Itaipu Binacional, Brazilian side, reaffirmed its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the period 2021-2025, along with Eletrobras. The pact was ratified through a letter sent, last Thursday (14), by the Brazilian General Director of the plant, Gen. João Francisco Ferreira, to the president of the holding, Rodrigo Limp Nascimento.

The document is based on three indicators followed by the GHG Protocol Brazil, a program that aims to encourage companies to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their activities. They are: fossil fuel consumption by company vehicle fleets, electricity consumption and the use of commercial flights for employee transportation.

The company had already committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the 2016-2020 cycle, a period in which it exceeded several targets. In 2018, for example, there was a 43% reduction in electricity consumption (the target was -1.5%) and a 50% decrease in fossil fuel consumption (the target was -1.5%). Therefore, the company maintained the 2016-2020 indexes for the new period of 2021-2025.

“Both the Strategic Plan and the Sustainability Policy, which largely guide the actions developed by Itaipu, are in line with the commitments established by the Eletrobras holding”, stated the Brazilian General Director in the letter. “Itaipu's Mission and Vision also remain focused on the commitment assumed with social and environmental responsibility and with the search for the best sustainability practices available in the world”, he added.

The targets

The targets established for the indicator “Consumption of fossil fuel in vehicles of its own fleet (liters)” were a reduction of 0.5% for 2021; 1% for 2022; 1.5% in 2023; 2% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025. The indicator “Consumption of electricity in the National Interconnected System” follows the same percentages.

In relation to the indicator “Distance traveled on flights for employees and guests traveling on airliners”, the established targets are to reduce it by 0.2% in 2021; 0.4% in 2022; 0.6% in 2023; 0.8% in 2024, reaching a reduction of 1% in 2025. As a reference, the company will use the average values observed between 2015 and 2019 (year 2020 was excluded due to the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic).

Paris Agreement

Signed by 170 countries during the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in 2015, the Paris Agreement establishes voluntary targets for the reduction of GHG emissions. Brazil intends to reduce emissions by 37% until 2025 and by 43% until 2030. For this, it established a series of actions in relation to renewable energy, forest preservation and reduction of emissions in industry and agriculture.

Itaipu Binacional has been doing its part. The plant is considered a benchmark in the global energy sector for its contributions to combating climate change, generating clean and renewable energy (more than 100 million MWh in 2016), in addition to conserving more than 100,000 hectares of surrounding forests and supporting actions favoring the sustainability of the territory. Check out some commitments expressed in the Paris Accords met by Itaipu Binacional:

• Clean, renewable energy production (to produce the same amount of energy generated in 2016, 500,000 barrels of oil per day would be needed, about a fifth of the total Brazilian production).
• Maintenance of more than 100,000 hectares of green areas that sequester approximately 5 million tons of CO2 equivalent/year.
• Recovery of hydrographic micro-basins. There are 500 micro-watersheds served, with 30 thousand hectares of terracing and soil conservation and 2 thousand linear km of recovered and protected riparian forests.
• Reducing emissions from agriculture by promoting sustainable practices, such as agroecology and no-till crops, which reduce emissions from agriculture.
• Encouraging the use of livestock waste (methane) for the production of thermal, electrical and vehicular energy (biogas).
• Carrying out several environmental education actions in the surrounding communities.
• Promotion of the cultivation of medicinal plants, an economic activity that preserves the region's biodiversity.
• Use of 100 electric vehicles in its fleet. In the last 10 years, they have traveled 836,000 km and avoided the emission of 87 tons of CO2.