Building a greener economy

Absent in recent years, Brazil's international protagonism in the fight against climate change returns to the scene in 2023. Since the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which the country hosted, Brazil has stood out with several international actions, notably in the defense of adequate financing to help developing countries face climate challenges.

According to studies from 2021, the investments needed to achieve the goals established by the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5° by the end of the century amount to US$4.3 trillion per year 1 . At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) in 2009, Brazil had already demonstrated the importance of helping developing countries adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. However, the unwillingness of developed countries to provide the necessary contributions resulted only in the establishment of a general objective of mobilizing US$100 billion per year by 2020. Several COPs later, with the thermal limit ever closer, however, not only was little of what was needed invested, but only a few developing countries received financial support for very limited projects.

In this context, a group of Brazilians gathered at EUBRA, under the presidency of Robson Oliveira, together with the creators of a major event to disseminate sustainable development and energy efficiency technologies in Denmark, shortly after COP15, sought in a visionary way an alternative path, that of the green economy. The result was the creation in 2011 of the Bright Green Book , a work that brings together 100 exemplary cases of low environmental impact put into practice by organizations in Brazil and abroad, without any involvement with the green policy determined, from the top down, by the UN and developed countries 2 .

Denmark as a starting point

The period in which COP15 (15th Conference of the Parties) was held and which produced the Bright Green Book was characterized by a world experiencing the consequences of the economic crisis caused by the bursting of the real estate bubble in 2008, and therefore, economies and societies were facing difficulties and obstacles to recover. In addition, the social, environmental and economic problems we are experiencing today, although aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the worsening climate crisis, already existed and were growing.

Although developed countries helped organize COP15 and encouraged the Brazilian president, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, who was then in his second term and was recognized as a prominent interlocutor at the event, to attend the conference, they effectively undermined the Kyoto Protocol 3 . Contrary to the main purpose of the conference, which was to negotiate and establish a new international climate agreement to succeed it. It was a true “Trapenhagen” and not a “Hopenhagen”, as the posters around Copenhagen publicized the meeting.

Brazil, however, left its mark, with the presence of a delegation of 800 participants in Denmark and the international repercussion of its positions and the articulations and emphatic speeches of President Lula in favor of a new global agreement and financing for developing countries. The action was the result of the Itamaraty's early political understanding of the complex scenario that was emerging at the time.

Similarly, EUBRA (Euro-Brazilian Council for Sustainable Development) contributed to the country's participation after participating in the negotiations of the World Business Summit on Climate Change 4 , months before COP 15, also in Copenhagen. From there, it gained an understanding of how strong the presence of large multinational financial and business conglomerates resistant to changes at the conference would be.

Other factors added to the disappointing results of the conference, which did not translate into a comprehensive and binding climate agreement for the 192 countries that participated. The compensation model that NGOs offered to solve structural social problems that national governments were unable to solve – and that are now aggravated by the climate – had worn out before the turn of the century. Urban concentration in large cities began to offer more risks than opportunities. Everything called for a new path.

The proposal arose at that exact moment when the world was looking for innovations and initiatives with economic results and positive socioeconomic and environmental impact, what we call impact businesses within a green economy.

The book had its first edition in 2011, supported by UN Habitat and sponsored and in partnership with the Italian, Dutch and Brazilian embassies, and some important organizations such as Cisco, Bloomberg, CAIXA and, among others, 400 international companies and institutions.

The role of cities in sustainability

“Cities have a vital role to play in sustainable development and poverty eradication, particularly within the context of the Green Economy,” said Joan Clos, former mayor of Barcelona, ​​former minister and Spanish ambassador who was then Executive Director of UN-Habitat , at the launch of the Bright Green Book. The previous year, he had written articles for the UN stating that large cities account for 70% of the planet’s problems. This statement remains relevant today, having been reinforced by the fact that a large number of inhabitants have been abandoned in large urban centers, post-Covid.

Metropolises and urban areas are the result of migration from the countryside to the cities, a movement that took shape in Brazil in the 20th century, with notable expansion from the interwar period onwards. It is enough to see that, roughly speaking, urban agglomerations represent around 3% of the habitable areas of the planet, but they concentrate at least 55% of the world's population. According to UN estimates, by 2050, 70% of the global population will live in cities.

