Justice starts charging climate damage due to deforestation – 10/01/2024 – Environment

Environmental infractions have never been as expensive as they are now. The AGU (Advocacy General of the Union) started to adopt charging for climate damage from deforestation and fires in public civil actions, as a strategy to protect and restore Brazil’s biomes and stop those responsible.

In July, the Federal Court of Amazonas ordered the freezing of assets valued at R$292 million from a cattle rancher accused of deforesting and burning 5,600 hectares of forests in the Amazon. The decision was motivated by an action by the AGU.

The amount charged represents the emission of 901 thousand tons of greenhouse gases, as financial compensation. For each ton, 60 euros (R$ 324, considering the exchange rate for that period) must be paid, according to a calculation by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) based on international standards.

Mariana Cirne, national climate attorney at AGU, explains that the institution seeks to expand responsibility for climate damage in the criminal, civil and administrative spheres. She highlights that the new instrument will be used in a “strategic way, so as not to trivialize”.

Apart from the public civil action, the offender may still be penalized for the same case in the criminal and administrative spheres.

“As it is, in fact, a new thesis, it has to be treated strategically. It is very important that we choose representative cases, in which the offender is repeatedly causing large emissions, so that it can be used in these cases and consolidate a more jurisprudence favorable”, says the prosecutor.

More recently, on the 16th, AGU announced the first reparation action for climate damage on behalf of ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), worth R$635 million.

The amount considers the destruction of 7,075 hectares in the Jamanxim National Forest, in Pará, which generated the emission of 1.1 million tons of greenhouse gases.

If the actions are deemed valid, the amounts will be allocated to the National Climate Change Fund, explains Cirne, to be applied to mitigation and adaptation measures, mainly aimed at the most affected populations, such as indigenous people and riverside residents.

“The values ​​are very high. So I ask for the environmental damage to be repaired, but we also have the responsibility of the police power. There are fines, they are embargoes, they are measures that are taken by the administration, without needing the Judiciary”, highlights Cirne.

According to the prosecutor, there are 89 actions of this type underway in Brazil.

Common to all is the idea that it is necessary to charge the damage that carbon emissions cause to current and future generations, since the increase in the planet’s temperature, as a result of the greenhouse effect, triggers extreme climate events such as floods, waves of heat and droughts, which, in addition to the suffering caused, increase public costs.

When judged, the offender must present a compensation project and will not be able to access financing from official establishments or receive tax benefits. The acquisition, sale, rental or loan of equipment, as well as cattle or agricultural products, will also not be permitted. The transfer and negotiation of lands with deforested areas are also prohibited.

Abrampa (Brazilian Association of Members of the Public Ministry of the Environment) also recognizes climate damage and launched, on the 13th, a note with technical and legal grounds for increasing charges in civil actions.

Alexandre Gaio, president of Abrampa, highlights the importance of qualifying environmental damage. To this end, the entity entered into a partnership with the NGO Ipam (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), which created a greenhouse gas emission calculator, also based on international standards, in which the area affected by the offender must be entered. .

“With the calculator, it is possible to monetize this value to charge for repairing environmental damage, resulting from the illegal suppression of native vegetation in any biome”, explains Gaio, who states that the Public Ministry is responsible for more than 90% of the actions of repairing environmental damage in Brazil.

Paulo Moutinho, senior scientist and one of the founders of Ipam, says that for each ton of carbon emitted, US$5 is charged (around R$27 at current prices). The developed calculator takes into account the differences between biomes, as each type of vegetation and soil emits a certain amount when destroyed.

“We calculated how much carbon there is in the Amazon forest, so we know how much carbon came from illegal deforestation”, explains Moutinho.