A Brazilian Emissions Trading Scheme: modelling a legal framework to secure its environmental integrity and ensuring effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

Brazil is one of the world’s largest emitters of CO2. However, given its unique emissions profile, which results from its high proportion of land-use related emissions together with the potential availability of renewable energy sources, Brazil possesses enormous potential to reduce its CO2 emissions and transit to a low-carbon economy. As part of its efforts to mitigate climate change, the Brazilian Government has developed an ambitious voluntary greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and a climate change policy, the Brazilian Climate Change Policy, which foresees that a future Brazilian Emission Reduction Market could be part of the country’s efforts to reduce emissions. However, to date, there has been no formal adoption of such a market or any governmental indication of how it should operate.This thesis examines the possible development and application of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in the Brazilian context and analyses whether an ETS would be relevant to assist Brazil in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, the thesis addresses the question of what is the most appropriate legal framework for securing environmental integrity in a future Brazilian ETS. To this end, the adoption or consideration of ETS as a climate change policy, both internationally and in relevant national jurisdictions, is examined and a critical analysis of emissions trading in the context of the Brazilian legal system and development dynamics is advanced. The key inherent and contingent features of emerging ETS in the EU, New Zealand and Australia are identified and analysed, and the potential benefits of an ETS, together with the optimal conditions for its application in the context of the Brazilian greenhouse gas emissions profile and corresponding climate change legal and policy framework are assessed and evaluated. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the conditions for optimal incorporation of an ETS into the Brazilian legal framework, identifying the structural and functional elements needed for a Brazilian ETS to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By doing so, this thesis models the potential role of ETS in filling a gap in the Brazilian regulatory framework devoted to climate change mitigation