To reinforce its role of mobilizing the capital market in sustainability and climate responsibility actions, B3 joined the Climate Commitment Program, now collaborating with Itaú Unibanco, Natura and Instituto Ekos Brasil for more responsible corporate actions.
Together, the organizations will gain scale by offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions, fostering a low-carbon economy in Brazil. With more organizations participating, more socio-environmental projects can also be supported, consequently increasing the benefits to the environment and society.
“The Climate Commitment Program is even stronger from now on. It is very gratifying to have B3 as a partner in this initiative due to its potential to mobilize the Brazilian capital market. The private sector has a fundamental role in promoting spaces for transformation, in favor of a greener, more inclusive and more sustainable economy”, says Denise Hills, Chief Sustainability Consultant at Itaú Unibanco.
One new feature of this new partnership is a guaranteed discount on the Program membership fee for companies participating in the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) and the Carbon Efficient Index (ICO2). In addition, workshops and training will also be offered exclusively to this group of corporations. “With the arrival of B3, the Program gains an important boost in favor of a new economy. Over more than a decade as a Carbon Neutral company, we know that it is possible to amplify the effectiveness of our actions if we work alongside partners with the same goal,” says Keyvan Macedo, Sustainability Manager at Natura.
“For B3, it is an honor and a responsibility to become an institutional partner of the Climate Commitment Platform, alongside Itaú and Natura. We believe that the initiative has great potential to leverage the necessary transition towards a low-carbon economy and, in this context, we will work together with listed companies and investors to further develop this market,” says Sonia Favaretto, Director of Press, Sustainability, Communication and Social Investment at B3.
Understand the Climate Commitment
In 2017, Itaú Unibanco and Natura, with the support of Instituto Ekos Brasil, entered into an unprecedented partnership and launched the Climate Commitment Notice, selecting projects that reduce emissions and generate social and environmental benefits to offset their inevitable emissions from production processes.
Since then, these organizations have been working to promote participating projects, sharing learning through the unprecedented Ekos Social Platform, which connects companies and selected projects.
Thus, what began as a collaboration notice between the two companies became a Program that opened its possibilities to other companies, in order to expand the positive impact of the actions, which was already being experienced by the first participants.
The Program is now working to attract new companies. The goal? To scale up its climate change mitigation actions, while also expanding the benefits for the environment and society.
How to participate
Participation in the Program is open to private organizations of all sizes. To join, interested organizations should contact Instituto Ekos Brasil to learn about the different types of participation.
A new call for proposals will be launched to attract projects, which should occur during the first half of 2019. One of the Program's distinguishing features is its collaborative management model. Thus, the organizations that support the Program will participate in decision-making and in defining how projects should be evaluated.
At the end of the call for proposals, participating organizations will be able to learn about the socio-environmental impacts and risks of each project. All of this will be made available by Instituto Ekos Brasil on the Ekos Social Platform. This will make choosing projects easier and safer, since the evaluation will be carried out by experts based on solid socio-environmental and governance criteria.
