The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Brazil, has mobilized in recent days in favor of two actions considered environmentally controversial. This Thursday the 25th, he announced tax benefits to facilitate the sale of new cars in the country. Days before, through Petrobras, he reinforced his intention to explore for oil at the mouth of the Amazon River. Both measures are aimed at economic growth.
The incentive for automobile consumption was announced by the Vice President and Minister of Industry, Geraldo Alckmin. The decision establishes discounts from 1.5% to 10.96% in federal taxes levied on vehicles to stimulate their production and job creation, and thus reduce idleness in the national automotive industry.
A day earlier, on Wednesday the 24th, Petrobras reported that it will appeal the decision of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (IBAMA) that denied it the license to drill a deep-water oil well in Amapá, a state that is part of the Legal Amazon.
The president of the state company appointed by Lula, Jean Paul Prates, and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, maintain that the fields of the so-called Equatorial Margin, in the north of the country, are a kind of “new pre-salt” for Brazil .
Both the car incentive and the exploitation of natural resources near the Amazon have drawn criticism from environmentalists.
Mentioning tax incentives for car production, Alckmin said the government will take energy efficiency into account when granting tax breaks. According to the vice president, cars that use less fuel and pollute less will be sold with greater tax exemptions than others.
mobility in check
Rafael Calabria, coordinator of Urban Mobility at the Brazilian Consumer Defense Institute (IDEC), said the government could grant tax breaks for the purchase of bicycles, urban buses or rail vehicles with a view to stimulating the industry. According to Calabria, this would also create jobs and would not cause so many side effects on the environment and mobility in big cities.
“The negative impacts are underestimated (by governments). The policy does not consider collisions, run overs and contamination, which are consequences of the incentive,” he said. “This is without measuring the full impact on productivity, on cargo delays.”
The mobility specialist acknowledges that the government has good intentions in promoting more sustainable transport. However, he believes that Lula and his team lack the strategic vision to make better decisions. “It is not a lack of commitment. The Ministry of the Environment has cadres of excellence. I think that connection between the government’s proposals and a more progressive scientific vision is missing,” he said.
green neo-industrialization
Lula and Alckmin published this Thursday, the 25th, an article in the newspaper The State of S. Paulo defending the reindustrialization of the country. In the text they mention the term “neo-industrialization” and say that “in the coming years, industry will be the guiding axis of an economic policy aimed at generating more knowledge-intensive income and jobs.”
In the article, Lula and Alckmin highlight which sectors linked to sustainability will be prioritized. They even mention ethanol-powered cars. “We can export cars or flex-fuel engines to ethanol-capable markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America.”
Minister Haddad said this week that, in the second semester, he intends to dedicate himself to the green economy agenda. “Starting in August I want to dedicate a lot of time from the Ministry of Finance to the question of the ecological transition,” he said.
Editing: Flávia Chacon and Rodrigo Durão Coelho
