Brazil's greenhouse gas (GHG) total gross emissions fell by almost 17pc in 2024 from a year earlier, reaching the lowest levels since 2018, according to greenhouse gases tracking platform SEEG.
The country emitted 2.14bn metric tonnes (t) of CO² — including carbon capture offsets from preserved areas and naturally recovered forests — in 2024, down from 2.57bn t of CO² a year earlier and higher than the 2.1bn t of CO² in 2018. The decrease from 2023 was mostly driven by [reduced deforestation in both the Amazon rainforest and tropical savannah Cerrado](http://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2749051) biomes, Brazilian climate umbrella group Observatorio do Clima said.
Land-use change, mostly deforestation, generated around 906mn t of CO² in 2024, down by 32pc from a year earlier. The sector accounted for 42pc of national emissions, down from 52pc in 2023.
Other sectors, such as energy, industry and waste management increased emissions by 0.8pc, 2.8pc and 3.6pc, respectively, from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the livestock industry represented more than half of Brazil's total emissions in 2024. Cattle raising is Brazil's largest emitter because of its widespread deforestation practices, indirect use of energy and methane emissions from cattle digestion.
Waste management and sewage emissions rose by 3.6pc last year from 2023, reaching an all-time high level. Despite representing 5pc of total emissions, a larger population and broader solid waste gathering pushed up the sector in 2024. Brazil move 70pc of its solid waste to sanitary landfills but failed to comply with its expired target to eliminate all trash dumps by 2024.
As for the energy sector, record ethanol demand in 2024, reaching 36bn l (621,370 b/d), contributed to the sector's timid increase in emissions year-on-year by cutting passenger transport emissions in the period, SEEG said.
Mitigation in Brazil relies heavily on countering deforestation. But the country needs to cut emissions in all sectors to achieve its nationally determined contribution (NDC) target of 1.2bn t of CO² by 2030, SEEG's coordinator David Tsai said.
Brazil also reduced its net emissions to 1.49bn t of CO² last year, down from 1.92bn t of CO² in 2023, SEEG data show. National net emissions more than halved to 249mn t of CO².
But the country might reach 1.44bn t of CO² in net emissions this year, about 9pc above its NDC target for 2025.
Brazil will host the upcoming UN Cop 30 climate summit, in Belem, hoping to bolster itself as a [key voice in climate leadership](http://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2734245). But it is facing backlash over some environmental decisions, such as the recent license granted to state-controlled Petrobras by environment watchdog Ibama to drill a block in the Foz do Amazonas basin, in the environmentally-sensitive equatorial margin.
