Brazil is burning: audio report #chegadequeimadas

fires underway all over this vast country

Here is an audio report I’ve put together looking at the fires that are happening all over Brazil at the moment.

Buy less, get more: sustainable consumption goes social

Collaborative consumption has a huge role to play in shifting attitudes to owning more ‘stuff’ and showing up those who talk about sustainable consumption and shifting more units in the same breath.

Corporate efforts so far have mainly dealt with work around reducing waste, reducing resource use in production, raising labour standards, promoting certification standards and adding socioeconomic benefits to products and services. All good but, at its heart sustainable consumption must mean buy/use less stuff.

Rebuilding blocks: sustainability, economics, design

There is no contest in a footrace between a well-oiled, just-in-time-schooled car maker, looking to shift as many units as possible in a new market, and a decision-by-committee megacity administration trying to put in place an urban infrastructure fit for the 21st century. Handily, the auto maker also gets to socialise the losses (more gridlocked roads, fuel dependency, air pollution, deterioration of public space etc) and move on.

This is not normal: (Isso não é normal), nor is Bhutan

The wonderful site from this Sao Paulo group combines good storytelling with loads of info and a simple idea to inspire people to make (mega)city life more liveable.

Clay Shirky: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age (for everyone?)

Off to see Clay Shirky talk tonight about his new book Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. Lots of ideas about human potential in the 21st Century and living in a world that is moving to being less about consuming and more about doing.

I’ll be intrigued to find out how far down this road he thinks we are. Does the Foxxcon assembly line worker in Shenzen or the Mcjobber in the suburbs of Sao Paulo get to be part of this creative rebalancing? Or are they just allowed to be the last targets for growth hungry legacy companies of the 20th Century and an easily forgotten part of our own personal supply chains?

my version of rebalancing

Here are a few slides i’ve taken out of a longer set exploring the way i see it

Full version goes into more detail on things like:

Rediscovery: Brazil and the 21st century @Ignite London

This is my 5 minute presentation at Ignite London on Brazil @ Ignite London. For those note familiar with the format of Ignite, you get 20 slides which change every 15 seconds. Apart from the odd misspeak it all went quite smoothly though I didn’t get to talk about Manaus. I tried to give a quick run down (without the economics) of why Brazil is centre stage in a rebalancing world.

Brazilintel Comment Series 2.1 Brazil at COP-15: Out in Front

This Comment explores Brazil’s growing importance in the international environmental arena. It examines what Brazil will be taking to COP-15, a close look at deforestation, REDD and corporate commitments to environmental sustainability and asking whether Brazil will seize this chance to take the lead in its role as a bridge between the developed and developing world.

Pret ‘fresh’ chicken: More traceability issues for Brazil

Pret a Manger, lunchtime destination for many an office worker looking for freshly made, non-supermarket sandwiches, has recently revealed that it sources its chicken from Brazil.

3 short films: NGO, Media and the CEO

3 short films to show how the cycle works and why it pays to fully understand what traceability means to your customers and to you.

STEP 1: Results of traceability investigation by Greenpeace

Sao Paulo sets emissions targets + COP-15 and Lula

Sao Paulo Skyline R. Castello

The state of São Paulo became the first Brazilian state to pass a climate change bill decreeing that it reduce its emissions by 20% by 2020 to a 2005 baseline. The law approved follows a similar municipal bill passed in June setting an emissions reduction target of 30% by 2012.

FT Ask the expert: challenges ahead for embedding ESG in emerging economies

Totally forgot about this question I had posted to the FT’s Ask the expert column of a few weeks ago answered by Ousmène Mandeng, head of public sector investment advisory at Ashmore Investment Management. He was also a deputy division chief at the International Monetary Fund.

Will lower global growth mean that non-financial, or Environmental, Social and Governance [ESG] performance will become more embedded into emerging markets and will demonstrate regional traits? For example, will companies operating in Brazil need to demonstrate greater attention to ESG housekeeping as well as long term commitments to issues such as Amazon conservation?
Jimmy Greer, London

Brazilintel Comment series 1.1 Rio2016: More than a coming out party?

This is the first research note for Brazilintel: a series that will explore the role of Brazil in a new global era. Titled ‘Rio2016: More than a coming out party?‘ it aims to explore the bigger picture behind the win, providing an easy to understand background as to why Brazil has emerged as a global leader and what is at stake moving forward .