PSOL and Indigenous Alliance Ask Brazil’s Supreme Court to Block New Environmental Licensing Regime

Overview

• PSOL and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil filed a roughly 200‑page constitutional challenge that targets recent changes to Brazil’s licensing system and requests suspension of key provisions.
• The petition contests the 2025 general licensing law (Lei 15.190) and the new Special Environmental License (Lei 15.300), highlighting self‑declaration permits, weaker Atlantic Forest protections, expanded state and municipal powers, and reduced financial due‑diligence requirements.
• The applicants ask the court to immediately freeze the Special Environmental License, arguing it is already being used to accelerate approvals under tight deadlines of up to 12 months, or 90 days for some roads, and citing a new electricity law provision channeling hydropower through the fast‑track.
• The case argues the rules unlawfully constrain indigenous rights by limiting the ability to halt projects on lands not yet fully demarcated and by diminishing Funai’s role in licensing processes.
• This is the third ADI on the issue at the STF, with an earlier case assigned to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the new petition directed to Court President Edson Fachin, no ruling so far, and remaining licensing rules set to take effect in February 2026 amid divisions inside the federal government.