They 
thought that the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative 
Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) was serious and making real 
progress.  However, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments 
for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) seemed to be 
paralyzed.  They said it looked like the AWG-KP was on hold while 
everyone waits to see what the United States will do.  Given the 
very tight schedule leading up to Copenhagen in December, they were 
becoming worried about meeting the deadline.  Moreover, they 
commented that the UNFCCC was not yet in a "full negotiating mode," 
which it will have to do so very soon to meet its schedule. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Serra and Odenbreit returned to the theme of 
"comparability" of policies and measures, which they raised in 
Janaury.  (See REFTEL D)  That is a priority for Brazil.  Unlike the 
United States and many other industrialized countries, Brazil has a 
very clean energy matrix (vast majority of electricity comes from 
 
BRASILIA 00000507  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
hydropower and it uses more biofuel than gasoline), but has 
substantial emissions due to a massive deforestation problem. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT.  Brazil now may be considering taking a more 
pro-active role in the negotiations including agreeing to targets in 
some form.  Environment Minister Carlos Minc has called for Brazil 
to pursue just such a course.  He sees a grand compromise where 
developed countries agree to sharp emissions reductions and generous 
financial assistance and technology transfer for the developing 
countries, which in return would agree to targets.  Although MRE 
leads the Brazilian international climate change team, the 
Environment Ministry is seeking to play a larger role.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In December 2008, Minister Minc succeeded in changing 
domestic policy to include in the National Plan on Climate Change 
targets for reducing the deforestation rate from about 20,000 square 
kilometers per year (1996-2005) to about 6,000 square kilometers per 
year for the period 2014-2017, which would be about a 70% reduction. 
 Since deforestation accounts for roughly 75% of Brazil's emissions, 
that would amount to about a 30% reduction in emissions by 2017 
compared to the 1996-2005 period, based on the assumption that 
emissions from all other sources doubled during this period. 
 
SOBEL