Most candidates for reelection in Congress do not support environmental agenda

The dismantling of environmental policies in Brazil in the Bolsonaro years, which resulted in an increase in deforestation in all biomes and in greenhouse gas emissions in the country, provoked the mobilization of some civil society organizations in order to strengthen the environmentalist caucus in Congress. in the next legislature.

The understanding is that it is in the Legislature that the environmental and climate agenda can advance or hinder the country. It was there that part of the setbacks observed in the last four years – but not only – took place.

The Farol Verde platform, one of the most robust to track reelection candidacies and new ones more aligned with the environmental agenda, identified that most candidates trying to be reelected in the House or Senate had an anti-environmental performance in the current legislature.

The survey, released this Tuesday (20), takes an X-ray of how, between January 2019 and July this year, 486 parliamentarians who try to stay in office or move to a neighboring house voted. The result shows that the majority would not pass the environmental commitment criterion.

To carry out this analysis, the platform, supported by several civil society organizations, created an environmental convergence index. Called the ICAt, it gave a score from 0% to 100% for each of the candidates. By calculation, the closer to 100%, the greener the candidate for reelection.

The note takes into account how these politicians expressed themselves in 12 critical votes for the area in the period. They dealt with amnesties for land grabbing, land regularization, flexibilization of the Forest Code, indigenous peoples’ day, urgency for mining in indigenous lands, release of pesticides, flexibilization of environmental licensing, carbon market, payment for environmental services and water as a right fundamental.

The reference for calculating the environmental convergence was the vote of the coordinator of the Environmentalist Parliamentary Front in the Chamber and Senate.

Among 453 candidates for reelection to the House (including three senators seeking a seat in the House), only 132 (29%) had an ICAt greater than 50%. And only 25 “passed with flying colors”, with more than 90% convergence. The average score of candidates was 43%.

“The ICAt works like a grade. And, if it were a public school, with an average of five, on average this class would fail in environmental matters”, comments lawyer André Lima, creator and coordinator of Farol Verde.

An average score of 50%, he believes, would be enough for the Chamber to be considered minimally balanced and moderately committed to socio-environmental guidelines. The average of women, who are a minority in the Chamber, was better than that of men (51.3% and 41.5%, respectively).

Considering the candidates by region, parliamentarians from the Northeast performed better in socio-environmental matters, with an average ICAt of 46%. Those in the South were the worst, with 39%.

Parliamentarians from Acre had the best score: 65.8%, followed by Rondônia (53.6%), Distrito Federal (53%), Piauí and Ceará (both with 50.8%). Among the worst ranked are Santa Catarina (39%), Mato Grosso (36.2%), Maranhão (36.1%), Paraná (35.5%), Alagoas (35.3%), Tocantins (35% ) and Rio de Janeiro (34.9%).

The five best federation units, the only ones with a score above 50%, represent just over 10% of the Chamber’s total bench. The seven worst state benches, with an average rate below 40%, have 133 deputies (25% of the total).

In practically all states, only about a third of the deputies had a positive environmental indicator, above 50%, and more than half of them had rates below 30%.

The analysis by bench confirmed the idea that the environmental and climate agenda in the Chamber is predominantly the agenda of left and center-left parties. The subtitles with the best performance in the index were Rede, PT, PCdoB, PSOL, PSB and PDT.

Those with the worst indices were Novo, Podemos, União Brasil, PSC, PL, PSD, Solidarity, Republicans and PP.

For the Senate, which has 34 candidates for reelection (12 senators and 22 federal deputies in this legislature), the analysis showed a slightly more balanced activity, with 32% of parliamentarians (11) with a score above 50%. The analysis agrees with what has been observed in recent years: anti-environment “bomb projects” were contained or mitigated in the Senate.

“We have to leave the corner, the defensive, the resistance to setbacks and go to the great parliamentary turnaround for the climate and sustainability. Brazil has everything to be a great leader again, but without a Parliament more sensitive to these issues , even a good president can struggle with this agenda”, says Lima.

“Parliament is key to containing setbacks. It needs to have a greener Congress to have an Executive that balances the game more”, he adds.

On the platform’s website, in addition to the ICAt notes, voters can also see a compilation on how the candidate behaves on social networks in relation to topics such as forests, climate, biodiversity, pesticides, land grabbing, among others.

Information is also available on 98 first-time candidates or candidates who have already served in other legislatures. They voluntarily answered a questionnaire showing their position on climate change, the environment and socio-environmental challenges.

In addition to Farol Verde, other initiatives, such as Clima de Eleição, Sinal de Smoke and Voto sem Vacilo, are tracking new and re-election candidacies that are more in line with the environmental agenda.

“We need at least 250 parliamentarians who are above 50% in the convergence index. You don’t need to vote on all matters according to the environmental agenda, but if you vote here, there, the scenario improves”, says Lima.

According to him, in previous governments, this negotiation was more possible, which has not happened in the last four years. “The government stretched the rope and the Chamber, after Arthur Lira assumed the presidency, embarked on the government. If we improve the Chamber’s average environmental index by 20%, it will already result in something more strategic, more talkable.”

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}