Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could generate business opportunities worth US$11 trillion and around US$1.4 trillion in investments. These were some of the data presented at the Chennai 2016 – WBCSD Council Meeting, biannual event of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which ends this Friday (7) in Chennai, in southern India.
The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) represented Brazil at the meeting, which was attended by 350 participants, including 40 CEOs from major global economic groups. According to CEBDS president Marina Grossi, the strong turnout of important CEOs at the event demonstrates the willingness of companies to play a leading role in addressing major global sustainability issues.
Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever and considered the CEO of Sustainability, agrees with Grossi's position. He stated that governments are beginning to recognize that, without the participation of the private sector, the Paris Agreement would not have been successful. “The presence of business leaders was decisive in showing that actions to reverse the effects of climate change are also in the interests of business,” explained Polman, warning, however, of the need to scale up technologies and business solutions aligned with the low-carbon economy.
BRAZILIAN PARTICIPATION HIGHLIGHTS EFFICIENCY IN WATER USE
This Thursday (6), the CEBDS presented the study in Chennai “Water use efficiency – Opportunities for companies and financial institutions”.
“We presented 14 technologies that, applied to the ten sectors that consume the most water in Brazil, could bring savings in consumption of around 3% (in agriculture) to 19% (in industry). This represents savings of 4.4 billion cubic meters per year, which, to be viable, requires R$50 billion in investments, of which more than half could be financed by financial institutions, with gains for all involved,” stated Grossi. The technologies indicated include Drip Irrigation for Soybeans, Evaporation by Concentration of Vinasse, Reverse Osmosis, Thermal Distillation, Reforestation, among others.
The implementation of these technologies allows, for example, that in cases of water crisis or reduced supply, a recurring problem in Brazil in recent years, the company is less vulnerable and dependent on the public management of reservoirs and water sources. Solutions like these can increase Brazil's contribution to mitigating the impacts of climate change, bringing with it greater competitiveness and economic security as a bonus.
To learn more, download the free publication “Water use efficiency – opportunities for companies and financial institutions”, produced by CEBDS in partnership with the German cooperation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): http://bit.ly/2cXl5p7
