The objective of the Program is to support the development of scientific information related to greenhouse gas emissions as the basis for the creation of a policy for responding to climate change.

Actions to respond to climate change will take place internally and especially externally. It should be noted that there is more awareness and concern about the problem of climate change in the societies of developed countries, which have already achieved a stage of development that allows global issues to have a high priority on the political agenda of these countries.

Another important characteristic of this issue is its long-term nature, being thus an intergenerational problem involving present and future generations. Inaction on the part of present societies in many countries will penalize future generations. Thus, because the population that will be most affected has not yet been born, there is no way to assess the demands of the affected society. Conversely, the mitigation actions that are demanded today and that will benefit future societies, will to some extent penalize current societies.

The Climate Change Program emerged after the ratification by Brazil of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in February, 1994. The strategy of the Program was defined by the Brazilian Government, and especially by the Ministries of Science and Technology and of External Relations, in order to meet the initial commitments of Brazil under the Convention.

The Convention is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. The Preamble of the Climate Change Convention recognizes that "change in the Earth’s climate and its adverse effects are a common concern of humankind" and that "the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions." It is also noted that "the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases has originated in developed countries, that per capita emissions in developing countries are still relatively low and that the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet their social and development needs."

The responsibility is common because the greenhouse gases are completely mixed in the atmosphere in around two weeks, and therefore it is not possible to directly attribute emissions to their country of origin. But the responsibility is also differentiated because some countries are more responsible for the causes of global warming than others. This results from differences in size, population and level of development – that is, the level of anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

It is the historic emissions, which have been accumulating in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, that determine the increase in temperature. Therefore the responsibility of the industrialized countries for the increased greenhouse effect is much greater. Brazil’s responsibility for climate change is in proportion to its small historic emissions, resulting from a more recent process of industrialization. However, the Convention is based on the reports by the countries of their annual anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. This fact has led societies of many countries to mistakenly establish a direct relation between current annual emissions and responsibility for the increase in global warming. High emission levels of greenhouse gases in Brazil would thus be erroneously associated with the responsibility of the country for causing global warming, which would have unfortunate political consequences.

In conformity with their common but differentiated responsibilities, the developed countries recognized and voluntarily agreed in the Convention that they should take the initiative in combating climate change and its adverse effects.

The Climate Convention also recognizes that "the extent to which developing country Parties will effectively implement their commitments under the Convention will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention related to financial resources and transfer of technology and will take fully into account that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties" (Article 4.7).

Under the Convention, there was great pressure on the Brazilian government to carry out studies for the development of mitigation plans or measures, vulnerability studies and measures for adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change, either supported by the GEF or by means of bilateral agreements.

Because of these considerations, there was a perception in the Brazilian government that the emphasis on mitigation and vulnerability corresponded to a disguised attempt to transfer the burden of combating climate change to some developing countries, through including them in the group of countries with emission reduction or limitation commitments, which would be contrary to the stated spirit of the Convention. Among the developing countries, some are considered key countries, with rapid processes of development in the coming years, including China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea.

As a result of this perception, the strategy proposed by the Brazilian government was to priorize work on the Brazilian inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, which would have a dual objective – a diagnostic of the current situation and focus only on the initial commitment under the Convention. The strategy adopted was to give priority to the work on the inventory in the first phase, so that later, with the capacity acquired by the institutions and specialists involved, the mitigation, adaptation and vulnerability plans, which are also commitments set out in the Convention, can be implemented. Another relevant aspect was the search for actions in relation to education, awareness-building and publicizing of the climate change issue, given the limited amount of information existing in Brazil about climate change, and especially the small number of publications in Portuguese.

Thus the studies of mitigation and vulnerability, although no less important, received less effort at first and were left for a second stage. There was also concern that the strategy for the inventory be as broad as possible and that it stimulates the creation of endogenous capacity in the country. To complement this, the awareness-building and dissemination activities were also given priority.

The concern to further institutionalize the issue of climate change, through the strategic characteristics of the Program, led to the creation by presidential decree, on July 7th, 1999, of the Interministerial Committee on Global Climate Change, for the purpose of coordinating the actions of the government in this area. The Ministers of Science and Technology and of the Environment are, respectively, the President and the Vice-President of the Committee. The Ministry of Science and Technology serves as the Executive Secretary of the Committee and provides technical and administrative support to the work of the Committee. The Committee is made up of representatives of the Ministries of External Relations; of Agriculture and Food Supply; of Transport; of Mines and Energy; of Planning, Budgeting and Management; of Environment; of Science and Technology; of Development, Industry and Commerce; and of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic. The Decree creating the Committee calls for coordination with representative bodies from civil society, with the participation of public and private bodies and specialists.

The extensive involvement of all sectors of government in the issue will become increasingly important, especially from this year on, because of the repercussions from the publication of the first Brazilian National Communication, and the resulting publication of Brazilian emissions, which will likely be proportional to the size of the economy of the country, its vast territorial expanse, and its large population. It is important that there be an adequate preparation of the media to understand the results and communicate them to society, as well as prepare for the international and domestic debate that will likely result from the publication.

There is, however, a demand for greater political participation by some sectors, in particular the industrial sector. The creation of a National Forum on Climate Change has also been suggested, which would include representatives of government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations involved with the issue, which would allow a greater political participation on the issue.

