“Carbon neutrality occurs with the reduction of emissions as much as possible through mitigation actions, and the compensation of the residual emissions entirely by sinks that are either natural (such as native vegetation) or artificial (such as technologies of carbon sequestration and storage).” This is an explanation by Ana Toni, executive director of iCS, Emilio La Rovere, full professor at the Institute of Post-Graduation and Research of Engineering at UFRJ, and Mercedes Bustamante, full professor at the Department of Ecology at UnB and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, in this article in Folha de S. Paulo .

However, President Jair Bolsonaro’s announcement at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate, in April, that the country is seeking climate neutrality by 2050 does not signify that there is a plan for this. It is the planning of the intermediate and sectoral goals (such as industry, transport, energy, agriculture and forests, etc.) for 2020-2030 and 2030-2050 that would provide some certainty as to whether the goal of neutrality implies greater ambition or not.

However, the adoption of short-term mitigation actions in Brazil is not feasible due to the absence of planning instruments for the implementation of national goals, especially in the land use sector. More to the point, Brazilian emissions are currently on the increase.