We cannot fall behind in the search for a more sustainable development model
By Marina Grossi*
The world is going through a decisive period. The world's major economies are moving, with different speeds and ambitions, towards a green economy, that is, towards a development model based on low-carbon energy sources, the most rational use possible of environmental assets and the training of citizens who assimilate and implement the guidelines and actions on this inexorable path of change.
At the latest global conferences on major issues – climate, biodiversity, water – experts have set the 2020s as the starting point for countries to consolidate a new institutional configuration capable of stimulating economic activity integrated with the conservation of natural resources and the expansion of social inclusion. These transformations will take place precisely during the next presidential term, from 2015 to 2018.
We have failed in our strategic vision of our future. Historically, the relationship between governments and companies has been limited to business seen in isolation and with very little room for institutionalized, frank and transparent dialogue, open to the participation of civil society. Because it is multifaceted and transversal, sustainable development demands a more democratic State model that is open to other sectors of society. Governments are the drivers and coordinators of processes, always thought of in an integrated manner.
The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) and other national councils that are part of the WBCSD network (acronym in English for the World Council) have adopted the Vision 2050 study as a strategic guideline, which presents a set of concrete recommendations on what we need to do to reach the middle of the century in a position to offer a dignified life to the 9 billion inhabitants who will be living on the planet, without further affecting the environmental assets offered by ecosystems.
Among the study’s recommendations addressed to business, government and other sector leaders, we highlight the need for integration between the various sectors of society, based on the improvement, for example, of Public-Private Partnerships, capable of encompassing the complexity of more sustainable solutions in the long term. The document advocates, for example, replacing the practice of individual lobbying by each company with a “common effort to create stable and balanced long-term fields of action”.
Here in Brazil, we adapted the study and launched the Brazil Vision 2050 during Rio+20, which, like the original document, outlines strategic development guidelines for the next 40 years, but based on our reality. We are now taking the second step towards putting into practice the strategic vision we advocate, with the development of the Action 2020 project. The project consists of building a collaborative business agenda that responds to society's urgent needs in priority areas of sustainable development, with scale and speed in implementing solutions.
The next four years will be decisive in concluding a decade that will require energy and dynamism focused on the vision of sustainability, with the formation of ideas and relationships that will be processed to build a more just and sustainable society. We need to learn to take advantage of our competitive advantages and even our social and environmental demands to transform them into opportunities, generating a virtuous cycle of sustainable development.
In the energy sector, for example, we have the cleanest energy matrix among the world's major economies, but we face the challenge of continuing to grow with increasingly lower levels of CO2 equivalent emissions. To this end, we must encourage energy efficiency and expand the diversification of the energy matrix, promoting auctions for energy sources and regions of the country. We must value wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric energy from small power plants, and reduce dependence on thermoelectric plants powered by fossil fuels. Our potential to expand the energy matrix with clean and renewable sources is recognized worldwide, but we need to find market rules so that these diversification options gain scale and, consequently, have economic viability.
Water is another important asset that deserves more care, both by governments and companies. We have the largest reserve of fresh water available on the planet, but we have transformed this incalculable wealth into a vector for infectious diseases. It is worth remembering that 61.52% of the volume of sewage generated in the 100 largest Brazilian cities does not receive adequate treatment. The daily discharge of billions of liters of untreated sewage into the environment contaminates groundwater, rivers, lakes, mangroves and the most biodiversity-rich areas of the sea and has negative effects on the economy. Waterborne diseases are reflected in the decline in school performance of our children and in the productivity of companies. In other words, the absence of legislation that regulates the socio-environmental return, and not just financial, in the total cost of development will generate a debt that compromises the quality of growth.
In vital areas such as education, mobility and housing, we are also still lacking in large-scale quality transformation. In education, while we are close to universal access to school, especially among our children, we are still far from providing a good education and the essential value that this education deserves. There is still a very significant contingent of illiterate people in the population over 15 years of age (13 million individuals), as well as a significant portion of functional illiterate people.
In terms of mobility, there is a consensus that the solution lies in high-performance mass transit. However, we continue to encourage the use of individual transportation through tax incentives and the provision of special credit. We must reverse this logic and encourage BRTs in the short term and trains and subways in the medium and long term. Our country, due to its urban concentration on the coast and the abundance of rivers in the interior, should also adopt maritime and river transportation more heavily, in addition to making better use of freight transportation by rail. The urgency of infrastructure solutions designed in a systemic manner remains on the agenda of future governments.
Housing policy is still far from overcoming a historic deficit. Projects for large real estate developments under the Minha Casa Minha Vida Program must be designed in an integrated manner with the provision of infrastructure for transportation, sanitation, schools, and health units.
The challenge of the construction model to be adopted by the federal program is to identify the best sustainable techniques and always employ them in pursuit of the quality of life of those who will live in these homes. For a country like ours, where the urban concentration rate exceeds 85%, the urbanization of favelas is an alternative to overcome the challenge of the housing deficit. However, attempts in this direction have proven ineffective, precisely due to the lack of integration between governments and other sectors of society. There is still a huge opportunity for transformation through the adoption of sustainability criteria in public procurement processes, which, by moving 15% of the national GDP, would allow for large-scale impact.
On the social front, Bolsa Família is internationally recognized as one of the most efficient income transfer programs, drastically reducing extreme poverty in the country. However, we already have instruments capable of expanding the positive impact generated by the program. Microfinance projects, combined with financial education initiatives, can serve as a second stage in the process of social inclusion. Public and private financial institutions are authorized to operate in this market, which is still largely unexplored.
A new governance model that truly identifies the most appropriate spaces and paths for dialogue with the different sectors of society will certainly propel us to a more advanced level, in which we are able to preserve and value our environmental and social assets. Water, biodiversity, energy potential, areas available for food production and our cultural diversity represent decisive factors in projecting us as a reference nation in the context of the green economy, the development model of the very near future. We hope that Brazil will be able to exploit its advantages and value sustainability as a competitive advantage to become a better country.
* Marina Grossi is president of CEBDS
