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Brazil’s congress passes bill to overhaul environmental regulations
BRAZIL, JUL 17 – The bill passed by a 267-116 vote expedites licensing for strategic projects but reduces protections for Indigenous and Quilombola communities, raising concerns about Brazil's environmental commitments.
- Brazil's Congress passed a bill on July 17, 2025, that weakens environmental permitting, with 267 votes for and 116 against it.
- Environmentalists and some government officials criticize the bill for prioritizing development over environmental protection ahead of COP30.
- Minister Marina Silva said the bill represents a major setback for Brazil's climate commitments, explaining that it dismantles existing environmental protections.
- Pressure has grown on Brazil's environmental agency Ibama to issue oil drilling permits in the Amazon, despite environmental concerns.
44 Articles
44 Articles
Opponents Urge Lula to Veto Brazilian Lawmakers' 'Legislated Ecocide'
"Lula says Brazil will lead the environmental agenda by example," said one prominent Brazilian climate defender. "A veto, on the eve of COP30, is the perfect opportunity to make the discourse into practice."
After the approval of Bill 2.159/2021, known as the “Devastation Law”, by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in the early morning of Thursday, July 17, the Movement of Rural Workers Without Land (MST) denounced the measure on the grounds that the project is a “coordinated environmental crime”. In this same vein, the MST demands from the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the total veto of the bill that, according to the social movement…
Parliament has waved through a bill that could drastically speed up the destruction of elementary biomes in the South American country and appeals to President Lula to veto it.
The Chamber of Deputies has voted for a text on the relaxation of regulations which makes it possible to ignore the environmental impacts of projects deemed strategic. On this subject, President Lula's position is ambiguous.
The parliament (right) has passed a law that makes it easier to build: the government (left) is not happy
In Brazil, Congress has just passed a bill to ease the conditions for issuing environmental permits. While in November, the country will host the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP30, in the Amazon city of Belém, ecologists denounce an "destroying initiative for the environment".
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