Tuesday, 27 August 2024.
Last August 22nd we were at the “Agribusiness and Carbon Market” event in São Paulo, organized by KLA Koury Lopes Advogados, coordinated by partner Luanda Backheuser and to discuss regulated and voluntary carbon markets, credits and technology embedded in drones used for the sector development.
At the event, a select and very interested audience interacted during presentations by Yuri Rugai Marinho, Marcelo Stabile and Daniela Gennari from ECCON Soluções Ambientais.
“Brazil is the main climate hub on the planet. We have great potential for carbon projects involving conservation (REDD+), restoration (ARR) and sustainable agriculture (IALM), as well as other solutions such as biofuels, renewable energy and green hydrogen.” indicates post on ECCON's LinkedIn about the event.
Click here for the press release from the KLA office itself.
ECCON was in the media recently, when together with Citrosuco and Reservas Votorantim, it presented a methodology for Payment for Environmental Services (PSA), PSA Carbon Agro Perene.
Citrosuco is the largest global producer of concentrated orange juice, with around 25% of the market Worldwide and 45% in Brazil.
Reservas Votorantim is a portfolio company of Votorantim S.A., managing more than 130 thousand hectares in different biomes that develops businesses, projects and solutions based on nature and involving local production chains.
🔔 According to the authors, the methodology ensures the valuation of environmental services provided by native vegetation contained on farms with perennial crops, in addition to promoting good management practices in synergy with the mitigation of climate impacts.
Examples of perennial crops would be cocoa, coffee, rubber trees and fruits.
In fact, this new methodology expands the scope of a previous one, from PSA Carbonflor, developed by ECCON with contributions from Reservas Votorantim and launched in September 2023 at Climate Week NYC.
The benefits specified by the authors are as follows:
(1) Valuation and monetization of ecosystem services;
(2) Issuance of C+ (Carbon Plus) from ECCON;
(3) Facilitation of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions;
(4) Public methodology, originally Brazilian, which meets the precepts of the PSA Law (Law nº 14,119/2021) and the Native Vegetation Protection Law (Law nº 12,651/2012).
The offer of carbon credits based on national methodologies is nothing new, as is also being developed in India, for example.
Logically, the initial demand would be local or through direct agreements between companies. And it would allow for very interesting deals, as has already happened in the case of a property auction by a large Brazilian bank in mid-2023, which accepted payment through certain carbon credits. Remember the article “Carbon Credits and Banks”, with a link to the case.
In spite of the climate urgency - unfortunately - eventual opening and expansion into the international market would depend, among others, to:
- the conclusion of negotiations on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement;
- an assessment from an integrity perspective, by specialized entities; and
- the pacification of its international legal nature.
Click on the image below to read the PSA Carbon Agro Perene methodology (in Portuguese), with 127 pages.
