Brazil PV future: where is Statal endorsement?

Brazil: New climate plan on shaky ground

15 Oct 2008 | Author: Oliver Balch |

Brazil’s long-awaited national strategy on climate change falls short on targets and deadlines. We examine the debate now surrounding its key proposals

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.

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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.

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.


Source: Greenpeace