Brazil has the highest increase in gas emissions in almost 20 years

The level of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil had in 2021 the highest increase since 2003, according to the Climate Observatory’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates System (SEEG). The growth last year reached 12.2% and was driven by deforestation, energy, and agriculture and cattle raising.

This is also the fourth consecutive year that Brazil has recorded an increase in emissions. The table places the country as the fifth largest emitter worldwide, with 4% of the total, behind China (23.7% of the total), the United States (12.9%), India (6.5%), and Russia (4.2%).

According to Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of the SEEG, this ten-year balance shows that Brazil has had a lost decade to control its climate pollution. “Since the regulation of the National Policy on Climate Change, in 2010, we have been slipping. Not only have we failed to reduce our emissions consistently, but we have increased them in recent years, and significantly.