Climate Change

Brazil surprised the world and took on a voluntary commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 38.9%

In 2010, a year after the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, Brazil set an example for other countries by taking on a bold and voluntary commitment to reduce, by 2020, its projected greenhouse gas emissions from 36.1% to 38.9%.

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Watch an interview with Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s Environment Minister, on the nation’s record in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental policy achievements during the Dilma administration

Brazil’s National Climate Change Plan enhances sustainable development

Learn more about the plan’s goals:

Identify, plan and coordinate initiatives that will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions generated in Brazil, as well as those necessary for societal adaptation to the impacts that will occur as a result of climate change;
Advance efficiency improvements in the performance of the sectors of the economy, as part of an ongoing effort to implement best practices;
Strive to maintain elevated levels of participation of renewable energy sources in Brazil’s energy matrix, preserving the prominent position that the nation has always held in this arena on the international scene;
Promote a sustainable increase in the use of biofuels in the national transportation matrix, while working toward the establishment of an international market for sustainable biofuels;
Pursue a sustained reduction of five-year average deforestation rates in all Brazilian biomes until the nation can achieve zero illegal deforestation;
Achieve, by 2015, a zero net loss of forest cover areas in Brazil;
Strengthen inter-sectoral activities aimed at reducing vulnerabilities among and within populations;
Seek to identify the environmental impacts of climate change and promote the development of scientific research that will lead to the creation of a strategic approach to minimizing the socio-economic costs of the country’s adaptation to these conditions.

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Compliance with targets require the mitigation of plans for forestry, steel, agricultural, energy, industrial, transportation and mining sectors

Learn more about the objectives of Brazil’s National Climate Change Plan:

By presidential Decree No. Decree 7,390/2010, reduce annual deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon in 2020 by 80% compared to the average rate registered for the period 1996-2005;
Over the next ten years, expand domestic ethanol consumption by 11% annually;
Double planted forest areas, to 11 million hectares in 2020, with 2 million ha reserved for native species;
Within the next decade, exchange 1 million old refrigerators for newer, more energy efficient units;
By 2015, achieve a 20% increase in municipal solid waste recycling;
Increase the supply of co-generated power (especially that which is produced from sugarcane bagasse), to 11.4% of Brazil’s total electricity supply in 2030;
Over the next 10 years, reduce non-technical losses in the distribution of electricity by 1,000 GWh per year.

Additional highlights include national climate policy initiatives to conserve and support the recovery of national biomes, consolidate and expand protected areas (especially in the Amazon), increase energy efficiency and continue to increase the supply of renewable energy sources.

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In the past three years, Brazil’s National Climate Change Fund has invested R$ 170 million (US$ 60 million)

Established in 2011, Brazil’s National Climate Change Fund (Climate Fund) has since invested R$ 170 million (US$ 60 million), of which R$ 90 million (US$ 32 million) has been made available in the form of grants, while R$ 80 million (US$ 28 million) has been offered as financing for initiatives.

The fund supports mitigation of the effects of climate change and adaptation projects for vulnerable populations, as well as the establishment of guidelines and other instruments that will enable the implementation of Brazil’s National Climate Change Policy.

With approximately R$ 520 million in cash to finance private initiatives, the Climate Fund supports urban mobility and energy efficiency projects, and is one of the main features of the Inova Sustainability Program, which is a joint venture of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), the Brazilian federal government’s Funding Authority for Studies and Projects (FINEP), as well as the nation’s Environment Ministry and its Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The Inova Sustainability Program has received 196 business plans from 136 leading companies that are seeking total funding of R$ 5 billion.

With its grant-making resources, the Climate Fund is supporting 180 projects from 40 public institutions and private non-profit entities. Through the construction of laboratories, as well as the acquisition of greenhouse gas emissions monitoring equipment and systems, and systems for the collection and analysis of climate and meteorological data, among others investments, the collective efforts of these organizations are contributing to the further development of Brazil’s National Climate Change Policy.

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