Brazil

Brazilian Congress Approves Bill to Ease Environmental Licensing Rules

Published JUL 17 2025

Story

Above: Brazil's Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva on April 3, 2025. Image credit: Ton Molina/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Facts

Brazil's lower house of Congress passed overnight from Wednesday to Thursday a bill easing environmental licensing rules by a tally of 267 to 116. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva now has 15 working days to either approve or veto the legislation.
Barrons
Guardian
Among other changes to the country's environmental licensing system, the bill allows self-licensing for mid-risk projects, such as dams and basic sanitation infrastructure, without prior impact studies or regulatory review, and allows the government to fast-track "strategic" projects.
Guardian
Reuters
While Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva claimed that the measure was a "fatal blow" to environmental licensing in Brazil, some other members of Lula's cabinet, including the agriculture minister, had expressed support for the bill.
Barrons
Reuters
The Brazilian Senate approved the legislation in May, by 54 to 13, despite criticism from environmentalists and amid tensions with Silva over oil exploration in the so-called Equatorial Margin, an offshore oil province that extends from the northern state of Amapá to the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte.
Barrons
Valor International
The bill had to be returned to the lower house because the Senate approved 32 amendments to the version that passed in the Chamber of Deputies in 2021. The bill has been under congressional consideration since 2004, being reintroduced three times, most recently in 2019.
Agência Cenarium
This comes as the country's environmental agency, IBAMA, and state-run oil company Petrobras have been at odds over the largest-ever environmental licensing project in Brazil, as a request for a preliminary licensing for presalt exploration has been rejected reportedly due to the lack of a climate action plan.
Folha de S.Paulo
Reuters

Sources Split

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RIGHT

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ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

It's reasonable that some people want to simplify licensing rules in Brazil, but the proposed legislation would have disastrous consequences — no wonder it has been dubbed the Devastation Bill. President Lula returned to office vowing to protect the environment. Now, he must find the right balance between pleasing the right-leaning Congress, earning easy oil money, and continuing to make good on his environmental promises.

The Economist

WWF Brazil

Narrative B

Environmentalists claim that this is a bill of devastation and point fingers at what they call an anti-environmental majority in Congress, but none of them dare to say a thing about Lula remaining silent and supporting projects that would have dire consequences. If it were former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in office, celebrities and world leaders would be demanding immediate action and threatening economic sanctions.

Breitbart

Mongabay Environmental News