A avaliação de impacto ambiental como ferramenta do controle das mudanças climáticas: o caso do licenciamento federal de termelétricas no Brasil

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are the main cause of the increase in global atmospheric temperature, one of the changes in climate. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Licensing (EL) processes play important roles in controlling negative impacts on the environment during the decision-making process on the environmental viability of these projects. Brazilian legislation relies on Normative Instruction (IN) No. 12/2010 of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), which determines that the federal EL of GHG emitting enterprises must contemplate mitigating measures for these emissions. Among the projects submitted to the EL process, the Thermoelectric Plants (UTEs) are projects that make up the Brazilian electric matrix and are capable of emitting GHGs in the power generation process and, therefore, must consider the measures to control GHG emissions. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate how UTE projects, licensed with support from the EIA and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) after 2010, consider the control of GHG emissions and their relationship with climate change. To this end, the analysis of the eight EIS presented for the EIA and LA process of UTEs, as of 2010, available in the Ibama database, was carried out. Initially, an adaptation to the scope of this work of the criteria established by Lee and Colley (1992) was used as a way to facilitate the identification of information on how EIS treat GHG emissions and climate change. With the information then identified, the EIS were classified into five groups, organized from best to worst case, and a subsequent analysis of what was found following four points of reflection, one regarding the methodology used in the quantification of GHG emissions of the project, one regarding the measures presented in order to control its GHG emissions, one on the climate impacts identified and the last on how the relationship between the GHG emissions of the enterprise and the impacts on the climate that were identified was established. The results show that there is a similarity with studies previously conducted in an international context, with a low incidence of the evaluation of GHG emissions from enterprises and their contribution to climate change. Only one of the eight EIS presented the description of a climate-related environmental impact due to GHG emissions and, in addition, two other cases did not provide information throughout their text on this topic. It was observed that half of the studies performed only the quantification of GHG emissions without relating them to climate change or even to the reduction targets assumed by Brazil in the Paris Agreement. The legislation that deliberates on such aspects was shown to lack clearer definitions and guidelines, and points of improvement to the EIA and LA process in Brazil were discussed. It was concluded, therefore, that there is a need for a more concise legislation that allows the environmental studies presented in the EIA and LA process to carry out the appropriate assessment regarding the GHG emissions of the enterprises, since these emissions must be evaluated for their cumulativity and effects on the climate