Instituto Arayara vs. ANP and Federal Union (1st Permanent Offer Cycle of Oil Concession in the Santos and Campos Basins)

On December 13, 2022, the Instituto Internacional Arayara de Educação e Cultura filed a Climate Public Civil Action (ACP) with a request for an injunction against the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (ANP) and the Federal Union. It argues for the nullification of the inclusion of blocks located in the Santos and Campos Basins in the auction, as these areas overlap and are near Priority Areas for Biodiversity Conservation and Conservation Units. It is contended that the climate crisis demands a transition to clean energy and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, which is incompatible with the expansion of oil exploration in protected areas. As an injunction, it requested: (i) the suspension of the offering of the mentioned blocks; (ii) the presentation of an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions that will be generated by the commercial exploitation of the blocks offered in the auction; and (iii) the presentation by the defendants of detailed studies on the socio-environmental and economic impacts resulting from the expansion of exploration and production (E&P) activities in the Santos and Campos Basins. On the merits, it is requested that the provisional injunction be confirmed and that the defendants refrain from holding new rounds of auctions for the mentioned blocks/areas unless the technical-environmental regularity is unequivocally demonstrated, especially with reasoned opinions from bodies such as ICMBio, IBAMA, and state/municipal environmental agencies. In June 2023, the ruling extinguished the case without resolving the merits due to Arayara's illegitimacy and lack of interest in acting. According to the decision, Arayara was unable to demonstrate thematic relevance to be an active party in this ACP and the bidding procedure it seeks to prevent was already concluded on December 16, 2022. Arayara filed an appeal in which it argued that it has active legitimacy to file the ACP defending the diffuse right to an ecologically balanced environment and that the fact that the auction has already taken place does not prevent it from being aware of the requests related to the greenhouse gas emissions inventory and studies on the socio-environmental and economic impacts resulting from the expansion of E&P activity.