Dubbed the "devastation bill" by its critics, the legislation passed late Wednesday with 54 votes in favor and just 13 opposed. The proposal would drastically weaken environmental licensing requirements for projects in sectors such as agriculture, mining, infrastructure, and energy, allowing many developments to move forward with minimal oversight or assessment.
The bill will now return to the lower house of congress, where its approval is widely expected due to a strong presence of lawmakers aligned with Brazil's powerful agribusiness lobby.
Proponents argue the changes will streamline Brazil's notoriously complex regulatory system and reduce bureaucratic delays. However, environmental advocates and climate policy experts have warned the law represents a profound setback in the country's environmental governance, undermining both national climate goals and Brazil's international reputation ahead of the COP30 summit, which the country will host in the Amazon this November.
"This is like removing the brakes from a speeding car," said Natalie Unterstell, president of the Instituto Talanoa, a leading climate think tank. She warned that the measure threatens Brazil's stated goals of ending deforestation by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century.
Under the new rules, certain projects would be able to renew environmental permits simply through self-declaration. High-impact ventures, including mining operations, could proceed with fewer obligations to study their effects on ecosystems, water resources, or nearby communities.
Suely Araújo, public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory—a coalition of NGOs—criticized the bill for stripping away the requirement for environmental impact assessments in most cases. "This will turn the licensing process into a matter of pushing a button," she said.
The Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA), an organization that defends Indigenous and traditional communities, calculated that the bill would jeopardize more than 3,000 protected territories—including areas inhabited by Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian quilombola communities—and endanger 18 million hectares (approximately 45 million acres) of forest.
"The proposal dismantles decades of environmental safeguards," the ISA said in a statement, warning that it would increase the likelihood of land conflicts and environmental degradation across Brazil's rural regions. "It's a slow-motion disaster."
The timing of the bill's passage has raised particular alarm. Brazil is aiming to present itself as a global climate leader when it hosts the United Nations climate conference later this year. But environmentalists say this legislation runs counter to those ambitions.
"This sends the worst possible message at the worst possible time," Unterstell said.
Environment Minister Marina Silva, a longtime advocate for environmental protections, called the bill's passage a "death sentence" for Brazil's climate ambitions. Nonetheless, some officials within President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration have backed the bill, arguing it could attract new investment and improve economic competitiveness.
Lula has received praise for his administration's success in curbing deforestation—down 32% last year according to the monitoring group MapBiomas—but has faced criticism from climate advocates over his support for oil exploration projects, particularly in sensitive ecological areas.
One provision of the senate-approved bill allows for fast-tracking licenses for projects designated as governmental priorities. Supporters of expanded oil development hope this clause could aid state-run oil giant Petrobras in its efforts to drill at the mouth of the Amazon River—a contentious plan that has so far been blocked by environmental regulators.
Environmental campaigners now fear that the new legislation, once passed by the lower house, will permanently weaken Brazil's ability to enforce environmental protections at a time when the planet faces escalating climate and biodiversity crises.