The debate on a low-carbon economy that is efficient in the use of natural resources and socially inclusive is gaining more importance at the end of the year, when the 21st United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris will negotiate the new global climate agreement. The green economy, which results in improved well-being and social equality, and fewer environmental risks and impacts, is at the center of discussions and actions.
Governments, companies and civil society are seeking a better balance between growth, employment, income and the sustainability of the planet. In this context, public and private investments must contribute to mitigating and reducing carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases.
Aware of the market and regulatory changes that will come as a consequence of the new climate pact, companies in Brazil and around the world are taking steps to reduce the impacts of the new rules of the economic game on their operations. Adopting renewable energy, rejecting deforestation and internally estimating the value (cost) of CO² emissions are among the mantras of global business initiatives that are gaining daily support from corporations in every country in the world.
A significant and growing number of companies are already considering the future scenario of the low-carbon economy in their strategic planning. The development of processes and products that are suited to the growing demands for lower environmental impact is becoming more relevant and requires new approaches to investments, products and corporate marketing. Innovation is required in several aspects, among which technology is fundamental.
Companies have the power and responsibility to make investments, make environmentally correct business solutions viable and, in the Brazilian case, contribute to increasing the country's competitiveness in its resumption of growth in this new global economic cycle that is beginning.
For the first time at a Climate Conference, the business sector was formally called upon to contribute through the Low Carbon Technology Partnerships Initiative (LCTPi), which brings together companies with the aim of identifying opportunities, obstacles and solutions in areas considered strategic for the development of the green economy. The initiative works on technologies in areas with significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but which require an organized international effort to unite the public and private sectors.
To reach Paris with concrete results, it was decided to start the effort in Brazil in five areas considered priorities in terms of technology: renewable energies, advanced biofuels, materials (cement), forests and agriculture.
Work to expand deployment, improve integration and remove barriers to financing renewable energy is being developed by Renova Energia, CPFL Renováveis, Siemens, GE, Schneider Electric, Dow, Itaú and BNDES. They are focused on technologies with great potential for development in Brazil, such as solar photovoltaic, wind, small hydroelectric plants (PCH), solar thermal plants, access to grid (grid) by distributed generation and smart-grid (energy distribution infrastructure).
In the materials area, the objectives are to expand the use of technologies to reduce emissions from cement production, promote opportunities for collaboration and development of partnerships with other sectors whose waste can constitute raw material for alternative fuels, and identify regulatory or financial factors for the effective implementation of low-carbon technologies. Working in this group are the National Cement Industry Union (SNIC), the Brazilian Portland Cement Association (ABCP), and the companies InterCement, Cimentos Liz, and Votorantim Cimentos.
The discussion on advanced biofuels is about bringing companies together to expand the use of innovations that can reduce emissions and help meet the growing demand for energy in a climate-sensitive way. It is necessary to identify and encourage appropriate national and international policies to support the sustainable growth of advanced biofuels. New partnerships and models will attract investment and offer scalable opportunities for projects to be rapidly implemented through public-private partnership initiatives. The technologies being worked on in this case are cellulosic ethanol and palm oil biodiesel, by the Center for Strategic Studies Management (CGEE) and the Brazilian Association of Industrial Biotechnology (ABBI). Companies such as Copersucar, Raízen, Granbio, Novozymes and Solvay are actively participating in the discussions.
In the area of forests, the solutions focus on three aspects. The first is sustainable management, through mechanisms to reduce the rate of deforestation, improve degraded forest landscapes and increase the area under forest cover. The second is innovation and technological development in pulp processing, for which technologies already exist that reduce the intensity of emissions by up to 70%. And the third, mechanisms to increase the demand for forest products that contribute to the growth of sustainably managed forests, without wood originating from deforested areas. The technologies developed in this group by Fibria, Suzano and Votorantim, in addition to the Brazil Climate Forests Agriculture Coalition, aim at the development of native tree species.
In agriculture, the goal is to foster the technical, political and financial conditions for sustainable development, within a new, intelligent approach that seeks to address the challenges of food security and climate. The work aims to help the country migrate more effectively to a low-carbon model, both by adopting new production methods and by developing and applying new technologies. One of the focuses is to build a National Work Plan for the expansion of so-called Low-Carbon Agriculture in Brazil, based on a nationalization and adaptation of the Global Plan that will be taken by LCTPi to COP 21 in Paris.
The technologies used in agriculture include crop-livestock-forest integration, land management, biological nitrogen fixation, increased productivity through the recovery of degraded areas, and ecosystem management to make them more resilient. Participating companies include Banco do Brasil, Monsanto, PepsiCo, Dow, and Grupo André Maggi.
Representatives from the public and private sectors, academics and experts worked together within the scope of LCTPi on October 7th in São Paulo to plan investments and propose actions to implement them. More than 130 people participated in the Brazilian round of this global project, guided by the certainty that the development of low-carbon technologies needs to occur at a level and speed consistent with the greater objective of COP 21, which is to limit global warming to 2°C this century. We cannot miss the opportunity to use the power of technology to green the economy of the country and the world.
