CEBDS president Marina Grossi led a panel at COP26 on the importance of companies taking initiatives and also becoming protagonists in achieving the goal of climate neutrality, on the morning of Wednesday, 3/11.
They were present at the meeting Erasmo Carlos Battistella, President and CEO of BSBIOS Industry and Commerce of Biodiesel South Brazil S/A; Gilberto Tomazoni, CEO of JBS; and Marcelo Behar, Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs at Natura &Co.
At the panel, everyone was unanimous in saying that Brazil has the capacity to lead and unite around a common goal: achieving climate neutrality. “Brazil now has the solutions to achieve climate neutrality and still keep the forest standing. The most important thing is that we have shorter-term goals, by 2025, 2030 and so on, with the implementation of concrete actions, considering the competitive potential that our country has”, says the president of CEBDS, Marina Grossi.
Erasmo Battistella cited the adoption of biofuels in transportation as an example as a viable alternative to reducing emissions. The CEO of BSBIOS highlighted that the production of 40 billion liters of biodiesel has already been responsible for reducing greenhouse gases by 43 billion tons. Erasmo also commented on green diesel, which can replace aviation kerosene. “We cannot miss the opportunities to help reduce emissions worldwide and also generate green jobs. Green GDP will raise consumption to another level,” he emphasized.
Economically speaking, CEBDS believes that a total of up to US$17 billion could be generated in the country from nature-based businesses by 2030. For Marcelo Behar, it is necessary to provide real visibility of what is happening in the Amazon, including deforestation, emphasizing that it is possible to change this scenario with the support of local communities. “Since the Paris Agreement, the goal has been to preserve tropical forests and one of the ways to do this is to make communities guardians of their own forest. Natura has already been doing this and bringing benefits to communities so that they can be part of the solution,” says Behar.
According to Gilberto Tomazoni, CEO of JBS, it is essential to monitor the supply chain so that they comply with issues such as slave labor, indigenous areas, among others. “Today, out of 80,000 suppliers, around 11,000 are blocked for not complying with our compliance rules,” he emphasizes. According to Tomazoni, by 2025, the entire supply chain will be monitored, and consequently all biomes, through the use of blockchain. To this end, the company has created 15 green offices to support producers and suppliers so that they voluntarily comply with all compliance standards, including issues such as illegal deforestation. “Each of the farms will be carbon neutral. We are in the process of improving a calculator that will be able to verify the emissions and carbon reduction of each property, based on the number of animals, degraded areas, among others.”
The panel, entitled “Role of the business sector in achieving climate neutrality”, opened the event “The relevance of the private sector in strengthening global climate action” which also featured the panels “Moving the trillions: aligning finance and public policies for decarbonization” and “New forms of climate finance: Instruments, opportunities and innovation to unlock the new economy”.
In the second panel, representatives of We Mean Business, from the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), from the BRF, from the Sitawi Sustainable Finance and from JGP Credit discussed financing the decarbonization of the global economy, which requires alignment between global investments of 20 billion dollars annually, public policies and investment portfolios.
At the closing table, Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), Bradesco, Bayer Latin America, OK It is Climate Ventures They spoke about the need for technological innovations, business models and new financing instruments to enable the decarbonization of global production chains.
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In April of this year, CEBDS launched the positioning “Climate Neutrality: A Great Opportunity”, which reiterates that a more ambitious goal of climate neutrality for 2050 will bring gains to Brazil in several segments: economy, with the generation of green jobs and growing investments in low-carbon solutions; commercial, with more solid negotiating power compared to its main competitors; environmental, encouraging the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG); and reputational.
