Rio de Janeiro will gain a stock Exchange for the purchase and sale of carbon credits and sustainable assets related to energy, climate and forest. Governor Cláudio Castro signed, on Tuesday (August 03), in New York, a protocol of intentions with Nasdaq and Global Environmental Asset Platform (GEAP), in order to take the first steps towards the implementation of a trading platform. The agreement guarantees Rio the leadership in the green economy.
This partnership will provide information exchange among the Government of Rio de Janeiro, Nasdaq and GEAP for the implementation of public policies to certify, issue and trade carbon credits. In the following 90 days, a working group will be created to discuss the proposed measures and a pilot experiment. After this evaluation time, a Brazilian subsidiary of Nasdaq will be installed in Rio de Janeiro. The Environmental Assets Exchange is expected to be up and running in the second half of the year.
The Rio de Janeiro government team has been working on this protocol for eight months. Nasdaq will provide the technology and the state will offer the environmental assets. Rio is expected to reach a CO2 stock of 73 million tons, representing 25 billion BRL, and each ton can cost an average of US$ 5. The segment is seen as one of the economic recovery alternatives after the COVID-19 pandemic."
Cláudio Castro, The Governor of Rio de Janeiro
A pioneer in the sustainability theme, Nasdaq created Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE), a program in partnership with the United Nations (UN) that provides a global platform for exchanges to encourage sustainable investment with the collaboration of investors and companies. In 2018, the world's first regulated digital exchange for asset-based tokens (a digital security tool for validating and authenticating financial transactions) was launched, which is operated by Nasdaq Technologies.
"Nasdaq is very interested in being part of this kind of initiative. It will be a challenge to participate in this creative project. We have a lot to do, but we are eager to begin this work together with the State of Rio," said Carlos Patiño, Associate Vice President of Nasdaq Technologies.
The new market will result in job creation and it will attract national and international companies, besides making Rio de Janeiro a leader in the low carbon economy.
The state of Rio de Janeiro has 31% of its area covered by natural forests, corresponding to 1.3 million hectares. The government has invested in actions aimed at the sustainable economy, such as Tomorrow's Forests and Atlantic Forest Connection.
"Since July of last year, we have been working to identify the actions necessary for the state to achieve the title of 'carbon neutral'. The goal is to have the net emissions of greenhouse gases totally neutralized by the year 2045," said the Secretary of Environment and Sustainability, Thiago Pampolha.