Washington will thus announce, during the “Summit of the Americas” being held in Los Angeles, a partnership with the countries of the Caribbean in order to “support adaptation” to climate change and “energy security”, according to a press release from the House. White.

The United States will also promote a regional initiative aimed at increasing the proportion of renewable energies in the installed capacity of electricity production to 70% by 2030.

According to the White House, five countries, including Brazil and Argentina, will rally in one way or another to this initiative.

Finally, the Biden administration intends to donate $12 million to support Brazil, Colombia and Peru to protect the Amazon rainforest.

In April 2021, the World Bank highlighted the devastating impact of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean, estimating that it could push 3 million people a year into poverty by 2050.

The international organization had warned against the effects of deforestation and pointed out, for example, that the glaciers of the Andean massif were melting faster than in all the other mountains in the world.

– Biden and Bolsonaro –

The subject of the environment is expected to be discussed during a much-anticipated bilateral meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro, the first meeting between the two men.

Jake Sullivan, the White House’s top diplomacy adviser, assured Wednesday that “the climate (would be) an important topic of conversation” in this one-on-one.

Although Jair Bolsonaro is openly climate-skeptical, the adviser wants to believe that the subject of the climate “can be a vector of progress in the relationship between the United States and Brazil, in particular around concrete actions to protect the Amazon rainforest. “.

After decades of deforestation to make way for livestock and agriculture, the planet’s “green lung” could be close, according to some experts, to a climate point of no return, beyond which the release of CO2 and methane would be inevitable.

Beyond this critical threshold, part of the Amazon would turn into savannah.

Joe Biden also intends to discuss with his counterpart another extremely delicate point: the next presidential election in Brazil.

“I expect the president to address the subject of open, free, fair, transparent and democratic elections,” Jake Sullivan announced.

Washington is concerned about the virulent attacks by Jair Bolsonaro, who is seeking a new mandate, against the electoral system in Brazil, as if he was already preparing the challenge of an unfavorable result.