The second day of the annual meeting of national councils associated with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) was marked by the launch of Lisbon Declaration, an international agreement through which organizations commit to working together with their associated companies at local level, to protect, promote and restore biodiversity. The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development is one of the signatory organizations of the Declaration.
“Brazilian companies are taking the lead to promote the message that biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use are intrinsically linked to the economic development of our megadiverse country. The Lisbon Declaration is putting us on this path, bringing together what is necessary to contain the loss of biodiversity on a global scale”, said Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS.
Corporate Mobility Pact
The WBCSD, together with the city of Lisbon and several companies, launched on Tuesday, 10/15, the Corporate Mobility Pact, which will provide a platform for public-private collaboration. The objective is to implement mobility solutions and accelerate the transformation of sustainable urban mobility. All CMP stakeholders commit to upholding the core principles of collaboration, engagement, transparency and security.
The mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, highlighted that a city can only proclaim itself sustainable if it is capable of guaranteeing a future for those who live there and defended measures to contain global warming.
“When we need to deal with climate change, we need to consider all dimensions: production, construction, mobility and energy consumption. All of them are connected to the city, which is where 80% of the energy is consumed. The good news is that the technology is behaving much better than we expected”, he added.
WBCSD CEO Peter Baker reinforced the urgency of climate issues. “Climate change no longer exists. Now it's a climate emergency. Social tensions are rising and trust is under stress. We need to act.”
Transforming business
Another highlight of the day was the panel Transforming Core Business: We are doing enough, which was attended by Natura's VP of Marketing, Andrea Alvares, one of the companies associated with CEBDS. For the executive, this is a joint process between different actors.
“It is not possible to reduce the burden of transformation to one or the other because we think that someone needs to take the lead. The easiest, but time-consuming, path requires everyone's alignment. You need strong government, strong business and strong civil society. It's not all business. It’s an ‘and’.”
