Government launches Climate Plan with a goal of reducing emissions by up to 671 tp/t by 2035.

The federal government launched the Climate Plan on Monday (16) in Brasília, a document that guides the State and society to face the climate crisis.

The plan outlines mitigation and adaptation actions for Brazil to become a low-carbon economy, sustainable from a socio-environmental perspective.

The main goal of the plan is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by between 591 tp/t and 671 tp/t by 2035 (percentages of the target are relative to 2005). This containment will be the path to achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil by 2050.

The plan's development began in 2023, involved the participation of 24,000 people, and resulted in approximately 5,000 proposals submitted at various stages of development, which were then synthesized and selected by the Interministerial Committee on Climate Change (CIM), composed of representatives from 25 ministerial departments.

Climate emergency

"We had a process with broad participation from civil society," recalled Minister Marina Silva (Environment and Climate Change).

According to her, "the Climate Plan will guide government actions in both adaptation and mitigation agendas" and will serve to reorient our actions in development agendas."

“We are living through a very serious climate emergency” and “the Climate Plan is the government’s main strategy for tackling the serious problems of climate change that are already plaguing us,” according to Minister Marina Silva, referring to disasters and incidents such as those that occurred in Bahia (2021), Rio Grande do Sul (2023), São Sebastião (2024), on the coast of São Paulo, the extreme droughts and floods in the Amazon (also in 2024), and the tragedy last month in the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, which resulted in 70 deaths.

The Climate Plan will be financed by Eco Invest Brasil (private investments); national and global cooperation resources from the Brazil Platform for Climate Investments and Ecological Transformation (BIP); and funds from the National Climate Change Fund (Climate Fund), operated by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).

For this year, the Climate Fund will have more than R$ 33 billion available. The majority of this is in resources reimbursable to BNDES (R$ 27.5 billion).

Global leadership

In a statement released to the press, Minister Rui Costa (Chief of Staff) stated that "the Climate Plan represents a new step by President Lula's government to position Brazil as a global leader on the environmental agenda." According to him, the initiative "is also a call to action for states, municipalities, the private sector, and civil society."

Minister Luciana Santos (Science, Technology and Innovation) pointed out that "the Climate Plan consolidates science as the basis for actions to address the climate crisis" and that with this proposal the country is not "just reacting to disasters," but "anticipating solutions."

The Ministries of Environment and Climate Change; Science, Technology & Innovation; and the Civil House formed the executive committee that led the drafting of the Climate Plan.