<p>Showered with applause and chants of "Lula!", Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made a splash at a UN climate conference in Egypt Wednesday, his first foreign trip since his election.</p>.<p>Despite a mixed record on the environment and jail time in his resume, the 77-year-old leftist politician drew crowds curious to hear his promises to protect the Amazon rainforest.</p>.<p>"Brazil is back," Lula said repeatedly, words his supporters sang during his speech at the COP27 conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.</p>.<p>Hundreds of people packed rooms at two separate events he attended, asking him for selfies and shouting his name.</p>.<p>UN security shut the doors when the room filled for his speech, leaving a disappointed crowd outside.</p>.<p>Expectations are high for Lula to protect the Amazon after rampant deforestation seen under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.</p>.<p>At COP27, Lula vowed to fight deforestation, offered to host UN climate talks in the Amazon region in 2025, and pledged to make Brazil a leader in the global battle against climate change again.</p>.<p>"Lula represents a political change for Latin America," said Adrian Martinez Blanco, who is attending the climate conference for Costa Rican NGO La Ruta del Clima.</p>.<p>"It is a shift towards the protection of the planet, the Amazon, human rights, the rights of Indigenous people," he said.</p>.<p>Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, pulled off a huge political comeback to defeat Bolsonaro.</p>.<p>He left office as a blue-collar hero who presided over a commodity-fuelled economic boom that helped lift 30 million people out of poverty.</p>.<p>But he then became mired in a massive corruption scandal and served more than 18 months in prison from 2018. His conviction was later overturned.</p>.<p>"It's very interesting to listen to him first hand and understand how he captures so much love from his people -- while also not necessarily being the best for the country," said Sofya Levitina, a student at the University of Connecticut, referring to the corruption scandal.</p>.<p>Melissa Yokoe Ashbaugh, who is studying at the same US university, said her "impression of the excitement is that he represents coming back around from a populous right-wing wave (that is) anti-environment".</p>.<p>"It's sort of the hope of people who are engaged in this sort of climate action space that globally, administrations like his will represent those interests," she said.</p>.<p>Brazilian climate campaigner Mariana Paoli, who leads global advocacy at Christian Aid, said Brazil had become a "pariah state" under Bolsonaro when it came to climate policy.</p>.<p>"It's so good to see Lula bringing Brazil back into the fold," she said in a statement.</p>
<p>Showered with applause and chants of "Lula!", Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made a splash at a UN climate conference in Egypt Wednesday, his first foreign trip since his election.</p>.<p>Despite a mixed record on the environment and jail time in his resume, the 77-year-old leftist politician drew crowds curious to hear his promises to protect the Amazon rainforest.</p>.<p>"Brazil is back," Lula said repeatedly, words his supporters sang during his speech at the COP27 conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.</p>.<p>Hundreds of people packed rooms at two separate events he attended, asking him for selfies and shouting his name.</p>.<p>UN security shut the doors when the room filled for his speech, leaving a disappointed crowd outside.</p>.<p>Expectations are high for Lula to protect the Amazon after rampant deforestation seen under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.</p>.<p>At COP27, Lula vowed to fight deforestation, offered to host UN climate talks in the Amazon region in 2025, and pledged to make Brazil a leader in the global battle against climate change again.</p>.<p>"Lula represents a political change for Latin America," said Adrian Martinez Blanco, who is attending the climate conference for Costa Rican NGO La Ruta del Clima.</p>.<p>"It is a shift towards the protection of the planet, the Amazon, human rights, the rights of Indigenous people," he said.</p>.<p>Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, pulled off a huge political comeback to defeat Bolsonaro.</p>.<p>He left office as a blue-collar hero who presided over a commodity-fuelled economic boom that helped lift 30 million people out of poverty.</p>.<p>But he then became mired in a massive corruption scandal and served more than 18 months in prison from 2018. His conviction was later overturned.</p>.<p>"It's very interesting to listen to him first hand and understand how he captures so much love from his people -- while also not necessarily being the best for the country," said Sofya Levitina, a student at the University of Connecticut, referring to the corruption scandal.</p>.<p>Melissa Yokoe Ashbaugh, who is studying at the same US university, said her "impression of the excitement is that he represents coming back around from a populous right-wing wave (that is) anti-environment".</p>.<p>"It's sort of the hope of people who are engaged in this sort of climate action space that globally, administrations like his will represent those interests," she said.</p>.<p>Brazilian climate campaigner Mariana Paoli, who leads global advocacy at Christian Aid, said Brazil had become a "pariah state" under Bolsonaro when it came to climate policy.</p>.<p>"It's so good to see Lula bringing Brazil back into the fold," she said in a statement.</p>