With a robust production of renewable energy, the Northeast has the capacity to attract to Brazil more investments in new industrial units and electro-intensive sectors. This was the case made by ENGIE’s CEO, Mauricio Bähr, at the opening of ENGIE Day, which  commanded an audience of 400 at the Museu do Amanhã on Wednesday, September 18. The event was also transmitted live on ENGIE Brasil’s Youtube channel. “We have a singular opportunity here in Brazil to contribute to a more sustainable planet. A large part of our energy is located in the Northeast region of the country, a region starved of investments. Why, instead of constructing an increasing number of transmission lines for carrying energy elsewhere, do we not take investments to there in the Northeast? We could attract data centers to rebalance energy supply and demand”, he argued.

The event had as its opening guest speaker, historian Leandro Karnal, who presented ways of dealing with the anxiety generated by constant technological change and the introduction of artificial intelligence. “We are very afraid of technology; we are afraid of change. But the cost of survival is constant renewal. Train yourself. Read, study, try to be surrounded by people  better than you. Not changing is fatal,” he declared.

Costs of the energy account

The first panel “The energy matrix that we want” consisted of important discussions on the question of energy costs, an issue also raised by ENGIE’s CEO, who highlighted excessive subsidies in the sector. “Perhaps we have gone too far with subsidies. When we overdo the medicine, it can become poison”, Bähr said.

According to Camilla Fernandes, a director at the Brazilian Association of Electric Energy Generating Companies (Abrage), the question of energy prices needs to be confronted – more particularly by Congress. “The richest consumers receive 4.3 times more resources from solar panel subsidies than the subsidies built into the social tariff, which covers the most vulnerable classes of society. These subsidies no longer make sense from either an economic or a social standpoint. We must have the courage to change this, ethically and responsibly,” she pointed out.

Heloisa Borges, director for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels at the Energy Research Company (EPE),  discussed data on the level of inequality of energy consumption. According to the executive, an EPE survey showed that 26% of Brazil’s energy consumption still comes from scavenged wood, a reflection of extreme poverty. “Around 80% of the energy consumption of the population earning up to two minimum wages is derived from scavenged firewood. When we compare this with the population earning more than twice the minimum wage, we can see that 90% of energy consumption comes from the electricity grid. In other words, price matters and when we talk about the energy transition we need to put the population at the center of this debate,” she said.

An opinion shared by the vice president of Siemens Energy for Latin America and Chair of the Board of  ABDIB – Brazilian Infrastructure and Basic Industry Association (ABDIB), André Clark. “The public interest in the sector ebbs away when the price is high. There is nothing to talk about. We need to think about an industrial policy that takes advantage of our green and technological matrix by offering energy to other countries,” he said.

The commercial and regulatory director for Transportadora Associada de Gás – TAG, Ovídio Quintana, raised the need for equilibrium between the three pillars fundamental to the electric energy sector in Brazil for guaranteeing a strategic energy matrix:  security, environmental sustainability and economic fairness. “The country has several sources and the challenge is not to leave any of them  behind – everything revolves around equilibrium. We have a rollcall of options and with an integrated vision we can squeeze the maximum from this opportunity of combined sources”, the executive affirmed.

The same opinion was expressed by Marcos Keller, Regulation and Strategy Officer at ENGIE Brasil Energia: “All of us, companies, associations, and public bodies have an important role to play in these decisions. There is room  for all sources, but this has to be done in a rational way, thinking from the economic point of view as well”, he declared.

Climate Change

In the panel that looked at the environmental and economic aspects of climate change, Juliana Falcão, coordinator of the Industry Climate Network of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), pointed out industry’s concern in the context of climate change. “We first need to understand how we are going to deal with the country’s development and climate issues. We have the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), which will require cement, steel, and other types of minerals, and we also have the Climate Plan. One needs to talk to the other”, explained the executive, who pointed out that industry is also investing in decarbonization. “The pulp and paper sector, which invests more than R$ 100 billion in the country, has replanted forests, preserved native forests, it’s a committed sector,” she said.

Guilherme Spaggiari, Energy and Fluids Manager at Ambev América Latina, explained how the company is  closely engaged in the processes to become increasingly more sustainable and that this objective is filtering down to all employees. “For me, it is fundamental that companies have this top-down concern, so that everyone is moving in the same direction,” he explained, adding that Ambev’s big challenge is to manage the decarbonization of suppliers.

Flávia Teixeira, ENGIE Brasil’s Energy Transition and Sustainability Manager, who was the panel moderator, recalled ENGIE’s work in this segment. “We have here at ENGIE  a suppliers’ decarbonization program. We have a global target of 45 million tons annually of  decarbonization of our customers and all of this is being systematically  calculated right from the stage of project development, helping customers tally up their emissions”,  she explained.

Suzana Kahn, Director-General and Full Professor at Coppe/UFRJ, said that Brazil has different commitments because the country’s energy matrix is already mostly clean: “Our main issue is not the generation of renewable energy. We already have that. We need to think about ways to decarbonize other segments. For instance, the oil and gas companies have invested a lot in research to develop new technologies,” she said.

Luiz Gustavo Bezerra, head of Environment, Climate Change and ESG at Tauil&Chequer|MayerBrown, stressed that climate finance is fundamental and that Brazil is falling far short of requirements. “We need trillions of dollars in investments and now we have to price in the mitigation of the effects of climate change-related events. The flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, for example, increased the financial risk for insurers who have already had to pay out premiums of R$5 billion,” he said.

A fair energy transition

The Fair Energy Transition Panel, moderated by the Chief People, Processes and Sustainability Officer at ENGIE Brasil Energia, Luciana Nabarrete, debated  the challenges and opportunities of the transition to a more sustainable energy future. Luciana described the urgency of the energy transition, highlighting the impact of climate change and the need for immediate action. “If we examine the media over recent weeks, it has been dominated by the effects of climate change. This shows us that the energy transition is an imperative. It is no longer a question of if we’re going to do it, it is a question of how we’re going to do it.

Carlos Frederico Lucchetti Bingemer, a partner at BMA Advogados, spoke on the growing importance of ESG in legal relations. “These issues have been present in our discussions but have taken on an enhanced importance recently, driven by  investor demand and by the financial market”.

Luciana Nicola, Director for Institutional Relations and Sustainability at Itaú Unibanco, emphasized the need for a more inclusive approach. “We need to rethink and stimulate efficacious public policies. Private social investment must concentrate on  a fair transition,  especially considering  climate change and its growing necessities”.

The relationship between companies and communities in the context of the energy transition was presented by Kamila Camilo, leader of the “Climate Justice” theme at W20 Brazil. “When we talk about communities, companies are also part of this ecosystem. The ‘us and them’ mentality is harmful. We need to understand that we are all of us.”

Fernanda Sousa, co-founder and Head of Operations at Cubos Academy, presented data on the diversity of the Cubos Academy program, supported by ENGIE. “Out of the total number of grants, approximately 69% went to those whose monthly household income was less than R$

3,500 and 44% went to women in the technology area, where diversity is still lacking. In addition, 40% of the participants are black”. Fernanda also highlighted the crucial role of education in the fair energy transition. “The more companies genuinely dedicated to this transformation, the better for everyone: companies, society and the planet,” she concluded.

Gil Maranhão, Communication and Sustainability Officer at ENGIE, wound up the event with an important message: “People only engage in that which they know and understand. So, this is our aim with ENGIE Day, to educate in the sense of bringing greater knowledge about the theme. If we leave here with our audience knowing a little more on the energy transition and all that is at stake, they will begin in engage more and this is what we want”, he said.