It took one year, endless consultations and 13 government ministries to put together, yet Brazil’s national climate-change plan is short on specific targets and looks very much like a work in progress.

The publication of the draft strategy in late September, now up for public consultation until the end of October, was briefly delayed, prompting speculation that government advisers judged its initiatives unsatisfactory. The 157-page plan, which contains more than 100 recommendations and also received input from the non-governmental Brazilian Climate Change Forum, covers mitigation, adaptation, deforestation, and research and development.

Most noticeably, the proposals lack specific carbon-emission targets, deadlines and policies.

Environmentalists are blaming industry leaders for lobbying against mandatory targets. In response, business leaders argue that such a step would render Brazil’s energy-intensive companies uncompetitive.

According to the latest figures provided to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Brazil creates an estimated 1.47 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year – making the country the world’s fifth highest GHG emitter. Figures from the UN Development Programme show the ratio of Brazil’s gross domestic product to its carbon emissions growing by almost 10% between 1990 and 2004.


The destruction of the Amazon and Brazil’s other biodiverse-rich forests is estimated to cause around 75% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions

However, as a developing economy, it has no obligations under the Kyoto Protocol to establish targets to reduce this figure. As a halfway measure, the national strategy proposes to set a reduction target for emissions per unit of production, although there is no indication of what that target should be.

In fact, a general lack of timelines and policy instruments pervades the plan. Cogeneration is a case in point. At present, only 0.5% of Brazil’s domestic energy derives from capturing heat given off during industrial processes. Through a programme of “integration and permanent management”, the government believes this could increase to one-fifth of all domestic energy, although it does not specify incentives or deadlines.

State-run oil company Petrobras will reduce its CO₂ emissions by 21.3 million tonnes by 2012 , according to the strategy document. But again, no specific policies for achieving the reductions are given.

Deforestation dilemma

The destruction of the Amazon and Brazil’s other biodiverse-rich forests is estimated to cause around 75% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

To make things worse, deforestation has made a major comeback, as rocketing world food prices have increased the profitability of Amazon soya plantations. An estimated 756sq km of Amazon forest were cleared in August, up from 230sq km in the same month last year, according to figures from the National Institute for Space Research.

Project ideas for the Amazon reforestation programme range from scientific research to making condoms from rubber in trees

In its attempt to abolish illegal deforestation by 2015, the new strategy calls for greater penalties for unlicensed loggers. However, under the current system, state and municipal authorities are responsible for curbing deforestation in their respective jurisdictions, and there are no recommendations to centralise these efforts nationally. Conservation groups argue that the absence of an overarching agency leads to serious inconsistencies in deforestation policy.

The government’s previous four-year Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon, launched in March 2004, focused on land planning, monitoring and control, and the promotion of alternative, sustainable enterprises. Despite initial success, deforestation rates crept back up towards the end of the programme .

The climate plan includes the major reforestation programme launched by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in August. This 13-year fund, which aims to raise up to $21 billion from international donors, will finance sustainable development projects in the Amazon. Project ideas range from scientific research to making condoms from rubber in trees. The state-funded measures are voluntary for private landowners.

Meanwhile, scientists suggest that the survival of the Amazon may depend upon climate-change mitigation. In a report released in April, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted that “by mid-century, increases in temperature and associated decreases in soil water are projected to lead to gradual replacement of tropical forest by savannah in eastern Amazonia”.

Promoting renewables

In terms of renewable energy, hydropower emerges as one of the government’s preferred solutions. The draft plan seeks to enlarge Brazil’s 334.1 billion kilowatt-hours hydropower network, which already accounts for around 35% of the country’s total energy consumption and 84% of its electricity generation.

The plan anticipates increasing Brazil’s biofuel production from its present rate of around 25.6 billion litres per year to 53.2 billion litres in 2017 

Scheduled hydroelectric projects such as the proposed Madeira and Belo Monte hydro plants promise to cut a further 183 million tCO₂e (tons of equivalent CO₂) in emissions from thermal power stations. Both dams are expected to be operational by 2012.

