Countries that caused more impacts should compensate more, says Silva

Marina Silva, the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, emphasized the need for developed countries that have historically benefited most from carbon dioxide emissions to bear a greater responsibility in financing measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Silva spoke at the event "Climate Justice in Times of Transformation" at the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday (Mar. 7).

"In the context of climate change, what is the great injustice that is happening? Those who have transformed nature more to generate wealth, technology, and products, have also generated more CO2 emissions. They have caused more environmental impact and increased the problem. To achieve fairness, they must pay more and compensate more," said the minister.

According to her, those who have created fewer problems and impacted less should contribute less from the point of view of effort and should be compensated for their resources from a financial and technological point of view.

Marina Silva underlined that if the G20 countries, including the 19 richest countries in the world, along with the European Union and the African Union, fulfill their responsibilities, the fight against climate change will “benefit humanity as a whole.”

The minister highlighted the crucial role of science in setting a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius for global temperature increase and praised the efforts of civil society worldwide in addressing climate emergencies. She also noted that “governments and companies are lagging behind” in taking necessary actions.

According to the minister, the transformation agenda has gained a lot of momentum. "It's not enough to mitigate and adapt. We need to transform the development model so that we can address the problems at their roots, rather than just addressing the symptoms," she concluded.