Vitória, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, 24 June – The Under2 Coalition and the Green Brazil Consortium today joined forces to strengthen the role of subnational, state and regional governments in achieving common climate goals.
With Brazil’s role as a global climate leader with the G20 in 2024 and hosting COP30 in 2025, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today aims to:
- Enhance the role and participation of Brazilian states in key political forums and global climate, sustainable development and environmental summits, such as the G20 and COP.
- Develop projects to enable capacity building and peer learning. This will strengthen members’ ability to set strong targets, emissions pathways and policy shifts towards credible, just, and resilient net zero by 2050 at the latest.
- Develop joint objectives to guide global progress and the role of subnational governments in achieving a just and resilient net zero in Brazil and worldwide. This will include advocacy towards the role of subnational governments in NDCs, unlocking climate finance, and greater leadership on mitigation, adaptation, and accountability.
The partnership builds on Climate Group’s work in Brazil, including projects such as the Climate Pathway Project. It supports the governments of Amazonas, Mato Grosso and São Paulo State in developing ‘decarbonisation pathways’, which included priority actions such as commercial reforestation, native vegetation conservation and smart urban planning.
Climate Group, as the Secretariat to the Under2 Coalition, oversees the largest global network of states, regions, provinces and other subnational governments committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. The Coalition comprises more than 270 actors, representing more than 50% of global GDP. It coordinates capacity-building, knowledge-sharing projects across the world, and the promotion and delivery of climate mitigation, adaptation, and finance action worldwide.
The Green Brazil Consortium (Consórcio Brasil Verde) is a non-profit institution of 21 Brazilian States, reaching all 6 (six) national biomes: Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Pampa, Caatinga and Pantanal. They are all working together to implement measures and projects that contribute to meeting the goals of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Conceived in 2021, within the Governors’ Forum, it was announced for the first time at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Speaking at Sustentabilidade Brasil in Vitória, Champa Patel, Executive Director for Government and Policy at Climate Group highlighted the crucial role subnational governments can play in tackling the complexities of the climate agenda, for example through building sustainable infrastructure or investing in renewable energy.
Announcing the MoU, Champa Patel stated: ‘We are especially proud today to announce our strategic partnership with the Green Brazil Consortium. This powerful network of Amazonian states represents a region critical to the health of our planet. By joining forces, the Under2 Coalition and the Green Brazil Consortium aim to support sustainable development in the Amazon, a vital step in the fight against climate change.’
