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Transparency International Brazil puts climate agenda on the anti-corruption map
In recent years, Transparency International Brazil has been working to embed the environmental agenda within the country’s key anti-corruption institutions, oversight bodies, and public transparency mechanisms. Thanks to their efforts, several State Audit Courts in the Amazon region - historically detached from environmental enforcement - are now conducting audits on forest governance and illegal deforestation and wildfires.
Guided by two technical references developed by Transparency International Brazil in partnership with oversight bodies which are: the active transparency guide on forest management and protected areas and the external audit guide for forest governance and the use of MapBiomas alerts, four of the nine State Audit Courts in the Amazon (Amapá, Pará, Tocantins, and Roraima) conducted audits on forest data transparency between 2023 and 2024. Support included reviewing technical notes, participating in strategic meetings, and conducting training sessions, all of which helped increase pressure on environmental agencies to comply with transparency regulations.
Since 2021, Transparency International Brazil has been an active voice in the national strategy to combat corruption and money laundering (ENCCLA), a key coordination forum for public institutions focused on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering. The organisation successfully brought environmental issues to the forefront of ENCCLA’s agenda.
In the last two years alone, it contributed to four action plans, coordinated a high-level seminar on land transparency, and helped produce five official publications addressing topics such as illegal logging, integrity in environmental licensing, and land transparency. One landmark achievement was ENCCLA’s formal recognition that illegal timber laundering can constitute a money laundering offense.
In 2025, two new environmental actions proposed by Transparency International Brazil were included in ENCCLA’s agenda: one on carbon credit market and the other on wildlife trafficking. These developments reflect not only recognition but also ownership of environmental integrity within Brazil’s broader anti-corruption ecosystem.
Transparency International Brazil also had a significant influence on the development of Brazil’s integrity and anti-corruption plan for 2025 - 2027: nine of the 19 submitted proposals were adopted in the final plan, including commitments to promote open data for detecting and preventing environmental crimes, integrity risk assessments in environmental oversight processes, and the development of integrity guidelines for environmental agencies.
This institutional advocacy is complemented by hands-on efforts to engage and mobilise civil society in promoting environmental social accountability. In the past years, Transparency International Brazil has supported the March Against Corruption and for Life, a grassroots mobilisation led by the Popular Task Force that annually brings together social movements and citizens to demand stronger action against corruption.
In 2025, the march reaffirmed the power and necessity of public participation in shaping anti-corruption governance and expanded its scope to include the climate agenda. Over 15 days and across 150 kilometers, participants audited public works - including sanitation, infrastructure, and health services - in six municipalities in Brazil’s Northeast.
