"SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva, a globally recognized climate leader, said she was stepping down Wednesday from her role in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration to run for Congress later this year.
Under Brazilian election law, ministers must leave office six months ahead the Oct. 4 national election. Silva will be succeeded by João Paulo Ribeiro Capobianco, an environmentalist who has been serving as executive secretary at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
“I fulfilled the tasks assigned to me, which involved rebuilding and moving forward Brazil’s environmental policy following years of decline,” she said in an Instagram post.
Silva, who was first elected to Congress in 1994 and again in 2022, added that she was resuming her mandate as a lawmaker and would work for Lula’s reelection."
Gabriela Sá Pessoa reports for the Associated Press April 1, 2026.
