Even in the face of an unprecedented global public health crisis, which attracted all of our attention to the impacts caused by the new coronavirus pandemic, the environment issue never ceased to be on the priority agenda of companies, investors, associations and major world leaders .
This is because, looking at a scenario beyond COVID-19, we are facing the prospect of creating much more resilient business models that benefit from the enormous opportunity of a green economy, with the potential to be a vector of extremely high economic growth. quality.
Brazil, due to its diverse characteristics, innately plays a unique role in the current context. In addition to having in its territory one of the most abundant biomes in biodiversity in the world, we have one of the cleanest energy matrices among nations with a large territorial extension, with almost 50% of the energy consumed here coming from renewable sources – considering electrical energy , this index reaches 80%.
Based on the low marginal cost of renewable energy, Brazil has the potential to explore the commodity of the future: green hydrogen. The Federal Government has taken important steps towards this potential with the establishment of the National Hydrogen Program, which seeks to define a set of actions – involving public policies, technology and the market – that enable the development of a hydrogen economy.
However, alongside such positive data, an uncomfortable observation remains. The image of Brazil abroad is still that the country has not addressed issues such as fires and deforestation with due diligence. This is harmful and occurs at a time that is particularly conducive to attracting international investments. Factors
Together, such as low interest rates in most countries, the advancement of structural reforms in Brazil and the increase in legal security, should favor the injection of foreign resources into various sectors of our economy. However, the country's external image can become an obstacle to these contributions. To a large extent, shareholders of global companies and investment funds reject the possibility of financing projects in a nation that fails to take care of its own natural resources. In addition to the international image, the biggest loser from the continued destruction of our forests is Brazil itself, since the disruption of rainfall regimes is causing the biggest drought in the last 91 years, precisely affecting our ability to produce food and energy.
On the eve of COP-26, actions to prevent global warming beyond 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period become more urgent. As prevention, several companies in Brazil have already adopted measures to reduce and offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, establish internal carbon pricing, decarbonize operations and value chains and invest in green technologies, while establishing ambitious climate neutrality goals. until 2050. It is in this scenario that 80 CEOs of large companies signed the Positioning of the Brazilian Business Sector, which was delivered by CEBDS to the President of COP-26, Alok Sharma, recognizing their responsibilities in transforming the low-carbon economy and demanding high ambition from Brazilian goals.
This external view of Brazilian practices has been consolidated over recent times and could worsen in the post-pandemic world, which will give preference to sustainable value chains, tracking the origin of what we consume and rejecting products from regions that disrespect the environment. and human rights. We need to be ready to compete in an economy of integrity, in which consumers and investors, increasingly
Furthermore, they will give preference to ethical value chains.
Therefore, it is necessary to encourage positive measures within the environmental agenda. The set of actions that companies and entities, often in partnership, have carried out towards a more sustainable economy, such as the letter headed by CEBDS to request action against deforestation in the Amazon, is one of the ways to encourage constant dialogue between government, private initiative and society in favor of sustainable development.
Also in this aspect, Brazil has a great example to share. Renovabio, the Federal Government's national biofuels policy, is the largest carbon pricing program in the world. Companies have the opportunity to learn from this experience, take advantage of this reference, put the concept into practice and do business based on it.
In addition to establishing a discussion channel that promotes the development of sustainable initiatives, companies must also include them in their business objectives. The concept of decarbonization is already strategic for many companies, which are progressively realizing the maxim “green businesses are excellent businesses”.
In the search for processes that release fewer and fewer harmful gases into the atmosphere, many companies have also incorporated technologies that result in greater efficiency and productivity, producing more with the same inputs and directly impacting the success of their businesses. After all, when making investments in assets or hiring services with embedded high technology, they consequently pave the way for sustainable growth.
ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) is not necessarily a new topic, but it has gained more and more prominence, the result of a change in culture that has been strengthening over the years given the prospect of a scarcity of natural resources. Society has shown itself to be attentive to the issue and large investment funds are already demanding a strong positioning on the part of companies, not only in the
speech, but also in actions.
Siemens Energy was created globally to address the changing energy market and we are convinced that a climate-neutral energy supply is not only technologically viable, but also economically profitable.
We take into account an ESG analysis for our engagement with external and internal stakeholders and, globally, through our environmental portfolio, we helped our clients reduce their emissions by more than 48 million tons of carbon dioxide during the fiscal year of 2019 (October 1, 2018 to September 31, 2019).
We are in favor of carbon pricing and are already advancing and systematically working towards CO2 neutrality in our own operations to be an exponent of global decarbonization. Among the measures to achieve this objective, we have an internal project to price the cost that each area of Siemens Energy in Brazil
has at the CO2 level, which are reverted to a low carbon fund. Furthermore, here in the country, we reduced our emissions by 50% in the period from 2014 to 2020, with a clear goal of reaching 100% by the year 2030. With these actions, we aim to accompany our customers towards an increasingly sustainable future.
Pricing the carbon emissions of their operations, investing in so-called green technologies and positively influencing their peers to do the same is a strategic path for companies that intend to remain successful in the long term. Brazil, as a nation, is faced with a unique opportunity to follow a modern, innovative and competitive development path to continue being an example of sustainability, we just need to take advantage of it systematically.
By André Clark
President of Siemens Energy Brazil
