Brazil and Climate Change: Beyond the Amazon

Climate change is increasingly a part of the human experience. As the problem worsens, the cooperative dilemma that the issue carries has become evident: climate change is a complex problem that systematically gets insufficient answers from the international system.

This book offers an assessment of Brazil’s role in the global political economy of climate change. The authors, Eduardo Viola and Matías Franchini expertly review and answer the most common and widely cited questions on whether and in which way Brazil is aggravating or mitigating the climate crisis, including: Is it the benign, cooperative, environmental power that the Brazilian government claims it is? Why was it possible to dramatically reduce deforestation in the Amazon (2005-2010) and, more recently, was there a partial reversion?

The book provides an accessible―and much needed―introduction to all those studying the challenges of the international system in the Anthropocene. Through a thorough analysis of Brazil in perspective vis a vis other emerging countries, this book provides an engaging introduction and up to date assessment of the climate reality of Brazil and a framework to analyze the climate performance of major economies, both on emission trajectory and policy profile: the climate commitment approach. Brazil and Climate Change is essential reading for all students of Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies, International Relations and Comparative Politics.

Eduardo Viola is Full Professor of International Relations at the University of Brasilia, Senior Researcher at the Brazilian Council for Scientific Development and Coordinator of the Research Group of the International System in the Anthropocene. He has been a visiting professor at several universities, among them Stanford, Amsterdam, Notre Dame and Colorado. He is a member of several international scientific committees and the author of 8 books and more than 90 peer reviewed articles. His main areas of research are: Globalization and Governance; International System in the Anthropocene; International Political Economy of Energy/Climate Change; and Brazilian Foreign Policy.

Matías Franchini is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations at the University of Brasilia and a member of the International System in the Anthropocene and Climate Change Research Program. He was a visiting researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He holds a PhD. in International Relations from the University of Brasilia. He is the author of several publications in the areas of Global Governance, Latin American Studies and International Politics of Climate Change.