Today is Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
Recurring question about the proposed law for the Brazilian Emissions Reduction Market that went to Congress: why was agriculture removed from the final version?
A few days ago Gazeta do Povo published about it, stating:
(1) Other countries also do not regulate agricultural emissions in the carbon market;
(2) Most countries have industry as the main emitter;
and (3) At Congress, coordination will be to regulate the voluntary carbon market.
Below, we add a few more points from an international perspective.
The European Union (EU) directive for the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the basis of the Brazilian model, in fact does not include agriculture (and some other sectors). For CO2, basically energy, mining, paper and cellulose sectors are considered.
On the other hand, in 2023 the EU instituted the "Regulation on land, land use change and forestry" (LULUCF). "Land can serve as a carbon sink (absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits, for example with plants and soil) or carbon source (releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, for instance through deforestation). Additionally, the use of durable harvested wood products from sustainably managed forests can provide long-term carbon storage".
With regard to gases other than CO2 - methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases - EU requested (by June 30, 2023) the update of national plans, aiming to assess greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, as well as regulatory options, seeking coherence in long-term reductions in emissions "across all sectors of the economy".
Finally, CBAM, for which EU also did not include agriculture, as we have already reported in "ESG in Europe, UK, US and Brazil: challenges, opportunities and regulatory trends". Basically due to the current crisis in Europe, food security and complexity of each country.
Finally, is also relevant the relationship between the voluntary and regulated market, in which agriculture is on its way to being left out in Brazil.
Voluntary markets in countries are typically “constituted outside of any regulatory or compliance framework.” See yesterday's post "[Update] Legal Nature of Voluntary Carbon Credits". Besides, the issue of the integrity of credits, as referenced in the post "Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) calls for evidence on certain carbon credits".
Click on the image for the Gazeta do Povo article.
