Take the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for people's daily lives. This was the message from the president of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), Marina Grossi, in the panel “Rio and its paths to sustainability”. The debate, which took place at the Rio Art Museum on the morning of Friday (9), opened the first edition of the Sustainable Turnaround in Rio de Janeiro.
In front of a packed auditorium, the president of CEBDS highlighted the importance of translating sustainability and its numerous issues into other languages, involving more people.
“Dand I wish that everyone talks about sustainability, that everyone understands the subject. In this sense, Virada is an important laboratory, even more so when guided by the SDGs. The spirit of Virada is to think about the future”, highlighted Grossi. For her, sustainability will be fully implemented when it becomes an everyday issue and has the capacity to “turn” ideas and transform individuals.
Economist and professor at PUC-Rio, Sérgio Besserman, and executive leader of Agência Juntos, Marta Porto, also presented their views. “The SDGs are included in all activities proposed by Virada. This only reinforces the idea that the SDGs should not be restricted to the institutional elite, they should take to the streets,” said Besserman.
Furthermore, the professor stressed the need to decarbonize the economy. “The transition to a low-carbon economy is a great opportunity for Brazil and Rio is an expression of this sustainable power,” he declared.
Porto brought a new perspective to the debate. “Art, culture and human rights must be at the heart of the SDGs. Brazil is capable of killing more people than in Syria. This is not sustainable, it is not possible to maintain this level of violence and violation,” he stressed. The panel was moderated by the president of the board of Greenpeace Brazil, Marcella Monteiro.
On the first day of Virada Sustentável, CEBDS technical advisors André Ramalho and Laura Albuquerque were also panelists on the topics of water resources and climate change. See below.
Water Panel
The Virada brought together different voices in the debate based on SDG 6. Despite this, the main focus of the discussion was the same: the solution to efficient management of water resources is collective action.
André Ramalho, biologist and coordinator of the CEBDS Thematic Chambers on Water and Biodiversity, recalled that several regions in the country have recently experienced periods of water shortages. For him, we now have the opportunity to prepare for the next period of scarcity.
His presentation provided a suggestion for the debate on efficient water management.”One way is to invest in natural infrastructure combined with gray infrastructure.. To achieve this, we need to act collectively, sharing investments, intelligence and learning”, highlighted the CEBDS advisor.
Another topic discussed was the decontamination of Guanabara Bay. Sérgio Ricardo, founder of the Baía Viva movement, highlighted the contributions that such an action will make to the mobility of the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region. Isabel Swan, Olympic sailor and associate of the Rumo Náutico Institute, was emphatic. “We need to create a pact with corporate support and social engagement to have our Guanabara Bay healthy again.” Estela Neves, a professor in the Postgraduate Program in Public Policies, Strategies and Development at UFRJ, added, citing the cases of decontamination of the Thames River in England; the Seine River in France; and the Rhine River in Switzerland and Germany.
Joel de Oliveira, director of O2eco, highlighted the need to think about disruptive technologies, pointing out that water treatment methods in Brazil have not changed much in the last 30 years. He presented TWC, which is up to 5 times cheaper than any other water cleaning technology in the world.
Rubens Filho, communications coordinator for Instituto Trata Brasil, provided data on basic sanitation in the country. “Every day, Brazil dumps 5,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools of untreated sewage into our water. Around 42% of the country’s sewage is treated, and the rest is dumped into our rivers, lakes and seas,” he explained.
Climate Change Panel: Innovation and Future
Starting from the SDG 9 It is 13, the climate change panel discussed the decarbonization of the economy and presented cases of successful carbon management in large companies, such as braskem, our associate, and Duratex.
Laura Albuquerque, coordinator of the Thematic Chambers on Climate Change and Energy and Sustainable Finance at CEBDS, outlined a history of international climate agreements and commented on the study Opportunities and challenges of the Brazilian NDC targets for the business sector, launched by CEBDS with support from We Mean Business.
“We cannot talk about the Paris Agreement without mentioning the recent withdrawal of the United States. This affects the construction and multilateral dialogue that has taken place in recent years. It is terrible news for the world, but for CEBDS and its national and international partners, the commitment has not changed. It's time to reaffirm the agenda. We believe that the transition to a low-carbon economy is irreversible,” he emphasized.
The director of CDP, Juliana Lopes, reinforced the need to implement sustainable finance mechanisms. “Countries that adopt carbon pricing will grow better and faster. The investment community has already indicated that it will divest from the most carbon-intensive activities and will direct these resources to activities with lower emissions rates. Brazil has a great opportunity to get ahead, it is a new market opening up”, she pointed out.
Andrea Lopes, an environmental specialist at Firjan, cited the case of the 2011 rains in the mountainous region of Rio, which, in addition to the loss of lives, caused losses of R$4 billion. “A low-carbon economy will only be possible through innovation, the use of renewable energy and raw materials, and efficiency in all industrial processes,” she argued.
Jorge Soto, Braskem’s director of sustainable development, presented the mitigation and adaptation actions implemented by the company. He also called on everyone to rethink their attitudes in favor of a more sustainable world.
Bruna Fernandes, Sustainability Specialist at Duratex, shared how the company manages carbon throughout its production chain. The director of Instituto-E, Nina Braga, argued that it is necessary to change the paradigm of sustainable products. The panel was moderated by journalist Janine Saponara.
Sustainable Turnaround
Virada Sustentável is a collaborative mobilization movement in favor of sustainability. It originated in São Paulo and is now in its seventh edition there. Manaus, Valinhos and Porto Alegre have also hosted the festival, which involves everything from cultural collectives to companies in its articulation.
This year, the concept of Virada is based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, defined by the UN. The first edition in Rio de Janeiro began this Friday (9) and continues until next Sunday (11). In schedule, hundreds of free activities that reach 84 neighborhoods in the city.
