Mato Grosso

Brazil

Piauí

Paraná

Rio de Janeiro

Rio Grande do Norte

Rondônia

Roraima

Acre

Rio Grande do Sul

Alagoas

Santa Catarina

Amazonas

Sergipe

Amapá

São Paulo

Bahia

Tocantins

Ceará

Distrito Federal

Espírito Santo

Goiás

Maranhão

Minas Gerais

Mato Grosso do Sul

Pará

Paraíba

Pernambuco

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

In June 2026, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP) against Energisa Mato Grosso—Distribuidora de Energia SA, due to a large-scale fire that occurred in August 2024 in the Serra das Araras Ecological Station (ESEC), a fully protected conservation unit located in the state of Mato Grosso. Plaintiff alleges that the origin of one of the three ignition points of the fire was identified in the right-of-way of the medium-voltage power grid under Defendant's responsibility and that there is, in the records, technical, expert, and testimonial evidence that clearly points to a failure in preventive maintenance and the absence of firebreaks and vegetation pruning near the support poles and conductor cables. The MPF alleges that Defendant allowed dry branches to come into contact with the wiring, causing sparks and establishing a fire ignition point on a day of low humidity and strong winds, which generated a considerable part of the forest fire that affected the ESEC. The MPF further argues that forest fires in protected areas produce serious socio-environmental and ecological effects, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The MPF points out that the Protected Area Management Plan highlights the unit's vulnerability to forest fires caused by external interference and that the Plan recommends the adoption of permanent preventive measures and surveillance within the right-of-way of power lines. 

It is estimated that the large-scale fire caused the devastation of approximately 4,500 hectares, which, added to other fires resulting from ignition points in the vicinity, totals approximately 104,592.00 hectares devastated. The MPF alleges that Defendant was negligent, resulting in damage to neighboring rural properties and also to the Serra das Araras Ecological Station, justifying civil liability for the environmental damage caused to the community. It is noteworthy that the MPF offered a Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TAC) to Defendant but that the company declined, arguing that there are no grounds for liability. 

Plaintiff argues, based on Article 225 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, the duty of the public authorities and the community to preserve the environment for present and future generations. Plaintiff also cites Advisory Opinion 23/2017 (PC-23/2017) of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in which States Parties must adopt the precautionary principle and develop contingency plans to mitigate major environmental accidents; Advisory Opinion 32/2025 (PC-32/2025) of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which recognized that the obligation to ensure due diligence imposes enhanced due diligence in the context of the climate crisis, by the State and private individuals, adopting preventive measures. It is argued that, in addition to the local damage caused to fauna, flora, and human health, the situation caused diffuse climate damage due to the release of GHG and the elimination of natural carbon sinks. It is argued that climate damage should be measured based on the carbon stock affected by the destruction of vegetation, and the pricing of this stock should be carried out using the calculator available in the CNJ's (National Council of Justice) Protocol for Judging Environmental Actions. 

The expert report from the Federal Police confirmed the occurrence of an electrical origin consistent with an electric arc and estimated the value of the direct environmental damage at R$ 11,917.76 per hectare. To arrive at this value, it was considered that 4,500 hectares were degraded, and it is argued that the value of the material environmental damage should be recognized as R$ 53,629,920.00. According to the carbon calculator, the monetary value of CO2 emissions is R$ 29,472,329.76, considering that the dollar exchange rate on that day was R$ 4.89. It is argued that this amount should be donated in the following proportions: 40% to ICMBio, 20% to IBAMA, 20% to the Mato Grosso Military Fire Department, and 20% to projects developed by the State University of Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) and the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) related to the study of fire and its impacts on the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes. 


It is alleged that, given the increased risk of fires due to high temperatures and the abrupt arrival of El Niño, preventive measures are necessary, and therefore, Defendant must present and implement an emergency plan within 30 days. In an urgent injunction, the presentation and implementation of an emergency plan is requested, with the objective of preventive maintenance of the electrical grid in the easement strip that crosses and borders the Serra das Araras Ecological Station Conservation Unit and neighboring properties. On the merits, it is requested: that Defendant be ordered to (i) pay damages for material losses corresponding to 4,500 hectares of degraded land, in the amount of R$ 53,629,920.00; (ii) compensate for diffuse moral damages, in the amount of R$ 26,814,960, equivalent to 50% of the proven material damages; (iii) compensate for the climatic damages caused, corresponding to R$ 29,472,329.76; and (iv) implement a continuous preventive maintenance plan for the electrical grid, which will include the cleaning and pruning of native vegetation to prevent contact with the distribution network, in the easement strip of the Conservation Unit. 

