Photo: screengrab from the official website of Brasil 247

By Brasil 247 - Petrobras and Shell Brasil have announced the launch of Carbon Countdown, an initiative that becomes the largest carbon stock inventory project ever carried out in Brazil. The project aims to map, in a standardized way, the amount of carbon stored above and below ground across all of the country's terrestrial biomes, creating an unprecedented scientific database to support environmental policies, climate strategies and the development of Brazil's carbon market.

According to Brasil 247, the initiative seeks to address a long-standing gap in integrated and comparable data on carbon stocks across Brazil's diverse ecosystems, strengthening the country's role in global climate governance.

The project will be developed with scientific collaboration from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at the University of São Paulo (Esalq/USP), as well as several other Brazilian universities and research centers. The proposal includes the standardization of data and methodologies to allow a comprehensive and nationally comparable assessment of carbon stocks.

Petrobras said Carbon Countdown will receive investments exceeding R$100 million, funded through the Research, Development and Innovation (R&D&I) clause of oil and gas exploration and production contracts. The results are expected to provide a robust scientific foundation for Brazil's carbon market, while also supporting environmental conservation initiatives, climate modeling and long-term land-use planning.

The survey will adopt methodologies recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations. All data generated by the project will be made publicly available, allowing their use in scientific research, public policymaking and long-term environmental strategies.

According to Lílian Melo, executive manager at Petrobras' Research, Development and Innovation Center (Cenpes), the project is designed to deliver structural outcomes for the country. "The deliverables of Carbon Countdown include the creation of a public geospatial database and the adaptation of international methodologies to the reality of Brazilian biomes," she said.

The research will involve a large-scale field effort, including the analysis of 6,500 demarcated areas, the collection of more than 250,000 soil samples, vegetation sampling and around 400,000 complementary data points. Together, these elements are expected to ensure high scientific accuracy and broad territorial coverage for Brazil's most comprehensive carbon inventory to date.

(Reported by Brasil 247 on December 13, 2025)