João Lourenço, who was speaking on the second day of the G20 summit, which is taking place in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, stressed that the "adoption of laws with supranational effect that limit the extractive industry", highlighting oil production, "deserves a balanced and realistic approach so as not to resort to extreme solutions, which would end up creating difficulties of all kinds, affecting the development efforts of the neediest countries, and potentially worsening the poverty situation of the populations".
The head of state stressed that the country is making a great effort to strictly observe, in its development programmes, "the most important decisions and recommendations on environmental preservation", despite the lack of "sufficient financial resources, technological means and human resources adequately prepared to deal with this problem".
According to João Lourenço, Angola and Africa in general have "firm political will" to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
"We intend to continue to raise awareness among our international partners, who are recognised for their financial, technological and scientific strength, to become more involved in the fight against climate change, by providing additional subsidies separate from public development aid, which should not jeopardise assistance for other needs linked to economic growth and progress", he stressed.
The President stressed that developing countries "need adequate, consistent and timely support, through the provision of financial resources and technologies that enable them to tackle desertification, soil degradation, drought and other critical phenomena that affect the successful implementation of adaptation and mitigation programmes for the effects of climate change".
For João Lourenço, efforts to ensure sustainable development should not be limited to the issue of the environment and should not be associated with other factors, such as external debt, which is "sometimes unbearable", and which weakens countries' ability to intervene. He called on creditor countries and institutions to look at this issue "with a deep sense of solidarity and justice".
"Despite the constraints I mentioned, Angola has not stood idly by and has been taking its climate action programme very seriously, in order to effectively contribute to reducing the adverse effects of environmental pollution", stressed João Lourenço, highlighting that the country is "working hard to change its electricity production matrix, moving towards clean sources".
