This year climate change has really shown itself to be strong and unbeatable. For the first time in history, rivers in the Amazon dried up, while Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina lost crops, stories and lives under a record volume of rain. Hailstones the size of a hen's egg fell from the sky and the heat claimed more lives than at any other period on record. Volcanoes, earthquakes, typhoons and a laundry list of extreme weather events have screamed to the world loud and clear that something is not right.

It is true that scientists had already warned about a “super El Niño” which, in addition to warming the waters of the Pacific Ocean, would cause major climate chaos this year. The situation generates great social distress and, inevitably, the search for culprits. This blame, not infrequently, falls on Brazilian Agro, which is a big and unfair mistake.

Meanwhile, 27 years since the World Conferences on Climate Change, nations are discussing who pays who and how much each country, sector and activity needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for climate change. The fact is that throughout this time there was no record of a reduction in emissions. Much was discussed and little was done.

Brazil has solutions that the world does not seem to want to see. Our rural areas protect environmentally relevant spaces such as riverbanks, the surroundings of springs, slopes and other important locations with permanent preservation areas. We must reserve a percentage ranging from 20 to 80% of vegetation native as a legal reserve. Where we produce, we produce two to three harvests a year, in the same area, using conservation techniques, such as direct planting, integrated systems and the use of bio-inputs, in other words, our food and fiber production are definitely the most sustainable.

There is a consensus that the biggest culprit in emissions is the burning of fossil fuels used to generate energy, be it electricity, transport, industrial purposes, heating homes or other uses. Meanwhile, in Brazil, a country that emits less than 3% of the planet's Greenhouse Gases, we are going strong in the production of clean energy. Analyzing the Brazilian energy matrix, the difference can easily be seen: 47.4% of sources are renewable, while the global average is just 2.5%, according to data from the Energy Research Company.

In bioenergy, we have the best example that still constitutes a case of circular economy in agriculture. Sugarcane is planted from selected seedlings, with a great technological difference. They receive vinasse, which is a bio- input residue from the industrialization process, such as fertigation, for their growth, it captures carbon dioxide and fixes it in the soil. After being processed, the bagasse is co-generated with energy, resulting in ethanol, an incredible biofuel.

According to a study published by the State University of Campinas, Embrapa and Agroicone, sugarcane cultivation in Brazil has eliminated around 9.8 million tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere over the last two decades, the equivalent of 196 million tons of carbon dioxide in total. Crop management practices remove almost 10 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.

Considering the agricultural territory as a whole, and not just the cultivated areas, new technologies contributed to the reduction of 17 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Also according to Unica, in 2003, the year flex cars were launched in March 2022, the use of ethanol prevented approximately 630 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.

Brazil definitely needs to assume this leading role and not let international procedural strategies leave out the real solution to the problem of climate change, which is the rational use of land and an urgent global energy transition. Concepts such as additionality, which is the positive environmental impact that would not exist if the carbon dioxide credit issuance project did not exist, need to consider those who are already doing better than the average. Here in Brazil, legal requirements make our additionality more difficult to achieve and it is up to our international negotiators to show that there must be justice between the criteria.

Finally, it is important to say that we are in the process of regulating the Brazilian Carbon Market. Bill 412, which creates the Brazilian Emissions Trading System, was recently voted in the Federal Senate and still needs improvement in the Chamber, especially in relation to governance, which must guarantee the broad participation of all agents who can collaborate.

This year climate change has really shown itself to be strong and unbeatable. For the first time in history, rivers in the Amazon dried up, while Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina lost crops, stories and lives under a record volume of rain. Hailstones the size of a hen's egg fell from the sky and the heat claimed more lives than at any other period on record. Volcanoes, earthquakes, typhoons and a laundry list of extreme weather events have screamed to the world loud and clear that something is not right.

It is true that scientists had already warned about a “super El Niño” which, in addition to warming the waters of the Pacific Ocean, would cause major climate chaos this year. The situation generates great social distress and, inevitably, the search for culprits. This blame, not infrequently, falls on Brazilian Agro, which is a big and unfair mistake.

Meanwhile, 27 years since the World Conferences on Climate Change, nations are discussing who pays who and how much each country, sector and activity needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for climate change. The fact is that throughout this time there was no record of a reduction in emissions. Much was discussed and little was done.

Brazil has solutions that the world does not seem to want to see. Our rural areas protect environmentally relevant spaces such as riverbanks, the surroundings of springs, slopes and other important locations with permanent preservation areas. We must reserve a percentage ranging from 20 to 80% of vegetation native as a legal reserve. Where we produce, we produce two to three harvests a year, in the same area, using conservation techniques, such as direct planting, integrated systems and the use of bio-inputs, in other words, our food and fiber production are definitely the most sustainable.

There is a consensus that the biggest culprit in emissions is the burning of fossil fuels used to generate energy, be it electricity, transport, industrial purposes, heating homes or other uses. Meanwhile, in Brazil, a country that emits less than 3% of the planet's Greenhouse Gases, we are going strong in the production of clean energy. Analyzing the Brazilian energy matrix, the difference can easily be seen: 47.4% of sources are renewable, while the global average is just 2.5%, according to data from the Energy Research Company.

In bioenergy, we have the best example that still constitutes a case of circular economy in agriculture. Sugarcane is planted from selected seedlings, with a great technological difference. They receive vinasse, which is a bio- input residue from the industrialization process, such as fertigation, for their growth, it captures carbon dioxide and fixes it in the soil. After being processed, the bagasse is co-generated with energy, resulting in ethanol, an incredible biofuel.

According to a study published by the State University of Campinas, Embrapa and Agroicone, sugarcane cultivation in Brazil has eliminated around 9.8 million tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere over the last two decades, the equivalent of 196 million tons of carbon dioxide in total.

Crop management practices remove almost 10 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. Considering the agricultural territory as a whole, and not just the cultivated areas, new technologies contributed to the reduction of 17 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Also according to Unica, in 2003, the year flex cars were launched in March 2022, the use of ethanol prevented approximately 630 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.

Brazil definitely needs to assume this leading role and not let international procedural strategies leave out the real solution to the problem of climate change, which is the rational use of land and an urgent global energy transition. Concepts such as additionality, which is the positive environmental impact that would not exist if the carbon dioxide credit issuance project did not exist, need to consider those who are already doing better than the average. Here in Brazil, legal requirements make our additionality more difficult to achieve and it is up to our international negotiators to show that there must be justice between the criteria.

Finally, it is important to say that we are in the process of regulating the Brazilian Carbon Market. Bill 412, which creates the Brazilian Emissions Trading System, was recently voted in the Federal Senate and still needs improvement in the Chamber, especially in relation to governance, which must guarantee the broad participation of all agents who can collaborate.