Brazilian billionaire Rubens Menin led the group at COP30 as his company MRV faces a civil lawsuit over environmental damages.
Rubens Menin, among Brazil's wealthiest individuals, is heading a sustainable cities workgroup initiated this week at the world's premier climate summit.
Simultaneously, while he shared accounts of “successful cases” in metropolitan growth with industry figures, his very own construction firm was contending with ecological legal actions across two distinct matters.
Official records indicate that Menin's housing enterprise, MRV, is a defendant in a civil claim for purportedly inundating farmland within a locality established by escaped slaves centuries ago.
MRV's penal judgment concerning the second issue—pertaining to effluent discharge—was annulled this week during COP30, the UN climate conference concluding today in Belém, situated within the Brazilian Amazon. The presiding judge declared that the period of limitations had passed, given that the infraction transpired in 2015 and the government waited excessively long to press charges.
Menin occupies the chairperson role within the Sustainable Cities Working Group, formed at this year's COP30 with the purpose of formulating proposals for state leaders grounded in “success stories” from the private sector.
Menin serves as the board of directors chairman and principal stakeholder of MRV, a publicly traded corporation featured on Brazil's primary stock market, B3 (Brasil Bolsa Balcão). He also established Banco Inter, a prominent Brazilian digital bank, and his investments encompass media, athletics, and viticulture. Forbes magazine approximates his personal wealth to be around $2.2 billion.
MRV did not furnish responses to direct inquiries concerning the two legal affairs. Menin's representative stated he would provide commentary; however, no feedback emerged prior to distribution.
Through electronic correspondence, MRV avowed that it adheres to “all relevant environmental statutes, guaranteeing that each endeavor contributes towards metropolitan design and the ecological steadiness within the regions” of the company’s operations.
The enterprise further mentioned allocating beyond $65 million during the previous year towards “urbanization initiatives centered around infrastructure, viability, and standard of living.”
Nevertheless, official documents expose deficiencies in its sustainability actions.
Inside a community located on the periphery of Vitória, the capital city of the southeastern state of Espírito Santo, MRV was ruled to be culpable in a criminal case related to polluting its building complex. According to a grievance submitted by Brazil's Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, probes undertaken in 2015 uncovered that the complex was releasing wastewater “without suitable processing straight into the soil and the Laranjeiras River.”
The business was convicted in July and mandated to settle a penalty of 10,000 Brazilian reals ($1,877), but that judgment was overturned on November 17. The prosecutor's agency recognized the definitive resolution, articulating, “Considering the duration that passed between the complaint’s acceptance and the pronouncement of sentence (8 years and 9 months), the realities are statute-barred.”
In parallel, within the northeastern state of Bahia, MRV is confronted with a continuing civil lawsuit launched by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office concerning ecological harm inflicted upon the Quilombo Kingoma settlement in the Salvadoran metropolitan zone. This legal action originates from an assessment by the state’s environmental organization, which deduced that the enterprise was “accountable for infilling and impeding the flow” of the Jaguaribe River during the construction of a building complex.
As stated in the assessment, the water level of the river amplified by 3.5 meters, “engulfing current crops on the riverbanks.” The environmental authority penalized the firm 100,000 reais (roughly $18,000) in 2021 and commanded a reservoir cleanup.
However, even after several years, residents continue experiencing the repercussions of the inundation.
“There were hundred-year-old trees there, jackfruit trees, and a lot of cassava… When this water came, we lost everything,” Rosemeire Nascimento dos Santos, an inhabitant of Quilombo Kingoma, conveyed to OCCRP.
Quilombos constitute settlements established in the 17th century by escaped slaves that are still inhabited by both their offspring and further inhabitants. The Constitutional Law of Brazil identifies the territorial entitlements of such populations.
In spite of judicial safeguards, Quilombo Kingoma is under strain from governmental bodies, highlighted Silvio Márcio Montenegro Machado, a geography professor at the Federal Institute of Bahia. The community represents “the single remaining green area” within the Lauro de Freitas municipality, rendering it a desirable site for development.
“The municipal government and the government of the state of Bahia initiated proposals for public amenities within the community, such as the Metropolitan Hospital,” he mentioned, inserting that a fresh residential sector was subsequently planned “which virtually splits the district in two.”
The administrations of the city of Lauro de Freitas and the state of Bahia did not return an electronic query preceding dissemination.
