Climate Change Policies and Their Social and Developmental Impacts: The Case of Brazil

The problem of global warming has acquired extraordinary priority and attention in recent years, with renewable energy and strategic minerals such as lithium emerging as key areas of investment. Governments, particularly in the OECD, have introduced carbon markets and tax policies that penalize fossil fuel consumption and subsidize renewable energy. The main problem with these climate change strategies is that they tend to exacerbate income concentration both within and between countries. In wealthy countries, as well as developing countries such as Brazil, the burden of the transition away from fossil fuels has fallen essentially on low-income groups. Orthodox approaches to environmental problems, furthermore, put developing countries at a disadvantage, as they hinder economic growth and raise the cost of living, unless these costs are offset by subsidies. Tackling the environmental issue on a global scale requires the establishment of international mechanisms for cooperation and financing, and standards must be adapted to the unequal capacities of different national states. Without such mechanisms, observers in developing countries will perceive the environmental priorities as another instance of the old strategy of kicking the ladder of industrialization by other means.