ABC Plan will have national monitoring center

This is the headquarters of the Multi-institutional Platform for Monitoring Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions resulting from the actions of the ABC Plan (ABC Platform).

The coordination is strategically located at the Embrapa Meio Ambiente facilities, in Jaguariúna (SP), and will help with the commitment of the Sector Plan for Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change for the Consolidation of a Low Carbon Emission Economy in Agriculture (ABC Plan ).

According to the general head of Embrapa Meio Ambiente, Marcelo Morandi, the platform will be a factor in aggregating skills of the institutions involved in monitoring the ABC Plan.

The competencies of Embrapa and several partner institutions will be allocated, capable of generating information for robust monitoring of GHG emissions reduction estimates committed to the ABC Plan. The platform is responsible for collecting, organizing, analyzing, storing and ensuring the security of information and estimates. To this end, the ABC Platform will have a steering committee, which will be responsible for defining its macro-strategic guidelines and monitoring its operation.

The Committee will be composed of seven members representing the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAP), who will act as president, and as Executive Secretary, a representative appointed by Embrapa's Executive Board. The Ministry of the Environment (MMA), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), Climate Network, institutions of the banking system (central bank ou Bank of Brazil), in addition to civil society and the private agricultural sector, indicate one natural member each.

The emissions monitoring system is considered a strategic component for the ABC Plan. Efficient monitoring will be the only way for the country to prove how and in what quantity the Brazilian agriculture and livestock sectors will be reconciling production and sustainability in the same package.

"The correct use of monitoring strategies is extremely important, so that they can guarantee that reductions are properly calculated, accounted for and capable of being proven in 2020, including for international audit checks," says researcher Celso Vainer Manzatto, from Embrapa Environment, who will be the technical responsible for the ABC Platform,

He also highlighted the technical-scientific challenge of the Platform for establishing monitoring mechanisms - Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV). These mechanisms must internationally prove compliance with these commitments under discussion at NAMAS (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions), as a way of increasing the participation of developing countries in the effort to reduce (GHG) emissions. To this end, Manzatto explained that the Committee will also have a fundamental role in the dialogue and mobilization of public and private institutions.

The headquarters is the result of the collaboration that began in 2010 between Embrapa, MMA and Mapa and the inauguration will be attended by the company's president, Maurício Antônio Lopes and several authorities.

Mitigation and adaptation

ABC is a sectoral plan that seeks to organize, plan and program actions so that, through incentives for the adoption of sustainable production systems and technologies, it is possible for rural producers to combine production with environmental suitability, enabling economic viability in rural activity .

The Plan is made up of seven programs related to mitigation technologies and adaptation actions to climate change. They are: crop-livestock-forest integration (ILPF), direct planting system (SPD), recovery of degraded pasture areas, treatment of animal waste, planted forests, biological nitrogen fixation (FBN), and finally, adaptation to climate change.

These production systems, combined or not, are capable of responding to the responsibilities assumed by the country, voluntarily, in 2009, in Denmark, during the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP-15).

On that occasion, Brazil signed a commitment to reduce GHG emissions in the country between 36,1% and 38,9% of those expected for 2020, with 2005 as the base year. The proposed commitments for agriculture that constitute the basis of the ABC Plan, have an estimated potential for GHG mitigation in the order of 133,9 to 162,9 million tons CO₂ equivalent.

Brazil's leading role

The structural planning for carrying out GHG mitigation processes is the result of a coordinated effort. Researcher Eduardo Delgado Assad, from Embrapa Informática Agropecuária (SP), has participated in discussions for the implementation of the ABC Plan since 2009.

He says that all stages of the project and the implementation of the Plan included the direct involvement of the Federal Government, ministries and departments related to the topic, universities, third sector entities, funding bodies, research institutes, in addition to Embrapa.

The researcher assesses that the ABC Plan places Brazil as a global protagonist in reducing greenhouse gases from agriculture and that few countries have similar planning. "While the world is still discussing crop-livestock integration systems (ILP), or crop-livestock-forest integration – (ILPF), Brazil has been promoting and studying these systems for more than three decades", highlights Assad.

Scenarios with areas of soil degradation, seen in the 1980s, mobilized researchers who ended up offering more sustainable production systems for Brazilian agriculture, in which increases in animal and plant productivity began to coexist with the possibility of preserving natural resources.

Thanks to the effort to implement low-emission production technologies, Brazil today has 92 Technological Reference Units and more than three million hectares where these systems have been adopted.

"This is an opportunity that the country cannot give up. It is a valuable asset to be handled with extreme care. We are not only dealing with the possibility of producing meat, grains and fiber, but also adding a green footprint to these products , with the seal of good production practices, in a market that yearns for this," explained Assad.

Manzatto agrees. For him, there is a way to go, which involves developing mechanisms for monitoring GHG emissions reductions, to evaluate the effectiveness of the ABC Plan. "Subsequently, with due international evidence of emission reductions from our tropical agriculture, these actions will contribute to generating new business opportunities for Brazilian production, in more select markets," said the researcher, stressing that this will happen as producers are progressively adopting sustainable production systems.

Embrapa’s contribution

Brazil currently has more than 40 Integrated Production Systems, the vast majority of which have been tested at Embrapa. Assad highlights that the Company has been carrying out research in experimental fields in this area for over 30 years. Highlights the pioneering basic research work on verifying carbon in the soil and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, initiated mainly at the Embrapa Cerrados (DF), Soils (RJ), Agrobiology (RJ) and Environment (SP) Units ).

For the researcher, this is the time to improve agricultural production in Brazil, strengthening integrated models, capable of producing grains, meat, milk and wood and non-wood products throughout the year. He highlights that farms adopting this model become highly competitive in terms of production, in addition to incorporating economic and environmental benefits into the enterprise.

"We have 170 million hectares of pastures with the potential and capacity to transform them into ABC agriculture systems in the best possible way, benefiting producers, the country and the environment", believes Assad.

Carbon as currency

When financial institutions and central banks in influential countries began to consider climate change as a risk factor for global financial stability, a new bargaining chip began to emerge: carbon. It originates from the interpretation of Article 117, of the Agreement to Combat Global Warming, signed by 195 countries, including Brazil, and which deals with the social and economic value of mitigation actions.

While the appropriate definition of carbon retention is being debated, the market for this type of “green bond” is thriving. You "green bonds" serve to finance enterprises that invest in technologies to mitigate carbon emissions, or that reduce the consumption of water, raw materials and energy. According to the Climate Bonds Initiative, a non-profit organization in England, these bonds could generate up to US$100 trillion in the market in the coming years.

The bonds are configured as long-term debt and are used to finance sustainable projects, such as those that include good agricultural practices, for example. In doing so, they help reduce GHG emissions, minimize global warming, increase production value and increase the supply of safe food, among other advantages.

Photo: Marcos Vicente