Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) fell 4.9 percent in 2012 as declining deforestation rates and a drought-induced drop in cattle herds outweighed increased emissions from the energy sector, an independent study showed on Thursday.

 

The nation's output of heat-trapping gases, which are blamed for climate change, hit 1.484 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) last year, according to Climate Observatory, a network of nongovernmental organizations that includes World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and Greenpeace.

 

Due to the steep fall in deforestation - which had been so large it sent Brazilian GHG emissions to a peak of 2.856 billion tons of CO2e in 1995 - Latin America's largest economy will have an increase of 6.6 percent on emissions from 1990 to 2012, while the world's concentration of GHGs increased 37 percent in that period.

 

But those behind the study said the trend is insufficient to tackle climate change and that the country should go beyond combating deforestation to address aspects such as the huge increase in fossil fuels consumption.

 

Brazil recently discovered some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves along its coast, and the government plans to rapidly tap the resources.

 

The study covers Brazilian emissions year by year since 1990 and is intended to be updated annually. (www.seeg.observatoriodoclima.eco.br)

 

Brazil ranks seventh among the largest emitting countries in the world but still leads emissions on land-use change (deforestation) and is the fourth largest in emissions from the agricultural sector.

 

The study cost $290,000 to produce and was financed by the Oak and the Avina foundations, the Climate and Land Use Alliance and the Latin American Climate Initiative.