The challenges of Social Perception and Public Engagement towards Sustainability
This panel will discuss the social challenges in the Latin American scenario, focusing on the latest research on social perception, engagement, technology acceptance and sustainable behaviours providing new perspectives for all stakeholders. A multidisciplinary team of specialists from different backgrounds and expertise will present their views on the major social challenges in climate mitigation and adaptation, clean energy availability, clean water and air, and their effects on employment and income opportunities, as well as the reflection on people's behaviours and engagement towards different technologies and solutions in energy, water and integrated systems.
Moderator
Since 2016 is the Director of Human Resources and Leadership Management for the RCGI – Research Centre for Gas Innovation (www.usp.br/rcgi) located at the Polytechnic school of USP, funded by FAPESP (São Paulo State funding agency) and SHELL, object of the PhD study. Before, developed approximately 18 years of experience in companies as Unilever, Andersen Consulting (Accenture), Chase Manhattan Bank, Banco Itaú, Grupo VR, growing in the career from analyst to Human Resources director. Worked in Human Resources consulting for more than 15 years, focused on Coaching, Career Management, Leadership and Team Development, Mentoring Programs, Change Management and Organizational Culture among others. Adapted and delivered programs of Leadership based on Values for industrial company in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and United States. Adapted and delivered Organizational Culture Development program for a new pharmaceutical company operating in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and for a global group in the United States. Taught classes and programs in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Dr. Kathleen Araujo examines concepts and lessons associated with sustainability from energy transitions around the world. She draws on science-technology policy teaching, and research detailed in her two books.
Low Carbon Energy Transitions: Turning Points in National Policy and Innovation (Oxford University Press): "The world is at a pivotal crossroad in energy choices. There is a strong sense that our use of energy must be more sustainable…. However, no single or clear solution exists on the means to carry out such a shift at either a national or international level.… [This book] takes an in-depth look at four energy transitions that have occurred since the global oil crisis of 1973: Brazilian biofuels, Danish wind power, French nuclear power, and Icelandic geothermal energy. With these cases, Dr. Araújo argues that significant nationwide shifts to low-carbon energy can occur in under fifteen years, and that technological complexity is not necessarily a major impediment to such shifts. Dr. Araújo draws on more than five years of research, and interviews with over 120 different scientists, government workers, academics, and members of civil society in completing this study.”
"The Routledge Handbook of Energy Transitions draws upon a unique and multidisciplinary network of experts from around the world to explore the expanding field of energy transitions…. [It] recognizes that considerable changes are underway or are being developed for the modes in which energy is sourced, delivered and utilized. Employing a socio-technical approach that accounts for economics and engineering as well as more cross-cutting factors, including innovation, policy and planning, as well as management, the volume considers contemporary ideas and practices that characterize the field. The book explores pressing issues including choices about infrastructure, the role of food systems and materials, sustainability and energy democracy. Disruption is a core theme throughout, with the authors examining topics such as digitalization, geopolitics, and COVID 19, along with regional similarities and differences. Overall, [it] advances the field of energy transitions by connecting ideas, taking stock of empirical insights and challenging how we think about the theory and practice of energy systems change."
The potential of biomass resources for producing power, transport fuels, fodder and chemicals has become an important target in many countries looking for an added economic value to the biomass. To achieve this, it will be necessary to develop appropriate and effective technologies for producing, handling and processing the raw biomass materials and residues from diverse processes and sectors. The Bioeconomy not only enables a more innovative and low-emissions economy, but it may also help reconcile the integrated use of natural resources, such as land for food security and biomass for other industrial purposes[1]. Ensuring a sustainable production of biomass and its processing will also contribute to socio-economic benefits that extend beyond the generation of jobs, to include wider rural development, better working conditions, and higher income, among others.
There is no single best methodology for conducting a sustainability assessment of bio-based processes and products. But this can be achieved by use of a wide range of analytical tools which derive from Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, policy analysis and plan evaluation practice, among others. These assessments need the inclusion of social and governance considerations as a fourth pillar in sustainability. Social perception and acceptance are deemed now as essential in sustainability assessments. Landscape Governance may be a new form to integrated different aspects of sustainability particularly where different stakeholders and commodities are involved and includes social acceptance.
