Today is Friday, November 24, 2023.
Although the status of the bill (PL) for the Brazilian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System has remained the same for weeks, according to the Chamber of Deputies website, it seems that things are busy in Brasília.
According to an article in Agência Câmara de Notícias, in a hearing at the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee, experts once again defended the inclusion of agribusiness in the regulation of the carbon market.
There was even a recent article from Poder 360, in which the rapporteur signaled that agriculture will decide on this accession, especially because the majority of deputies are linked to the agricultural sector.
In the opinion of an expert cited in the Agência Câmara de Notícias article, the bill fails by excluding agribusiness Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects from the regulated carbon market, as the sector could be benefiting from these carbon markets and offering credits.
The Secretary of the Environment and Water Resources of Tocantins added that "a large part of the areas we want to preserve are in private agricultural areas”.
Regarding the voluntary market, it is increasingly clear the willingness for it not to be regulated, at least not excessively. According to the representative of the Ministry of the Environment, “we do not want and do not need to regulate everything that occurs in the voluntary market. There is a volunteer-to-volunteer transaction that must occur with the legal nature of the asset well defined, with the tax and accounting treatment well defined, which do not go through the regulated system”. He also considered other points of attention.
Regarding the legal nature of carbon credits, see our most recent article here.
Verra was also present at the hearing, when its representative in Brazil reinforced the relevance of the voluntary market as an anti-deforestation vector.
The article ends by mentioning that Brazil would have the potential to generate 1.9 gigatons of CO2 credits per year, equivalent to US$26 billion annually.
Click on the image below for the article from Agência Câmara de Notícias.
Also remember our post from a week ago, when we published an article from Congresso em Foco with a broad interview with the rapporteur of the PL for the Brazilian Carbon Market. It's worth rereading and following up.
