Objective :
Organize coordination between administrations, research organizations and representatives of the agricultural sector to develop the ABC Plan, the Brazilian agricultural policy to combat climate change.
Description
The ABC Plan Working Group (GT-ABC) is the inter-institutional body responsible for developing the ABC Plan. Its establishment is part of the sectoral implementation of the National Climate Change Policy, adopted in Brazil in 2009, and the country's commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2010, the initial discussions on the future plan were coordinated by the Casa Civil, a ministry attached to the Presidency of the Republic, responsible for coordinating government action and participating in arbitration between ministries. The formulation work continued within the GT-ABC in 2011. This group brings together representatives from several ministries, particularly those responsible for agriculture, agrarian development, and the environment, as well as research organizations, public financial institutions, and agricultural and civil society organizations.
Through its meetings, the group examines the plan's objectives, the practices to be promoted, and the responsibilities of the institutions called upon to participate in its implementation. The ABC Plan, approved in 2011, notably includes the restoration of degraded pastures, no-till farming, crop-livestock-forestry integration, biological nitrogen fixation, planted forests, and the management of animal manure. For its first cycle, it sets a target for disseminating these practices across approximately 40 million hectares by 2020, associated with an estimated reduction of 133 to 166 million tons of CO₂e.
Three distinct components shape this policy: the ABC Working Group (GT-ABC), the ABC Plan itself, and the ABC Program. The working group is involved in formulation and coordination; the plan defines sectoral guidelines and objectives; and the program, created in 2010, constitutes a rural credit line intended to finance the adoption of the promoted practices. The GT-ABC thus influences the processes of developing public policy, while the credit is directly aimed at producers who can use it to implement the recommended agricultural technologies. The ABC Plan has been maintained under successive governments, including during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022). Its reformulation in the ABC+ Plan, officially launched in 2021 for the period 2020–2030, extends the main guidelines of the program while updating its objectives and the practices promoted. This continuity is a central aspect of the plan's trajectory.
Country
Brazil
Ladder
National
Nature
Non-financial
In which law/program is this instrument included?
ABC Plan
Coordinate the stakeholders, prioritize the priorities
The investigation into the ABC Working Group led me to revisit the conditions surrounding the development of the ABC Plan, beyond the document that was ultimately published. Based on interviews, archival material, and the analysis of relationships between participants (network analysis and the creation of sociograms), I sought to understand how Brazil's climate commitments were translated into agricultural policy guidelines, and by which actors these guidelines were defined. This development did not result from a single decision. Initial discussions began after the adoption of the National Climate Change Policy, while the ABC Program's credit line was established in 2010, before the Plan's approval in 2011. The working group meetings thus took place within a sequence where climate objectives were shaped by existing agricultural instruments. This earlier development of the ABC Program invites us, in particular, to examine the role of rural credit in defining the solutions adopted.
Photo 1. Meeting dedicated to the implementation of the ABC Plan, Brazil's low-carbon agriculture policy.
Credit / Source: Gabriel Faria / Embrapa – Ministério da Agricultura e Pecuária (MAPA), Brazil.
Photo 2. Meeting of the Goiás ABC+ Plan committee, responsible for contributing to the development and coordination of low-carbon agriculture policy in the state of Goiás. Credit / Source: Wenderson Araújo / CNA – Secretaria de Estado de Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento de Goiás (SEAPA), Brazil.
Chronology of the instrument GT – ABC
Timeline of related policies
