The sustainability theme comes even stronger in 2025: the year has begun and with it, expectations and goals are renewed in all areas. But, speaking of the environmental agenda, 2025 promises to be an emblematic and singular year.
Want to understand what the main agendas are in the sustainability universe for this year, and what opportunities exist for businesses and companies? Check out the forecast and analysis prepared by the GreenPlat team of experts!
2025, the year of the COP in Brazil
There is no way to think about expectations in the environmental area without highlighting that, for the first time, a country from the Amazon region will host an edition of the Conference of the Parties. COP30 in Belém, Pará, will have the commitment to advance agendas that ended up somewhat frustrated in the Baku edition in Azerbaijan, especially regarding the focus on biodiversity and climate financing. But, beyond the mission of resuming these central themes, from a business perspective, COP30 will be an excellent showcase for Brazilian companies to present concrete results of green innovation.
Plastic Agreement
At the very end of 2024, the 5th session of the International Negotiating Committee on the Global Plastics Agreement ended without an agreement in Busan, South Korea. However, in 2025, negotiations will be resumed and discussions on the topic of plastic pollution should continue, with pressures coming mainly from the European Union, which has been leading the drafting of regulations covering the themes of “single-use plastics,” product ecodesign, waste management, and reverse logistics.
Logística Reversa
Speaking of reverse logistics, 2024 was an important year in terms of the evolution of public policies and legislation involving the topic in Brazil. In the second semester, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) issued Ordinances No. 1117 and 1102, which regulate Decree No. 11,413/2023, in order to establish, respectively, criteria for the qualification of result verifiers and managing entities of reverse logistics systems, and to institute the first public call for the registration of legal entities in the MMA.
Furthermore, the regulation of reverse policy has also been advancing in the States; currently, 13 of them have specific laws to establish obligations for companies that import, manufacture, distribute, or market products and/or packaging sold in these states. But this is not only an initiative of governments at the federal, state, and municipal levels. It also reflects a change in consumer behavior, who are increasingly attentive to the traceability of the chain involved in the products they consume, and recognize proactive companies that make mechanisms available for receiving post-consumer products and proving their reverse logistics goals. The outlook for 2025 is one of increasing scrutiny on the traceability of reverse logistics goal verification, with the requirement of environmental documentation (MTR and CDF) linked to the Invoices of post-consumer waste movements.
Circular Economy
More than one-third of Fortune 100 companies have committed to circular economy goals. This is because this production model, which opposes the logic of linearity, has been consolidating itself as a strategic alternative for optimizing operations and reducing waste generation. In Brazil, it will be an even more important year for this topic, as the city of São Paulo will host the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF2025), an event in which companies from different segments will have the opportunity to present their initiatives to lead this transformation.
Carbon
One of the major highlights in the scope of the regulatory agenda linked to the environment was the publication in December of Law No. 15,042/2024, which established the Brazilian System for Trading Greenhouse Gas Emissions (SBCE). Objectively, the text regulates the regulated carbon market in Brazil. One of the rules established from this law is that companies that emit above 25 thousand tons of CO₂ annually will have to offset their emissions, with established goals. The outlook for 2025 is that it will be a year focused on Phase 1 of the SBCE implementation (there are 5 phases in total), in which the initial regulation, creation of the managing body, and definition of the sectors that will be regulated will take place.
Sustainable Finance
In 2025, investments that take ESG criteria into consideration should expand globally, with growth in the issuance of green debentures (Green Bonds) and instruments of so-called green finance. In Brazil, CVM Resolution 193, which demonstrated pioneering spirit by adopting the ISSB (IFRS S1 and IFRS S2), which establish criteria for financial information linked to sustainability for the disclosure of financial information reports. 2025 will therefore be an inflection point in the way listed companies prepare their reports on ESG practices.
An emblematic and singular year for sustainability
Of all the points raised, one conclusion is clear: sustainability is consolidating itself as a strategic pillar of business, and there is no way to dissociate technology from sustainability. We will only reach the goal of scalable production, aligned with ESG pillars, through the use of technology tools.
2025 could represent a milestone for sustainability in Brazil, which should be seen as a process in which investment in innovation represents, in the long term, cost reduction and greater resilience of operations, and in this sense, organizations must prepare by improving the traceability and monitoring of metrics linked to sustainability and focused on their operations.
What are your company’s plans and goals for this year? GreenPlat can help your business accelerate sustainable production through our pioneering technology!
An excellent year, and count on us for a 2025 of great prosperity (and circularity)!