The Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) and KAS-EKLA held on Thursday and Friday (May 26th and 27th) the Conference "The Climate Agenda as a Central Axis of Foreign Policy in Latin America". Through a hybrid format, the conference took place at CEBRI's headquarters in Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, and was broadcast virtually. Experts from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Chile stressed the importance of an integrated climate agenda to promote sustainable economic development and social welfare in the continent. According to the participants, the theme also influences the promotion of health and job generation and, therefore, is part of the candidates' agenda for this year's elections and can be decisive in its outcome.

A plural and non-partisan climate agenda

"The environment is at the center of the power struggle of the new global geopolitics. The climate agenda, which began to be built at Rio-92 thirty years ago, is not a 'right' or 'left' issue, much less an issue separate from today's economic agenda. The climate agenda represents economic and political power, as well as technological power", stated CEBRI's Trustee and former Minister of the Environment, Izabella Teixeira.

According to Nicole Stopfer, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's (KAS) Regional Program on Energy Security and Climate Change in Latin America, the idea of the conference was to open space for dialogue to further integrate Latin American countries. "The region has enormous potential in energy and sustainability. The elaboration of regional and global public policies for cooperation at a critical moment for the whole world is fundamental", he pointed out.

Specialists from Latin America discuss the impact of climate and the energy transition on the region's development. 

Also participating in the discussions were Hussein Kalout, Member of CEBRI’s International Advisory Board and researcher at Harvard University; Christian Guttiérrez Pangui, Director of the Regional Center for Green Growth and Climate Change in Chile; Ana Toni, Director of the iCS Institute and CEBRI's Senior Fellow in the Environment and Climate Change Thematic Program; Maria Laura Rojas, Co-Founder and Director of the NGO Transforma in Colombia, and Elza Kelly, Ambassador and Director of the Committee on Environmental Affairs and Human Development of the Argentine Council on International Relations (CARI). Manuel Pulgar, former Minister of Environment in Peru and global leader of Climate and Energy of the World Wild Foundation (WWF), also participated, invited by KAS-EKLA.