ESG Litigation Guide

Brazil

Governance

Corporate and Regulation governance

In force

Publicly-traded companies listed in Novo Mercado listing segment of B3 (“Novo Mercado”)

Provides corporate governance standards required from publicly-traded companies listed under the  Novo Mercado segment, which extend to senior managers and shareholders.

Governance

Corporate and Regulation governance

In force

Publicly-traded companies listed in B3

Provides corporate governance recommendations aligned with international practices.

Governance

Publicly-traded companies listed inB3

In force

Entities engaging in activities that produce direct greenhouse gas emissions

  • This provides the obligation for companies to disclose whether they follow CBGC recommended practices and present justifications with respect to practices that are not adopted or are only partially adopted .
  • Provides the obligation to present a "Brazilian Corporate Governance Code Report" within seven months from the end of each fiscal year.
Social

Federal Law

In force

Public and private entities

  • The purpose of the Statute of Persons with Disabilities is to foster equality and inclusion to disabled persons. The Statute of Persons with Disabilities  is based on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its optional protocol.
  • With respect to labour matters, the Statute of Persons with Disabilities creates quotas for the employment of disabled persons, which are  based on the size of each organization. In addition, employers must provide in-site training to disabled persons who have qualifications but lack professional experience, as well as offer workplace infrastructure that can reasonably accommodate disabled employees.
Social

Federal Law

In force

Private entities

  • The Public Procurement Law provides the legal framework applicable to public procurement procedures. Under Public Procurement Law, public procurement procedures can be structured taking into account environmental, social, and corporate governance concerns, for instance with respect to the following topics.
  • Life cycle of the auctioned items or services;
  • Prohibition of those convicted of using child labour from participating in public procurement;
  • Inclusion of a requirement that part of the workforce employed in a project be comprised of women victims of domestic violence and ex-prisoners;
  • A preference for recycled, recyclable, or biodegradable goods in public procurement bids;
  • Inclusion of diversity initiatives in the workplace and implementation of an effective integrity program as criteria to untangle tied bids.
Environmental

Federal law

In force

Public authorities, public and private entities and natural persons

  • The objective of the National Environmental Policy Law is to give effect to the collective right to an ecologically balanced environment, as provided under art. 225 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution and restrict the activities of polluters (defined under the National Environmental Policy Law as entities and individuals engaged in activities causing environmental degradation).
  • The National Environmental Policy Law provides the framework governing the action of public entities responsible for protecting the environment at all governmental levels.
  • The National Environmental Policy Law also includes rules regarding the environmental licensing of activities that have or can potentially have an adverse environmental impact.
Environmental

Federal law

In force

Public authorities, public and private entities and natural persons

  • Provides for criminal and administrative sanctions in connection with conducts which are harmful to the environment. The Environmental crimes Law categorizes environmental crimes as follows: crimes against plants, crimes against animal life, crimes against the public administration bodies which are responsible to enforce environmental policies, crimes against urban planning, crimes against the cultural heritage and pollution crimes.
  • The Environmental crimes Law also provides criteria to determine the criminal liability of those directly involved in criminal practice and criteria to determine the liability of those not directly involved in criminal practice that breached a duty to prevent criminal practice (directors and technical bodies, auditors, managers, agents and representatives, as applicable).
  • Legal entities are subject to criminal liability for crimes committed by management and legal representatives for the benefit of the entity.
Environmental

Federal law

In force

Public authorities, public and private entities and natural persons

  • Provides for the National Policy on Climate Change (Política Nacional de Mudança do Clima), its principles, objectives, guidelines and enforcement. (“Climate Change Policy”).
  • The Climate Change Policy provides guidelines aimed at harmonizing the following objectives: sustainable development, economic growth, eradication of poverty and reduction of social inequalities.
  • The Climate Change Policy creates incentives to encourage practices that effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the adoption of activities and technologies structured using sustainable patterns of production and consumption with low greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The Executive Branch, following the guidelines provided under the Climate Change Policy, has authority to establish sectorial plans aimed at mitigating climate change and consolidating a low-carbon economy. These plans  must be targeted at gradually meeting goals for reducing quantifiable and verifiable anthropogenic emissions by players from different sectors and industries, such as electricity generation and distribution, urban public transport, industry, health services and agriculture, considering the specificities of each sector and industry, including through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAS).
  • The Climate Change Policy must be performed along with existing rules including, among others: the National Plan on Climate Change, the National Fund on Climate Change and Brazil's Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Environmental

