São Paulo – Brazil’s minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, participated in the G20 energy ministers’ meeting that took place online on September 27 and 28 and said that Brazil is available to share its energy access experience. Saudi Arabia holds the G20 presidency and chose universal access to energy as a priority agenda for the group.
“I recognize the Saudi presidency’s decision to put access to energy as a priority topic in the G20 agenda,” Albuquerque said in his talk to the other ministers. G20 is composed by the world’s 20 largest economies. Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country to be part of the group. In South America, Brazil and Argentina are members.
The Brazilian minister said that the task to provide universal access to energy is far from being concluded, as there are 2.8 billion people without access to clean energy sources to cook and 800 million don’t have electricity. “Brazil, a country of continental dimensions, is willing to share its energy access experience,” Albuquerque said.
The minister gave the example of the Brazilian program “Luz para Todos” [Light for All], aimed at bringing electricity to more than 3.6 million rural families. “Ninety nice per cent of the Brazilian territory has electricity now,” he said. He also mentioned the program “Mais Luz para a Amazônia,” recently launched to provide electricity for the populations that live in remote areas of the Amazonia.
Albuquerque praised the efforts of the G20 Saudi presidency in conducting the work to develop the carbon economy (CCE) in the G20. “We support this initiative, which is a valuable tool for advancing new technologies and investment in a wide range of energy sources,” the Brazilian minister said.
The G20 presidency has been advocating the circular carbon economy as a way to develop a system where carbon emissions are reduced, reused, recycled and removed, as well as used in other industries to boost the economy.
The CCE strategy was detailed in the final statement. The CCE was created based on the work of economists and environmentalists in the last years but was embraced by Saudi Arabia, which has playing a leadership role in implementing a strategic plan based on the CCE to deal with the climate changes.
The ministers made other statements acknowledging the impact COVID-19 had on the energy markets, the importance of international cooperation to assure the resiliency of the energy systems that benefit all, the importance of the energy security for the world, and the commitment in fully, effectively contributing to overcome the COVID-19 and boost the subsequent global recovery.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
