Putting out a fire with a truck attacks the fever, not the disease – 09/28/2024 – Panel SA

Among the country’s tasks to fight global warming and face increasingly extreme climate effects is rethinking the strategy for fighting forest fires. Both directly, with more modern and effective techniques, and at the origins of the problem, with the strengthening of the carbon market.

The vision comes from the CEO of ethanol producer Raízen, Ricardo Mussa, who is heading the business task force that prepared recommendations for G20 governments in the area of ​​energy transition and climate. Ministers from the countries that make up the group will arrive in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, in the next few days, to discuss these suggestions and other topics related to the subject amid the fire crisis in the country.

The protection and restoration of forests, which in the international debate have been called Natural Solutions for the Climate, are part of the tripod of proposals of the task force for the decarbonization of the planet. “What is Brazil’s problem, which is the correct criticism of the country in relation to climate change? It is deforestation”, says Mussa, who is also a columnist for Sheet.

“We have to rethink our firefighting model and prepare for it with new, more effective technologies,” he says. “Fighting the fire with a water truck means giving dipyrone to reduce the fever. We need antibiotics to kill the cause of the problem”, he states.

Mussa sees the development of the carbon market as one of the main paths for the country to take in the climate discussion. But, for him, Brazil will not be able to face the problem alone and will need international help to consolidate by 2030 a firm global mechanism that remunerates the standing forest.

There is a view that Brazil can lead the debate on forests in the fight against global warming, but at the same time we see huge fires across the country. We cannot fall behind in the discussion and miss the opportunity to use this active?
What is happening is an effect of climate change, which affects the entire world, including Brazil. This delay by the world in taking more drastic action is leading to these extremes. We saw flooding in Rio Grande do Sul and [agora] dry. There have been 14 consecutive months of record temperatures across the world, with devastating effects. I don’t think this takes away any merit from Brazil, because this is an effect of climate change. And who are the big polluters? It’s not Brazil.

But don’t more measures, including legal ones, need to be taken?
Brazil can really rethink — and not just the public sector, but the private sector as well — how to prepare for climate change. In the sugar and alcohol sector, there are more than a thousand tanker trucks. There are a lot of people, there are thousands of brigade members fighting and putting their lives at risk. So, we have to rethink our combat model knowing that this is the new normal, with more extremes. Including new, more effective technologies. Fighting the fire with a water truck means giving dipyrone to reduce the fever. We need antibiotics to kill the cause of the problem. The definitive solution the G20 and the COP [Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre o clima] have to bring it. You have to give the right incentive. The carbon market is one of the main paths.

And is the carbon market working well in Brazil?
Today you have RenovaBio [Política Nacional de Biocombustíveis, criado por lei de 2017]which is not a carbon market but is a self-regulated program, with a price that will be defined according to whether or not the quantity of CBios is produced [Crédito de Descarbonização]. For every liter of gasoline that a distributor sells, or diesel, it is obliged to buy a certificate called CBio. This market has been working for a long time, it is excellent, but it has two big risks: fraud and injunctions that some distributors obtain to prevent them from buying CBios or getting rid of the CBio target. So he is at risk, he is under attack. I have concerns about the sustainability of this program because of this.

How to mitigate this problem?
You need to be sure that the goals are firm and that the government will not keep messing around all the time. You also need to ensure that everyone meets their target, and we are now discussing making this non-compliance an environmental crime. Because not meeting CBio’s purchase reduction target means, on the part of those who sold fossil fuel, harming society.

At the G20, what are the recommendations of the transition and climate task force?
The first topic is that countries need to make a commitment to increasing renewable production. The second is energy efficiency, because there is a lot of waste. An example is here in our sugarcane industry, which uses bagasse to produce steam to run the plant. This is not efficient. If you electrify the process [usando energia de fontes eólicas e solares, por exemplo]there will be bagasse left over to produce ethanol. By electrifying, you can industrialize the country.

As?
Taking advantage of this cheap and abundant energy. Instead of exporting iron ore, you can make steel here using this energy. Instead of exporting ethanol, make sustainable aviation fuel [SAF, na sigla em inglês] here. In fact, it will be a shame if Brazil loses the chance to be a SAF export hub. And the last point is linked to the carbon market [garantindo um mercado global firme até 2030]providing a way for countries to compensate each other. So if I’m using a lot of coal in China, I’m going to pay the Brazilian not to deforest. Can you find a compensation mechanism between countries that creates the right incentive.

X-ray | Ricardo Mussa, 49

Graduated in production engineering from the Polytechnic School of USP (University of São Paulo), he worked for multinationals such as Unilever and Danone before, in 2007, joining the Cosan group. He was one of the founders and, for five years, CEO of Radar, an agricultural land investment company. In 2014, he became CEO of Moove, the lubricants business area. In 2017, he assumed the executive vice-presidency of Logistics, Distribution & Trading at Raízen, arriving in 2020 at the helm of the company.

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