What types of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies are being considered or implemented in Rio de Janeiro?

1. change mitigation and
adaptation policies are
being considered or
implemented in Rio de
Janeiro?”
ISA 2013: San Diego
Development Project Case Study
Author: Charles Laffiteau
University of Texas at Dallas

2. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro

3. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• Brazil is the host nation and Rio de Janeiro
is the host city for both the 2014 World Cup
and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
• So based on the experience of China and
Beijing with the 2008 Summer Olympics,
the Brazilian national government and the
state government of Rio de Janeiro are
also investing large sums in the sports
infrastructure required of host nations.

4. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• Both governments will also have to make
large expenditures on improving urban
transportation and reducing air pollutants
in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of
urban pollution on the health and well
being of athletes and spectators.
• But with the world watching, Rio de
Janeiro will also have to beef up its
disaster preparedness planning in order to
avoid the negative fallout resulting from

5. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
January 2011- 903 fatalities

6. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
Young and Nobre observe that ;
• Extreme events such as intense rainfalls
are a growing problem in many areas in
the world, including the city of Rio de
Janeiro.
• But Rio’s risk situations are also a
consequence of a social process related to
structural urban issues that are linked to
political decisions.
• Problems such as sea level rise and

7. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
April 2010- 292 fatalities

8. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
Sherbinin, Schiller and Pulsipher write that:
• “Although favelas have always suffered
during rainy seasons, the paving of
walkways has had the effect of increasing
runoff to the point where water is often ankle
or knee deep between houses”
• “Runoff from communities on steep hillsides
are channeled down cemented
watercourses to the coastal lowlands where
they join canals whose limited flow capacity

9. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro

10. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• So what types of climate change mitigation
and adaptation policies are being
considered or implemented in Rio de
Janeiro?
• On February 29, 2012, Rio de Janeiro’s
Mayor, Eduardo Paes, addressed this
issue at the 2012 TED conference in Long
Beach CA.
• As hosts of the 2016 Olympic Games,
Paes says that “we have (also) become

11. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• Paes emphasized “how challenging it was for
Rio to be chosen the host city of the 2016
Olympic Games, as we had to defeat Madrid,
Tokyo and Chicago, the latter supported by
Barack Obama.”
• But Paes then goes on to say that by
“following four commandments and adopting
innovative strategies, Rio de Janeiro can be
transformed into a more sustainable and
socially integrated city.”

12. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
Paes’ 4 commandments for cities of the
future are:
• 1) It has to be environmentally friendly,
• 2) It has to deal with mobility and
integration of its people,
• 3) It has to be socially integrated,
• 4) It has to use technology to be present.

13. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
Paes cites Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as one
example

14. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• BRT’s four exclusive lanes for articulated
buses that can carry up to 160 passengers
are currently being built by the Rio de
Janeiro City Hall.
• Users will board on acclimatized stations,
where they will buy their tickets and connect
with the train and underground systems.
• BRT will allow Rio de Janeiro to increase
percent of citizens who use high capacity
public transport from the current 18% to 63%

15. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• As an example of how to use technology
Paes describes the Rio Operations Centre
as “a nerve centre where we monitor all
logistics of the city, from waste
management and traffic control to weather
and climate-related incidents. Using IBM
technology, a 250-km-radius radar and
560 cameras, the Operations Centre
allows us to be present when and where
we are needed.”

16. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• Rio de Janeiro is also the home of the
world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim-
Gramacho.

17. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• Brazil is also one of the world leaders in
recycling.
• 2nd to Japan in recycling plastic bottles
• 4th in recycling plastic solids
• 3rd in recycling steel cans
• 5th in recycling glass bottles
• Leads world by recycling 96.5% of
aluminum cans
• But instead of house collection, most is

18. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• Paes also says that the “favelas of Rio de
Janeiro are usually seen as a problem. For
me, however, they can actually be a solution.”
• Light (the Rio de Janeiro power utility), is
working with NGOs on a program to establish
and upgrade power networks, install
transformers & meters, to provide favela
residents safe, cost-effective power.
• This also documents proof of residence for
‘favelos’, necessary for getting a phone and

19. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• But Light goes a step further by
encouraging recycling within the
company’s concession area with a
program that gives favela residents money
off their electricity bills in exchange for
paper, plastic, aluminum, steel and glass
bottles.
• This Program for Normalization of Informal
Areas was made possible by a $200
million loan guaranteed by the World

20. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
World Bank is also financing the Upgrading
and Greening of the Rio de Janeiro Urban
Rail System

21. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• A US$600 million loan from the World Bank
will create a better quality of life in Rio and a
reduction of 93,700 tons of greenhouse gas
emissions, equivalent to over 25,000
gasoline passenger cars.
• But it will also finance the development of a
sustainable transport strategy for the state of
Rio de Janeiro, including reducing the
overall carbon footprint of the system, and
the establishment of a climate change

22. Climate Change: Rio de
Janeiro
• One can thus conclude that Rio de Janeiro has
taken a number of steps designed to mitigate
climate change by both reducing GHG
emissions and preparing for climate change
related weather event natural disasters.
• But as Christoplos, Mitchell & Liljelund note
“The political costs of redirecting priorities from
visible development projects to addressing
abstract long-term threats are great. It is hard to
gain votes by pointing out that a disaster did not