This presentation reviews some examples of these methods applied in the bioeconomy in Latin America.
Climate changes and the risks they expose are snowballs dragging most knowledge fields and institutions in their path. Prevention and mitigation of those hazards are a revolution-like long-term movement which should have started years ago. Being a multidisciplinary and multitask enterprise, its achievement relies on leadership as a key instrument enabling convergent power. Prevention and mitigation of climate risks requires resistance, creativity, and behavioral commitment towards challenging targets. Technical solutions are crucial means to the consensual replacement of fossil energy. Techniques are created and can be replicable from East to West but leadership as a mediator of the implementation of technical solutions can hardly be replicable in distinct regions. Leadership is not a technical but a contextualized power. As such it must be recreated in every new context where its application is required. The legitimation of technical solutions, cooperation, and commitment in the chain of that revolution-like movement and are outcomes of the intersubjective artisanship applied to social interaction. The “grammar” for the construction of environmental leadership power has not the same rules and norms in distinct groups. Interventions in greenhouse gases depend on integrated leadership projects aimed at the skilling of climate change protagonists just as it depends on intertwined plans aimed at the hardware changes through engineered tasks. Capacitation for such environmental leadership is related to the social perception and to the promotion of a culture both in which dialogue, motivation, ideals, and commitment are openly fostered and in which people share perceptions enabling them to the management of conflicts.
She will discuss some case studies, highlighting market development, energy security, public perception and engagement mainly in the ethanol biofuel evolution in Brazil and the Energy sector.
She will approach the biofuels and ethanol program, in the 1970s in Brazil, which was implemented as a response to the fossil fuel crisis. The government launched the Pro-Alcool Program, developing an alcohol combustion engine car that was well accepted by the Brazilian population. She will contextualize the main events that involve public engagement and reactions up to actual 2022. Other stakeholders such as the sugarcane industry owners and employees, government agents, and public policy representatives also have their perspectives and will be discussed in her presentation.
Other interesting stories that approach a technical and historical perspective will illustrate her vision of the challenges of a technical-social multidisciplinary approach.
Energy Transition: Drivers and Outcomes
Energy Transition aims at mitigating global warming and its pace is set by the targeted limits to temperature rising. The higher penetration of renewables in the world energy matrix must face expansion in energy demand, with substitution of fossil sources by renewables at a sustainable and resilient way. Although global warming alludes homogeneous world actions, socioenvironmental issues are unevenly expressed around the nations. In fact, multiple local transitions result from uneven past contributions to the carbon-budget shrinkage, disparate levels of economic wealth, and fossil reserves concentrated in a few nations, which are heavily relying on monetization of its reserves and on technologies for decarbonization of E&P operations. The panel gathers experts from a variety of backgrounds to discuss the special situation of Brazil, with significant O&G reserves, pungent agrobusiness and eager to advance social and economically.
Moderator
Holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1981), MSc and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (1984 and 1987, respectively). Worked for OXITENO S.A. from 1989 to 1993, in process modeling and control. In 1993, joined the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where she develops research in process systems engineering, Her interest focuses are Natural Gas Monetization, CO2 Management Technologies and Sustainability Analysis.
The so-called Industry 4.0 congregates several technologies, concepts and architectures that are related to an intensive use of digitalization, which was enabled by the increased power of computers. New technologies and expanded possibilities for the use of already known technologies allow greater control over the operation of industries in the oil & gas (upstream, midstream and downstream), chemical & petrochemical and energy sectors. Several objectives can be achieved: 1) more rigorous control of losses (including through PSV's), 2) greater efficiency and energy integration of the units, 3) greater control of the use of different energy alternatives, just to mention a few examples. All of the aforementioned examples are intrinsically related to the decarbonization journey that these industries are facing ahead. The cooperation between Industry 4.0 and decarbonization efforts will be explored during the presentation.
Green house gas (GHG) emissions have been increasing since the industrial revolution and earth's natural CO2 absorption capability has been reduced by deforestation. Scientist have been able to demonstrate that GHG concentrations have risen and continue to rise.
In order to meet the goals set in Paris, additional action needs to be taken by Countries, Companies and Individuals.
Of special concern are the hard to abate sectors, where CO2 abatement costs are very high.
