Brazil Challenges Rich Nations to Better Its Carbon Cuts

Brazil said it reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 3.2 billion metric tons in the five years through 2010, equivalent to nine months of output in the European Union and better than any rich nation.

Developed countries should focus on cutting their own emissions rather than urging others to do so, the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations said Sunday in an e-mailed response to questions.

Brazil is seeking to spur countries that have contributed most to global warming as talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change try to seal a post-2020 deal that applies to all. UN envoys have called for national plans for emission limits by a deadline of Aug. 31, 2015.

“It is high time for developed countries to act consistently and consequently with the course of action they prescribe,” the ministry said.  “Confidence-building requires action, not talk.”

Brazil cut emissions from deforestation in the Amazon by 70 percent as of 2010 compared with 2005, the ministry said.  It also pointed to a study published in Science Magazine in June.  The nation’s total reductions in the period were more than double the 1.3 billion tons achieved by the entire 28-nation EU in the same span, according to European Environment Agency data.

Brazil Challenges Rich Nations to Better Its Carbon Cuts