Brazilian lawmakers aim to regulate carbon markets ahead of COP26

Brazilian House Speaker Arthur Lira told congressional leaders that he intends to take a bill regulating carbon markets in the country to a floor vote in the next few weeks. The idea is to approve the proposal before the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), to be held next month in Glasgow. The bill, authored by Deputy Speaker Marcelo Ramos, creates domestic mechanisms for buying and selling carbon credits. 

There are still a few hoops for the bill to jump through before getting a floor vote, requiring analysis from three separate House committees. The first to pore over the proposal is the Environment Committee, chaired by Congresswoman Carla Zambelli — a Bolsonaro loyalist. Ms. Zambelli appointed herself to oversee the bill, raising eyebrows due to her proximity with former Environment Minister Ricardo Salles.

During COP25 in 2019, Mr. Salles was directly responsible for the failure of negotiations on the Paris Agreement’s Article 6, which aims to regulate carbon credits worldwide. Chile, which presided over the summit, sent its Environment Minister for a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Salles in Brasilia, only to find that...