Federal law

In force

Public authorities, public and private entities and natural persons

The National Solid Waste Policy provides transparency standards applicable to the activities of those involved in waste management. It is a response to the increasing volume of urban solid waste in large cities.

Environmental

Federal law

In force

Public authorities, public and private entities and natural persons

The Forest Code provides rules regarding the protection of native vegetation, sustainable plant exploitation, control of forest products, fires, as well as mechanisms to incentivize the commitment to environmental preservation.

Environmental

Ordinance

In force

Legal entities and natural persons

  • Provides for the creation of the voluntary carbon market in Brazil.
  • Encourages the voluntary market, both public and private, of native forest carbon credits, aiming the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the protection of native vegetation.
  • This new ordinance makes it clear that the adoption of a voluntary carbon credit market, due to its proactive nature, will not create any obligation regarding the accounting, adjustment or registry within the carbon emissions national inventory by the Federal Government. As a result, voluntary markets can provide their own rules and parameters, and their members are not subject to any kind of liability regarding the goals established by the Brazilian Government with respect to carbon emissions.
  • The program incentivizes the engagement of  the market in the voluntary carbon market by attracting resources from private companies and buyers to create developers and implementers and produce effective climate changes positive results.
Social
Governance

Green / sustainable finance and investments Resolution

In force

Entities regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil.

  • Provides for the obligation of entities regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil (“Bacen Regulated Entities”) to implement social and environmental responsibility policies.
  • The principles to be observed by Bacen Regulated Entities include relevance assessments, such as the assessment of the degree of socio-environmental risk generated by shared activities, and proportionality assessments, such as the assessment of the compatibility among Bacen Regulated Entities, its implemented policies and activities.
  • To ensure the observance of social and environmental responsibility policies, Bacen Regulated Entities must have a compatible governance structure providing control mechanisms over their products and activities and a functional structure integrating systems and services.
  • When carrying out activities that have a greater risk of causing serious socio-environmental damage, Bacen Regulated Entities must establish good risk assessment and planning mechanisms to solve potential problems in anticipation of such activities.
Social
Governance

Green / sustainable finance and investments Resolution

In force

Closed private pension entities

  • Provides for the application of ESG criteria as applied to closed private pension entities (“EFPC”).
  • EFPC must, in the application of resources accounted as technical reserves, provisions and funds, comply with the provisions under BCB Resolution 4,661/2018.
  • EFPC must always maintain ethical principles and values, work with loyalty and comply with Brazilian legislation.
  • EFPC must prepare a specific investment policy for each benefit plan managed by it, which must contain comprehensive data regarding investments and the classification of investments under the correct application segment.
  • Under Art. 31 of  BCB Resolution 4,661/2018, ”the investment funds object of application by the EFPC must be registered with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and the investments made by them must comply with the requirements of the financial assets established in this Resolution.”
Social
Governance

Green / sustainable finance and investments Resolution

In force

Multiple-purpose banks, commercial banks, investment banks, exchange banks and savings banks

  • Provides for the dissemination of the findings of the Social, Environmental and Climate Risks and Opportunities Report (GRSAC Report) among  financial institutions and other participants in the financial system.
  • The GRSAC Report results from public inquiries and its objective is to bring a greater understanding of climate, environmental, and social risks by financial institutions and other participants in the financial system. The goal of the GRSAC Report is to foster transparency, credit availability and sustainable finance

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