Suzano, Vale, Marfrig, Itaú, Santander and Rabobank create a forest preservation company

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Three major Brazilian commodity companies and three banks have teamed up to create a forestry company that aims to achieve in 20 years the amount of protected areas equivalent to the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The project to create Biomas was presented this Saturday during the COP27 Climate Conference, in Egypt, by Suzano, Vale, Marfrig, Itaú Unibanco, Santander Brasil and Rabobank.

Each one participates in Biomas through an investment of 20 million reais to be used to support the company’s first years of activity, which proposes a business model based on the commercialization of carbon credits.

The group of companies forming Biomas may eventually be expanded in the future.

The new company has a goal of reaching an area of ​​4 million hectares of protected native forests in different Brazilian biomes, such as the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, in two decades.

Of these 4 million, 2 million will correspond to the restoration of degraded areas from the planting of approximately 2 billion native trees. When questioned, Suzano said that Biomas does not have areas of the company, the world’s largest producer of eucalyptus pulp, and that it will operate independently.

Suzano informed that Biomas does not intend to acquire areas, but rather to establish partnerships with landowners through the sharing of part of the revenue to be generated from the sale of carbon credits.

The initiative was announced at a time when Brazil continues to set records for deforestation in the Amazon during the government of Jair Bolsonaro. In October, the area of ​​forest destroyed in the biome totaled almost 904 square kilometers, the highest level for the period since tracking began in 2015 and a 3.1% increase compared to October last year, according to satellite data collected. by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).

From January to October, 949,400 hectares were deforested in the Amazon, equivalent to an area more than 12 times the size of New York City and also a record for the period, surpassing the previous record of 2019 by 12.7%.

“There is no more time for promises, it is time for action”, said Suzano’s president, Walter Schalka, in a press release about the launch of Biomas.

About a year ago, six European supermarket chains, including a subsidiary of Carrefour, announced that they would no longer sell some or all of Brazil’s beef products due to deforestation in the Amazon.

The companies of the Biomas alliance estimate that the project could reduce around 900 million tons of carbon equivalent from the atmosphere in 20 years, but they did not provide a projection on the amount of credits that this volume of carbon could generate.

The first stage of the project will consist of identifying and prospecting areas, fostering nurseries for large-scale production of native trees, engaging local communities in the company’s activities, discussing the application of the project in public areas, partnering with carbon and the implementation of pilot projects.

From 2025, the objective is to expand the scale until reaching the goal of 4 million hectares.

(By Alberto Alerigi Jr.)

Source: CNN Brasil

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