Climate should be on the agenda of the Civil House and Treasury, says study – 05/30/2023 – Environment

A new report that will be presented to representatives of the federal government this Tuesday morning (30) argues that the climate agenda should be part of the duties of key ministries of the federal government, such as the Civil House and the Treasury.

“This guarantees that the proposals for the climate transition have enough political strength to be implemented, regardless of the internal barriers that may appear”, says the report, jointly produced by Insper, IDS (Instituto Democracia e Sustentabilidade) and platforms Arq.Futuro and Por What? Economês in Good Portuguese.

The measure would still have two other impacts, according to the proposal. One of them is to signal to society that the climate transition will happen and will impact everyone. “This can spur other sectors of society to start planning and preparing for the transition,” the report says.

The other impact is the improvement of the articulation between the public administration sectors, “facilitating a broad change in several aspects of society”.

Entitled “Green Economic Recovery – Inspirations for the Brazilian Debate Based on International Experiences”, the study brings together experiences of climate governance in four countries: Chile, China, France and the United States, gathered from seminars held with government representatives from each nation.

Based on international practices, the researchers evaluated possible inspirations and recommendations that could unlock a green economic recovery in Brazil.

The strategy of taking the climate agenda to key ministries, for example, is inspired by the French movement, which established a secretariat for climate policies alongside the prime minister. The body advises him in anticipating, planning and implementing the necessary changes in the country, according to the study.

The results will be presented this Tuesday morning at a seminar in São Paulo with representatives of the federal government, including the Minister of MMA, Marina Silva, who will participate via video; Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, Itamaraty’s Secretary of Climate, Energy and Environment; the executive secretary of the MMA, João Paulo Capobianco; and the director of infrastructure, energy transition and climate change at the BNDES, Luciana Costa.

For it to be effective, the measure requires governance, says associate professor and leader of Insper’s sustainability and business center, Priscila Claro, one of the authors of the study.

“It is necessary to have people who understand the subject in the teams of the ministries that are co-responsible for the policy”, says Claro. “Putting the environment and climate on the economy’s agenda is not only desirable; it is the only possibility to make change happen”, he adds.

The measure dialogues with one of the possibilities analyzed by the federal government to respond to the emptying of the ministries of the Environment and Indigenous Peoples proposed by Congress in MP 1,154, which structures federal government agencies.

Without political strength with the parliamentarians to avoid the loss of strategic bodies of the portfolios to ministries that manage other agendas, the Planalto Palace proposed to ministers Marina Silva (Environment) and Sonia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples) the creation of interministerial committees to jointly manage the policies that would be transferred from their areas.

The proposal of MP 1,154 withdraws from the MMA the powers over the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), the ANA (National Water Agency) and the management of solid waste and sanitation, in addition to removing from the newly created Ministry of Indigenous Peoples two of its main attributions: the demarcation of indigenous lands and the administration of Funai.

The proposal in Congress came in the wake of wear and tear on the Environment with strong government portfolios, such as Mines and Energy and the Civil House, which seek to reverse Ibama’s rejection of environmental licensing for oil prospecting in Foz do Amazonas.

“Investment in oil exploration at Foz do Amazonas or even the pre-salt layer is totally disconnected from the Brazilian discourse on climate. If this comes to fruition, we will have a beautiful greenwashing [maquiagem verde] in the government”, evaluates Claro.

The study’s inspiration for this case comes from China. Although 60% of China’s energy production depends on coal, the country has been moving to electrify as much of its economy as possible, with specific plans for sectors such as transport, heating and industry.

“China chose to invest in the climate transition because it realized that carbon neutrality could represent an economic and geopolitical advantage in a world that is increasingly facing the consequences of climate change”, points out the report.

“The Brazilian government still seems to look at climate policies as a cost, without effectively discussing the potential economic and political returns that investments in this sector can bring to the country in the future”, he compares.

The study is also inspired by the strategy to recommend that Brazil prepare sectoral plans in cooperation with large polluting companies, “reducing sectoral resistance and encouraging smaller actors to engage with the transition”.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}