Brazil hopes to demonstrate its commitment to renewable energy, which currently provides half the country’s power, at a clean energy summit in Washington this week, Energy Minister Marcio Zimmermann said on Saturday.
‘Brazil is committed to continuing its renewable energy grid and our plans for 2019 and 2030 maintain that characteristic,’ Zimmermann told AFP in an interview.
Energy ministers or senior officials from 21 major economies - who together account for 80 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product - will gather on Monday and Tuesday in Washington at the initiative of President Barack Obama‘s administration, which has made the creation of green jobs a top priority.
Brazil can ‘share its experience because there are many developing countries in South America and Africa that have the same resources and conditions as us, and can exploit them in the same manner’, Zimmermann said.
More than 80 per cent of Brazil’s electric power comes from hydroelectric technology, and the country is also a leader in bioethanol production using cane sugar.
Environmental groups, however, continue to protest Brazil’s approach to water use, arguing that the country should build smaller hydroelectric plants, rather than giant facilities that require unnatural flooding.
A Brazilian plan to construct a giant hydroelectric dam that would require the flooding of large areas in the Amazon rainforest has attracted international controversy.
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