Municipal environmental policies: an analysis of state capacities in municipalities in Rio de Janeiro based on the ecological ICMS
ICMS-Ecológico; State Capacities; Environmental; Public Policies
At a time of climate emergency and widespread concern about environmental issues, this research aims to analyze municipal administrations and their actions on the agenda, structures, and state capacities. The main driver of this analysis will be the legislation on the ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services)-Ecological. The capacities of municipalities will be investigated based on the actions of each one to comply with the norms of the legislation, but in addition to being an instrument of investigation, the ICMS-E itself will be the object of study, in order to understand its influence or lack thereof on the increase in investment and attention given by municipalities to the environmental agenda. Through direct contact with the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), I obtained data on the municipal collection of funds from the 92 municipalities of Rio de Janeiro from the ecological ICMS between 2012 and 2023. Based on this data, I constructed a first section, with rankings and comparison tables between municipal collections, investigating hypotheses about adaptation to criteria and changes in management standards. In the construction of the rankings, some municipalities stand out positively and negatively, and generate interest in understanding what is behind each performance. After the first general session, 3 municipalities with distinct performances and characteristics were selected: Niterói as a positive highlight, Itaperuna as a negative highlight and Valença, a middle ground between the two. Comparisons will be made with the 3 highlights for future investigations, with a deeper understanding of the concept of state capacities.