Brazil to present plan for moving economies toward renewable energies at UN climate talks

Countries that want to wean themselves from the fossil fuels that cause climate change will get a road map aimed at guiding them on an economy-transforming journey toward renewable energies at the U.N. climate talks Tuesday.

Brazil, which ran last year's U.N. climate talks, will launch its promised road map to “transition away from fossil fuels” during this year's talks, COP31, taking place in Turkey.

It's an intricate document designed with different “levers” for nations to use to switch from coal, oil and gas to renewable energies, such as wind and solar, which don't release heat-trapping gases that lead to global warming. In a groundbreaking agreement three years ago at climate talks, the world agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” but didn't provide guidance or details.

That's what Brazil is hoping to provide.

“What we hope to achieve with the road map is making a big problem — that is transitioning away — translating it into smaller actionable solutions,” Brazil's Ana Toni, who was CEO of last year's talks, told The Associated Press. “What we want is to be very pragmatic, helping countries move forward.”

Because all countries are all different, the road map is differentiated so that a nation could look at different tools and make decisions about moving away from fossil fuels, Toni said.

Some people may think this is impossible, but the road map shows that it is possible and a transition to renewable energies is inevitable, she said.

“Actually many countries are doing many things already,” she added.

Toni said it was important for countries to stop building new fossil fuel power plants and infrastructure because those will be come “stranded assets.”

One of the other key “foundational” levers, she said, is getting rid of subsidies that make fossil fuels cheaper and easier.

Brazil, with major oil deposits, is a major fossil fuel exporter while most of its internal energy consumptions comes from hydropower. Toni declined to comment directly on her country's oil exports.

“We'll create a road map that is good not only for Brazil, but for the world,” Toni said.

Environmental group Climate Action Network lauded Brazil and its president Monday “for doing something that feels increasingly revolutionary at a climate summit: working out how to deliver what was agreed.”

Brazil is also presenting other “road maps” during the talks. One deals with deforestation and the other on putting details into promised $1.3 trillion in climate financial aid for poorer nations from rich ones.

“The road maps make clear that, although every country has a different starting point, all countries can start their own path,” said Stela Herschmann, international policy lead for Observatório do Clima, a network of Brazilian environmental organizations. “Brazil has demonstrated the courage and leadership to start this conversation.”

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Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland, and Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.

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