Regulating Lobbying Will be Good for the Climate
Measure would enable decisions more in line with public interest in promoting environmental sustainability*
By Maria Dominguez, Flávia Collaço e Renato Morgado
In low transparency and integrity environments, lobbying can be an instrument of undue influence on public policy. It is no different with those policies necessary to tackle climate change, where lobbying activities may contribute, for example, to the approval of laws and tax subsidies that maintain fossil fuels in our energy matrix or prevent the proper enforcement of environmental legislation, opening space for illegal deforestation and other environmental crimes that cause greenhouse gas emissions.
These two issues - lobbying regulation and climate protection - are now on the Brazilian agenda. The first, because the Brazilian National Congress may soon address PL 4391/2021, a bill presented by the Executive; and the second, due to the expectation that the newly elected government will reverse setbacks in environmental and climate governance promoted in recent years.
In line with this expectation, President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where international leaders were gathered for the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP27). The aim of the meeting was to discuss global efforts to tackle climate change, the most complex and urgent challenge facing humanity (read below more about Mr. Lula’s participation in the COP27).
If we are to stabilize average global warming at up to 1.5°C, as defined in the Paris Agreement, approved in 2015, a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is needed in coming years. With room to become even more ambitious, Brazil's current commitment, for example, is to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Despite these efforts to reduce emissions (also called mitigation), we must adapt to the existing effects of climate change, which will be increasingly frequent and intense, such as droughts, floods, heat waves and rising sea levels.
For all this to occur, it is necessary to guarantee a broad set of norms and public policies aligned with tackling climate change, which must be implemented in various sectors, such as forests, agriculture, livestock, energy, transport, urban planning, and infrastructure. Such initiatives must promote profound transformations in the way we produce, consume, transport, use the soil and engage in infrastructure projects in our country and around the world.
With so many expected changes, some of which are already underway, it is natural that different interest groups seek, through lobbying activities, to influence public decisions related to the climate agenda.
Lobbying is a legitimate activity intrinsic to democracy. It allows different sectors of society - businesses, trade unions, non-governmental organizations - to state their preferences to government. It can even improve public policy, given that this interaction allows decision-makers access to information and opinions on a given topic.
There is a problem, however, when lobbying occurs in a low transparency environment devoid of robust integrity mechanisms. In this case, lobbying can lead to decisions geared towards specific interests, often to the detriment of broader public interest. This context also allows such activities to be accompanied by corrupt practices when malicious actors use financial resources and other types of advantages to obtain private gains.
The Climate and Corruption Atlas, recently released by Transparency International Brazil, presents ten cases of corruption affecting mitigation, adaptation, and financing of the Brazilian climate agenda efforts. Many of these cases were enabled by relationships between public and private agents that lacked transparency and integrity.
Regulating lobbying will be good for the climate. Sound regulation and proper implementation have the potential to contribute to the climate agenda by permitting decisions that are more balanced and aligned with the public interest of promoting environmental and climate sustainability, by increasing scrutiny over the relationships between public and private actors, and by reducing opportunities for corruption and undue influence associated with lobbying activities.
In order for these advantages to take place, lobbying regulation in Brazil must be aligned with best practices on the subject, such as those set forth in the recommendations of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and in European Union legislation.
This should include, for example, registering the interactions between public agents and representatives of interest groups, with disclosure of who participated, the date of the interaction, interests advocated and documents eventually delivered. Data on these interactions must be updated, in open format and made available through an integrated system, enhancing the use and cross-referencing of information. Finally, regulations should also provide for greater equality in the access of different social actors to decision-makers and to the decision-making process as a whole.
Approval of Bill 4.391/2021, presented to the Brazilian Congress by the Federal Executive, which aims to regulate advocacy of private interests with public agents, is a potential instrument for efforts to tackle climate change. For this to happen, however, it is necessary that the bill contemplates, among others, the best practice described above. Furthermore, given its relevance, the text should not be rushed through without a broad debate with society, as has unfortunately been the practice in the Chamber of Deputies.
Even with the absence of federal regulation, states and municipalities can already contribute by creating their own norms and implementing good practices. However, this is still an incipient effort.
Through the Transparency and Public Governance Index (ITGP), also prepared by Transparency International Brazil, we found that no Brazilian state has a complete regulation of lobbying, although two states (Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais) present norms that provide, in a general and broader way, for the registration and disclosure of interactions between state authorities and representatives of interest groups.
Lobbying regulation will not solve all challenges related to the formulation and implementation of norms and public policies necessary to address the climate crisis. Power relations and different strategies of undue influence will continue to exist. It is, however, a necessary measure, without which we will have difficulty in succeeding in our efforts to overcome this urgent challenge.
*This article was originally published by Jota
MARIA DOMINGUEZ - Coordinator of the Integrity and Public Governance Program of Transparency International Brazil
FLÁVIA COLLAÇO - Professor at the Federal University of Ceará and lead researcher of the "Climate and Corruption Atlas
RENATO MORGADO - Program Manager of Transparency International Brazil
Warm Welcome for Lula At The COP27, But Many Challenges Ahead
Mr. Lula's participation in the COP27 reinforced expectations that Brazil will resume its environmental and climate policy after repeated setbacks under Jair Bolsonaro’s government. It also means the country's return to the global arena, a perception reinforced by Mr. Lula's announcement of the country's intention to host the COP30, in 2025, in one of the Amazonian states. If there is strong international support, the challenges for the revival of the environmental and climate agendas within the country will be tremendous. Mr. Lula will take office in a scenario of growing polarization and with strong opposition precisely in the regions with the highest incidence of environmental crimes, such as deforestation, illegal mining, and illegal logging.
Mr. Lula’s arrival at the COP27 highlighted another challenge that the elected government faces: its commitment to the transparency and anti-corruption agenda. Arguing that the government did not provide funds or a secure means of transportation, the elected president took a ride to Sharm el-Sheik on a private jet owned by a friend and businessman from the health sector who, in the past, confessed participation in a slush funds scheme for an electoral campaign. Mr. Lula and his entourage dismissed criticism regarding the acceptance of ride, a practice that is disseminated in Brazilian politics, but inadmissible in countries that effectively regulate lobbying and conflicts of interest.
Gifts and hospitality (transport, food, accommodation) received by public agents present serious risks of corruption. Often, just the appearance of an advantage in exchange for these benefits already calls into question the impartiality of important decisions. Brazil still has not regulated the lobbying activity and, as a consequence, behaviors that should be inadmissible have been normalized.
For over two decades, lobby regulation bills have been dormant in the National Congress. Recently, legislative proceedings for the “PL do Lobby” (Bill 4391/2021), presented by government, have been rushed through in the Chamber of Deputies, but the bill’s current text still has several problems and gaps.