In May, 2025, the Arayara International Institute of Education and Culture filed a Public Civil Action (ACP) against the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) due to the inclusion of Blocks PRC-T-54, PRC-T-100, PRC-T-101, PRC-T-117, PRC-T-118, PRC-T-119, PRC-T-122, PRC-T-134, PRC-T-135 for oil and gas exploration in the 5th Permanent Concession Offer Cycle. It is alleged that the blocks were included in the auction without prior, free, and informed consultation with the directly affected Indigenous peoples, thus violating ILO Convention 169. The Arayara Institute alleges that the ANP ignored the existence of overlapping blocks with Indigenous lands and several Areas of Direct Influence (AID). It emphasizes that the ANP issued a technical note recommending the exclusion of areas within a 10- and 8-km perimeter around Indigenous lands, as an oil spill could affect the entire surrounding ecosystem, and that the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) issued a recommendation that the auction be suspended. It emphasizes that the exploration of these blocks causes harm to the health, territorial, and cultural rights of the affected populations. When discussing the supply and impact of exploration of oil blocks overlapping or within areas of influence of Indigenous lands, the author mobilizes the concept of environmental racism by explaining the motivation for offering these areas in the auction. It argues that there is a contradiction between the reality of the climate emergency and the need for energy transition, and the fact that oil and gas exploration is still increasing. The action highlights the important role of indigenous peoples in combating climate change, which is only possible with the possession and autonomy of their traditionally occupied territories. Requests the granting of a preliminary injunction to (i) suspend the offering of blocks PRC-T-54, PRC-T-PRC-T-100, PRC-T-101, PRC-T-117, PRC-T-118, PRC-T-119, PRC-T-122, PRC-T-134, PRC-T-135, ordering the Federal Union and the ANP to refrain from approving, granting, and signing the contract for these blocks until the prior, free, and informed consultation has been conducted; (ii) if the contract has already been signed, requests that its effects be suspended until the prior consultation with the monitoring of the MPI and FUNAI has taken place. As final requests, requests the cancellation of the procedure for offering and granting the blocks or, subsidiarily, the suspension of the offering until the prior, free, and informed consultation with indigenous peoples and traditional communities, with the monitoring of FUNAI and MPI has taken place.

The author reported the mootness of the action, since none of the blocks indicated in the initial filing received any offers. Therefore, the court dismissed the case. The judgment became final and the case file was permanently archived.

On November 18th 2025 the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) filed a Public Civil Action (environmental class action), with a request for a preliminary injunction of a precautionary and inhibitory nature, against Nortox SA, Syngenta Proteção de Cultivos Ltda., several other companies, and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), due to environmental damage resulting from soil and water pollution caused by pesticides. The pesticides in question contain the active ingredient atrazine and are produced, imported, or marketed by the defendant companies, whose environmental monitoring of residues must be adequately promoted by the environmental agency. The widespread use of atrazine in Brazilian agriculture and the controversies and serious environmental and health concerns that its use brings with it are highlighted. Atrazine is banned in 44 countries (including the entire European Union), and exposure to the substance is associated with a range of deleterious effects on human health. In addition to its intrinsic toxicity, it is noted that atrazine has high persistence in the environment (once applied, the substance does not degrade easily) and high mobility in the soil, being transported to rivers and groundwater. The playintiff cites technical reports from Embrapa documenting the results of using the product in the Dourados River Hydrographic Basin in Mato Grosso do Sul, an area of intense agricultural activity where crops such as soybeans, corn, and sugarcane occupy more than half of the territory. The scientific studies highlight that the presence of atrazine and its degradation products (metabolites) is not restricted to the area of its application and that there is a shortcoming in CONAMA Resolution 357/2005, as it does not establish maximum permitted values. Tha plaintiff states that technical assessments have confirmed the presence of atrazine and its derivatives in multiple water sources of various indigenous communities affected by agribusiness activities in the state. It explicitly states that the damage caused by the use of pesticides is not distributed neutrally and disproportionately affects rural workers, Afro-descendant populations, indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and vulnerable riverside populations, characterizing a pattern of environmental racism expressly repudiated in the Belém Declaration (2025) and incompatible with the duties of equality and non-discrimination in environmental and climate matters. It clarifies that the situation of chemical contamination must be interpreted in light of the commitments made by Brazil in the aforementioned declaration, which recognizes that historical and persistent patterns of discrimination, coupled with unequal access to decision-making processes, produce differentiated exposures to pollution, climate risks, and nature loss. It argues that Advisory Opinion (AO) 32/2025 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, although focused on the climate emergency, provides a legal roadmap directly applicable to large-scale chemical environmental damage, establishing guidelines on due diligence and the regulation of business activities. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), the conduct of the defendants and the state's omission in controlling and monitoring atrazine conflict with the duty of enhanced diligence, precaution, and corporate transparency established in AO 32/2025, which reinforces the need for accountability, the adoption of structural measures for full reparation, cessation and non-repetition, and correction of a structural pattern of disproportionate exposure of vulnerable groups to chemical contamination. Furthermore, the MPF highlights the aggravation of the damage due to the ineffectiveness of traditional water treatment methods, exposure to the product in the workplace, the finding of its use in the production of crops, and the risk assumed by the defendant companies in imposing a long-term contamination on society and the environment. In preliminary proceedings, the granting of provisional urgent relief is requested to order the defendant companies to (i) present a detailed work plan for the complete diagnosis of the contamination of the Dourados River Hydrographic Basin; (ii) have their assets frozen in the amount of R$ 300,000,000.00; and that IBAMA implement a pesticide residue monitoring program in the Dourados River. On the merits, the defendants are jointly and severally liable for (i) the implementation of a Degraded Area Recovery Plan to remediate/mitigate atrazine contamination in the soil and waters of the river bbasin, (ii) payment for collective moral damages and irreversible environmental damages, in the amount of R$ 300,000,000.00 and, specifically in relation to IBAMA, that the agency be obliged to immediately implement environmental monitoring programs for atrazine and initiate the procedure for reassessing its registration.

