Brazil should add mandatory sustainability measurements into concession contracts to safely expand infrastructure along with private investment and decarbonization goals, panelists said at a climate summit in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.
Brazil will invest around R228bn ($41.8bn) in infrastructure in 2025, up by 4.2pc from a year earlier, according to Brazilian industry association CNI's estimates.
Identifying climate risks is vital to businesses' financial safety and involves adding sustainable metrics into new port, airport and highway concessions, Brazilian environmental management company Ambipar's global head of carbon solutions Soraya Pires said.
"Every $2 invested in preventing extreme climate events helps save around $12-14 in remediation," she added.
Investors must consider long-term environmental risks in concession contracts of highways, ports, airports and other transport infrastructure, which can last 25-30 years, Pires said. Incentives for sustainable practices would draw private investment better than sanctions would, panelists said.
Brazil has recently auctioned a 30-year concession to administer a highway key to grains logistics in the center-west and port terminals in the center-south. It expects to hold more than 40 port and terminal auctions in 2025-2026 and is planning a series of highway and railways auctions for 2025, aimed at increasing infrastructure to transport grains and fertilizers.
