Among the measures that favor this market in Brazil is the Program Floresta + (Forest +), created by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment

Climate change requires the achievement of strict targets for the environment. But achieving some of these goals – such as net zero carbon emissions – is a challenging mission for governments, cooperatives, companies, and non-governmental organizations.

One of the alternatives with the greatest potential to help the public and private sectors achieve their goal of zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the offsetting of part of their emissions through the acquisition of carbon credits, which can come from conservation projects and the recovery of native forests. This is what the carbon market is all about, the topic of discussion among experts in the field at COP26.

“The carbon market is on the rise, which can be seen by the growing interest of companies in purchasing carbon credits. This is an additional incentive for a number of organizations and companies that are investing heavily in preservation projects, especially in forest areas,” explained Carlos Augusto Cordova, Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) Market Development Advisor at the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) – an association that brings together more than 300 companies that already work with the commercialization of carbon credits around the world.

According to Cordova, more than a hundred countries are interested in having an international carbon market, which is “a worldwide trend”. At the same time, more than a thousand companies have already demonstrated their commitment to zero carbon emissions by 2050. “This is why it is necessary to invest in carbon markets. Otherwise, it will not be possible to achieve this commitment,” he explained.

With a work focus in Latin America, the advisor defended Brazil as a country with potential for this market. “We need to unleash Brazil’s potential. The country is currently the main supplier of carbon credits in Latin America. For now, the private sector has already shown interest in carbon credits, which have been growing at a rate of 32% since 2019. This is significant,” he emphasized.

PRESERVING THE AMAZON REGION

The regulation of an international carbon market was the theme of the table “Carbon Market and Forest +”, promoted by the Brazilian pavilion at COP26, which takes place in Glasgow , Scotland, this Tuesday (November 2nd).

The debate counted with the presence of Annie Felix Groth, representative of the Biophilic Ambipar Environment – an institution that, through a series of projects, keeps more than 1.5 million hectares in the Amazon Forest preserved. “This resulted in 1.8 million tons of CO2 no longer being emitted.

With these projects, by avoiding these types of emissions, we generate the carbon credits that can fund the other projects,” Annie explained.

She clearly stated that deforestation is an economic problem.

“We are going to have problems controlling deforestation if we don’t have a solution to solve it. We want to turn the tables and say that resources can be made available to keep the forest standing.”

We want to turn the tables and say that resources can be made available to keep the forest standing.” Groth also says that her company has reforestation projects, in a “conservation and preservation movement”. In addition to developing its own initiatives, Biofílica Ambipar Environment fosters projects with local initiatives, leading to more cost-effective and efficient preservation. The average time to develop a project is two years, and according to Annie, Biophilica works with projects that have an average life of 30 years.

GREEN STAMP

According to the registration platform for the carbon market EcoRegistry, information is the gateway to getting the support needed to issue carbon certificates and also to put environmental goals into practice. To this end, the platform has created a registration chain, that is, a sort of “stamp for each individual step”.

“We are able to track each of these credits, which contains a description available to the end user. This is very interesting and important for the buyer, who has to have confidence in the projects. These are systems available to the public, to society, to anyone who wants to consult them,” explained Juan David Durán, the company’s representative, at the roundtable discussion.

Moreover, according to the specialist, Brazil is leading the way in the area. “Brazil has a huge potential in this area. It is very important to highlight that for investors to come to Brazil, we need information.” Tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, storing about 55% of the world’s carbon stocks – and Brazil has the largest tropical forest in the world.

FLORESTA +

The table participants pointed out that the implementation of the National Program of Payment for Environmental Services Floresta+, created in June 2020 by the Ministry of Environment (MMA), has generated a favorable scenario for foreign investments in Brazil. The program creates, fosters, and consolidates the payment market for environmental services in all Brazilian biomes, in order to recognize and value activities, projects, and providers of environmental services.

“The Brazilian government has taken various positions regarding the recognition of the carbon market. The creation of the Floresta program was a very important step to create and foment the environmental services market”, explained Marta Giannichi, MMA’s Secretary of the Amazon and Environmental Services.

Also according to the secretary, after the creation of the program, the Federal Government realized the increased interest in developing projects in Brazil, “with the possibility of bringing about much-needed change in places where there is deforestation”.

“Floresta + is a very interesting program to attract national and international investors to Brazil,” said Juan David Durán. The representative of IETA, Carlos Augusto Cordova, remarked: “the Floresta + program makes it more reliable for the private sector to invest in Brazil. And this has been getting attention in recent years.” Annie Felix Groth also pointed out the legal and legislative security brought by the program. “This is what we have been waiting for many years”, she emphasized.

According to the Ministry of Environment, the environmental services promoted by Floresta + are a set of defined and effective activities that provide relevant ecosystem benefits, resulting in the improvement, conservation, recovery, and protection of native vegetation. These activities include surveillance, protection and land monitoring, fire fighting and prevention, soil, water and biodiversity conservation, among others.

And one of the most important ecosystem benefits of the Floresta+ Program is the increase and maintenance of forest carbon stocks, resulting from forest conservation and recovery. In this context, the MMA launched the Floresta+ Carbon component, which recognized the free forest carbon market in Brazil, bringing together conservation and the offsetting of emissions.