Protesters marched through Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state, on Wednesday 11 November 2026 against a planned US$4.8 billion pulp mill by Chile’s CMPC, a major paper and packaging group. They also oppose a state proposal to lift environmental protection from 17.5 hectares of land that opponents say the project needs.
Key Facts
—Who. CMPC, a Chilean pulp and paper group, and environmental groups in Rio Grande do Sul.
—What. Protesters marched on 11 November; some spent an hour inside the state environment agency.
—Number. The mill is valued at R$27 billion (about US$4.8 billion) and still needs a second, installation licence.
—Next. Opponents say a state bill on the 17.5 hectares would block the assembly’s agenda from 4 December.
—Power Index. Brazil ranks 1st of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 74.2 points (November 2026 edition).
A licensing fight over one of Rio Grande do Sul’s biggest private investments is now being argued in the street, in court and in the state legislature.
What Happened in Porto Alegre
The march began at 5 pm at the Esquina Democrática, a central square, and walked to the headquarters of Fepam, the state environmental agency. One local report put the turnout at about 300 people, a figure we could not confirm independently.
According to local reports, a group of marchers went inside the building at around 7 pm, stayed about an hour and hung banners on the second floor. State military police arrived and the group left, and Emerson Prates, who helps coordinate the environmental group Ser Ação, says the exit was peaceful although some officers were rough as people were leaving.
Why the Mill Is Contested
The state government handed over Fepam’s preliminary licence for CMPC’s project, called Projeto Natureza, at a ceremony on 23 October 2026 led by Governor Eduardo Leite. The licence certifies that the plan is environmentally viable at the planning stage but does not allow construction to start.
The state government values the project at R$27 billion (about US$4.8 billion at the 13 November rate of US$0.177 per real) and calls it the largest private investment in the state’s history. It covers a pulp mill at Barra do Ribeiro, a town on Guaíba lake near Porto Alegre, plus a pulp export terminal at the port of Rio Grande worth R$1.5 billion (about US$265 million).
The state says the plant is designed to make 3 million tonnes of bleached eucalyptus pulp a year, and CMPC’s existing mill at Guaíba stays open. The state estimates up to 12,000 workers at the construction peak and about 800 direct jobs in operation, and says these numbers depend on the project going ahead.
In Plain English
- Pulp: wood fibre sold to make paper, tissue and packaging.
- Preliminary licence: an early approval; building still needs an installation licence.
- Removing protection: a legal step that ends the protected status of land so it can be used for something else.
The 17.5 Hectares in Dispute
Paulo Brack, a biologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, says the state government has asked the state legislature to fast-track a bill that would remove protection from 17.5 hectares. He says the bill ties the land to structures for a port terminal and for the system that releases wastewater from the plant.
Brack says Governor Leite sent the urgency request on Friday 6 November and that it became public on Monday 9 November. If lawmakers do not vote by 4 December, he says, the bill blocks the assembly’s agenda; we could not open the bill itself, so these details are reported, not confirmed.
Brack argues that the change would set a precedent for parks and reserves to lose protected land to private projects, and he knows of no earlier case in the state. He also says the land has sandy-coast habitat and animals such as howler monkeys that would need specific studies.
Governor Leite said on 23 October that the licence reflects a rigorous technical analysis by Fepam. We found no response from the government or from CMPC to the protest or to Brack’s criticism.
Court and Consultation Questions
Federal prosecutors filed a civil suit in May 2026 against CMPC, Fepam, the federal government, the land-reform agency Incra and the Indigenous affairs agency Funai. They argue that licensing went ahead without consulting fishing, Indigenous and quilombola communities, which were historically formed by descendants of enslaved people.
The suit also says the company’s studies treated only a 5-kilometre radius around the plant as directly affected. Prosecutors say that ignores how water and fish move between Guaíba lake, the Lagoa dos Patos lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean.
Prates says the environmental impact study has gaps and that consultation with Indigenous communities was flawed. Fepam’s president, Renato Chagas, said at the 23 October ceremony that the process was conducted with rigour and transparency and took public contributions into account.
What It Means for You
Investors following CMPC, a Chilean producer of eucalyptus pulp, should read the licence as progress but not a green light, because the installation licence, the court case and the legislative vote are all still open. We found no official statistic published this week that bears directly on the dispute, so the project’s own estimates are the only figures available.
Buyers of paper and packaging in the United States will see no pulp from Barra do Ribeiro until the mill clears licensing and is built. The next checkpoints are the reported 4 December date for the bill and any Fepam decision on the installation licence, for which no date has been published.
What Is Not Known
It is not confirmed how many people marched, whether the bill’s text matches Brack’s description when the legislature will vote or what the current status of the federal suit is. We also found no statement from the police on the protest and no response from CMPC.
Related coverage includes our report on the CMPC licence in Brazil and the analyst view in a bank’s downgrade of CMPC. Background is on the Empresas CMPC company profile, our Brazil news page and our Chile news page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CMPC’s Projeto Natureza?
It is a planned pulp mill at Barra do Ribeiro, near Porto Alegre, which the state says is designed to make 3 million tonnes of bleached eucalyptus pulp a year. The state government values the project at R$27 billion (about US$4.8 billion).
Has the mill been approved to start building?
Not yet. The state handed over a preliminary licence on 23 October 2026, which does not allow construction, and the company still needs an installation licence.
What does removing protection from 17.5 hectares mean?
It would end the protected status of the land so that port and wastewater structures could be built on it. A biologist who opposes the plan says the bill is on an urgent track in the state legislature.
Who is challenging the licensing in court?
Federal prosecutors filed a civil suit in May 2026 asking for prior consultation with fishing, Indigenous and quilombola communities. The suit names CMPC, Fepam, the federal government and two federal agencies.
Sources: Fepam press release on the preliminary licence, 23 October 2026; Rio Grande do Sul state government release, 23 October 2026; Federal Prosecution Service civil suit, May 2026; statements by Paulo Brack and Emerson Prates on 11 and 12 November 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error
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