Pragmatic engagement amid institutional conflict: China’s role in Bolsonaro-era Brazilian climate governance

Brazil holds a critical position in global climate change governance due to its vast territory and possession of roughly half of the Amazon rainforest. The institutional framework of the Bolsonaro administration was characterized by anti-leftist, religious-nationalist, and anti-globalization ideologies, which rejected the scientific consensus on climate change. As a result, its climate change governance policies focused primarily on dismantling environmental achievements made by previous governments. During this period, China largely maintained a strategic observer role and avoided excessive intervention in Brazil’s domestic policy shifts, limiting bilateral cooperation largely to moderate engagement in sustainable energy. China adopted this pragmatic, non-interference approach because the Bolsonaro government’s institutional framework offered little room for external influence, and overt confrontation would have unnecessarily harmed bilateral relations.