Recently sanctioned by the Federal Government, Law 15.042/2024, which created the Carbon Market in Brazil, appears at the beginning of this year as an opportunity for companies to prepare their sustainability action plans to participate in the new system in the short and medium term.
This is what FecomercioSP (Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism of the State of São Paulo) assesses and guides, which considers the creation of this new market as a significant advance for “a Brazil that aims to be a global leader in the debate on climate issues”, says the entity.
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O carbon market will allow companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing credits linked to initiatives around environmental preservation and other carbon reduction measures.
The goal is to encourage the reduction of these gases released into the atmosphere and, at the same time, mitigate climate change. That is why, for FecomercioSP, this is already one of the actions that Brazil intends to show the world at COP 30, in Belém, in November.
“A fundamental element of the SBCE is the fact that it provides the opportunity for all companies to participate, in two ways: a regulated one – which will be used by companies with a ceiling on toxic gas emissions, especially industries – and a voluntary one, in which trade and service companies will be able to market their emission reductions, as long as they follow methodologies previously approved by the system itself”, highlights the federation.
To the SBCE, it will be necessary to put into circulation either carbon credits or assets provided for in the system. These are, above all, carbon emissions offsets.
Fecomércio-SP highlights that, in the case of small and medium-sized companies – although they emit fewer toxic gases and consequently have fewer credits available for commercialization – a priori, they will have priority if they already have some type of carbon inventory or even some guideline for sustainability practices.
“This is the ideal time for businesses of this size to develop plans that consider the efficiency of their operations linked to initiatives with a positive environmental impact – such as adopting the circular economy logic through a collective Reverse Logistics (LR) system, or implementing practices to reduce electricity consumption, known as energy efficiency, for example”, highlights the entity.
Adjustments and advances
Despite the benefits of creating the system, the new legislation on the carbon market still needs adjustments, according to FecomercioSP.
In the federation's assessment, one of the most significant advances of the project was the inclusion of some additional activities within the credit trade, favoring the entry and permanence of small and medium-sized companies in the new market, such as self-generation of energy.
“Another was the inclusion of waste treatment and disposal units in the GHG emissions rules, which, in the approved text, now have limits required to participate in the market,” the entity points out.
On the other hand, FecomercioSP assesses that many of the contributions made by society were not met – and, for this very reason, they should be addressed from now on within the SBCE so that it can be improved from now on.
One of the most important, according to the entity, was that the carbon credits were approved and available even before the SBCE was fully operational.
In FecomercioSP's view, this dynamic would bring more agility to the system, since the actors involved could start negotiating assets as soon as the SBCE starts operating.
“In the same vein, the Law considers a period of five to six years for the full implementation of the SBCE, whereas, in FecomercioSP’s view, three years would already be sufficient. This change in time would have the role of accelerating the entry of credits into circulation in the system, attracting more and more participating companies.”
For this reason, the São Paulo federation's guidance is that interested parties should start to develop their plans to enter the market as soon as possible.
“The new legislation was also created without a national authority responsible for trading credits on the international market, which was one of the commitments made in the Paris Agreement in 2015. This body must be defined as soon as possible, given that the system is already in force,” the entity highlights.
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