One of the biggest events in the international sugar and alcohol market, the Dubai Sugar Conference 2023 has expanded its commitment to combating climate change with the decarbonization of its emissions, an increasingly common practice in the business meetings sector. Thanks to the curatorship of BlockC, the carbon footprint of the meeting, which took place at the turn of the month in Dubai, was fully offset with carbon credits generated by forest restoration in areas of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, under the responsibility of Reservas Votorantim. A double environmental benefit, combining the compensation of CO2 emissions with the restoration of one of the most threatened biomes with the greatest biodiversity on the planet.
Among the different types of carbon credits generated to reduce emissions, those from reforestation have a great differential, as trees sequester carbon and provide various ecosystem services. “We chose Reservas Votorantim to neutralize Dubai Sugar's emissions due to the excellence of the work and the additional commitment of restoring public parks with the project”, says Carlos de Mathias Martins Junior, CEO of BlockC.
Conserving and expanding forests is a necessity, and for that, good carbon projects, which combine conservation with the maintenance of biodiversity are essential. “Our time horizon is zero deforestation for at least 30 years”, says Martins. For this very reason, as an additional guarantee, after selling the credits curated by BlockC, they are “retired” by ACX Brasil, the first carbon credit exchange in Brazil, which is part of the Bolsa Verde in Rio de Janeiro. Thus there is double assurance of its consistency.
Founded in 2015, Reservas Votorantim aims to prove the value of standing forests, generating responsible business in protected areas. According to its CEO David Canassa, the company adheres to the strictest principles of environmental integrity. “Reservas Votorantim spares no efforts to ensure that our projects deliver high integrity carbon credits, ensuring environmental additionality and maintenance of forests”.
For this, the company has Biodiversity Centers in the forest reserves it manages, with a production capacity of 400,000 seedlings of Atlantic Forest and Cerrado species per year. The Legado das Águas and Legado Verdes do Cerrado Reserves alone account for 63,000 hectares of conserved native forest, storing more than 20 million tons of carbon. Its team brings together 150 employees from different areas, such as agronomists, administrators, lawyers, journalists, tourism experts, biologists, among others, in a multidisciplinary team capable of offering sustainability solutions with consistency and reliability.
