On Wednesday morning (19), the Business Climate Initiative (IEC) held a meeting in São Paulo to discuss topics that will be discussed at the UN Conference of the Parties (COP22), which takes place from November 7 to 18 in Marrakesh, Morocco. The Brazilian Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the challenges and paths for its implementation were the most discussed points at the meeting.
The director of the Climate Change department of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), Adriano Santhiago, presented the goals established in the NDC for the different productive sectors, such as the use of new standards of clean technologies and energy efficiency measures for the industrial sector, using as one of his references the study developed by the CEBDS Leaders Council, “Efficient consumption of electrical energy”.
"Our country was one of the few developing countries to present an absolute emissions reduction target. Our NDC is ambitious, and we rely heavily on private sector contributions to achieve it," Santhiago emphasized. The MMA director also emphasized that the business sector has shown strong commitment to helping Brazil achieve the NDC targets, with strong support from civil society and intense coordination between ministries in the federal government.
Brazil faces a series of challenges, including leveraging innovative financing instruments for sustainable activities, as Nicolette Bartlet, Director of Carbon Pricing at the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), stated. "It is essential to monetize climate risks so that the financial sector becomes an integral part of the drive for decarbonization of the economy," she noted.
Nicolette Bartlet highlighted that carbon pricing is present in more than 50% of the NDCs submitted by countries that ratified the Paris Agreement, which could further boost the decarbonization of the global economy. "For the global carbon market, as suggested by Article Six of the Agreement, to be successful, we must work to ensure the demand for credits, not so much their supply. The Paris Agreement introduced a bottom-up and global carbon pricing will come in the same way. Each country needs to do its own thing," he concluded.
In Brazil, the CDP director emphasized, the private sector has taken the lead in implementing the carbon pricing mechanism. "It's important that the country learns from markets that have faced challenges, such as Europe and California," she warned.
According to Lilia Caiado, technical advisor to the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), the meeting held this Wednesday is part of a series of actions aimed at preparing the business sector for participation in COP 22. "Having completed all the necessary procedures to ratify the Paris Agreement in Brazil, our priority now is to prepare companies to contribute to the implementation of the Brazilian NDC and work to advance the carbon pricing agenda in the country. And to this end, it is essential to follow the debate held within the COPs," she explained.
The IEC is formed by CEBDS, CDP, Instituto Ethos, FGV Center for Sustainability Studies (GVces), Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Global Compact Rede Brasil and Envolverde.
