Psol and indigenous association address STF against environmental licensing law | Policy

The action was filed against the new General Licensing Law (Law 15,190/2025), approved in July. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) vetoed several points of the rule, but almost all vetoes were overturned by the National Congress. Law 15,300/2025, approved earlier this month and which creates the Special Environmental License (LAE), has also been called into question.

The first standard is criticized by environmentalists and wings of government, such as the Ministry of the Environment. It was called “Devastation PL” before being voted on. The AEM accelerates the granting of licenses for projects considered strategic for the country, such as the exploration of the equatorial margin for example, provided that they are approved by a government council.

“The new General Law, to be honest, does not fulfill the function of modernization, unification and implementation of best practices in Brazilian environmental licensing and, for the most part, aggravates existing deficiencies and, even more, undermines the environmental management system of activities and companies that may cause pollution or other forms of environmental degradation,” the action states.

The text was written in partnership with the Climate Observatory and 11 other civil society organizations: Greenpeace Brasil, ISA, WWF-Brazil, Alternativa Terra Azul, Arayara, Alana, Conectas, IDC, Conaq, SOS Mata Atlântica and Avaaz.

Juliano Medeiros, former president of Psol, says Congress insisted on “unconstitutional changes” when it overrode Lula’s veto. “By insisting on clearly unconstitutional changes, we have no alternative but to appeal to the STF. I hope that the judiciary will reverse this attack on environmental policies and not allow further setbacks. Brazil can lead the fight against climate change, but to do so we need more environmental protection, not less,” he says.

Psol and Apib demand the immediate suspension of the articles of the two laws which would weaken the Atlantic Forestry Law, delegating excessive powers to states and municipalities and facilitating the regularization of irregularly installed projects. Finally, they argue that the standards lead to an undue reduction in the socio-environmental responsibility of financial institutions.

“The new legislation represents not only the greatest environmental setback in the last 40 years, but also one of the greatest attacks on indigenous peoples since

redemocratization. The weakening of Funai in licensing procedures, the disregard for indigenous lands that have not yet been approved and the weakening of the right to free, prior and informed consultation endanger Brazil’s indigenous communities, as well as the biomes they protect,” says Ricardo Terena, legal coordinator of Apib.

As for the LAE, say the authors of the action, the government was authorized to “politically” define the projects as “strategic”, without the need to present technical criteria.

“The General Environmental Authorization Law is a historic tragedy for our environmental policy. This has become even worse with the LAE, a type of authorization accelerated by political pressure, intended for high-impact projects, unfortunately supported by the executive branch,” says Suely Araújo, public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory.