Brazil has everything: agro-environment, water, forest and people. Therefore, agribusiness is the solution to climate change and to mitigating carbon emissions in the country. This was one of the conclusions of the 20th Brazilian Agribusiness Congress (CBA), held by the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (ABAG), in partnership with B3, A Bolsa do Brasil, which took place this Monday, August 2nd. Considered one of the most relevant events in the world of national agriculture, it brought together more than 8000 participants, from 24 countries, who were able to follow important debates on the central theme of the Our Carbon is Green meeting.
“We need to regain our leading role in the agri-environmental agenda. We are a country with forests, which are also maintained by farmers, who must be paid for this protection. In this way, Brazil is the preferred domicile for green carbon in the world, therefore, what is up to us is to use our intelligence and maintain our good relations. We need to stay united: before and after the gate”, summarized Marcello Brito, president of the ABAG Board of Directors, at the end of the online event.
Given this scenario, Ambassador Marcos Azambuja, advisor Emeritus of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI), said in O Futuro o Agro no Comércio Mundial, that Brazil is at another level of international insertion thanks to the quality and creativity of its agribusiness, Therefore, the most appropriate sector is the production of food technology, respecting environmental conditions. He highlighted that the segment has made a perfect alliance between the State and the private sector, in diplomacy, defending the protection of the environment, and unique cooperation with the academic world. Finally, he emphasized the importance of environmental care not because other countries want it, but for the benefit of all Brazilians. “The Brazilian environment belongs to Brazil”.
For Malu Nachreiner, president of Bayer's Crop Science division in Brazil, the country needs to participate in the global agenda related to sustainability and the carbon market. “We must have a seat at the table in discussions on regulating this market. There is a lot to discover, in addition to implementing a methodology so that the farmer can actually be paid.” In her opinion, this regulation is essential because the country has tropical agriculture, different from nations in the Northern Hemisphere, which can bring a competitive disadvantage to the sector. She cited, for example, how the adoption of direct planting by Americans improves the balance of carbon sequestered, but for Brazil, whose practice is quite common, the result ends up being small.
Elizabeth Farina, Executive Director of WRI Brasil; She agreed with Malu that having started implementing sustainable practices first gives her a competitive advantage. However, she considers that if good information is produced, that is, metrics and indicators to quantify actions and prove environmental protection results. She also considered that the climate change strategy is a development project for a country. Therefore, Brazil must arrive with goals established at COP26, scheduled to take place in November. “Brazil needs to participate in this debate, building the market with rules and with the participation of supply and demand agents”.
According to Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo, president of Cooxupé; Brazilian agribusiness is strong, developed and sustainable, and will be able to overcome the challenges posed by changes in the international market and population growth. In his view, the country has innovative strategies and conditions to meet the global expansion of consumption, given the potential in climate, soil and topography. Furthermore, the world has demanded quality, ESG, sustainability and the participation of small producer families. “If the country really demonstrates that it has all these conditions, we will be ahead.”
The development of an agri-environmental agenda also involves offering financing, investment and credit mechanisms. Thus, Otávio Ribeiro Damaso, director of Regulation at the Central Bank of Brazil, emphasized in his testimony on the Brasil Verde e Competitivo panel the reallocation of international funds to projects and enterprises that meet sustainability criteria, with social, environmental and climate components. He also stated that this scenario represents a great opportunity for development and investment in the economy, especially in agribusiness. Therefore, rural producers and Brazilian society must look at this trend and take advantage of it to expand their businesses.
In this panorama, Carolina da Costa, partner at Mauá Capital, analyzed that it is necessary to scale up these initiatives that reconcile agricultural production, productivity, technology and sustainability. And for this, credit, education and technical assistance are needed. Therefore, the big challenge is coordination. “Our carbon will not be highlighted and will not develop its potential if there is no production project, aligned with investment, education and based on verification indicators”, she stressed. For her, working on the integration of production chains is another important factor for all players to understand that these technologies bring other benefits, in addition to environmental conservation, such as productivity, financial gains and reputation.
