Sustainability Agenda
Halfway to the SDGs
Sep 2023
Interview with Jorge Moreira da Silva and a view on the current state of compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The European Green Deal and the road to 2030
Jun 2023
Interview with Duarte Cordeiro, Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, on the development of the Green Deal and the road to 2030.
Challenges and paths to 2030
May 2023
Interview with Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, the challenges of the decade and companies with purpose.
The imperative of innovation
Apr 2023
Interview with Teresa Ricou, World Creativity Week and ESG indicator management tool
Sustainability in the textile industry: more than a fad
Feb 2023
Interview with Eduarda Abbondanza, ModaLisboa, be@t project and PMEs moda innovation program
ESG trends 2023
Jan 2023
With an interview with Nuno Lacasta, President of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), ESG trends for 2023 and the maturity of companies in sustainability.
The urgency of decarbonizing the economy
Nov 2022
With an interview with Joana Pinto Balsemão, Councillor of Cascais City Council, and the launch of the Guide to support the determination of materiality in companies and the results of the project "Business Solutions for Carbon Neutrality by 2050".
The social priority
Sep 2022
With an interview with Luísa Schmidt, sociologist and principal researcher at the ICS, journalist and professor and an opinion piece by Paula Viegas, Convenor Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Portugal
A sea of opportunities
Jul 2022
With an interview with Raquel Gaião Silva, Associate at Faber
Sustainability - Here and now
May 2022
With an interview with Inês Meneses, writer and broadcaster, and conclusions from the WBCSD Liason Delegate Meeting '22
(New) ESG trends and challenges for 2022
Mar 2022
Interviewed by Carmo Afonso, Lawyer and Screenwriter
Annual Conference Sustainability: Challenges of the 20-30s
Nov 2021
Interviews with representatives of member companies on the challenges of the 20-30s.
Annual Conference Sustainability: Challenges of the 20-30s
Oct 2021
Interviews with representatives of member companies on the challenges of the 20-30s.
Green Agriculture
Oct 2021
Agri-food systems are decisive for the future of the biosphere and for the well-being of people and animals. In the future, the CAP will have to be a global example of a highly intelligent circular bioeconomy. It is true that the EU faces the challenge of being able to maintain its competitiveness in a globalized world that does not follow the same social and environmental concerns, but let there be no doubt that the greatest vectors of competitiveness and resilience in the future are sustainability and the digital transition.
Interviews with Maria do Céu Antunes, Minister of Agriculture
The circularity of Europe
Jun 2021
The circular economy is a key issue for the future of the planet and humanity. An extractive linear development model is absurd on a fragile planet with finite resources. In 2019, we consumed 100 billion tons of natural resources (minerals, fossil fuels and biomass), and the levels of greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution broke frightening records.
Interviews with Mafalda Pinto, CEO of Scoop and Inês Costa, Secretary of State for the Environment.
Decarbonize at zero cost?
May 2021
The world has 10 years to reduce carbon emissions by 45% and Europe by 55% by 2030. To achieve this goal, we need a profound paradigm shift in our development model. Otherwise, we won't be able to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement and deliver a balanced planet with good living conditions to future generations. In this newsletter we present the results of a study carried out in collaboration with McKinsey & Company - "Net Zero Portugal".
Interviews with Júlia Seixas, professor at FCT-NOVA, and João Galamba, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy
Europe leading the sustainable world
Apr 2021
The EU entered the 2020-30 decade with a serious commitment to the Paris Agreement, the European Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Moreover, its budget and investment policies are increasingly aligned with the requirements of the transition to a sustainable development model - from the new Community Support Framework 2021-2027 and Next Generation EU 2026 (750 billion euros for recovery from the COVID-19 crisis), to the new sustainability guidelines from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Interviews with António Costa Silva, Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico and Carlos Zorrinho, MEP in the European Parliament
Gender equality
Nov 2020
The first line of the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." In other words, men and women - regardless of their skin color, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or any other identity trait - have the right to the same conditions for a dignified life and the same opportunities."
Interviews with Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of the Portuguese Catholic University and Carla Tavares, President of the Commission for Equality in Work and Employment (CITE).
Economic recovery
Aug 2020
The challenges of the sustainability agenda, ranging from climate change to social inequalities, the environmental impacts of growth and the need for an increasingly circular economy, are already well known. But the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated and precipitated this agenda by exposing weaknesses and vulnerabilities in our society and economy in general. We are therefore facing a "call to action" that we must take advantage of.
Interview with Pedro Siza Vieira, Minister of State for the Economy and Digital Transition.
Tourism
Jun 2020
Already the country's largest export activity, accounting for almost 20% of national exports in 2019, the tourism sector grew by 60% in revenue between 2015 and 2019. Last year, Portuguese GDP amounted to 212.3 billion euros and tourism generated 18.4 billion euros in revenue, with 27 million tourists passing through Portugal. Although these are impressive figures, the target set for the sector by Turismo de Portugal's 2027 Tourism Strategy goes even further.
Interview with Luis Araújo, President of Turismo de Portugal
Pandemic challenges for companies
Apr 2020
BCSD Portugal exists to help its member companies build a better world. In other words, to support them on their journey towards sustainability. In this context, and imbued with this mission, when the quarantine caused by the Covid-19 pandemic abruptly interrupted our plans and activities, we were disoriented. After all, the challenge of building a better world requires action, projects and initiatives. Discover the initiatives of BCSD Portugal member companies.
