Brazilian regulators have stepped up their fight against industrial air pollution. The National Environmental Council (Conama) recently drafted the country’s first nationwide air-emissions limits for industry and is expected to approve them in July for immediate implementation. Meanwhile, the heavily industrial state of São Paulo has set up its first-ever emissions trading program.

Both measures target new industrial facilities and thus are not expected to bring across-the-board reductions in industrial air contamination. But experts say they mark a serious attempt to control industrial air pollution at the state and national levels.

“Both the Conama decree and the São Paulo resolution force the industrial sector to adopt more efficient environmental policies and practices to control air pollution,” says Fernando Tabet, an environmental attorney with São Paulo’s Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr. e Quiroga law firm. “But for these initiatives to be effective, they will need government enforcement.”