brazil to Link Sustainability Credentials to Gender and Racial Equity, First Lady Announces at Climate Week
BELEM, BRAZIL – Brazil is poised to redefine sustainability standards by requiring companies to demonstrate gender and racial equity as a condition for being considered environmentally responsible, First Lady Janja da Silva announced during a panel discussion at Climate Week NYC. The move,unveiled ahead of Brazil’s hosting of COP30 in Belém next year,signals a broadening of the nation’s approach to climate action beyond purely environmental concerns.
Da Silva highlighted the disproportionate impact of environmental challenges on women, particularly those in rural communities. “These women are the ones suffering the violence,” she stated, “And they showed great resilience. They were able to reinvent themselves. This is very beautiful to see how they resist and transform; not just the farm women, but the water women, the forest women.”
The Brazilian government is developing guidelines to enforce these new requirements, according to Cristina Fróes de Borja Reis, Deputy Secretary for Enduring economic Development at the Brazil Ministry of Finance. “Since we have this potential to be a great leader on the topic of sustainability, we wanted to make it very clear that for us it’s not only about environmental and climate dimensions,” de Borja Reis explained.”Sustainability is also about economic and social dimensions. We have to grow and develop while we reduce inequalities.”
Brazil’s strategy for COP30 is rooted in the Indigenous concept of “mutirão,” signifying collective effort towards a shared objective.The nation’s sustainability discourse also draws upon the “curupira,” a figure from Brazilian folklore representing a forest spirit that protects rainforests and punishes environmental destruction. “The message we want to pass on is that all people should protect forests and the biome and nature, for nowadays and future generations,” de Borja Reis said.
Both da Silva and Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg emphasized that impactful climate action extends beyond major conferences like COP30 and Climate Week. “COP is not just happening in Belem,” da Silva asserted. “COP has to be embedded in all of us, inside of us and in our territories around the world. It has to be embedded in everything that we do.”
