Going against Brazil’s international commitments, Federal Senate creates program to stimulate coal use

Two months after the speedy ratification of the Paris Agreement, last Wednesday (19th) the Brazilian Senate moved exactly on the opposite direction and passed a bill that provides the “modernization of the coal power park”, stimulating the building of new coal-fired power stations from 2023 and assuring a captive market for the remarkably low-quality Brazilian coal. The coal stimulus program was outlined in one specific article of an Executive Act (Medida Provisória), which was converted into law by the Congress. The act was originally meant to regulate privatizations in the electricity sector, but the coal lobby, strong in the Southern states, has managed to smuggle the pro-coal Article into the branching text. ….