The climate crisis is one of the most pressing global challenges of our time. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human activities have already caused a 1°C increase in temperature compared to pre-industrial levels. To maintain safe levels of temperature increase (up to 1.5°C), we need to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. At the same time, between 1985 and 2021, the Amazon lost an area of rainforest equivalent to three times the size of the United Kingdom.
The study “Carbon and the fate of the Amazon”, by Hub Amazônia 2030, revealed that, even with a fully functioning Command and Control System, we could pass the point of no return for the Amazon in less than two decades, which would lead to an irreversible process of savannization and the emission of 32 billion tons of CO in the next 30 years. In addition to the climate damage, the loss of biodiversity and the provision of associated ecosystem services is inestimable.
The international market, realizing the danger that the devastation of the Amazon represents for business, is gradually shifting its attention to the described state of emergency. Therefore, the need for a collective and intersectoral effort that assumes the responsibility of making viable mechanisms for remuneration for the standing forest in the Amazon territory, whether through attracting sustainable projects or through dialogue with the Federal Government, local governments and MDBs for financing.
In light of this scenario, the Brazilian business sector expressed, in the “Brazilian Business Sector Statement”, great concern regarding the challenges of controlling deforestation and remuneration for standing forests, in which it listed the following as the main areas of action for signatory companies: traceability, digitalization of production chains, transparency in the institutional environment, bioeconomy, energy and digital inclusion.
The assertive positioning gave rise, the following year, to the Business Movement for the Amazon, with the aim of building an effective agenda in defense of sustainable development, the creation of jobs and income with the forest standing, and the reduction of deforestation. One action of the movement was to assume leadership of the Amazon Working Group (WG), bringing together more than 70 companies from different sectors to speak out in favor of sustainable development in the region. The result of this WG was the “Business Sector Positioning on the Amazon”, launched at COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow, in November 2021.
In 2022, the Amazon WG prepared the “Study of Good Business Practices in the Amazon”, in partnership with IDESAM. This study followed seven main criteria and highlighted 11 examples of collaborative, scalable projects aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also included active participation in strategic spaces, such as the immersion of CEOs in the Amazon, in the Tapajós region, together with experts and local communities.
In 2023, the Amazon WG began the Natural Climate Solutions Pilot Journey (SCN), a project that involves engaging and training companies to foster investments in the Amazon region, taking advantage of the window of opportunity of COP30, in Belém. The Journey was based on the material from Natural Climate Solutions Alliance and in the Buyer's Guide to Natural Climate Solutions (Buyer's Guide), a fundamental document that remains a central reference.
This document, which aims to be a Roadmap of Investment Opportunities in Natural Climate Solutions in the Amazon, arises from the private sector's perception of urgency regarding this scenario and seeks to fill a gap that still exists in terms of objective guidance for action. The following topics have two primary purposes, namely:
1. Map the state of the art of SCN in the Amazon and;
2. Propose approaches and recommendations for implementing natural climate solutions
in the action plans of associated companies.
