Petrobras fines being used to set model for environmental compensation

In February 2001, more than 50,000 liters of diesel leaked from a Petrobras pipeline and contaminated mangroves, river floodplains, and two bays in the Serra do Mar, the long ridge of mountains and escarpments that spread across a significant part of Brazil’s Southeast. The region is part of the Atlantic Forest, one of the country’s most threatened biomes.

The material released into the waters left thousands of fishermen out of work for months. On that same day, however, Petrobras announced a 466-percent year-on-year increase in profit.

Twenty-one years later, the fine paid by the state-controlled oil company as punishment for the spill will only now be used to compensate for damage in the affected region.

Petrobras appealed its punishment as much as it could, claiming that unavoidable heavy rains broke the pipeline’s protective barrier and led to the incident. The courts, however, ruled that the company should have been better prepared for climate adversities.

The slow money trail

The state-controlled firm agreed to pay BRL 102 million (USD 19 million) in environmental compensation to make the lawsuit go away. This...