Brazil Climate Summit

Welcome everyone.

It is such a great pleasure to have you all in this event.

We are living in a decisive decade. We are living in a moment where the way we have lived so far, the way we have done business so far, is no longer acceptable. The amount of carbon concentrated in the atmosphere has reached a point where action, not words, is fundamental. Only action will lead us to a carbon neutral new normal.

And this moment reminds me of another crucial moment in our recent history, as mankind.

September, 1962, 60 years ago. John F Kennedy said: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. And he went on to say “because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one that we intend to win”.

As the United States plans to go to the Moon again, with its new Artemis program, we have a new challenge that we are collectively willing to accept. Not a challenge to explore the space, but the challenge to save our own planet. We also have a choice to make, and we should choose to move further and reach net zero economies.

Decarbonizing the economy is not an easy task. Exactly as it happened 60 years ago, when humanity aimed to the moon, the path to net zero will happen based on the collective effort. Different skills, different sectors of the economy. Working together.

In this sense, Brazil has a fundamental role to play. I would dare to go further. Brazil has a “lifetime” opportunity to become a central piece of this transition, bringing sustainability and development to the core of our country.

And listen, we are not here to hide our problems. We will talk about Amazon and deforestation – surely enough, our biggest challenge. But also our greatest opportunity. We want to take a very practical and forward-thinking approach. Laying out how the private sector can contribute to the creation of a new development model that protects the forest and creates prosperity for its people.

But we don’t want to stop there. We also aim at providing green solutions to other nations by exporting our technologies and business models. Brazil has absolutely all the conditions to become a relevant actor as a climate hub – we have the natural resources, we have innovation, and we have champions of climate issues.

At these challenging times, where disruption is everywhere, Brazil has the lifetime opportunity to bring prosperity to our society through the green economy.

Let me give you some examples of the reasons we believe Brazil has an important role to play:

-?Brazil has THE largest tropical forest of the planet and has a tremendous reforestation potential

-?Our power grid is essentially clean – at an amazing 85% to be precise.

-?Brazil steel is significantly greener than its counterparts.

-?Our agriculture is highly relevant to feed the world and it can scale even more, in a sustainable way.

In addition to our natural resources, our most significant resource is our people. Our businesses leaders, our researchers, and our entrepreneurs have a long experience in innovating and thriving in disruptive times.

And that is why we want to invite the world to partner with us in this endeavor: scaling solutions to a greener economy. For global problems, we need global efforts. Brazil needs to seat at the table in the climate crisis debate and promote a partnership to foster the “made in Brazil” solutions.

We started preparing for this event almost 1 year ago. And we were able to put together an amazing group of people that had one thing in common: a strong belief in Brazil, in its people, and in its green identity. We started as a small group of students and alumni from Columbia. We brought on board a remarkable group of Brazilian leaders, from diverse walks of life and backgrounds. I want to take a moment to recognize all of you: Together, we moved mountains.

I also want to recognize our Advisory Board throughout this construction. And I want to thank all our sponsors for believing in making it happen. Last, but not least, I want to thank the almost 70 speakers that are part of this discussion.

The Brazil Climate Summit is a demonstration that there is no greater power than the power of working together. The power of collective ambition. But an event is not enough. The ambition must be greater. The ambition is becoming a green powerhouse.

I invite each of you, while watching the panels, to think about what you will do differently in your business, your investments, your social engagement, your personal life, to push this dream forward.

Thank you very much and I wish us an amazing journey!

Winter, 2022

Luciana Antonini Ribeiro