Brazil

Last updated: September 2025

The country is one of the priority countries with which the International Climate Initiative (IKI) maintains a particularly close cooperation.

Brazil is one of the countries in the world with the highest level of biodiversity. The important ecosystems include the rainforest in the Amazon Basin and the Atlantic Rainforest, for example. The extensive forest areas also play an important role in global biodiversity and climate action. Brazil also has great potential for the utilisation of renewable energies. For example, renewable energies currently account for approximately 80 per cent of electricity generation.

In September 2023, Brazil unveiled its third update to its nationally determined contribution (NDC), which marked a return to the ambition level of the NDC version published in 2016. Compared with 2005, emissions are to be reduced by 48 percent by 2025 and by 53 percent by 2030. A fully revised NDC, which will include binding targets for sectors, was announced for 2025. Brazil is currently working on drafting 14 sectoral adaptation plans and 8 sectoral mitigation plans.

While Brazil aims to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050, it has yet to publish an official long-term strategy.
The country adopted a national adaptation plan (NAP) in 2016. Adaptation details have been again integrated into the NDC and linked to the NAP, after having being omitted in the first update.

In 1992, Brazil became the first country to sign the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ratifying the CBD in 1994. In 2013, Brazil adopted its second national action plan (National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, NBSAP), which at the time was coordinated with the Aichi targets. An update of the NBSAP is currently in preparation.
The current working priorities of bilateral IKI projects relate to climate change mitigation, with ongoing projects addressing topics such as industrial decarbonisation, climate governance, sustainable urban development, support for the national adaptation plan (NAP), and the conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity. In regional projects, another point of focus is financial market development, which aims to achieve conformity with the provisions of the Paris Agreement.

In 2024, the first IKI Country Call for Brazil was organised, requiring in-depth consultation work between teams in Brazil and Germany. Three new projects were selected in the areas of industrial decarbonisation, combating deforestation and water-sensitive urban planning.

Interface project

All priority countries of the IKI also engage in so-called IKI interface projects, which have permanent project offices in the capital city of the respective country. Alongside their own, country-specific project commission, these interface projects are also tasked with maintaining close contact to environment and climate ministries as well as networking with other relevant ministries in the field of climate and biodiversity policy. Beyond this, the interface projects also work to network all of the IKI projects in the country and region together so as to promote synergies.

The interface function is currently represented by the project Climate Policy Programme Brazil II (PoMuC II).

Project priorities

Development of integrated, multi-level and cross-sectoral processes that contribute to transformative climate policy
Developing capacities for Brazil's ‘Just Transition’
Mobilisation of funding sources for transformative climate action
Political communication and cooperation on climate and biodiversity
Function as an IKI interface: promoting dialogue on climate and biodiversity between the IKI projects in the country as well as between other actors (networking offers and knowledge management).

Project

iki-brazil(at)giz.de

Newsletter

IKI Brasil: Website of all IKI projects in the country

Climate Policy Programme Brazil II (PoMuC II)

Insights into the project work

All Projects in the country

In a nutshell

Region: South America

Population: 212 million (World Bank, 2024)

CO₂eq emissions (incl. LUCF): 1.597 billion t (6th rank of global top emitters) (ClimateWatch, 2022)

CO₂eq emissions per capita (incl. LUCF): 7.6 t (ClimateWatch, 2022)

Total energy supply (IEA, 2024):

5 % Coal
9 % Gas
11 % Hydro
1 % Nuclear
5 % Wind, Solar, etc.
33 % Biofuels / Waste
36 % Oil
88 % RE in electricity mix (14 % Wind, 9 % PV)

IKI projects in the country (last updated: July 2025):

bilateral projects: 14 ongoing, 30 completed
regional projects: 9 ongoing, 10 completed
global projects: 23 ongoing, 33 completed

ClimateWatch

NDC partnership: country page

IKI partner ministries:

Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA)
Ministry of Economy (MF)
Ministry of Energy (MME)
Ministry of Industry (MDIC)
Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA)
Ministry of Cities (MCid)
Ministry of Science (MCTI)
Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR)
Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs MRE (ABC)

IKI Strategy

The IKI wants to maximise its impact on climate action and biodiversity conservation. To this end, it concentrates its funding activities on prioritised fields of action within the four funding areas. Another key element is the close cooperation with selected partner countries, especially with the IKI’s priority countries.

Click here for the IKI Strategy