KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — Germany is reluctant to host the 2019 U.N. climate talks after Brazil’s incoming right-wing government canceled its offer.
Deputy environment minister Jochen Flasbarth told reporters on the sidelines of this year’s meeting in Poland that Berlin has signaled to the United Nations it’s “not available for an event on the scale of last year.” He cited the increased costs of organizing the meeting at short notice.
Germany hosted the 2017 talks at the U.N. climate office’s headquarters in Bonn for Fiji, which have struggled to organize a meeting for tens of thousands of participants.
The venue for talks rotates among regions and next year it’s the Latin American and Caribbean Group’s turn.
Several of those countries are still mulling a bid, including Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica and Barbados.
Brazil says it has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by almost 1.3 billion tons this year, largely by reducing deforestation and improving land management.
Latin America’s biggest country announced the cuts Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. climate talks in Poland.
The figures would mean Brazil has met its national commitments to cut greenhouse gases by up to 38 percent before 2020. Some rich countries, such as Germany, have indicated they will miss their emissions goals.
Brazil’s environment minister, Edson Duarte, said the cuts showed “even developing countries facing economic and social challenges can still deliver on their pre-2020 commitments.”
The country’s incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, has suggested he will not protect Brazil’s vast Amazon rainforest from deforestation after he takes office next month.
