According to information from the Brazilian Tannery Industries Center (CICB), more than 18 international brands, including Timberland, Vans, and Kipling, announced that they will suspend the purchase of Brazilian leather due to news related to burning in the Amazon region.
The decision undermines Brazilian agribusiness. Yesterday, the CICB sent all this information to the Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, with the intention of making the current government reviewing its environmental policy and the intention to make the inspection more flexible in the region, as the minister himself and the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro have promised.
The Swedish government has also announced that it will review investments of its pension funds in Brazil in light of the Amazon. In total, Swedish pension applications total R$ 650 billion worldwide. To make matters worse, Swedish Finance Minister Per Bolund made public criticism of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and the current Brazilian environmental policy.
The Norwegian government, for its part, has decided to call up Norwegian companies operating in Brazil and ask them to check whether they cause damage to the Amazon. The Norwegian government wants assurances that companies will not do business with companies that are harmful to the biome.
Today, after a tough meeting with governors of the region occurred yesterday in Brasília, where the president heard criticism from politicians like Flávio Dino, governor of Maranhão and opposition to the current federal government, the president Jair Bolsonaro was found himself almost embarrassed to step back and open the doors for bilateral aid donations to the Amazon.
The denial of the current Jair Bolsonaro government over European Union aid has been sharply criticized by the region's governors. Since Brazil is facing an economic crisis and has little money for many public services, denying receiving the money offered by the governments of Germany, Norway, and France sound almost unbelievable.
