Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The Indústria Brasileira da Árvores (IBÁ, the Brazilian Tree Industry Association) is actively engaged on climate policy in Brazil and the EU, taking supportive positions on the need for emissions reductions in Brazil while advocating predominantly negatively on land use climate-related regulations.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: The Indústria Brasileira da Árvores (IBÁ) seems to support the need for emissions reductions in its top-line messaging, but is less clearly supportive of the need for climate regulation. In August 2024, the President Paulo Hartung signed a joint statement which supported government regulation to respond to climate change and an urgent decarbonization plan in Brazil, without stating a position on the level of ambition needed. However, the President did not seem to support regional policies and strategies such as the EU Green Deal in March 2024, emphasizing the impacts of unilateral action. IBÁ supported the regulation of Article 6 in the UN Paris Agreement in a joint statement in December 2023.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policy: The Indústria Brasileira da Árvores (IBÁ) seems to support specific climate regulations in Brazil with some exceptions. In April 2024, the President Paulo Hartung did not clearly support the proposed emissions trading system regulation in Brazil, as he emphasized the importance of recognizing the voluntary carbon market within the policy. Furthermore, in a comment to the Brazilian senate in September 2023, IBÁ advocated to include carbon removals from the forest industry connected to industrial and energy activities in the emissions trading system, a position which has an unclear impact on the ambition level of the policy. In a meeting with the EU Commission in January 2023, sourced from a Freedom of Information Request, the association did not appear to support the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Engagement with Land Use-Related Policy: The Indústria Brasileira da Árvores (IBÁ) seems to take mostly oppositional stances on land use-related regulations in Brazil and the EU. Despite generally supporting policy to protect forests, prevent illegal deforestation in Brazil and recuperate degraded areas in Brazil in an August 2024 joint statement, the association has not supported key regulations in Brazil and the EU. For example, in a meeting with the EU Commission in March 2024, sourced from a Freedom of Information Request, IBÁ did not support the EU Deforestation Regulation, advocating for delaying the date of entry of application, transitional measures, and emphasizing feasibility concerns. Furthermore, the President Paulo Hartung advocated to weaken environmental licensing laws in Brazil by excluding the forestry sector from the list of activities considered polluting or that which use natural resources in May 2024.
Positioning on Energy Transition: The Indústria Brasileira da Árvores (IBÁ) mostly supports the transition of the energy mix. In a January 2024 press release the association broadly supported the urgent decarbonization of the energy mix with renewable energy, biomass and low-carbon hydrogen. IBÁ supported increased use of biofuels in a December 2023 joint statement. However, support for biofuels was coupled with a statement in December 2023 from the President Paulo Hartung that electric vehicles are not a ‘silver bullet.’ The President did not take a clear position on the inclusion of fossil gas in Brazil’s Energy Transition Acceleration Program (Paten) in April 2024.