Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC) has announced that a recent workshop in Brasília highlighted the need for coordinated action to ensure that industrial decarbonization advances alongside improvements in competitiveness.
The event, organized with the Ministry of Finance’s Extraordinary Secretariat of the Carbon Market, the National Confederation of Industry, and the Consortium of Energy-Intensive Industrial Sectors, marked the start of a series of industry-focused discussions on the implementation of the country’s regulated carbon market.
Legal framework established under SBCE law
Júlia Cruz, secretary of green economy, decarbonization and bioindustry at MDIC, emphasized the importance of collaboration between government bodies and industrial stakeholders. She noted that the ministry is responsible for maintaining dialogue with energy-intensive sectors and consolidating technical inputs for the Brazilian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (SBCE).
The legal framework for the SBCE was created under Law No. 15,042/2024. The system will introduce emission-reduction targets for large emitters in industrial and agribusiness sectors, with caps to be defined under a future National Allocation Plan.
Carbon pricing to drive efficiency and clean investment
The SBCE will function as a regulated carbon market that sets emissions caps for major emitters. By assigning a price to carbon, the system is intended to promote cleaner technologies, improve industrial efficiency, reduce pollution, and support Brazil’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
The carbon market also forms part of the country’s broader Ecological Transformation Plan, which targets carbon neutrality by 2050 and aims to attract investment into renewable energy and low-carbon technologies.
A central element of the system is the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework, which will define rules for measuring emissions, submitting reports, and independently verifying data to ensure transparency and legal certainty.
Five-phase implementation roadmap through 2030
The SBCE will be rolled out in five phases. The first phase, covering 2025-26, focuses on regulatory development. Phase two in 2027 will introduce operational emissions-reporting instruments.
Phases three and four, spanning 2028-30, will require mandatory monitoring plans and emissions reporting, followed by the launch of the first National Allocation Plan. The final phase will see full system implementation, aligned with Brazil’s long-term carbon-neutrality objective for 2050.