During the month of September and Climate Week, Natura promotes dialogue on corporate governance for positive impact and launches platform to track deforestation in real-time

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in August of this year, shows that gas emissions  - mainly those generated by deforestation - are threatening the planet, putting the lives of billions of people at risk and affecting the global economy. Within this context of climate emergency, the online panel "Decisions for the Planet", organized by Natura this past Thursday (9/23), and which ended the cycle of debates promoted to commemorate Amazon Month, discussed regenerative capitalism practices, the role of companies and science-based goals using new metrics, in addition to expectations for COP26.

Mediated by the journalist Sandra Boccia, the conversation involved Guilherme Leal, co-founder of Natura and member of Concertation for the Amazon, João Paulo Ferreira, CEO of Natura &Co Latin America and CEO of Natura, as well as Adevaldo Dias, president of Memorial Chico Mendes. International participants included Margarita Ducci, executive director of the Global Compact Network, Chile, and Maria Laura Tinelli, founder of Acrux Partners.

Guilherme Leal started his talk by underscoring the need for awareness in the positioning of companies in sectors of global capitalism and major economic blocks, reaffirming their commitment to cooperate around climate issues already notified either by science or by the IPCC reports. For the executive "we urgently need to put effective measures to contain the impacts of the crisis into practice. Discourse must be accompanied by a change in posture. The crisis is serious, but conscious hope mobilizes, increases our capacity for joint cooperation and helps us reconnect with nature", he stressed.

The debate also underscored the importance of building networks of cooperation and transformation, offering as examples the movements Coalizão Brasil Clima Florestas e Agricultura, Concertation for the Amazon, as well as the sustainable business development movement Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro Para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS). "We deeply believe that we cannot do anything by ourselves, even more so when addressing systemic global problems and regions as complex as the Amazon. This is why I advocate and attempt to build these networks. When we bring together different actors who are engaged in the problem, be they environmentalists, businesses, government or riverside communities, we can begin to visualize solutions", Leal adds.

One of the initiatives that confirm a company's effective environmental responsibility and social impact is B Corp certification. For João Paulo Ferreira, this is a path towards collective learning that enables the development of better practices. "Society has learned how to measure economic effects, but progress has been slower in socio-environmental externalities. So, it is very healthy to see movements such as the B Corps, that indicate courses and value companies that are working on reconciling economic, social and environmental aspects. Everyone learns together. Now, I truly believe that the next step will be the valuation of these externalities in companies' balance sheets", says the CEO.

Plenamata, platform to track deforestation in real-time

Natura's panel on "Living Amazon", Thursday September 16^th highlighted the recently launched PlenaMata platform, a partnership between Natura, Mapbiomas, InfoAmazonia and Hacklab, which provides information and data on deforestation in an accessible manner with a view to drawing attention to the issue and mobilizing society around forestry conservation and regeneration initiatives. According to PRODES/INPE data, deforestation has affected almost 20% of the Brazilian Amazon since the beginning of the historic series in 1988.

Tasso Azevedo, forestry engineer and MapBiomas coordinator, underscored that the devastation has spread mainly in non-designated public areas of the forest. "For this reason, a very important element is to define the use of these areas based on the logic of sustainability". In this respect, the panel members indicated the importance of business models compatible with the conservation of the largest tropical forest in the world, allied with the empowerment of local communities.

The Natura &Co director of Sustainability for Latin America, Denise Hills, pointed out that there is potential to develop businesses in the Amazon by combining economic development with conservation of the standing forest. "The development of activities in harmony with the forest leverages the value of social biodiversity and transforms product value chains with innovation and technology, positive economic and socio-environmental impact, as well as zero deforestation. This is the lesson that Natura shares and reaffirms, because there is a vocation for the Amazon region in which it is possible to reconcile development with positive socioenvironmental impact".

About Natura
Established in 1969, Natura is a Brazilian multinational in the cosmetics and personal care segment. Born from two passions - cosmetics and relationships - Natura believes that caring for people and the planet is the only way forward. Committed to using Brazilian biodiversity ingredients in its products, Natura not only focuses on conserving the Amazon Forest through its circular business model, but also society through several different programs, including educational projects. Natura was the first publicly traded company in the world to receive a B Corp certification in December 2014, underscoring its transparent and sustainable social, environmental and economic performance 

Alongside, Avon, Aesop and The Body Shop, Natura is part of Natura &Co, the 4th largest pure play beauty group in the world.

Media Contact:
Jessica Mackiewicz
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SOURCE Natura