Search Climate Insights Directory

A coalition of 70 organizations warns that a 'Super El Niño'—a phenomenon not seen since 1870—will cause extreme rainfall, floods, and droughts in Brazil. The letter criticizes the government's history of reacting only after disasters and its tendency to prioritize economically valued central urban areas over peripheries inhabited by Black, quilombola, and traditional populations. The authors demand transformational climate adaptation that prioritizes racial and gender equity, secure housing over forced removals, and the integration of community-led risk management into federal policy. Specific requests for information and meetings are directed to the Casa Civil, the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Cities.

The document serves as a legal reference guide, listing the specific laws and regulations used to implement the Brazilian Forest Code (Lei nº 12.651/2012). It details federal legislation and provides a state-by-state breakdown of the legal frameworks for the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) in 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District. The listed legislation covers topics such as ecological-economic zoning, legal reserve compensation, the restoration of degraded areas, and the administrative procedures for validating rural property registrations.

This document is an annex listing the federal and state legislation consulted for a 2024 report titled "ONDE ESTAMOS NA IMPLEMENTAÇÃO DO CÓDIGO FLORESTAL?" (Where are we in the implementation of the Forest Code?). It provides a comprehensive bibliography of laws, decrees, normative instructions, and resolutions related to the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) across various Brazilian states.

The report assesses the progress of the Brazilian Forest Code's implementation in 2022, highlighting a heterogeneous landscape where registration (CAR) is advanced but analysis and regularization (PRA) remain significant bottlenecks. While states like São Paulo and Espírito Santo show leadership in analysis, only 2% of national registries have completed analysis. The document identifies critical gaps in the registration of traditional territories and the slow adoption of the PRA, while noting that some states are integrating CAR data with deforestation alerts to enforce compliance.

An event attribution study found that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood and intensity of the extreme rainfall that hit eastern Northeast Brazil in May 2022, causing over 133 deaths and displacing at least 25,000 people. While the events were exceptionally rare—with a 1-in-500 to 1-in-1000 annual chance in the current climate—they would have been approximately 20% less intense in a world without human-induced warming. The study highlights that pre-existing structural vulnerabilities, such as unplanned urbanization in low-income neighborhoods and an infrastructure deficit, exacerbated the disaster's impact.

The document serves as a legislative annex listing the legal framework governing the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) in Brazil. It details federal laws, such as Law No. 12,651/2012, and specific state-level regulations for 23 Brazilian states and the Federal District, covering topics such as native vegetation protection, legal reserve compensation, and environmental licensing.

The Guarantee Fund for Biogas (GFB) is designed as the first environmental guarantee fund in Brazil to unlock public and private credit for independent biogas developers who lack the collateral required by lenders. Structured as a CVM-compliant fixed-income fund investing in Brazilian treasury bills, the GFB will provide short-term collateral to enable loans during the construction phase of projects. A pilot phase targeting five Brazilian states aims to leverage USD 53 million in capital to enable USD 67 million in loans in the first year, with a 10-year goal of enabling USD 271 million in credit. The fund utilizes a blended finance structure with a 50% first-loss tranche for concessional investors to mitigate credit risk and lower fees for developers. If scaled and replicated to address 10% of Brazil's biogas potential, the instrument could enable USD 6.1 billion in loans and mitigate 7.8 million tons of CO2e annually.

The document serves as a legislative annex, cataloging the federal laws, decrees, and normative instructions, as well as state-level regulations, that govern the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) in Brazil as of October 2021.

The report provides a comprehensive 'radiography' of how Brazilian states are implementing the Forest Code. It identifies a significant gap between the high rates of CAR registration and the slow progress of CAR validation and PRA implementation. While some states in the North and Center-West regions are advanced, the Northeast region lags behind. The document highlights systemic barriers, including a lack of technical resources, poor quality of self-declared data, and a heavy dependence on the federal government's SICAR system. It also examines state-specific rules for restoring Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Legal Reserves (RL), noting wide variations in restoration deadlines and methodologies.

Bureau Veritas UK Limited provided a pre-issuance limited assurance report for Faro Energy Holdings UK Ltd.'s 2018 Brazilian Solar Bond, concluding that the issuance process conforms with the Climate Bonds Standard 2.1 and Sector Criteria for Solar version 2.1.

The report investigates the May 2022 extreme rainfall event in Eastern Northeast Brazil, which caused 133 deaths and displaced over 25,000 people. Observational analysis indicates that 7-day and 15-day rainfall events of this magnitude are exceptionally rare in the current climate, with return periods of approximately 1-in-500 and 1-in-1000 years, respectively. While climate models exhibited systematic errors in precipitation magnitudes for this specific event, the authors conclude that human-caused climate change is at least partially responsible for increasing the likelihood and intensity of such rainfall. The study further highlights that structural vulnerabilities, including unplanned urbanisation in low-income neighbourhoods and an infrastructure deficit, significantly exacerbated the disaster's impact.

The ARCA Project aims to protect the Caatinga biome in Northeast Brazil by expanding and improving the management of the National System of Protected Areas (SNUC) and conserving endangered species. The project is funded by a $9,880,000 GEF grant and is executed by FUNBIO. It focuses on nine existing protected areas across Bahia, Pernambuco, Piauí, and Paraíba, targeting a minimum of 4,581,821 hectares. The framework outlines rigorous safeguards to protect Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Peoples, and Local Communities (IP/TP&LC), including a commitment to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the development of Livelihood Restoration Plans (LRPs) to mitigate economic impacts from resource access restrictions. The project also includes a Gender Action Plan to address systemic inequalities and risks of gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH).