Brazil: Ambitious law seeks São Paulo transformation

São Paulo appears to have stolen a march not just on every other city in Brazil, but also on the government, with its municipal Climate Law. Passed unanimously on June 5 this year, it sets out ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, manage waste and promote sustainability in everything from construction to transportation.

“We consider global warming the most serious social, economic and environmental problem that humanity has yet faced and that the poorest countries are the worst affected,” Eduardo Jorge, Municipal Environment Secretary for São Paulo, told the Financial Times.

But while the ambition and scope of the bill – the first of its kind in Brazil – has been welcomed, some of its targets have been attacked as unrealistic and critics wonder just how others are going to be implemented. “It’s very complete and it deals with a lot of issues, mainly to do with construction, transport and energy. But there are some really serious pitfalls,” says Alexandre Spatuzza, editor of online sustainability magazine, Revista Sustentabilidade . “There is not enough structure in place for this to happen.”

Sergio Litão, campaigns director of Greenpeace Brazil has other concerns: “It does not include punishments for those who don’t comply,” he says. “It does not have fines.”

Adalberto Maluf, São Paulo city director of the Clinton Foundation, supports the bill. “For Brazil, it is really pioneering,” he says. “It is the first big municipal law passed that incorporates different aspects about health, transport and energy. It puts São Paulo out in front.”

In one of its headline measures, the city, which with 11m people is Brazil’s biggest, richest and most powerful, says it will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent from their 2005 level by 2012. “They already managed a 20 per cent cut in emissions of greenhouse gasses by capturing the methane from two landfills – by piping it out, burning it and producing electricity,” says Mr Spatuzza.

Mr Litão also welcomes this firm target. “Other countries are arguing,” he says. “It is 30 per cent. This is a fundamental thing – of course you can argue about this, but there is a number. This is a promise.”

São Paulo’s transport is notoriously chaotic – the city’s main road arteries clogged daily with traffic. People without cars rely on crowded, slow-moving buses. But while a limited, though efficient, metro service is being ,expanded – part of a long overdue R$30bn ($17bn) investment in public transport – the new law aims to have the city’s entire bus fleet running on renewable fuels by 2017.

Even supporters admit this is unlikely: “This will be difficult to implement. But if it could be 50 per cent of the fleet using ethanol or electric or other renewable fuels, this would be a great advance,” says Mr Maluf.

Instead, he flags up the law’s provisions prohibiting the use of illegally-logged wood in city construction works: “São Paulo consumes around 30 per cent of the illegal wood taken from Amazon,” he says. “Imagine if São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte all did this – 50 per cent of the market for illegal wood from Amazon would disappear.”

A city initiative called De Olho na Obra – eye on the works – already enables people to monitor construction taking place in the city. For Mr Maluf, this is just the beginning. “We think they are on the right path,” he says.

Although the city wants to use the law to minimize waste and implement a city recycling plan, São Paulo has a pitiful record on recycling.

“São Paulo only recycles 1 per cent of domestic waste. That is between 15,000-20,000 tonnes a day,” says Mr Spatuzza.

It is the city’s failure to produce enough recycled plastic for industry, Mr Spatuzza alleges, that helped create the demand that in turn led to 41 containers of domestic British rubbish marked as recyclable plastic being found in the nearby port of Santos recently – a case that made headlines.

“Companies who use plastic in the packaging of their products have to arrange the recycling of this material,” counters Eduardo Jorge. “This is the law. This is being taken care of by the city.”

Yet Brazil does recycle 98 per cent of its beer cans. And ultimately, argues Greenpeace’s Mr Litão, the city will change because it makes economic sense to do so.

The Waxman Markey Clean Energy and Security Act currently being debated by the US Senate will in effect force trading partners to have emissions reduction legislation in place. Other countries are likely to follow suit. “São Paulo is anticipating the change,” Mr Litão says.

He argues that with this law the city is simply demonstrating the economic foresight that has always made it Brazil’s most economically powerful city: “This is the game. In this sense, São Paulo is going to be much more prepared than other cities.”

In other words, the Climate Law is as much about politics as it is about the environment.

“The green economy is the economy of the future,” says city Environment Secretary Eduardo Jorge. “Who works with it now will win in the future.”