On June 10, 2024 the Mato Grosso State Public Prosecutor's Office (MPMT) filed a Public Civil Action (ACP), with a request for an injunction, against Carlos Aparecido da Silva for deforestation of an area of 11.31 hectares on the Dois Irmãos farm, located in the state of Mato Grosso, as found in Civil Inquiry 025/2023. The MPMT alleges that the defendant is the owner of the property and that native vegetation was cleared without authorization from the environmental agency. It argues that the reparation of environmental damage requires, in addition to the recovery of the biome itself, the repair of the incidental factors of the degradation caused, such as the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and highlights the principle of climate integrity preservation enshrined in the Brazilian legal system. As an injunction for urgent relief, it requests, among other things, that the defendant be prohibited from economically exploiting the areas that could be used for deforestation without authorization from the environmental agency. In the final instance, the restoration of the degraded area and the payment of compensation for material and moral damages in the amount of R$ 93,498.53 (ninety-three thousand, four hundred and ninety-eight Brazilian Reais and fifty-three centavos) are requested.

The action was initially filed with the Mato Grosso State Court under case number 1004977-80.2024.8.11.0006, and on June 10, the court granted the request for urgent relief. 

On July 11, 2024, the defendant filed its defense claiming that the area is part of the Agrarian Reform Settlement Project called Assentamento Limoeiro and that it has a land tenure relationship, with the Federal Government being the legitimate owner who must respond to the lawsuit together with National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). He claims that the Federal Court has jurisdiction to hear the case and that he has authorization to exploit the area in question, and that the notice of infraction is generic. He therefore requested that his lack of standing to be sued be recognized, that the emergency relief granted be suspended, that the court declare that it lacks jurisdiction, and that the action be dismissed with the notice of infraction declared null and void.

The lack of jurisdiction was recognized, and the case was referred to the Federal Court, now under number 1003895-08.2024.4.01.3601.

By order of the court, the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) was included as a defendant in the lawsuit and the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) was included as a plaintiff.

INCRA filed its defense, arguing that it lacks passive legitimacy due to the absence of a causal link between the environmental damage and INCRA's duty to oversee and monitor. The agency maintained that it fulfilled its legal duty to inform the settler of their legal obligations to comply with environmental legislation and that non-compliance would result in the termination of the contract between them, as per Normative Instruction 99/2019, which establishes administrative procedures for the titling of rural properties in Agrarian Reform Settlement Projects. It emphasized that the illegal deforestation did not occur during the property acquisition phase, but rather when the settlers had already entered the area and had already been informed of their duty to comply with the law, and that there was no omission, act, or contribution by the agency regarding the damage caused by the settler. It requested that the preliminary objection of passive illegitimacy be upheld, with its continued participation in the case in the capacity of an interveniente anômalo (non-aligned intervenor), and that the claims against it be dismissed.

A ruling was issued approving the withdrawal of the lawsuit, taking into account the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office's statement that there was no longer a legitimate interest in the proceedings.

Geography

Mato Grosso

Recent cases