Climate Policy/Politics in Brazil: Recent Trajectories and Prospectives

Date: 

Tuesday, April 2, 2019, 12:00pm

Location: 

CGIS South, S250, 1730 Cambridge Street

Eduardo ViolaSpeaker: Eduardo Viola, Professor of International Relations, University of Brasilia; Senior Researcher of the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development

Moderator: Steven Levitsky, Professor of Government, Harvard University

After being the most irrational carbon emitter in the world (1987-2004), Brazil was successful in promoting a dramatic reduction of deforestation in the Amazon in 2005-2012. Because of this the Brazilian government was relatively successful in creating a myth of the country as a climate leader. Emissions from deforestation has been growing again since 2013 and stagnation has been the mark in energy transition. The last years of economic decline, political crisis and widespread corruption have undermined public attention to climate issues. At its beginning the Bolsonaro administration doesn't look climate friendly, it remains to be seen if an eventual success of the Paulo Guedes economic policy and Sergio Moro anti-corruption/crime policy will renew the interest on climate issues among Brazilians with correspondent impact in climate policy.

Eduardo Viola is Professor of International Relations at the University of Brasilia and Senior Researcher of the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development. Dr. Viola has been visiting professor in several international universities and member of various international scientific committees. Dr. Viola has published nine books, more than eighty peer review articles in journals and more than fifty book chapters in several countries. His last book is “Brazil and Climate Change. Beyond the Amazon”, New York, Routledge, 2018. His last article is “The threat of political bargaining to climate change mitigation in Brazil”, Nature Climate Change, Vol 8/8, August 2018.