Sustainable Cities
Jan 2020
Cities occupy only 3% of the Earth's surface, yet they generate 80% of wealth, emit 70% of carbon emissions and concentrate more than half of the world's population - with almost a billion of their tenants living in slums or deplorable conditions. To be sustainable, a city must be smart, incorporating all the benefits of technology, but above all, it must be designed and built with people at the center.
Interview with Gerald Babel-Sutter, founder and CEO of the Urban Future Global Conference
Innovation for Sustainability
Dec 2019
Portugal fell eight places in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2020, released at COP 25 in Madrid, seeing its performance worsen in almost every category. With its worst ever position, we went from a high-performing country in 2018 to 25th place, in the middle of the table. When it comes to the ambition of our national climate policy, we're doing well and standing out.
Interview with Rui Miguel Nabeiro, Director of the Nabeiro-Delta Cafés Group
WBCSD Council Meeting
Oct 2019
"Sustainability is now a black and white issue: either we companies lead, or we all fail," warned Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the WBCSD. There is an urgent need to transform systems and large companies have the responsibility and resources to do so. This was the main message of the WBCSD Council Meeting, which took place in Lisbon between October 14 and 17. BCSD Portugal, together with the 24 other business associations for sustainable development that are part of the WBCSD Global Network, challenged its member companies to commit to a common goal that translates into the Lisbon Declaration, an international agreement to protect, promote and restore biodiversity.
Challenges for Portugal, Europe and the World
Sep 2019
The UN Climate Action Summit, which took place on September 23, was not only marked by a sense of urgency, but also by disappointment with the measures announced by the various governments. The UN Climate Action Summit was one of the highlights of New York Climate Week, which began with a global climate demonstration that brought together more than four million people around the world to call for urgent climate action.
Interviews with João Pedro Matos Fernandes, Minister for the Economy and Energy Transition and João Marques da Costa, Secretary of State for Education
The pace of transition
Jun 2019
Sustainability can only be born from the dialectic or encounter between the two vectors: contemplation and action, slowness and speed. On the one hand, it depends on our permanent predisposition to curiosity, empathy, understanding and experimentation - and without time we will never have that. On the other hand, the transition to sustainability also needs speed. Changing the production methods and consumption habits of 7 or 8 billion people - and in the short time we have! - also depends on speed and scale of action.
Interview with Rogério Roque Amaro, Economist and Associate Professor at ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in the Political Economy department and João Roquette, CEO of Esporão
Biodiversity
May 2019
This time we're talking about biodiversity. If we were in a school, we might call it nature. In a company, it would be bioeconomy, natural resources, or ecosystem goods and services. In a poem, it could just be the sparkle of the sea or the red of the apple. Whatever the word - biodiversity or not - the truth is that we are getting further and further away from nature and are in danger of losing it, at least in its splendor. The challenge is how to achieve and maintain a truly sustainable development model on a global scale in the long term, in a world of almost 9 billion people where purchasing power and consumption patterns are increasing.
Interview with Cris Close, Global Director for Market Practices at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Consumption as an act of citizenship
Apr 2019
About a hundred years ago, a new phenomenon appeared in human history: large companies, in large numbers, producing consumer goods. Without them, the market economy, the basis of the capitalist system, would hardly have gained the importance it has had since the beginning of the 20th century, and liberal democracies themselves would have found it difficult to assert themselves so widely. Today, either brands become sustainable, and their identity, narrative or value proposition contain this promise, or they will lose competitiveness very quickly.
Interviews with Nathalie Ballan, Founder of Sair da Casca and Diogo da Silveira, CEO of The Navigator Company
Towards sustainable development
Mar 2019
To achieve the necessary systemic change and secure solutions to the three proposed priorities - climate change, inequalities and biodiversity - there are three necessary conditions: vision and courage on the part of policymakers, innovation and commitment on the part of the private sector, and motivation for change on the part of all of us. Where to start? There will be no transition to sustainable societies without the pillars of democracy taking on this responsibility.
Interview with António Mexia, CEO of EDP
Technology
Feb 2019
In order to have a sustainable development model, we have to ensure that solutions (technological and otherwise) win the race to solve problems. The good news is that more and more of us will be able to contribute to the solutions. If today we have 4 billion people connected to each other via the internet, producing and accessing knowledge, and exchanging goods and services with each other, by 2030 this number should double to 8 billion people. In other words, the whole of humanity.
Interviews with Monica Ferro, Director of the Geneva Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Thomas Berry, Global Director for Sustainability at Farfetch
Sustainable Production
Jan 2019
There's a question we ask every day at BCSD Portugal: if there's still room for utopia in our time, what role does consumption and the production of goods and services play? We are certain of one thing: the future doesn't happen to us, it is created by all of us, in the immense myriad of decisions we make every day. It's as if every decision made by every person, big or small, is a thread, and at the intersection of all these threads a carpet is woven that is our future.
Interview with Sandra Conceição, Operations Director at Nespresso
New directions for BCSD Portugal in 2019
Dec 2018
BCSD Portugal turns 18 in 2019, with a new team and new projects in the pipeline. It will be a year in which we move closer to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the concept of Society 5.0, which will be the theme of our annual conference.