Brazil, climate and development – 05/15/2023 – Pablo Acosta

Unlike most countries in the world, Brazil’s position is privileged when it comes to reconciling climate and development. The country’s economy is based on renewable energies: almost half of all energy used in Brazil — more than 80% in the case of electricity — already comes from renewable sources, compared to world averages between 15% and 27%.

In addition, the country is competitive in products needed for the transition to a low-carbon economy, such as parts for wind turbines, electric motors and generators. Another highlight is the exceptional natural wealth of Brazil, particularly in the so-called Legal Amazon, which is home to 60% of the Amazon Forest and also parts of other important biomes such as the cerrado and the Pantanal. We estimate that the standing Amazon Forest alone has a minimum value of US$ 317 billion.

How can all these advantages be transformed into more prosperity and less poverty for Brazil, in a world worried about accelerating climate change? The key point is to increase the country’s productivity.

Two reports released this month by the World Bank present opportunities for the country to address the challenges of climate change, become more resilient and boost economic growth through the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The CCDR argues that the country can become a global power in clean energy and still protect the Amazon, with relatively modest investments in agriculture, combating deforestation, energy, cities and transport systems. Brazil could enter markets for solar energy products, expand its presence into the green hydrogen segment and profit from its large deposits of important minerals for climate protection. Clean energy expansion would cost no more than current plans to increase fossil fuel generation. An increase in investment in renewable energy would have higher upfront costs for energy generation, transmission and storage. However, these costs would be fully offset by fuel savings and operating costs, the report says. Likewise, the transition in the transport and industry sectors towards greater electrification and the use of green hydrogen, produced with wind and solar energy instead of gas, would not generate higher costs for the economy.

Despite its green energy matrix, the country is still among the ten largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. Not because it uses polluting fuels, but because it continues to cut down its forests to extract wood and expand agriculture. From 2000 to 2020, 76% of Brazilian emissions came from this type of change in land use. The standing forest absorbs carbon, but deforestation releases carbon into the atmosphere.

One of the last frontier regions in the world, the Legal Amazon has been the target of economic expansion – especially in the southeast of the region, within what is known as the “arc of deforestation”. Brazil’s current development model is based on the unsustainable extraction of wealth from the forest, cutting it down and converting it into agricultural land. This model opposes people to nature, destroying much more wealth than it creates. There is an urgent need for an alternative development path that promotes inclusion and the sustainable use of natural resources.

The study “Delicate Equilibrium for the Brazilian Legal Amazon” advocates a development model that promotes, at the same time, urban and rural productivity, forest protection and sustainable livelihoods for the rural population. According to the study, funding for conservation can play a crucial role in funding this model. A growth model focused on increasing productivity, balanced across sectors and across the country, perfectly complements improving territorial and forest governance and supports broader efforts to combat deforestation.

Thus, it will be possible to offer better living conditions to Brazilians and also combat the effects of climate change.

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