Brazil’s individual parliamentary amendments to the 2026 budget assigned a strikingly small share to environmental and climate measures, according to a technical note from the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (INESC). Of R$26.6 billion in amendments proposed by deputies and senators, just R$154 million — 0.58% — was earmarked for actions linked to the environment and climate.
INESC reviewed 97 budget actions that fall under environmental and climate policy, including disaster risk management, emergency climate response and urban adaptation initiatives. Those actions carry a combined allocation of R$6.1 billion, meaning individual amendments represented only 2.5% of the category’s total budget.
Brazil environment budget 2026 and parliamentary priorities
The report reveals a strong concentration of the modest environmental amendments. More than 65% of the R$154 million was directed to a single line item: implementation of the national agenda for animal protection, under the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. Parties such as União Brasil, Podemos and PSDB channelled large shares of their environmental amendments to animal welfare, while others, including the PT, allocated more across a broader range of measures.
Geographical distribution is similarly uneven. Deputies and senators from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Paraná account for 66% of the individual funds aimed at the environment. By contrast, eight federative units — among them Pará, which hosted COP30 in late 2025 — registered no individual amendments for environmental measures.
The INESC analysis highlights several conspicuous funding gaps. The programme for confronting the climate emergency has an overall budget of R$29.8 million; individual amendments targeted only two of its five measures, including R$9.8 million for environmental education and a single real for the national climate policy measure. Programmes with larger appropriations fared little better. The “Bioeconomy for a new cycle of prosperity”, with R$207 million allocated, received no individual amendments. Urban drainage and flood control measures, together budgeted at hundreds of millions of reais, secured almost no parliamentary top-ups.
Some civil defence and water security lines also attracted negligible amendment funding. Actions in protection and civil defence, with an R$800 million budget, received only R$100 from individual MPs; the programme “Water in quantity and quality forever”, budgeted at R$2.7 billion, obtained R$1.3 million from amendments.
Alessandra Cardoso, political adviser at INESC, said the concentration on animal protection is legitimate but warned it should not preclude a broader debate on budgetary priorities. She noted that the growth of individual and state-block amendments has diluted historically low environmental funding in relative terms and called for regulatory changes.
INESC recommends tying parliamentary amendments more clearly to Brazil’s climate commitments. The institute suggests imposing minimum percentages of individual and state-block amendments for environmental and climate action and introducing spatial risk criteria in executive budget planning to direct funds where vulnerabilities are greatest.
With the government preparing to implement the newly approved National Climate Plan, INESC warns that the current pattern of parliamentary allocations risks undermining delivery. Public finance will not cover all needs, the note says, but aligning amendment practice with national commitments would make federal resources more effective in addressing climate risks and adaptation priorities.
The Ministry and parties named in the analysis were contacted for comment. Some offered statements stressing past support for environmental institutions and the prerogative of individual mandates in directing amendments.
Key Takeaways:
- Only 0.58% of individual parliamentary amendments to the Brazil environment budget 2026 were directed to climate and environmental actions, totalling R$154 million of R$26.6 billion.
- More than 65% of those funds went to animal protection, with major parties concentrating resources on that single action.
- Key programmes such as bioeconomy, urban drainage and flood defences received almost no individual amendments despite sizable planned budgets.
- INESC recommends regulating amendments by linking allocations to climate commitments and imposing minimum percentages for environmental spending.
