ENGIE has two sustainable development projects selected by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
The largest private sector power company in Brazil, operating in electric energy generation, transmission and trading, the transportation of natural gas and in energy solutions and infrastructure, ENGIE Brasil has had two projects selected by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) as case studies in transformational investments for a sustainable economy. The call comes within the scope of the Case Studies for the Big Push for Sustainability in Brazil, the objective of which is to give visibility to innovative experiences and initiatives which have produced concrete results in sustainable development.
The Open Call received 131 case studies for investments in sustainable development. Made up of specialists in sustainable development from IPEA, the federal government and CEPAL, the Selection Committee chose 60 case studies to be filed to its archives, then listing the 15 most transformational. The first of the two ENGIE project case studies selected was the Lages Cogeneration Unit: coordinated by José Lourival Magri and Mario Wilson Cusatis, this is an example of the transformational potential of the circular economy in which the unit uses timber waste from the woodworking industries in the vicinity to generate electricity and steam. The Lages plant also qualifies for the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.
The other study developed in partnership with the Machadinho Consortium, is the Cambona 4 Agroforestry System: an example of a boost given to sustainability in southern Brazil, under the supervision of Airton José Morganti Júnior (Machadinho Consortium), José Lourival Magri (ENGIE Brasil) and Selia Regina Felizari (Machadinho – Apromate Yerba Mate Tea Producers Association), for making the cultivation of yerba mate tea more productive for the local communities, generating incomes and employment.
“We participated in these two projects, recognizing their importance for the sustainable development of the areas where we are located, and principally, for the sustainability of our business. These are projects of which we are proud, and they are a source of encouragement for continued investment in socio-environmental initiatives”, observes José Lourival Magri, manager for the Environment and Social Responsibility at ENGIE Brasil Energia.
The principal criterion for eligibility is to be able to show at least one indicator for each dimension of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental). “As a company leader in energy, to have two projects selected by CEPAL sends an important message that our commitment to sustainable development is being recognized, and that this should be maintained and expanded, reconciling the individual and collective interests of society in the quest for harmonious progress”, says ENGIE Brasil Energia’s Chief Executive Officer, Eduardo Sattamini.
Selected case studies:
1) Lages Co-generation Unit: an example of the transformational potential of the circular economy
Located in the mountainous interior of the state of Santa Catarina and pertaining to ENGIE Brasil, the Lages Co-generation Unit (UCLA) was idealized since it began operations in 2003 to work under the Clean Development Mechanism, with the reduction of greenhouse gases among its principal objectives. By using timber waste from the local woodworking industry to generate electric energy and steam, the plant provided an alternative use for material with major potential for methane gas emissions – a gas with a greenhouse gas effect (GHG) up to 25 times more noxious than carbon dioxide (CO2). Thus, after a decade of operations, UCLA has avoided the emissions of approximately 2.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent.
In addition, ENGIE has sought to expand the positive impact of the project, disposing the ash from the burning of biomass for agricultural use as well as in an experimental project for the composting of domestic organic waste. The results confirm that circular economy investments have a major transformational potential in sustainable development.
2) Cambona 4 Agroforestry System: an example of the stimulus to sustainability in southern Brazil
Yerba mate is one of the principal crops in the northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the west of the state of Santa Catarina. Until early 2000, production used the very same methods as those prevailing since Brazil was still a colony, an extractivist culture in which stands of wild yerba mate found naturally in remnants of araucaria forest, part of the Brazilian South Atlantic Rain Forest biome, were harvested. The yerba mate growing under these conditions was of poor quality and low productivity relative to the harvested area. There was never any certainty as to output or demand in the market since producers were never able to harvest in sufficient quantities. Buyers of yerba mate only ever approached farmers when there was a shortage in other regions where the plant is grown. The low quality of yerba mate produced together with the lack of organization along the production chain resulted in low income for the mate farmers that depended economically on the activity for their sustenance.
From 2006, a partnership between the grower’s cooperative in the municipality of Machadinho (RS), Maesa, the company responsible for the installation of the Machadinho Hydroelectric Power Plant in the region, and other local entities were able to develop a new form of production: the Cambona 4 Agroforest System (SAF). The native yerba mate which was mixed with the cultivated yerba mate to make the end-product for the consumer was replaced by the Cambona 4 strain, the result of genetic improvement. The new combination had a higher quality, greater productivity and a taste which was more suave, overcoming the principal limitations for producers up to then. The new strain was well received by the market, becoming an important vector in the generation of income and employment for the local community.
To this day, Cambona 4 SAF continues to be a significant initiative from the social, economic and environmental point of view. Instead of valorizing family agriculture for preventing rural depopulation, the project represents a reforestation alternative with good potential for environmental services such as carbon sequestering. Complementary benefits included the protection of about 70 headwaters in participating properties.
Socio-environmental responsibility
The call for the Case Studies for the Big Push is a partnership between CEPAL, The Brazil Network of the Global Compact (Rede Brasil do Pacto Global) and the Applied Economic Research Institute (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada
-IPEA), with the support of the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GIZ) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FES).
The link for accessing the publication with the case studies selected as the most transformational:
And here is the link for accessing the archive with more than 60 case studies:
