Picture a country where renewables make up nearly 50% of the energy mix, where sustainable biofuels are commonplace, and where huge strides have been taken to reduce wasteful carbon emissions; more so than any other country over the last decade. One may think such a country would be poised to lead the world in developing a green economy. But Brazil has apparently chosen to change course and become a petrostate instead.
Ever since it discovered large offshore oil deposits, Brazil has reduced support for ethanol and doubled down on dirty energy. About 70% of all its energy investments in the next decade are earmarked for fossil fuel projects, mostly offshore oil and gas. As if this weren’t bad enough, President Michel Temer is now supporting a tax break for oil companies that could amount to US$300 billion over the next 2 decades – even as the country flounders in the worst recession in its history.
While Brazilian negotiators in Bonn vow more climate ambition and peddle biofuels as a climate mitigation solution, President Temer has sent a welcome package for oil majors, an emergency bill (Medida Provisória ), to Congress. It has a deadline of December 15 for approval. If it clears Congress, oil companies will flow into Brazil like an oil slick.
For President Temer, whose approval ratings are the lowest of any Brazilian president, it’s probably immaterial that his country’s current political chaos was ignited by a huge corruption scandal in the oil and gas sector. But if Brazil really wants to walk its talk in COP23, cancelling the tax break bill would be a good place to start.
