This report forms part of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)'s Banks and Climate Litigation Project, which examines emerging legal pathways for climate litigation against banks and, separately, claims concerning other environmental impacts of activities or projects financed by banks, in selected jurisdictions. It builds on BIICL's 'Global Toolbox on Corporate Climate Litigation', applying a similar analytical focus to the banking sector.
In Brazil, climate litigation involving banks remains at an early stage. At the same time, Brazil's constitutional framework for environmental protection, its environmental liability regime, corporate law and an increasingly extensive body of climate-related financial regulation provide a number of potential legal avenues through which claims involving banks may develop.
Against this background, this report:
- provides background on the Brazilian legal system and its climate law framework (section I);
- summarises key relevant cases and developments in Brazilian climate litigation (section II);
- identifies and analyses five potential causes of action for climate litigation against banks in Brazil (section III);
- examines procedural and evidentiary issues (section IV) and;
- remedies (section V) relevant to those potential causes of action.
Author:
Prof. Alessandra Lehmen is a lawyer qualified in New York and Brazil, as well as an author and international speaker. She is President of the Brazilian Bar Environmental Law Commission, Rio Grande do Sul State Chapter, Climate Law and Governance Initiative (CLGI) Co-chair for Private, Finance, and Trade Law, and Head of the 30% Club Brazil ESG Committee. She is a Climate Law Professor in Ph.D., LL.M. (UCS) and specialization (UFRGS) programs in Brazil.
Prof. Lehmen is a Post-Doctoral Laureate at the Make Our Planet Great Again Program, of the Presidency of France/Aix-Marseille Université, and holds a Ph.D. in International Law (UFRGS), an LL.M. in Environmental Law and Policy (Stanford), and an MBA (FGV). She holds certificates in ESG investing from the CFA Institute, in corporate governance from the Wharton School, and in negotiation from Harvard Law School.
