Ministério Público do Estado do Pará vs. Estado do Pará (Landfills and Climate Impact Assessment in Pará)

On December 17th 2024 he Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Pará (MPPA) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP), with a request for preliminary injunction, due to the omission of the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability (SEMAS) in fulfilling its duty to require the assessment of climate impacts in environmental licensing in the state of Pará, with emphasis on sources emitting greenhouse gases (GHG) such as CO2 and methane. It argues that the global climate crisis is proven by data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), arguing in favor of the essential need to consider a climate approach in all public policies, particularly in the context of the Amazon and the special relationship between solid waste management and the climate system, as it is a significant source of GHG emissions. It points to state omission, especially in the case of landfills, whose significant polluting potential requires a rigorous licensing process to support decisions on the viability and mitigation of climate impacts as essential conditions for adequately addressing the climate crisis. As an example, the Marituba Waste Processing and Treatment Center (CPTRM) is cited, which lacks an adequate system for treating the gases produced in waste management and a climate impact assessment in its licensing process. Due to this omission, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Pará (MPPA) alleges that the state of Pará is failing to comply with national and international commitments to address the climate crisis, such as the Paris Agreement, the National Environmental Policy, the National Policy on Climate Change, and the State Policy on Climate Change. It is argued that this omission violates the principle of prohibiting deficient protection in environmental matters, breaking with climate federalism by failing to integrate the climate agenda into state public policies. In a preliminary injunction, it is requested that the state of Pará be determined to: (i) include in the Terms of Reference and other technical documents that support the environmental assessment of environmental licensing conducted by SEMAS the obligation to present studies that prove the assessment of climate impact and mitigation actions, for the issuance or renewal of environmental licenses, especially for sanitary landfills; (ii) regulate the environmental licensing of sanitary landfills incorporating climate impact assessment; (iii) not grant or renew environmental licenses for projects that cause climate impacts without the prior and necessary assessment of this type of environmental impact and the establishment of mitigation measures. On the merits, it requests the granting of the same requests made in the preliminary injunction and compensation for collective moral damages suffered by the society of Marituba due to the deficient protection against the climate impacts resulting from the installation of the CPTRM. On September 17th 2025, an interlocutory decision was issued granting the requested urgent relief, ordering the state of Pará, through SEMAS: (i) to prepare and publish Terms of Reference that must include the requirement for a climate impact assessment and a GHG mitigation plan as conditions for the environmental licensing of projects with significant pollution potential, especially sanitary landfills, including CPTRM; (ii) to present a technical diagnosis of the current status of all active environmental licenses for GHG-emitting projects under its jurisdiction; (iii) to refrain from issuing or renewing environmental licenses for potentially GHG-emitting projects without the proper prior climate impact assessment and without imposing concrete mitigation measures.