Emissions in Brazil - statistics & facts
Brazil is one of the world's largest greenhouse gas (GHG) polluters; in 2023, it accounted for 2.5 percent of total global emissions. It is also the fourth-biggest historical CO₂ emitter, behind only the U.S., China, and Russia, with cumulative emissions of roughly 140 GtCO₂ since 1850. While South America’s largest economy has reduced its annual GHG emissions by 30 percent since they peaked in 2003, Brazil still has a long road ahead toward its target of slashing emissions by at least 59 percent by 2035 from 2005 levels. Some of the biggest obstacles to achieving these goals will be tackling deforestation and agriculture emissions.
Brazil’s climate targets are ambitious. However, should it achieve the highest end of its emission reduction goal, it could put the country on a pathway to reach net-zero by mid-century.
Where do Brazil’s emissions come from?
Brazil’s largest source of emissions by far is the land use change and forestry sector, which contributed to half of the country’s emissions in 2023. In fact, land use change is estimated to be responsible for roughly 90 percent of Brazil’s cumulative historical emissions. Brazil also accounts for the largest share of annual average forest-related emissions worldwide, with commodity-driven deforestation being the biggest driver of forest-related emissions. Large swathes of forest, particularly in the Amazon biome, are cleared every year for cattle ranching and soy cultivation. In turn, emissions from agriculture and livestock, the second-largest source of emissions in Brazil, have risen more than 60 percent since 1990, reaching a record high of 630 MtCO₂e in 2023. As the world’s biggest beef exporter, Brazil is home to some of the world’s largest meat processing companies, including JBS and Marfrig, who are responsible for releasing millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere every year.Brazil’s climate ambitions
Brazil became one of the first countries to submit its updated Nationally Determined Contributions at COP29, pledging to reduce emissions by 59 to 67 percent by 2035, relative to 2005 levels. This is a considerable improvement from the country’s previous NDC, which aimed for a 37 percent reduction by 2025 and 43 percent by 2030. Brazil will require a range of bold domestic policies and measures to achieve these targets, including decarbonizing its energy sector, improving sustainability in the country’s important agriculture sector, and, perhaps most importantly, ending deforestation and restoring degraded land. On that front, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office in 2023, has promised to achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030. In his first year in the presidency, the area lost to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached the lowest figure since 2018.Brazil’s climate targets are ambitious. However, should it achieve the highest end of its emission reduction goal, it could put the country on a pathway to reach net-zero by mid-century.
