Do clean development mechanisms promote sustainable development in Brazil? a cross-sectoral investigation

Purpose This paper intends to verify the extent which Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects intend contribute sustainable development (SD) in Brazil, one of top three leading countries terms number CDM projects. The authors assess impact CDMs not only environmental aspects, but also social and economic ones. Design/methodology/approach define a set qualitative sustainability indicators scrutinize documents regarding sample almost half all registered Brazil between 2004 2020 (219 projects). Findings findings this study contradict many previous studies finding very limited evidence SD different countries: most some with SD, 91% 75% claiming improve respectively. Practical implications derive lessons from that can be used other researches. Social propose paths for public policy toward encouraging development. Originality/value empirical data relies on collected directly each (roughly them) 2020. is up date, pushes further analytical scope works.