Brazil: Preparing For Post-Copenhagen Economy

After the failure of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which was unable to reach a consensus regarding measures needed to fight global warming (see SourceMex, 2009-12-16), Brazil began to prepare for the challenges of a carbon-free economy and other sustainability issues that cannot wait for large international decisions to become a reality. One of the most important pieces will be to implement the Politica Nacional de Mudancas Climaticas, in accordance with the climate-change law (Lei de Mudancas Climaticas) signed Dec. 29 by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Congress had been debating the bill since 2007. The lawmakers finally approved it and the president signed it just days after the Copenhagen conference ended. However, Lula vetoed several provisions of the bill that reached his desk, indicating, say environmentalists, that Brazil will clearly have difficulty in effectively changing to a post-carbon economy