[3] One of the party's founding members was the journalist and former anti-dictatorship revolutionary Fernando Gabeira (a federal deputy between 1995 and 2011), Alfredo Sirkis and Carlos Minc.

Among the main items on PV's agenda are federalism, environmentalism, human rights, a form of direct democracy, parliamentarism, welfare, civil liberties, pacifism and marijuana legalization under specific conditions.

It was founded by environmentalists and other activists from social movements, taking as their most expressive leaders Carlos Minc, who soon returned to the PT, Fernando Gabeira, Alfredo Sirkis, Domingos Fernandes, Jose Luiz de France Penna, and Mr. Sarney Filho.

After Lula's election as president of Brazil in 2002, the Green Party was assigned the Ministry of Culture, to which pop singer Gilberto Gil was appointed.

For the Brazilian general election of 2018 the party formed with Sustainability Network the coalition United to transform Brazil, in support of the candidacy of Marina Silva.

Gilberto Gil, the former Minister of Culture in Lula's government is nonetheless a member of the party, and President of National PV is the Potiguar Jose Luiz de France Penna, which succeeded the former councilor Rio Alfredo Sirkis, a former Municipal Secretary of Environment and Municipal Secretary of Urbanism of Rio de Janeiro (also former candidate for President of the Republic by PV in 1998), in different administrations of Cesar Maia.

Some critics of the administration of Penna in national PV were threatened with expulsion or expelled, as Paulo Moraes and Francis of Assisi (ex-pres.