Energy rich but environmentally threatened Brazil can become a global clean energy powerhouse while making a unique contribution to pushing back the despoiling of the environment in the Amazon region, according to a new World Bank Group report released earlier this month. Asserting that the South American powerhouse can be “both richer and greener” the Report outlines action that Brazil can take to realize both climate action and growth, simultaneously.
The World Bank Country Climate Report said the country can realize these twin goals by adapting a development plan that grows more food on less land that better protect the forests. It adds that the country can, simultaneously, grow its economy and fight climate change by making relatively modest investments in agriculture and deforestation, the energy sector, and cities and transport systems. In its report the World Bank asserts that ”climate shocks could push between 800,000 and 3,000,000 Brazilians into extreme poverty as soon as 2030” adding that to avoid this the country must “accelerate investments towards a resilient and low carbon growth pathway” according to the Bank’s Country Director for Brazil Johannes Zutt.