Environment

Brazil could yet become a green energy giant

With 60 percent of its energy coming from hydropower, Brazil also has capacity to expand its offshore wind and green hydrogen production. But structural issues remain unaddressed

Brazil could yet become a green energy giant
Wind power plants in Icaraizinho Beach, Amontada, Ceará, in Northeastern Brazil. Photo: Antonio Salaverry/Shutterstock

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest annual report on renewables shows that the global energy crisis is accelerating the development of clean energy. So much so that the growth of the segment in the next five years should match that of the past two decades. 

And with an abundance of sun, wind, sugarcane, and water resources, Brazil continues to be one of the leading players in the area – though the country’s untapped potential is even larger.

Per the IEA, the ongoing global energy crisis is leading to policy changes and greater investment in green energy, following the sanctions on Russia imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. By 2027, the expansion of renewables in the European energy matrix should double in pace.

In addition, China, the U.S., and India, combined, should account for around two thirds of the global growth in the sector in the next five years. The three countries are due to double their clean energy capacity, boosted by ambitious policy guidelines and targets. 

Mentions of Brazil appear further down the report, though it notes that the country will be responsible, once again, for more than half of Latin America’s 45-percent growth in the sector between 2022 and 2027. Brazil alone is expected to add over 70 gigawatts of the 130GW of the region’s new renewable capacity over the period.

At last month’s UN Climate Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Brazil’s current (outgoing) Environment Minister Joaquim Leite tried to showcase Brazil as a bonafide clean energy giant, yet the world was focused instead on incoming president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s climate commitments.

More than 84 percent of Brazil’s energy matrix comes from renewables. The European Union, meanwhile, hopes to increase renewable’s share in its matrix to 45 percent by the end of the decade. 

Green matrix

Hydroelectric power is the main energy source in Brazil’s installed generation capacity, with a 60-percent share last year.

A study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) showed hydroelectric power to have one of the lowest emission rates among renewable sources – though it is still debated exactly how “green” hydropower really is, given the environmental damage caused by dams.  

Hydroelectric plants emit somewhere between zero and 43g CO2 equivalent per kWh. Other renewable sources are responsible for two to 217g CO2 eq/kWh.

In a plan presented to the current...

Don't miss this opportunity!

Interested in staying updated on Brazil and Latin America? Subscribe to start receiving our reports now!