During the 148th Ordinary Meeting of the Plenary of the National Environmental Council (CONAMA), held on December 3, the official launch of GEO Brazil 2025 took place. The event was organized by the professor from the São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP), José Antônio Puppim, and researcher Flavia Donadelli from the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV EBAPE), who presented the main highlights of the report, featuring unprecedented data on the environment across various themes.
GEO Brazil aims to analyze the state of environmental quality in the country from different perspectives, reflect on progress, challenges and opportunities for improvement, strengthen the relationship between science and public policy, and provide government and civil society with a reliable and impartial source of data on the environment and its trends.
Globally, GEO is already in its seventh edition, but this is only the second Brazilian edition, published after a 23-year interval, which, according to Donadelli, is a significant milestone for Brazil, especially following COP30.
According to the researcher, the document seeks to be a bridge between academia and public policy, bringing scientific evidence to support decision-making. “GEO is a model report produced around the world by the UN, with the aim of presenting an assessment of the state of the environment with scientific evidence, environmental trends and responses that have been given to the identified challenges,” she said, recalling that there was a pre-launch of the report during COP30.
The project’s methodology follows guidelines from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), structured around five points: the driving forces behind environmental impacts, such as population growth and migration; the pressures resulting from these forces, such as deforestation, vegetation changes and human activities; the state of the environment resulting from these pressures, with real impacts such as rising temperatures and the climate crisis; physical and social consequences; and the responses developed to address these challenges.
Each author, within their theme, sought to answer key questions: What is happening to the environment and why? What are the consequences? What is being done? How effective are these measures? What can be done to ensure a more sustainable future? “It is a report that also brings transformative perspectives for the future,” Donadelli emphasized.
In a video shown at the plenary, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, highlighted the importance of the document:
“The launch of GeoBrasil 2025 is more than a report: it is a deep portrait of the country. After COP30 in Belém, where we managed to lead a process based on science, promoting dialogue with different sectors and making commitments on what really needs to evolve, this report comes to consolidate that legacy.”
According to the minister, the report offers robust data, integrated analyses and a comprehensive view of Brazilian biomes, challenges and opportunities for transformation. “GeoBrasil helps us understand how the crises of climate, biodiversity and pollution are interconnected and, more importantly, points to concrete paths for sustainable, fair and nature-respecting development.”
Brazil’s Environmental Portrait
The report reveals that climate change in Brazil has caused warming in all biomes, with historic increases in the Pantanal of about 3°C and in the Cerrado of up to 4°C. There are also anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity, and air quality in Brazil represents a critical risk to public health, with air pollution responsible for about 51,000 premature deaths per year.
The document also warns that Brazil faces the “triple planetary crisis” — climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution — and that, despite having robust environmental legislation and a clean energy matrix, the country has not yet managed to stop the degradation of its biomes or prepare its cities to be pollution-free and resilient to extreme climate events.
The report exposes the contradiction of a development model that, although leading in food and renewable energy production, continues to increase greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide use, while creating economic, social and environmental inequalities.
The central conclusion is the urgency of an Ecological Transformation that effectively integrates the economy and the environment, overcoming institutional fragmentation to ensure a sustainable and socially just future.
The document launched by the Ministry of Environment was coordinated by Fundação Getulio Vargas, with technical and financial support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and collaboration from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA).
Watch the full plenary session on YouTube (GeoBrasil presentation starts at 4:30): click here.
For more information, access the executive summary and the full report.