At a CEBDS Leaders Council event, Peter Bakker, CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), recommended the pricing of systemic risks in markets and called for greater quality and consistency in environmental, social and governance data to attract investments foreigners
Rio de Janeiro, July 1, 2020 – Main executive of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) – an organization present in 36 countries and representative of more than 200 business groups –, Peter Bakker defended, this Wednesday (1st), profound changes in the market to positively impact people and the planet, in the face of the current health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. These are political, technological, business model changes, among others, that will allow for greater resilience in extreme events.
In a meeting with CEOs of Brazilian and multinational companies that are members of the Council of Leaders of CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development), Bakker recommended that systemic risks be priced in the markets in order to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies. “To achieve this, collaboration between companies, finance and governments is necessary”, stated the CEO of WBCSD.
One of the ways – including to attract international investments – is to expand and improve the quality and consistency of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data and the disclosure of climate risks, in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). “Covid-19 accelerated several macro trends that we had already identified. The way we respond to challenges now will lead us into the next decade”, said the executive, pointing out some priority transformation systems.
“Businesses need to develop solutions that can scale in some systems: decarbonized energy, circular economy, food, mobility and what we call social contracts, which includes issues linked to diversity, for example, in addition to a change in capitalism, now more aimed at interested parties”, explained Bakker, highlighting the importance, for example, of economic and social protection of value chains in the face of the current health crisis.
Mediator in the dialogue between the CEO of the WBCSD and the executives, the president of the CEBDS, Marina Grossi, highlighted the proposal to create carbon pricing mechanisms – coordinated with the Ministry of Economy – in the current Brazilian business agenda and pointed out social inequality as the country's biggest challenge. For Bakker, there are great opportunities for Brazil with renewable energy and the development of a carbon market.
The deforestation of the Amazon and the consequent negative image of Brazil among foreign investors are issues that must be prioritized by business leaders and that will require articulated and joint actions between the public and private sectors, in the view of the WBCSD CEO. “No individual company has the capacity to promote large-scale change. But together they are capable of addressing transformations with impact, including the definition of public policies that leverage the sustainable development agenda”, he stated.
Among the leaders who participated in the meeting were André Araujo (CEO of Shell), André Clark (CEO of Siemens Energy), Andrea Alvares (VP of Natura), Marcos Bicudo (chair of CEBDS and CEO of Vedacit), Mauricio Adade (CEO of DSM), Orson Ledezma (CEO of Ecolab) and Tania Cosentino (CEO of Microsoft).
The Leaders Council webinar was broadcast in English (without translation) and is available on the CEBDS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CEBDSBR.
ABOUT CEBDS
The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) is a non-profit civil association that promotes sustainable development through articulation with governments and civil society, in addition to disseminating the most current concepts and practices on the subject. Founded in 1997, it brings together around 60 of the largest business groups in the country, responsible for more than 1 million direct jobs. It represents in Brazil the network of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which has almost 60 national and regional councils in 36 countries and 22 industrial sectors, in addition to 200 business groups that operate in all continents. More information: https://cebds.org/.
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