For Sergio Vale, chief economist at MB Associados, the project is also essential in the public sector and, unfortunately, Brazil is having difficulty generating a plan for productivity growth in the Brazilian economy, due to the delay in national education. He commented on the worsening of macroeconomic difficulties, the deterioration of the fiscal issue and the less than positive signs for next year. Regarding the carbon market, he highlighted the importance of holding COP26 to define concrete actions to achieve the goals defined for 2050, including the value of carbon, which today is around US$3 per ton and should be in US$ $75 per ton.
Fábio Zenaro, director of Over-the-Counter Products and New Business at B3, cited the potential of issuing bonds with an ESG theme. Currently, there are 24 debentures, 15 CRAs, 2 CRI and 4 closed-end fund shares, with a value of around R$12 billion. He also assessed that companies are more engaged in ESG issues and that there is a change in the behavior of institutional and individual investors who, in addition to remuneration, have been looking for purpose. Another point he brought up was the importance of having relevant criteria and rules in relation to ESG criteria. Otherwise, the scenario will not be maintained over time.
The 20th Brazilian Agribusiness Congress also highlighted the role of the private sector in sustainability and carbon market issues. In the Clean and Sustainable Energy panel at the Brazilian Agribusiness Congress, Ricardo Mussa, CEO of Raízen, brought an assessment of the greater demand for sustainability and the potential of the sugar and ethanol sector to meet these needs, with second generation ethanol, the cogeneration of bioelectricity , since sugarcane is dispatchable and allows its production even in dry periods, and biogas. He also highlighted the role of ethanol in the energy transition as it emits fewer greenhouse gases and can be used, for example, in hydrogen fuel cell engines.
According to Solange Ribeiro, deputy president of Neoenergia, the ESG practice is an opportunity and the private sector has a leading role, since the best way to decarbonize is to electrify the economy. And Brazil has a great advantage for having 80% renewable energy. “Any product manufactured here is made with 80% renewable energy”, he considered. In his view, if companies want to follow their paths in 30 years, this issue needs to be prioritized, that is, sustainability must be part of the company's strategy. “Those that do not effectively include information on environmental conservation in their balance sheets, participating in this transformation, will not be here”, he asserted.
In this sense, JBS aims to be zero emissions by 2040, which is why it is investing more than US$1 billion in this transformation. Gilberto Tomazoni, Global CEO of JBS; highlighted how climate change is affecting life and agricultural production and how Brazil has great potential to accelerate this process of change in agriculture. In his assessment, the Integration of Livestock, Crop and Forestry, instead of emitting carbon, sequesters this carbon, in addition to allowing a growth of around 40% in food production in the same area. In this way, he emphasized the importance of scalability in sustainable production methods so that rural producers across the country benefit from them. Therefore, the company decided to invest US$100 billion in the development of research, technologies and innovation to enable this acceleration.
JBS' proposal to seek sustainability led the company to acquire the recently launched Volkswagen Caminhões, the E-Delivery electric truck, produced in the national territory. According to Antonio Roberto Cortes, president and CEO of Volkswagen Caminhões; the vehicle meets demands to reduce carbon footprint, in addition to using wind energy to recharge. In his opinion, there is room for the application of different types of technology to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions, but it is important that there are public policies or regulatory issues to encourage the production of sustainable vehicles. Another point addressed by him is reducing the age of the commercial vehicle fleet in the country, that is, renewing them with more efficient trucks.
The opening ceremony had speeches by the CEO of B3, Gilson Finkelsztain, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Tereza Cristina, the Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, the Secretary of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo, Itamar Borges, and federal deputy Sérgio Souza.
The 20th Brazilian Agribusiness Congress paid tribute to former minister Alysson Paolinelli, nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Minister Tereza Cristina received the Ney Bittencourt de Araújo Award – Agribusiness Personality. The Norman Borlaug Award – Sustainability was awarded to Celso Moretti, president of Embrapa.
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