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This paper is driven by two major questions: Why there is a big gap between the strong rhetoric of all South countries supporting regional integration and the poor outcomes achieved so far?; and, Why Brazil, having a low carbon intensive energy matrix, has not taken a leading global and regional role in climate change mitigation and adaptation? The paper has two parts. The first one "Integration and Fragmentation in South America" analyses the dynamic of the South American countries and consider the attempts of economic and political integration. The second one "Brazil in the global and regional politics of climate" analyses the evolving of Brazilian policy in the global arena of the Kyoto Protocol and the failed efforts of the country to produce governance of energy and climate in South America. The final remarks talks about the key Brazilian role in the current negotiations of a post-Kyoto architecture for climate change mitigation and adaptation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]