Opinion – Why? Economês in good Portuguese: Accessory or strategic? The importance of climate on the agenda of the new government

One of the great challenges of the new government will be to position Brazil as an environmental and climate leader. As I wrote here before, your intention to assume a leadership role in the agenda of climate, biodiversity, the reduction of inequalities and hunger is a good start. However, it will be necessary to transform intentions and speeches into practice.

To this end, a fundamental definition is the governance of climate issues, which concerns the ability to insert sustainability into the set of public policies and their interrelations. For example, defining where responsibility for climate will be allocated within the government structure.

Making an analogy, when we think of a company and its sustainability and ESG agenda, one of the challenges is to identify which areas or departments of the company would be the guardians and responsible for these strategies. In the government, the ministries would be the departments, as they assist the president in decision-making, integrating the administrative leadership. By definition, the ministries are directly subordinated to the President of the Republic and, in addition to assisting him in the exercise of Executive Power, have technical, financial and administrative autonomy to carry out actions in their areas of competence. Therefore, the design of ministries and the allocation of climate responsibilities will be crucial in advancing the agenda in Brazil.

Again, comparing the decision of public governance to that of private governance, in the corporate world there are several examples of companies that create their sustainability and ESG departments, others that insert responsibility for sustainability and ESG in the operations, marketing, human resources departments , between others. Although different arrangements generate good results, evidence shows that the best are those that manage to insert sustainability issues transversally in their organizational structure and, at an advanced level, make sustainability part of the company’s strategy and DNA – that is, part of their culture.

Returning to the definition of the ministries, the new government assumed, throughout the second round campaign, a transversal discourse on the theme of sustainability, with integration between the different ministries and the probable creation of a supersecretariat or authority for emergencies or climate risks, linked directly to the president and with the responsibility of organizing the efforts of this agenda. Thus, the climate agenda would not be restricted to the Ministry of the Environment, guiding public policies across the board.

Undoubtedly, the creation of a secretariat, authority or ministry responsible for climate issues, in addition to the Ministry of the Environment, can be a good strategy. This would guarantee focus for the planning and execution of public policies, which today is lost given the countless other environmental issues that are the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment.

But that won’t be enough. Climate is a complex issue. When we evaluate the different causes of climate change, even with different weights in different countries, we always come up against decisions regarding the energy matrix, decisions related to land use, deforestation, transport, housing, employment and income, among others.

Therefore, in addition to the creation of the secretariat, it will be important to understand what will be the orientation of the new government, with regard to the Ministry, regarding energy and energy transition, especially in relation to natural gas. The topic should also be central to the agenda of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications, as it encourages technology production and promotion strategies in the country.

We will also have to integrate the environment and climate into the agenda of the Ministry of Agriculture. If this is the department that takes care of promoting agribusiness and food security in the country, it makes no sense to neglect the environment and the climate, given that without natural resources there is no agro, and given that food security is directly related to climate issues . Food availability and prices are influenced by rainfall and other edaphoclimatic conditions. In the case of Brazil, this is even more important, as the largest share of our greenhouse gas emissions comes from changes in land use and deforestation. In other words, it is not possible to dissociate climate responsibility from agribusiness.

Undoubtedly, the issue should also be central to the agenda of the Ministry of Health. Climate is a public health issue. Several of the consequences of climate change are and will be even more felt due to the increase in related diseases, which would generate more public spending. Today it is known that the increase in temperature on Earth is related to strokes and massive heart attacks.

In turn, vascular accidents are related to loss of productivity. Still in this line, the increase in temperature is also related to the occurrence of premature and risky births, which in the medium term can worsen gender inequality in the work environment. Many women take longer to return to work after a risky birth, if at all.

It is possible to integrate climate issues into the agenda of all ministries. Perhaps, however, the most important thing is to ensure that the topic is included in the agenda of the ministry or ministries that will take care of the economy and finance. The effective engagement of economics and finance in climate efforts is critical, given that these would be responsible for economic, fiscal and financial policies. The OECD projects that an effective green transition could increase new jobs by 10.5%. An impetus for this should come from fiscal policies that eliminate perverse subsidies to the environment and the climate, and that leverage favorable taxes, in addition, of course, to carbon market regulation and green bonds.

Climate change considerations—including risks from biodiversity loss—should be integrated into planning work and economic projections, as well as impact assessments, budget planning, and sustainability of public finances. This is already a reality in several countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and even our neighbor Colombia, which is now considered in the Statista ranking the 3rd most sustainable country in Latin America, after Costa Rica and Uruguay. Brazil ranks 7th on the list, despite having a significant comparative advantage over the others.

We can do much more and better. But for this to happen, it is necessary to recognize that climate and economic development are inextricably linked. Climate change already has serious consequences for the environment and limits the capacity for life on Earth, especially in developing countries. If we manage to limit global warming and adapt to climate change, we can avoid uncontrollable consequences for our planet and, at the same time, create opportunities for employment and income.