Abstract

Changes in Brazil’s climate have aggravated drought conditions, yet the government continues to favor populist policies over ensuring sustainable energy and water resources. This paper analyses the underlying environmental and policy conditions that have led to Brazil’s current power and water crisis and argues in favor of an overhaul of the federal energy infrastructure to reduce political influence in a regulated market and to improve initiatives of reforestation to mitigate the effects of climate change. The effects of poor climate and energy policies so clearly manifested in the Brazilian crisis should serve as a warning to other countries that sustainability is a choice, not a causal eventuality.