petition

ADI 7916 (General Law on Environmental Licensing) - petition

Litigation

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In December, 2025, the political party Rede Sustentabilidade and the National Association of Municipal Environmental Agencies (ANAMMA) filed a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) with a request for a precautionary measure to challenge provisions of Federal Law 15.190/2025 (General Law on Environmental Licensing – LGLA). The plaintiffs allege its formal and material unconstitutionality, including violations of international commitments, such as the Paris Agreement. Regarding formal unconstitutionality, it is pointed out that the LGLA, through ordinary law, legislates on matters constitutionally reserved for complementary law and already regulated in Complementary Law 140/2011. Regarding material unconstitutionality, several violations of a series of constitutional environmental norms and principles are cited, such as the prohibition of insufficient protection, prevention and precaution, prohibition of environmental regression, polluter-pays principle, among others. Key changes include the creation of the Adhesion and Commitment License (LAC), which authorizes self-declaration licensing outside of inspection for medium-impact activities; the Special Environmental License (LAE), which simplifies licensing for projects of "relevant public and social interest"—an arbitrary criterion with unrestricted scope; and the decoupling of municipal urban planning from the licensing process. Also noteworthy is the reversal of the preventive logic within licensing, through the creation of "positive lists" where activities not included would be exempt from licensing, and the massive exemption from licensing for agricultural activities (the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Brazil), pre-existing infrastructure works, and water and sewage treatment plants. It emphasizes the limitation on the inclusion of conditions in environmental licenses, the exclusion of the mandatory inclusion of indirect impacts in the EIA/RIMA (Environmental Impact Assessment/Environmental Impact Report), and changes in the environmental liability regime promoted by the General Environmental Law: it stipulates that corrective licensing extinguishes the punishability of the crime of operating without a license, in addition to exempting financiers from civil liability for environmental damages. It also addresses the weakening of protection for indigenous and quilombola peoples insofar as the LGLA (General Environmental Law) restricts the mandatory intervention of their protective bodies only to cases where their lands are formally demarcated or titled, and the weakening of protection for Conservation Units and the Atlantic Forest. Finally, it points out as materially unconstitutional the stipulation of absolute prevalence of the licensing body in the exercise of environmental police power, including over perpetrators of infractions and other instruments adopted by other environmental bodies of other federative entities, and the establishment of insufficient deadlines for the analysis of licensing processes. The petitioner requests, as a precautionary measure, the suspension of the effectiveness of all provisions of the LGLA challenged in the initial petition. On the merits, the petitioner requests the granting of the precautionary measure, the declaration of unconstitutionality of the articles indicated in the initial petition and, subsidiarily, the interpretation in accordance with the Constitution of article 14, §§ 1, 2 and 5, and articles 43, 44 and 65 of the LGLA.

ADI 7916 (General Law on Environmental Licensing)

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Using laws and the legal system more broadly to protect vulnerable entities

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

ADI 7916 (General Law on Environmental Licensing) - petition

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance