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Loading ...Improving State-Level Environmental Governance in Brazil / Melhorar Gestão Ambiental Estadual no Brasil
Friday, September 25th, 2009Temas Observation: Note how this loan/project is being marketed. The headline trumpets “green growth” when in reality the program is more about strengthening environmental governance/institutions, arguably not as sexy a topic. The Bank argues that this is about ensuring economic growth is as green as possible through good regulation by competent, properly-equipped environmental regulators…seems like […]
Brazil Begins Awarding Building Efficiency Labels
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009Earlier this year I posted about Brazil’s trailblazing initiative to provide energy efficiency labels for buildings. Well, the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro) has just announced that first five Brazilian buildings were given the labels in the form of steel plaques about the size of an A4 sheet of printing paper. […]
New Movement on Recycling Used Motor Oil Packaging in Brazil?
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009Last year I posted about (slow-building) momentum in Brazil to collect and recycle the packaging that the new motor oil comes in, starting originally in 2003 in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) as a preemptive move by an industry group* and then expanded to Rio Grande do Sul (RS) in 2005, Paraná (PR) in 2007 and […]
Santa Catarina Supports 52 Small Hydropower Projects
Thursday, May 21st, 2009The southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (SC) has made a heavy commitment to small hydro. The SC State Secretary for Sustainable Economic Development (SDS), Onofre Santo Agostini, just signed 14 portarias authorizing the construction of 14 new small hydroelectric plants (known in Brazil as pequenas centrais hidrelétricas – PCHs). In Brazil any hydroelectric plant […]
Rio Adopts Environmental Registry and Inspection Tax
Sunday, April 19th, 2009Rio de Janeiro just became the latest Brazilian state to adopt a state-level version of the Federal Technical Registry (CTF) and Environmental Control and Inspection Tax (TCFA). The CTF was created by law in 2000 as a federal registry of industries and activities that the national environment authority, IBAMA, deems likely to produce pollution, and […]
Pesticide Residue Levels in Brazilian Food
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Which fresh food sold in Brazil has been found most likely to present “irregular” pesticide residues — levels higher than those permitted by regulation, or even residues of pesticides banned or not authorized for use on the foodstuff it is found on? Peppers. In 2008 more than 64% of the pepper samples analyzed by the […]
Update: Easier Buying Recycled
Friday, March 6th, 2009Parana’s public entities will finally get their recycled paper products. A few months ago I posted about the problems the southern Brazilian state was experiencing in its pioneering efforts to stimulate recycling by requiring all state agencies, entities and offices to buy only paper products with high recycled post-consumer fiber content (50%). A November 2007 […]
Eco-certification for Tourism: Blue Flag Comes to Brazil
Saturday, February 14th, 2009Desde o Instituto Ambiental Ratones (IAR): Programa Bandeira Azul Em 2008, a certificação Bandeira Azul foi concedida a mais de 3200 praias e marinas em todo o mundo. Atualmente, 38 países participam do programa, representando todos os continentes, entre eles estão quase a totalidade dos países costeiros europeus e do leste europeu, cinco países caribenhos, […]
Brazil Creates 22 New National Research Institutes
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Brazil’s National Council for the Development of Science and Technology (CNPq) just announced the creation of 22 new National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCTs), bringing the number of such national institutes to 123, with total financial resources for R&D of R$581 million. Nine of the new INCTs will go to São Paulo (SP), four […]
Brazil to Release GHG Inventory for Waste & Sanitation Sectors / Brasil vai divulgar dados sobre a emissão de gases de efeito estufa do setor de resíduos sólidos e efluentes
Monday, December 29th, 2008While many developing nations — including most Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations — are content to submit the minimum communication required under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Brazil has not taken the easy route. If you check the Temas listing of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, you’ll see that no less […]