Hydro projects are controversial in Brazil. Kanindé Ethno-Environmental Association, an environmental pressure group, is currently fighting a case before the Latin American Water Court to have the construction licence for the Madeira dam revoked. The $10.5 billion project is accused, among other things, of threatening fish species such as the dourada and babão.

Far more controversial, however, is the document’s positive endorsement of nuclear energy projects, including a much-delayed extension to the Angra nuclear plant in Rio de Janeiro. If passed, the proposals will see up to 8,000MW extra in nuclear power added to the national grid by 2030.

The plan also anticipates increasing Brazil’s biofuel production from its present rate of around 25.6 billion litres per year to 53.2 billion litres in 2017. Public auctions for suppliers to provide wind-powered electricity are also timetabled for next year, as is the construction of an industrial hub for solar technology in the near future.

Business signs up to GHG reporting

On the industry front, the strategy paper points to work done by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI) to introduce to Brazil the internationally recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol emissions reporting standard.

Launched in Brazil in May, the protocol provides participants with a consistent system for carrying out a verifiable inventory of their GHG emissions.

Supermarket chain Wal-Mart and cosmetics giant Natura are among the initial line-up of participating companies.

Business is not the protocol’s only backer. The Ministry for the Environment is also adding its weight to the scheme. In countries such as the Philippines and Mexico, where similar pilots have been launched, the scheme has provided government with a clearer idea of overall industrial emissions.

The scheme is voluntary, although participating companies agree to make their results public. The coordinators of the programme concede that there is a “big discussion” nationally about setting a mandatory emissions target, but defend the scheme’s voluntary approach as an “essential first step”.

“It’s the only way that makes it possible to get everyone from all sectors on board,” says Marina Grossi, head of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, WBCSD’s local partner.

Taryn Fransen, senior associate at WRI, confirms the early take-up. Interest from Brazil’s private sector is “through the roof”, she says, citing the cost savings and improved reputation that such an emissions inventory can bring.

“Many companies also identify opportunities for a CDM project,” she says, in reference to the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, which allows companies to sell carbon credits, earned from reducing their emissions in developing countries.

Indeed, one of the objectives of Brazil’s climate-change strategy is to promote access to the international carbon market. One of the recommendations for mitigation, for example, is to accelerate the approval process of the CDM.

NG0s want a rethink


Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace Brazil, are using the consultation period on the strategy to ask Brazil’s lawmakers to re-examine their recommendations.

The report presented by the NGOs contains 51 proposals, including a zero-deforestation goal and an 88% target for total energy from renewable sources.

But following initial public consultations, Marcelo Furtado of Greenpeace is not confident that the plan’s authors will listen: “By looking at this plan, we don’t recognise any of the contributions that civil society has already made or even those of Parliament,” he says.

Going forward, it is unclear whether the national climate change plan will be presented as a bill to federal legislators or whether it will be passed directly by order of the executive.

Draft strategy goals: highlights

· Obtaining 7,000MW of power from renewable energy between 2008 and 2010

· Increasing production of ethanol from 25.6bn litres in 2008 to 53.2bn litres by 2017

· Preventing the release of 570m tonnes of carbon dioxide between 2008 and 2017 by using biofuels.

· Eliminating ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFCs) with the replacement of one million old refrigerators per year.

Main NGO criticisms

· Deforestation: no commitment to a total elimination of deforestation

· Agribusiness: proposal to use all degraded areas for agribusiness rather than for more sustainable purposes

· Goals: either absent or, where present, insufficient on details such as timelines or mechanisms for achievement

· Renewable energy: the expansion of large hydroelectric power plants entails major environmental risks

· Nuclear energy expansion: the plan assesses nuclear energy as clean, ignoring potential risks of radioactive waste

· Productive sectors: no emission-reduction goals set for the industrial sector

· Waste: incineration with energy recovery and recycling, foreseen in the plan, encourages waste generation, since residue becomes fuel

· Transportation: the proposed 7% increase in railroad cargo and 16% in water transport do not go far enough

Source: Greenpeace