A tributação na construção de uma economia de baixo carbono em tempos de crise: o papel da tributação na reforma tributária do consumo do Brasil e outras possibilidades

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role of taxation in the creation of a low-carbon economy in Brazil, grounded in the relationship between tax justice and climate justice in a context of structural crisis. It starts from the premise that climate change is not merely an environmental or technological issue, but a distributive and institutional challenge, whose impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and States with limited fiscal capacity. In this framework, the study argues that tax justice is a necessary condition for effective climate action and for the democratic legitimacy of ecological transition policies. The research adopts a legal-dogmatic approach with interdisciplinary dialogue between Constitutional Law, Tax Law, and political economy. It reconstructs the constitutional foundations of justice, equality, and human dignity as normative parameters for taxation and examines their implications for sustainability and human rights. The dissertation then analyzes the economic and legal foundations of carbon pricing, distinguishing between carbon taxation and emissions trading systems, and proposes legal-tax criteria to assess the constitutional legitimacy of these instruments. At the institutional level, the study critically examines Brazil’s consumption tax reform and the design of the Excise Tax, arguing that the adopted model presents structural limitations as an effective climate policy instrument. Finally, it evaluates alternative approaches, such as the taxation of unsustainable profits, concluding that taxation, when distributively oriented and constitutionally constrained, can play a central role in democratic climate governance in Brazil.