This does not mean that our goal to stop increasing GHG concentrations in the atmosphere and to limit global warming is impossible. It just means that we need to consider that even if we use all technologies available today, we will still have residual emissions. Therefore, the approach should be to reduce all emission we can, and to compensate the rest with Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR). This will bring us to a scenario called Net Zero.
Every ton of residual emission should be compensated by a ton of CDR. By doing so, we won’t increase the GHG concentration in the atmosphere. However, if we want to compensate one ton with one ton of an avoided emission (traditional Carbon Offsets), there is still one ton going to the atmosphere, therefore this is not Net Zero.
CDR can come from nature-based solutions, such as reforestation and can come from technological solutions, such as Direct Air Capture (DAC) and Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS).
Carbon Engineering (CE), a climate solution company founded in Canada in 2009, has a technology to capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere (DAC), which is concentrated and either sent to permanent underground storage or used to produce low carbon intensity fuels.
Since we need to remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, CE’s technology was designed to be deployed at scale. This is achieved by using equipment already used in industries, with existing supply chains. These equipment are adapted and combined with patented innovations and proprietary know-how.
DAC plants have freedom of location. No need to be installed at a flue stack. Another advantage is a standardized design since CO2 concentration are the same and capacity is pre-defined, allowing for reduced schedule and costs.
The technology was developed in the University of Calgary by Prof. David Keith. In 2015 a pilot plant was built in Squamish, which operated until last year. This year Carbon Engineering started up its Innovation Centre, a larger and more modern plant, where it continues to develop the technology.
Carbon Engineering first Licensee, a US Company called One Point Five, concluded FEED of the first commercial plant of 500,000 tons/yr of CO2. Construction is expected to begin in Q3, with Start-up in late 2024.
Two more DAC plants are being designed, European CCS hubs and a third plant, which uses the CO2, combined with green hydrogen, to produce low carbon intensity fuels is being designed in Canada.
Air Quality
Air quality has been a topic of growing concern in terms of public health, especially in megacities and in sites characterized by high concentration of inhabitants exposed to different emission sources.
Urban areas in the São Paulo state are representative examples. In the metropolitan area around the city of São Paulo, comprising about 18 million inhabitants and 7.5 million vehicles, the main air pollutants are ozone and particulate matter, which are mainly related to emitted pollutants by vehicles. In other large urban areas in the same state, air quality is affected by pollutants emitted by industries and agricultural activities, mainly, and in most cases the worse events are associated with high levels of particulate matter. These different scenarios demand different approaches in terms of monitoring, pollution control tools, and public health policies.
The present status of air quality in such different urban areas, in terms of air pollutant levels, regulations, emission sources, as well as the research trends in monitoring and prediction tools, are the object of discussions to be held by a team of specialists from different institutions directly involved with these topics, aimed at providing an updated view of the air pollution in urban and industrial areas affected by different air pollution sources.
Moderator
Chemical Engineer, Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Main research areas include Mathematical Modeling and Optimization of Industrial Processes, Effluent Treatment Processes, Application of Statistical Learning Techniques to Complex Systems, such as Air Quality and Process Systems. The main present research activities involves the development of algorithms to predict air pollutant levels, and the remote monitoring of industrial atmospheric emissions, as part of a major partnership with the air pollution control agency in São Paulo.
CETESB has been monitoring air quality since the 1960s. It has historical data that allow evaluating the efficiency of control policies. The air quality of the State of São Paulo is presented within this perspective as well as the type of control adopted for each pollutant over the years. The amount of equipment used in the network demonstrates the importance given to pollutants in the region. The least worrying ones refer to carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, as they do not exceed the standards and therefore the number of equipment is small. Particulate matter and ozone constantly exceed standards. Different particle sizes are monitored as PM10, PM2.5 and PM1. There is a drop in PM levels observed over the years but they are still higher than those recommended in the WHO guidelines. Ozone has concentrations much higher than those recommended by the WHO and has a variable behavior over the years. NOx and VOC controls need to be more stringent. The analysis of the behavior of pollutants during the pandemic indicated that the great reduction in traffic allowed the reduction of primary pollutants. The PM did not change significantly in this period. Ozone had its concentrations increased. This type of behavior has been observed in large cities around the world.
