The migration to the free market and the contracting of energy generated from renewable sources encourage companies to seek other sustainability actions, such as trading carbon credits, believes the Carbon Business manager at Auren (), José Guilherme Amato .
“Energy, without a shadow of a doubt, becomes a gateway for this type of player to explore even more ways to seek a reduction, or compensation, of emissions”, he says.
In the free contracting environment, the consumer can choose the electricity supplier. This option is available today for medium and high voltage customers in Brazil.
Renewable sources
In Amato’s view, the fact that many projects negotiated on the free market are from renewable sources makes customers aware of other sustainable actions.
“We have encouraged small and medium-sized consumers to learn about initiatives such as, for example, simplified greenhouse gas inventories,” he says. “Everything ends up culminating in more sustainable businesses”, he adds.
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Auren is one of the largest suppliers in terms of sales volume in the free energy market in Brazil, with around three thousand customers. This year, the company completed the incorporation of AES Brasil’s assets and now has a portfolio with an installed capacity of 8.8 gigawatts (GW).
In parallel, in 2024 the company also launched the digital platform for trading carbon credits, which can be purchased together with electricity or separately.
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Auren’s intention is to position itself not only as a player in the sale of energy, but also carbon credits. The sale of credits represents R$20 million in annual revenue for the company.
Last year, the company negotiated 1.6 million credits and reached 5 million sales since entering this market. The intention is to reach 8 million credits by 2030.
carbon credits
“The maturity of the market has been advancing. People, companies, corporations at all levels have in fact developed more effective responsibility, which has driven demand for renewable energy certificates, for the purchase of renewable energy and even for carbon credits arising from other activities”, says Amato .
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According to the executive, the demand for carbon credits has come from companies of different origins, regions and profiles, from large multinationals to individual micro-entrepreneurs (MEIs).
Between January and September, 66% of negotiations on Auren’s carbon credit platform were carried out by individuals. Sales to legal entities represented 34% of the volume.
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Half of the negotiations during this period were carried out in Brazil and the other half were divided between the United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Portugal. Among the deals closed in the national territory, the majority occurred in São Paulo (SP), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and Belo Horizonte (MG).
Initially, Auren only negotiated credits for its own projects, but today the company also buys and sells credits from other players, including those issued by the Votorantim Group, which is one of the company’s shareholders.
“The largest volume, yes, comes from renewable energy, in the generation of carbon credits, but we have forest restoration projects, forest maintenance, fuel exchange, it is a very broad portfolio”, he explains.
carbon market PL
For Amato, the approval of the bill that creates the carbon market in Brazil tends to further increase interest in credit trading. He points out, however, that there is still a lot of ignorance about the topic in the country.
“We also work a lot on this journey of standardizing knowledge regarding what the carbon market itself is,” he says.
PL 182/2024 was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in November. The project creates a regulated carbon market for companies in Brazil, with the exception of the primary agricultural sector.
Amato recognizes that the approved proposal has flaws, but believes that it will be an important step towards establishing this market in the country. In the executive’s view, it will be important for civil society and the private sector to actively participate in discussions on the regulation of the law, after presidential sanction.
“The rules must be well balanced to avoid any judicialization by a certain sector”, he argues.
