Brazil Puts Spotlight on Efficiency at COP30
At COP30, host country Brazil flagged energy efficiency as a pivotal climate and energy solution.
In recent years, Brazil has taken initial steps toward a more sustainable future powered by energy efficiency. As the host of COP30, held in Belém in November, Brazil put a spotlight on this smart climate solution for the world to see.
The country is already a global leader in sustainable energy, generating 89% of its electricity with renewables. However, rapidly rising energy demand and decreased hydropower capacity are forcing policymakers and utilities to reevaluate the current energy mix.
Global warming and Brazil’s deep income inequality further complicate this challenge. For example, Brazil’s summers are growing hotter; in 2023, the country hit a new record temperature of 112.6° F (44.8° C). As a result, air conditioning, once considered a luxury, is becoming necessary for health and productivity. But today, air conditioning is found in only 20% of all homes, concentrated mainly in higher-income households.
The challenges lower-income Brazilians face in accessing energy services like air conditioning are reflected in the fact that almost half of the lowest-income Brazilians spend more than half of their household income on electricity and gas.
Air conditioners above a Rio de Janeiro street.
Credit: CLASP
Brazil’s solution for booming energy demand and high electric bills
Brazil’s leaders increasingly view efficiency as a cost-effective, climate-friendly tool for meeting the country’s energy needs while addressing economic barriers to energy access.
Analysis reveals that, in the absence of other interventions, meeting skyrocketing energy demand would require increasing domestic natural gas production by up to 300%. To avoid this, the government can embrace energy efficiency, making services like cooking and cooling less energy-intensive and therefore reducing overall energy demand.
Appliance efficiency has provided early wins in Brazil, although there are major opportunities to do more. New policies for air conditioners and LED lights are making the models available in Brazil more efficient. This, in turn, makes these appliances more affordable to operate—and therefore accessible to more people.
COP host puts efficiency on the podium
In conversations throughout COP30, the Brazilian government and media showcased energy efficiency as a key tool for meeting national and global climate targets, growing the country’s economy, and delivering accessible energy services for all.
Panelists from COP30 Casa Civil energy efficiency event.
In his speech to negotiators and delegates at the COP’s opening plenary session, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin underscored the importance of meeting the COP29 pledge to double energy efficiency by 2030. “This COP must mark the beginning of a decade of acceleration and delivery—the moment when rhetoric gives way to concrete action, and when all parties move from setting targets to fulfilling them,” he said.
During a day dedicated to energy efficiency, the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (often referred to by its Portuguese acronym, ABDI) put together a packed agenda bringing together leaders from government, businesses, and international organizations to discuss how Brazil can achieve its goals through efficiency. During a session about the role of efficiency in the energy transition, speakers noted that a significant advantage of efficiency compared to other solutions is that technologies like efficient industrial equipment already exist and can be implemented immediately.
Another event organized by Casa Civil, the powerful organization run by Brazil’s presidential chief of staff, focused on the role of efficiency in achieving a just energy transition and expanding the Brazilian industry’s presence in the global marketplace. The event highlighted the fact that local appliance manufacturers can increase sales by making their products more efficient, which allows them to match international benchmarks and sell their products around the world.
Major Brazilian media outlets also jumped into the efficiency conversation at COP. Folha de São Paulo, the country’s largest newspaper, co-hosted a session with the Crux Alliance, a philanthropic organization focused on global climate policy, on leveraging demand-side strategies to deliver on renewable energy and efficiency targets.
Carving a sustainable path forward
With COP delegates from around the globe now back home, they have many opportunities to keep energy efficiency front of mind—and strong reasons for doing so.
“Efficiency lowers costs, expands access, and strengthens domestic industry,” said Edilaine Camillo, leader of CLASP’s Brazil program. “The more elements we add to this puzzle, the clearer it becomes how interconnected the energy transition is—and how it can positively impact multiple sectors of the economy and people’s everyday lives.”