Some Brazilian projects aimed at advancing the energy transition are harming areas destined for forest preservation and low-carbon agriculture, mostly damaging territories in the Amazon rainforest, according to a study released this week.
The study from Sao Paulo state university (USP) and the federal university of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) in Minas Gerais state looked at projects such as power transmission lines, mining focused on critical minerals for energy transition purposes, and solar and wind power plants.
Those projects overlap with around 34pc of federal protected areas, such as forest preservation units, land reform settlements, quilombo communities and indigenous groups. These areas contribute to climate initiatives because they are actively participating in preserving native vegetation and rivers, while also providing national hydrological security and food supplies through low-carbon agriculture, the study shows.
Areas damaged by the energy transition infrastructure projects total 179,000km² (69,112miles²) — an area larger than Uruguay — and could reach 771,000km² considering all future projects submitted to licensing or in the research phase, according to the study.
"The Amazon rainforest is the most damaged region when it comes to these energy transition businesses, mostly due to the biome's size and the projects overlapping its protected areas," the study said.
Projects in Brazil that had to go through environmental licensing had to consider a 10km diameter in the Amazon region to study and create preventative actions to avoid environmental damage stemming from the project. In August, Brazil approved a new environmental licensing bill which decreased the impact diameter to 8km for projects to receive licensing, among other things.
UN Cop 30 summit dilemma
Brazil is seemingly refusing to adopt a new economic strategy that considers its environmental vulnerabilities, according to the study, which counters the UN Cop 30 climate summit's attempt of merging economic development with climate action.
Earlier in August, Cop 30 director Ana Toni said that "the summit's success depends on whether countries understand that the climate issue is also inherently economic" and that "there's no room to address the matters as separate from one another anymore." Brazil will host the summit in the Amazon region city of Belem, in Para state, in November.
"Brazil fails when it plans its energy transition only focusing on reducing emissions, while the real transition must also address environmental limits such as soil and water usage," UFRJ researcher Clarice Ferraz said. "We need to question what is sold as the solution for the climate crisis because they actually involve a lot of mining and a lot of land."
