Salvador, Brazil is tackling socioeconomic inequality through climate action

At the end of December 2020, the city of Salvador, capital of Bahia, officially launched its first Plan for Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change (PMAMC). Among its various actions and objectives is the ambitious goal of reaching carbon neutrality in the Bahian capital by 2049, when the city will be 500 years old.

The plan is divided into four strategic areas: inclusive Salvador, green/blue Salvador, resilient Salvador and low-carbon Salvador. The plan proposes 57 short, medium and long-term goals related to climate mitigation and adaptation for the years 2024, 2032 and 2049. For example, the overall mitigation goal for 2024 is to reduce GHG emissions by 15 percent compared to 2018 levels.

The development of Salvador’s climate action plan began in January 2020 and was completed ten months later, in November. This process engaged civil society, the private sector, academic groups, NGOs, city staff, and a designated working group. These engagements resulted in approximately 500 contributions to the plan.

The concern with social inequality is present in the actions of one of the plan’s key areas: inclusive Salvador. By highlighting inclusion at the center of its plan, Salvador is putting climate justice at the heart of its objectives and encouraging engagement of the population, especially vulnerable groups, in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of local climate action.

In order to reduce socioeconomic inequality, the plan employs strategies such as the promotion of climate resilience and the maintenance of environmental services. It also aims to provide easy access to services and infrastructure for vulnerable populations by encouraging their participation in the development and monitoring of public policies.

Other strategies include the training of vulnerable populations in subjects such as subsistence farming, and the creation of educational programs on climate and environment.

Read Salvador’s Plan for Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change (Portuguese) and learn more about climate action in Brazilian cities.

The initiative of the Municipal Secretariat for Sustainability, Innovation and Resilience (Secis) to elaborate the Salvador;s climate action plan was financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through the Tourism Development Program in Salvador (Prodetur), in partnership with the Secretariat of Culture and Tourism (Secult). The document was executed by a consortium composed of ICLEI South America, WayCarbon and WWF, in addition it is the supported by C40 Cities and the German Cooperation GIZ Agency.