Suzano, a global reference in production of bioproducts developed from cultivation of eucalyptus, announced this Thursday (21) the review of one of its “Commitments to Renew Life”, a set of 14 long-term goals established by the company . Suzano’s goal of removing 40 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere by 2030 has been brought forward to 2025.

The review is based on the expansion of vegetation cover in this period, through commercial plantations and areas destined for conservation, in places that were previously degraded. By absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, trees play an important role in combating the intensification of the greenhouse effect. With this, the company reinforces its condition of being even more positive for the climate by removing carbon from the atmosphere at a faster pace than previously foreseen.

In addition, Suzano maintains effective initiatives and fronts to reduce emissions in its own operations and in the chain (scopes 1, 2 and 3), and will continue the process of improving forest management in order to avoid losses, maximize productivity and extend carbon removal.

The company’s decision is motivated by the conviction that climate agenda demands immediate action. Suzano also defends the creation of a regulated carbon market, linked to the Paris Agreement, whose regulation is on the agenda at COP26.

Paris Agreement goals

According to the president of Suzano, Walter Schalka, the regulated carbon market, based on the cap and trade concept, can scale up the necessary and urgent actions so that the increase in the global average temperature does not exceed 2°C in relation to pre-industrial levels and keep preferably at 1.5°C. The target was established in 2015, during COP21, which resulted in the Paris Agreement.

According to estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world supports a volume of emissions of up to 500 gigatonnes of CO2 over the next 10 years to meet the goal of increasing average global temperature around 1.5°C. For this reason, Schalka advocated the pursuit of more ambitious goals than carbon neutrality by 2050, as has been announced by companies around the world.

“It is no longer possible to commit to goals to zero net emissions by 2050 in the morning and increase emissions in the afternoon. And how can we do this? We have to finance global decarbonization in an accelerated way with a regulated carbon market. In my perception, the carbon credit will have an increasing value and this will allow an investment in decarbonization”, he said.

Cap and trade model

The cap and trade model is based on trading carbon credits generated from initiatives that result in reduced emissions. In this system, if a company issues 100 today, for example, and it is established that it will only need to issue 80 as of a certain date, it will be possible to trade what is possible to reach below this limit. Based on this same example, if the company were to issue 75, it could sell these five in the carbon credit market. Otherwise, if you issue 85, you will be able to purchase credits from another company, corresponding to the surplus.

According to Schalka, this system generates business opportunities and enables the development of initiatives that result in the socioeconomic development of the regions involved. For this reason, he assesses, negotiations on the subject at COP26 are fundamental.

“We have a unique opportunity to do this with the regulation of chapters 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, which deal with the carbon credit market, and make Brazil and the world adhere to this carbon agreement”, said the president of Suzano, who also mentioned the regeneration of forests as an important aspect in the fight against climate change.

2050 Now

The statement was given during the meeting with journalists “COP26 on the agenda: what is news for Brazil”. The event is part of the actions foreseen in the “2050 Agora” initiative, launched by Suzano to encourage the engagement of the business sector with more ambitious climate goals.

According to Schalka, another decisive issue for the success of COP26 is the standardization of the criteria used in the Nationally Determined Contributions, known as NDCs, which represent the emission reduction targets of each country that is a signatory to the Paris Agreement.

Suzano’s president also considers it urgent to fulfill the commitment made by developed countries during COP15, to allocate US$ 100 billion annually in climate finance to developing countries in 2020. “Which is very little, considering that investments made around the world to fight the pandemic totaled US$ 17 trillion”.