The main opportunities and challenges involved in the theme of decarbonizing the economy in Brazil were discussed by CEBDS, entities and companies during a panel at Climate Week, in New York, on Friday (23). The main topic was the creation of a regulated carbon market, which is essential for adapting the productive sector to the new climate reality. “This discussion is in preparation for COP27, which will be held in November in Egypt. We need to understand the central role of carbon pricing instruments in the market and continue to disseminate content to position the Brazilian business sector in the governance of the climate issue”, highlighted Viviane Romeiro, Technical Advisor for the Climate CT at CEBDS, who moderated the panel.
The debate was promoted by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) with the support of the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, which leads the low-carbon economy agenda, seeking responsibility, competitiveness and inclusion. For José Carlos da Fonseca, Co-Facilitator of the Coalition, discussions on climate issues are essential for competitiveness and the biggest challenge in Brazil is to advance this agenda. “We are all engaged and looking forward to what can be achieved in terms of regulation at COP27. At the same time, we are committed to complementarity between the voluntary and regulated systems,” he stated.
“The voluntary market has voluntary targets. If a company wants to compete in the international market today, it has to have ESG and within E, it has Net Zero. This is a perspective of companies taking on voluntary targets”, explained Ronaldo Seroa da Motta, Professor at the School of Economic Sciences at UERJ. According to him, the tendency is for the regulated market to use the same logic as the voluntary market, that of credit, but with its own rules, processes and methodologies, which does not happen in the voluntary market. “Demand defines what type of credit the company wants, and supply has to find out, this is the uncertainty of the voluntary market and, therefore, prices are only increasing”, he highlighted.
Juliana Lopes, Head of Future Solutions at Future Carbon Group, continued by stating that “economic agents respond to price signals, so the voluntary market and the regulated market are complementary forces”. Juliana highlighted that the voluntary market is essential for educating private actors and that it was possible to mature the understanding that the business sector had on the carbon issue. “We have the role of addressing the current challenges, such as integrity, to avoid double counting, that is, all actors in the voluntary market must commit to making this happen. In this way, we form the basis for a regulated market, because we need price signals on a global scale. For decarbonization, we will have to mobilize between 100 and 150 trillion dollars in the next three decades. Therefore, carbon financing provided by voluntary markets plays a very important role for companies”, she added.
Karen Tanaka, Sustainability Manager at Ambev, added that she presented the company’s innovative projects and stressed that “regulation would accelerate the process. We are talking about a mutual system of collaboration. This could accelerate the direction of investments for the industry as a whole, in all sectors. We need more companies with an appetite for innovation at risk.” Karen also commented on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which covers much more than just the market, “it talks about joint implementations, collaborative instruments as a whole, which we need to be able to access funds from other markets, intelligence and innovations that are not yet available in Brazil.”
To watch the full debate, just access the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nKU-3mZ_Ik
