ID: 1812
Presenting Author: Cristiano Vilardo
Session: 592 - Streamlining IA in an era of global uncertainty
Status: pending
Brazil's 2025 EIA reform weakens licensing. Criticized for exemptions, self-licensing, and limited consultation, the law undermines the instrument's effectiveness and will likely face legal challenges
In 2025, the Brazilian Congress approved a controversial law reforming Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the country. Before approval, the bill was dubbed the “Devastation Bill” by critics, while proponents touted supposed efficiency gains, often relying on disinformation. The result is a law that significantly alters the EIA regulatory landscape in Brazil, potentially undermining the instrument's effectiveness. The primary criticisms of the new law include: (1) excessive and unjustifiable exemptions from the EIA process, including key sectors like agriculture and cattle farming; (2) creation of a special license for projects of "national strategic priority," applying a fast-track, simplified licensing process to large infrastructure projects; (3) expansion and consolidation of self-licensing, using unverified self-declarations of impacts to grant licenses to projects of up to medium impact/size; (4) severe limitations on interagency consultation, diminishing expert input on key issues such as indigenous peoples and protected areas; (5) the lack of national parameters for EIA, enabling a “race to the bottom” as states and municipalities cut requirements to attract investments; (6) failure to address emerging challenges, such as the climate emergency and the rise of artificial intelligence. By ignoring the accumulated expertise of the Brazilian impact assessment community and focusing on short-term political interests, Congress missed an opportunity to modernize and strengthen the national EIA framework. The reform will likely face significant legal challenges.
Cristiano Vilardo is an environmental analyst at the Brazilian Federal Environmental Agency IBAMA since 2002 and holds a PhD in Environmental Planning. Based in Rio, loves music, sports, and people.