Learn more about Brazil Zero Carbon, developed by the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change

Seeking to assess how Brazil can become a carbon neutral country, with zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in the year 2060, in 2018 former President Michel Temer asked the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change (FBMC, in portuguese) ) a proposal to plan the main necessary actions to meet the goals of the Brazilian NDC, related to the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Alfredo Sirkis, ex-executive coordinator of the Forum and current executive director of the Centro Brasil no Clima (CBC), when delivering the final version of the document, stated that “the strategy proposed here for 2060 not only allows Brazil to fulfill its part in containing climate change on a non-catastrophic level, but it still proposes important economic opportunities as our country is uniquely well positioned to face the challenge of decarbonizing economies globally ”.

Analyzing the viability of Carbon Zero in 2060, Professor Emilio La Rovere (COPPE / UFRJ) team developed a study on the possibility of Brazil reaching, in 2050, per capita emissions compatible with the stabilization of global warming at 1.5 ºC. The Forum team then considered in its projections only technologies available on a commercial scale.

The document presented specifies possible risks for Brazil, for example, the rise in sea level, which will result in flooding of coastal areas. It also lists important measures to combat global warming, such as reforestation and use of clean energy. According to the study, the development of new decarbonization scenarios in Brazil until the middle of the century is essential to devise more ambitious strategies, keeping global warming well below 2 ° C, ideally below 1.5 ° C.

The Brasil Carbono Zero document was delivered to the then president in December of the same year. On the occasion, Sirkis stated that “fulfilling the goals established in the NDC places us before the world as an agroforestry power, with biofuels, clean energy and strong competitive advantages”.