The Environmental, the Social, Governance and Ignorance

In 2004, as a result of a provocation by the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to a group of executives from large financial institutions, the terminology, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), or simply Environmental and Social Governance, emerged in our country. language. What seemed new, however, in Brazilian agriculture we have called good production practices for years.

Brazil is, without a doubt, the territorial space with the greatest opportunities when it comes to sustainable production. However, our sustainability is not in the future, but has been with us since the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988. And the results of this conservationist essence are expressed in numbers that impress and attract the world's curiosity.

In terms of land use and occupation, for example, we are an exponent of agricultural production and still preserve an area equivalent to more than 43 European countries. Although many try to force the idea of ​​a dichotomy between these two themes, the truth is that we teach sustainable production, and in this field of activity, a nation has not yet emerged on the globe that can be considered our benchmark.

We preserve 66% of our soil covered by vegetation, with more than a quarter of our country's territory preserved within private properties. Here, in Brazil, rural producers voluntarily inform their legal reserve and permanent preservation areas to inspection bodies, through the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), subjecting themselves to interpretations and state control. It is therefore clear that the good ones are the majority!

In another very different scenario are European countries. According to the European Environment Agency, the bloc uses up to 80% of its land for agriculture, forestry and infrastructure. Despite constantly calling for a leading role in the debate on the environmental agenda, the truth is that the nations of the Old Continent should know better about our good practices.

From another perspective, that of CO2 emissions, in 2021 Brazil released almost 993 million tons in the “emissions due to land use change” group, while the United States and Europe together released more than 10 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. by the use of fossil fuels and industrial activity (Global Carbon Project). It is curious that this alarming fact is not minimally explored.

And what can we say about the level of economic liberalism of our agricultural production? Just analyze the R$ 13 billion disbursed by the Treasury in the last Safra Plan, money that is applied in the form of equalization of interest rates, in view of the direct payments that are made by the European bloc to its farmers, which from 2010 to 2014 represented something around 35% of the European Union budget.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) or Common European Agricultural Policy, foresees a budget of €2021 billion for the period from 2027 to 365, distributed to farmers in the form of direct contributions, with a stipulated annual limit of up to €100,000 per individual.

Naturally we have challenges, adjustments and rearrangements to make, but our results in the environmental area are palpable. Concrete. Indisputable.

So, when we come across prominent figures from the Brazilian State, responsible for increasing our external competitiveness, promoting exports and investments and promoting sustainable development, attacking the sector that is the basis of the country's economy, we ask ourselves: would it be the absence of specific knowledge; literary ignorance or mere prejudiced incivility? In any case, seduction by the spotlight cannot supplant our objectives as a Nation, at the risk of never being respected for who we are.

By Lucas Costa Beber, vice-president of Aprosoja-MT