It turns out that, due to population concentration, urban areas are primarily responsible for the climate and environmental problems that plague the planet. Large cities, in particular, demand a huge amount of natural resources, which are becoming scarcer, more expensive and more disputed.

In practice, what we see is a worsening of the quality of life, with saturation of natural elements, countless environmental damages and losses to the poorest strata, who are forced to live in risk areas and work in low-paying jobs.

In this sense, there is a need to provoke, in a certain way, a movement inverse to that generated by industrialization, strengthening small and medium-sized cities, instead of large metropolises. In practice, a trend that is already partially verified in Brazil. According to the latest IBGE census , almost half of the cities that grew the most in the country between 2010 and 2022 have between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, although São Paulo, Brasília and Goiânia also grew.

Infrastructure, public and private services made available on a large scale in large urban centers still function as a pole of attraction. However, in an era in which we are all connected, due to the expansion of connectivity infrastructures, being geographically distant does not necessarily mean being on the margins.

In other words, incentives can be created to relieve pressure on metropolises and, consequently, generate an urban exodus towards small and medium-sized cities, among others, with the installation of robust energy and telecommunications equipment, through which everyone can have access to connections, even if they are many kilometers away from an urban epicenter.

The importance of the green economy

With the COVID-19 pandemic easing, the world feels as if it has returned to normal. However, the respiratory virus is just one of the many threats that could be followed by others to threaten human life on Earth. Unbridled technological advancement is putting countless professional activities at risk, disputes over influence and dominance among the most developed nations are limiting the growth of developing countries and, above all, impasses and setbacks regarding environmental preservation are costing lives now and in the future.

Among these points, it has been known for many decades that the climate issue needs to be addressed urgently and immediately. Now, with even greater intensity, as scientists believe that the planet's temperature of 1.5° could be exceeded even before 2030, albeit temporarily 5 .

The alarm calls for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, implementation of the energy transition and adoption of more sustainable production, focusing on the reuse of materials and reduction of consumption. In Brazil and abroad, members of our societies have the opportunity – and the need – to initiate, lead and advance a more balanced and distributed economic development model, with, above all, a lower environmental impact.

The good news is that the tools capable of organizing this social engineering are already at our disposal. The green economy is the new path to overcoming the growing challenges posed by climate change. In the pursuit of social equality and improving human well-being, it allows us to reduce environmental risks through sustainable and innovative production that generates jobs and income, and through conscious consumption.

Alongside the transformations required by the exodus from large metropolises to smaller, more manageable urban centers, renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management, green construction, clean technologies, sustainable tourism and agriculture make up a range of segments to be successfully addressed within the green economic model.

The creation of green jobs, new forms of production and even the adoption of sustainable practices in traditional industries, in addition to the new segments covered, are also relevant factors for the growth of this new business and society model.

The countryside is also an important focus of the transformations needed for a green economy. A sustainable model of agricultural development requires smarter practices for producing food, respecting the time available for arable land, without the need to deforest to expand planting areas or to accelerate harvests based on pesticides.

However, the changes required for a sustainable economic development model in the face of the challenges posed by climate and existing social inequality are not easy to make. It is undeniable that there are forces interested in maintaining and deepening the current model, trying to reduce, mainly, the real dimension of the impacts caused to third parties, given the technological, commercial and geopolitical dispute between the most powerful nations in the world.

However, a new economic story is beginning to unfold in parallel. Differentiated projects, created from the brilliant ideas of people and companies committed to the environmental cause, promote a true green economy through actions whose effects spread to other territories or change local realities.

The Bright Green Book publication aimed to draw attention to initiatives that, among other aspects, use technologies responsibly and with the aim of promoting human well-being, in addition to mitigating environmental damage from the exploitation of natural resources.

Despite having been released 12 years ago – whether that is positive or negative – the book still seems completely relevant to the current times, given the pressing need to implement, encourage and promote low-impact projects. In short, the book shows that the energy transition and good environmental preservation practices do not depend on the consent of developed countries.

Grades

1 Global climate investment reaches US$623 billion per year, just 14% of what is needed to limit warming to 1.5ºC - eCycle
2 EUBRA launches the international Bright Green Cities exhibition in Brazil to disseminate green technologies - Ecoturismo Newspaper and Magazine
3 Kyoto Protocol
4 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference - Wikipedia
5 Global warming could exceed 1.5ºC by 2027, scientists warn - BBC News Brasil