Instituto Amazônia +21 - Foto: Divulgação
OPINION

A solution from the Amazon

Architect and construction entrepreneur. President of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rondônia, he also presides over the Ação Pró-Amazônia, an association that brings together the nine federations of industries in the states of the Legal Amazon. CEO of Instituto Amazônia+21, aimed at promoting sustainable business in the Amazon.

Marcelo Thomé

Translated by Silvia Benchimol and Ewerton Branco UFPA/ET-Multi

28/10/2022

In the trail of Hurricane Ian, one of the most devastating in the history of the United States, President Joe Biden affirmed that the existence or not of climate change is a closed debate. This should accelerate the transition to a low-carbon global economy, where Brazil can play a leading role. Sustaining such assertion, is the differential of the Amazon. No other country worldwide has anything like it, whether in terms of carbon sequestration, biodiversity or water resources.

Climate change requires compensation that the Amazon can afford, but this will become possible only if we are able to identify and transform opportunities for sustainable business within the Amazon itself. This condition was pretty clear at the Amazônia+21 Forum, held in 2020 by an articulation of entrepreneurs in the region, with support from the National Confederation of Industry. The virtual event reached 20 countries and more than 25 thousand participants in real time.

The Forum revealed the main challenge for companies and enterprises installed in the North of Brazil is the difficulty of accessing credit, investors and strategic partners. Hence, the purpose of ​​Instituto Amazônia+21 of connecting local opportunities and sustainable national or transnational financing emerges. Our proposal is clear: if you want to do sustainable business in the Amazon, invest in those who effectively know the region.

The Amazon is very large and Its states have micro-regions with different characteristics, and it is essential to know the territory where you are going to work. Local realities call for distinct interventions, compatible with their ecosystems and with the whole of the Amazon biome. 

Here, the ESG approach of environmental, social responsibility and governance in companies and their production chains proves adequate and desirable, with the dissemination of sustainable practices, innovation, incorporation of technology and the inclusion of urban, rural, forest and riverside communities.

Large national industries have reduced emissions and are in line with the requirements of international markets, but Brazil will not have sustainable development until it allows the Amazon to play a leading role in the national economy. The structuring of sustainable production chains in the region is what can consolidate Brazilian influence on the global agenda and attract climate finance, enabling sustainable development throughout the country.

Tolstoy advocates that to be universal requires taking care of your village. This is what makes Instituto Amazônia+21 an open Amazon solution for partners from anywhere in the world. There is room for large, medium and small companies and businesses.

Our trajectory is beginning, but it is already accredited by the association of Fundação Jari, Grupo Ultra, Coca-Cola, Jirau Energia, Energisa, Santo Antônio Energia, Grupo White Solder and ABDI. It also reveals quality in partnerships with the Rioterra Studies Center, CBIC, Sudam, Abiplast, Abinee, Abrinq, Fapesp, Fundación Avina, Instituto Arapyaú, ICLEI, CDP/Disclosure Insight Action, Cosmob and Blend Group. Through CNI, we are able to access an extraordinary network of companies and institutions, including outside Brazil, while our capillarity in the Amazon region is based on the Industry Federations of the nine states of the Legal Amazon.

Where sustainability and innovation are desired, Instituto Amazônia+21 emerges as a genuine Amazon solution and is worth being well known.