Brazil

Context of the action

Brazil has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2025 compared with 2005 levels, and it has a long-term objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Additionally, the country has committed to reducing its emissions by 50% by 2030, compared with 2005.

Brazilian states oversee enforcing environmental legislation and have extensive protected areas under their management in a system that complements the federal protected areas network. Subnational entities in Brazil – states and municipalities, the private sector, civil society, and academia – are also key actors in the implementation of the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), along with other aspects of the Paris Agreement that concern the country’s mitigation and adaptation challenges.

SPIPA action

With this in mind, a set of dedicated SPIPA activities was developed to provide Brazilian states with necessary technical support and institutional capacity building, allowing them to engage with the set-up of Brazilian climate governance and integrate with the international community.

In October 2020, the Governors for Climate Alliance was officially launched by one of SPIPA’s partners in the country, the Brazil Climate Centre (Centro Brasil no Clima). Within three months, 18 of Brazil’s 26 states had joined the alliance – a non-partisan coalition that reaffirms the central role of state governors in addressing Brazil’s climate challenges. The alliance also emphasises the need for further exchanges between Brazilian states and government entities internationally to build a network of joint action.

Connected to the subnational effort, SPIPA, jointly with the Brazilian Association of State Environmental Entities (Abema), provided perspectives and expertise on green recovery through a dialogue series, covering topics such as energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon markets and climate financing.

Abema was also a SPIPA partner, together with Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, in activities related to the area of the measurement, reporting and verification of climate data to track progress on actions and improve efficiency. SPIPA supported exchanges between national and state level to promote a closer alignment and implement a more coherent approach to emission monitoring as a basis for targeted climate actions.

This activity was conducted in synergy with SPIPA’s support to the Greenhouse Gas Emission and Removal Estimating System (SEEG) for municipalities, an initiative for complementary greenhouse gas emission monitoring led by civil society. SPIPA’s partnership with Brazil’s Climate Observatory (Observatório do Clima) resulted in a guide, SEEG Solutions, offering a menu of climate solutions and bringing the debate on climate change to the level of decision-making that is closest to the population.

SPIPA also worked closely with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to develop a platform based on the concept of environmental performance assessment for the construction sector, and on the methodology of life cycle assessment. The SIDAC platform provides a database of measurements of two environmental indicators (embodied energy and embodied carbon dioxide) for the building materials most used in Brazil.

In the area of renewable energy, focusing specifically on wind-generated energy, SPIPA supported an update of the onshore and offshore Wind Atlas of Espírito Santo. It provides the necessary information to determine the potential of the state for wind energy developments and serves as a basis to identify areas suitable for such investments.

On the communications front, SPIPA’s work with Brazilian journalists was designed as a response to the need to strengthen the local media’s role in stimulating the climate debate. An event and a guide, titled Climate and Green Recovery Coverage, supported Brazilian communicators and journalists ahead of COP26.

SPIPA’s activities in Brazil encouraged local climate action. The dialogue between the national and subnational levels should continue to focus on the articulation and political advice for the designing of policies aimed at the implementation of the Brazilian NDC.