The Climate Change program has been under way since June of 1996 with external resources provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) (US$1,500,000) and through a bilateral agreement with the United States, under the "U.S. Country Studies Program" (US$400,000). The resources from the GEF are provided for in Article 4.3 of the U. N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which states that the developed countries should provide new and additional financial resources to cover the agreed full costs incurred by developing countries in complying with their obligations in Article 12. By virtue of this obligation, the Ministry of Science and Technology decided that the implementation of the Program would be based initially only on the resources coming from the GEF, and over the next years new resources would be gradually added from the budget to give greater dynamism and autonomy to the Program. However, during the execution of the Program, new resources were provided through agreements with the National Electrical Energy Agency (R$ 2,100,000.00), ELETROBRAS and IBAMA (R$ 50,000.00 each) and by FAPESP (under the responsibility of CENA/USP), for carrying out additional studies or expansion of studies called for under the agreement with GEF/UNDP.

The commitments of the developing countries, including Brazil, are described in Article 4.1, which establishes common obligations for all the Parties, taking into account the common but differentiated responsibilities of the countries and their specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances. The principal commitments are:

• Develop, periodically update, publish and make available to the Conference of the Parties, inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all the greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol;

• Formulate, implement, publish and regularly update national and, where appropriate, regional programs containing measures to mitigate climate change, as well as measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change;

• Promote and cooperate in the development, application and diffusion, including transfer, of technologies, practices and processes that control, reduce or prevent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol in all relevant sectors, including the energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management sectors;

• Promote and cooperate in scientific, technological, technical, socioeconomic and other research, systematic observation and development of data archives related to the climate system and intended to further the understanding and to reduce or eliminate the remaining uncertainties regarding the causes, effects, magnitude and timing of climate change and the economic and social consequences of various response strategies;

• Promote and cooperate in education, training and public awareness related to climate change and encourage the widest participation in this process, including that of non-governmental organizations.

The initial commitment in the Convention, cited in Article 12, is that of developing a report called the National Communication. This report will present the Brazilian inventory of net emissions of greenhouse gases not included in the Montreal Protocol, and a general description of the steps taken or anticipated in the country to implement the Convention.

Brazil is finalizing its first National Communication, which will include the Brazilian Inventory of Greenhouse Gases.

The development of the National Communication is a multidisciplinary effort, involving institutions and specialists spread throughout all the regions of the country. This Communication is also a great challenge, because of the need to develop domestic capacity in this area, and in many areas involves pioneering and complex work.

Because of its wide-ranging and detailed nature, covering the emissions of the principal greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, CO, HFC, NOX, CF4, C2F6, SF6, among others) from the energy, industrial, forestry, agriculture and waste treatment sectors, the Brazilian inventory of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol involves specialists in many disciplines from around 60 institutions, involving several ministries (MME, MMA, MT, MDICT, etc.), federal institutions (Petrobrás, Eletrobrás, Embrapa, INPE, etc.), state bodies (Cetesb, Cemig, etc.), sectoral associations (SNIEC, IBS, ANFAVEA, ABAL, ABEGÁS, ABIQUIM, Bracelpa, etc.), private companies and cooperatives (Copersucar, White Martins, etc.), non-governmental organizations (Funcate, Fundação José Bonifácio, etc.), universities and research centers (COPPE/UFRJ, USP, UFRS, UnB, etc.).

Despite the fact that, in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities of countries, Brazil does not have commitments to reduce or limit its anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, there are many programs in Brazil that, although not developed for the purpose of reduction of global warming, result in a considerable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Some of these initiatives have contributed to the fact that Brazil has a relatively "clean" energy matrix, and were undertaken because of the increasing dependency on foreign exchange resulting from the oil price shocks, such as in the case of alcohol, or in order to delay investments in new electrical generation facilities or oil refineries, in the case of programs to increase energy efficiency. Several other initiatives that are being implemented, in particular to combat deforestation, have also contributed to changing the curve of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil.

It is important to note that since 1995 the dissemination of all the activities of the Program has been conducted through electronic publication (at low cost) on the Internet, by means of the climate change Homepage at the MCT site, in three languages (Portuguese, English and Spanish), and at the end of 1999 there was already around 3000 pages. This was considered a pioneering effort in the context of the Convention and served as a model for the establishment of the site of the Convention Secretariat itself and for other developing countries. Along with this, the publication of the text of the Convention in Portuguese was carried out in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Convention, and with the support of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

A new development has been speeding up the discussions about actions to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In the third Conference of the Parties, held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. In this Protocol, the developed countries accepted differentiated emission limitation or reduction commitments between 2008 and 2012 (representing, for the developed countries as a whole, a reduction of at least 5% in relation to the combined emissions of greenhouse gases in 1990). The economic effort needed to comply with the goals established in the Protocol will result in significant costs to the economies of each industrialized country. As a result, three mechanisms were established to help the developed countries comply with their greenhouse gas emission reduction or limitation targets. One of these mechanisms, defined as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), emerged from a proposal originally presented by Brazil in the work of preparing for Kyoto, and involves both developed and developing countries. Its implementation is of particular interest to Brazil, because it will allow the transference of resources and technologies for the reduction of emissions. The CDM, however, has yet to be formally established internationally under the Convention.