Brazil boasts of being one of the world’s “greenest” energy suppliers, but recent policy initiatives could jeopardise its desire to be a big player in future climate change discussions.
“In the 1970s, Brazil’s energy production was dominated by two sources, wood and oil,” says Maurício Tolmasquim, president of Brazil’s Energy Research Company (EPE).
As its economy has expanded, so has its demand for energy, but even now, 46% of Brazil’s energy production is from renewable sources.
This compares with the global average of only 13%, making Brazil one of the greenest countries in the world.
BBC Brasil has been back to its home country as part of a series looking at where the fast-growing Bric economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will be in 2020.
But despite a proud record as a green energy producer, it found that Brazil’s environmental credentials are under threat.
Hydro-electric power
Much of Brazil’s energy comes from hydro-electric plants, but the licensing of these is notoriously difficult.
The result is a push towards thermoelectric plants, which are easier to get permission to build.
“We are being forced to accept more expensive and less environmentally sound plants,” argues Maurício Tolmasquin.
Still, fossil fuel’s share of Brazil’s energy production is small, accounting for only 10% of the total.
But the new thermoelectric plants should take that share up to nearly 17%.
Some experts say they worry about the strategy. They believe that Brazil is giving out the wrong signals.
Brazilian domestic energy consumption is predicted to grow by 3.3% a year on average until 2030, according to a report by Ernst & Young and the economic research institute Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV).
Yet its energy production is due to rise by 4.2% a year over the same period.
This means that Brazil is set to become one of the major world energy exporters by 2020 if it keeps building power stations and fulfils its potential as a major biofuel producer.
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