Objective
The committee defines strategic directions, guides the development of climate policies, and deliberates on the country's strategies and actions. It can create temporary and sectoral technical groups (e.g., agriculture). It includes various types of voting members
Description
Brazil's federal climate governance is based on the Interministerial Committee on Climate Change (CIM), the body responsible, within the framework of the National Climate Change Policy (PNMC), for coordinating the actions of the ministries and monitoring the implementation of climate policy. The CIM was designed as a multi-level governance mechanism, structured into four bodies: political, executive, consultative, and technical. Its coordination is ensured by the Casa Civil [1] (Office of the President of the Republic), while the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA) provides the executive secretariat. In June 2024, the Executive Subcommittee (SUBEX) was created to strengthen this coordination mechanism. Since then, it has become the CIM's main consultative body. The Subex is a non-financial procedural instrument: rather than allocating resources, it acts through coordination, prioritization, and institutional articulation, ensuring the link between the technical bodies of the CIM and the political decision-making process before issues are submitted to the Plenum of Ministers. Headed by the MMA, it brings together senior officials from eleven ministries [2]. The subcommittee meets quarterly, with extraordinary meetings convened as needed. To date, its work has focused primarily on three priorities: preparing for and monitoring the launch of the new National Climate Change Plan and its National Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy, to be published in December 2025; monitoring Brazil's preparations for COP30; and coordinating the actors that comprise the broader CIM architecture. Figure 1 illustrates the role of the Subex within this governance architecture.
[1] The Casa Civil is the body within the Presidency of the Republic responsible for coordinating government action between ministries, conducting inter-ministerial negotiations, and supporting presidential decision-making. Under the governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, it played a central role in coordinating public policies and providing political arbitration within the federal executive branch.
[2] The coordinating ministries include the Casa Civil, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Planning and Budget, which form the basis of the committee's capacity to ensure political arbitration and resource allocation. The sectoral ministries include the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA), the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), the Ministry of Urban Development (MCID), the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE).
Country
Brazil
Ladder
National
Nature
Non-financial
In which law/program is this instrument included?
Decree No. 11.550 of June 5, 2023
Rebuilding climate coordination: what role for agriculture?
The CIM, created in 2007, operated until 2019 before being affected by the elimination of numerous federal councils and commissions under the Bolsonaro administration. With the return of the Lula government in 2023, the committee was reinstated with a strengthened strategic role and now includes representatives from 23 ministries, as well as representatives from the scientific community, civil society, subnational governments, and the administration.
The SUBEX emerged from this institutional restructuring. Its composition combines coordinating ministries (Civil Affairs, Finance, Planning) and sectoral ministries (agriculture, industry, energy, trade, urban development). For research on agricultural climate governance, it is particularly interesting to note that agriculture appears as just one sector among others, despite its economic and political weight.
In practice, fieldwork shows that the SUBEX is the space where technical work is examined and translated into political decisions before being submitted to the Plenum of Ministers. It thus plays a central role in the link between technical expertise and political decision-making.
Photographs from the first meeting of the Interministerial Committee on Climate Change
SUBEX Timeline: The CIM Executive Subcommittee
