Editor's Note: In the coming year, RANE will analyze the geopolitics of natural resources and raw materials. This series will be published periodically throughout the remainder of 2026; you can find all parts here . Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pursued a delicate balancing act between promoting green initiatives and expanding extractive industries that will persist if he is reelected, but the election of a right-wing president would shift priorities toward deregulation and alignment with the United States and away from environmental protection and geopolitical neutrality. After taking office for a third term at the start of 2023, Lula indicated a break from the environmental rollbacks of his predecessor, President Jair Bolsonaro. Among other things, Lula's leftist government restored deforestation monitoring, reactivated the Amazon Fund after a four-year freeze and appointed Marina Silva, one of Brazil's most recognized environmentalists, as head of the environment ministry.