The Surprisingly Important Climate Policy Moment Coming This Week

"White House officials confirmed Thursday that in President Obama’s meetings this coming week with the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, they’re going to be talking about climate change.

It’s unclear whether the result will be any kind of climate-related pact between the U.S. and Brazil on emissions, as we saw between the U.S. and China last year. But there’s certainly plenty of speculation about one.

Brazil is a nation of more than 200 million people — the fifth most populous in the world — and from 1990 through 2011 was the world’s fourth largest single emitter of greenhouse gases. So while a deal or at least some type of statement issued by the two countries might not be considered as significant as the deal between the U.S. and China — the world’s two top emitters — it still would be quite important."

Chris Mooney reports for the Washington Post June 28, 2015.