This paper provides an interesting historic perspective on the reasons for Brazil's position in international climate negotiations that is rarely found in this format. Written for the Danish Institute for International Studies, the author provides an in depth assessment of Brazil's foreign policy as it relates to climate change, starting as early as 1988. This document is useful reading for anyone interested in the early years of climate change negotiations and the positions of developing countries.

This paper examines the main approaches to developing an equitable international climate change regime. The first section introduces the main Brazilian stakeholders and the activities related to the Climate Convention, and reviews the national debate on climate change, environment and development. Section II discusses the connections between Brazil's climate change mitigation and sustainable development strategies, illustrating some programmes leading to greenhouse gas emissions mitigation. Section III identifies important barriers to integrating climate change into national sustainable development strategies. The core part considers approaches to harnessing synergies between climate change and sustainable development policies, and illustrates the key issues in building an equitable burden-sharing climate regime. As part of this, it considers the Brazilian Proposal made at COP-3.

The paper's key conclusions include that Brazil's main source of emissions is deforestation to create more farmland, that renewable energy production and improved energy efficiency have significantly contributed to avoiding emissions, and that the Brazilian Proposal may be a useful starting point for developing international mitigation policy.

Through much of the past climate change negotiations, there has been little interaction between the Brazilian government and non-governmental organisations. In 2002 however, Brazilian NGOs formed a network because they were not satisfied with how the government dealt with important climate concerns, especially the link between deforestation and global warming.

The network, called the Climate Observatory, aims to become a vehicle for influencing government views and policies on climate change. A first priority was to direct more attention to deforestation, an important yet controversial issue, both in Brazil and the international arena. In 2002, the network had 26 members from all over Brazil, and the effects of the network have included a broader participation of NGOs in the climate change debate in Brazil.

This report analyses Brazil's options for meeting electricity demand through to 2015. The report provides a demand forecast and detailed assessment of available power supplies. The authors suggest that Brazil's energy policy may secure its exceptional role as an environmental leader among developing countries.

Because Brazil generates over 90 per cent of its electricity from hydrodams, its per capita carbon emissions are less than half the world average. Many of its new power plants, however, will probably use natural gas. Government and industry decision-makers are greatly concerned about meeting Brazil's future demand at least-cost — including to the environment. Current reforms in the power sector, designed mainly to cut costs, have catalysed privatisation, eliminate tariff equalisation across regions, and supply contracts between power generation and distribution utilities.

Three policy cases — advanced technologies, local environmental controls, and carbon elimination — illustrate that without alternative policies, Brazil will move towards natural gas fired power plants, causing greenhouse gas emissions to rise rapidly.

Brazil's Initial National Communication to the UNFCCC was published by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The document has three parts. The first section introduces institutional arrangements that support and deal with climate change in Brazil, and outlines the national and regional development priorities that underlie decision-making.

The second section provides a national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from Brazil's economic sectors from 1990 to 1994. It also details the uncertainties in the estimates, particularly relating to land use, land use change and forestry.

The final section explains the measures underway to implement the UNFCCC: sustainable development, research and systematic observation, education/training/public awareness, and measures addressing climatic effects. There are sections describing national and regional capacity, and how climate change will be integrated into medium- and long-term planning.

This long policy-driven document provides a thorough insight into how Brazil is approaching climate change. Note: The file is very large.