The Brazil Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Center for Strategic Studies and Management (CGEE), Brazil’s Energy Research Office (EPE) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) held on October 23, 2020 a webinar entitled “Energy Big Push: Accelerating clean energy innovation in Brazil”.
The Energy Big Push (EBP) or Grande Impulso Energia Brasil is a collaborative initiative that seeks to provide evidence to promote innovation investments for a sustainable energy transition in Brazil, thereby contributing to an Energy Big Push.
Coordinated by CGEE, EPE, ECLAC and the IEA, the EBP’s findings are the result of a collective effort and the contributions of various partner institutions and experts who work on energy and innovation, with support from the Cooperation Program between ECLAC and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) through German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) along with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) of Brazil.
The purpose of the webinar was to launch the reports obtained from this multi-institutional effort and discuss the nature and implications of their main findings for the future of clean energy innovation in Brazil.
The online event began with a high-level opening session led by Thiago Barral, Chief Executive Officer of EPE; Marcio Miranda, President of CGEE; Mario Cimoli, ECLAC’s Deputy Executive Secretary; and Dave Turk, the IEA’s Acting Deputy Executive Director and Head of the Strategic Initiatives Office.
The EBP’s partners then presented the main findings of the project’s final reports, available in Portuguese and English. These findings are summarized in the EBP synthesis report: A Big Push for Sustainability in Brazil's energy sector: Input and evidence for policy coordination.
Camila Ferraz, an Energy Research Analyst at EPE, described the pioneering efforts made to better understand investment in research and development (R&D) in Brazil, including the volumes invested in different technological areas and trends in recent years, as set out in the report Overview of energy innovation investments in Brazil: Data for an Energy Big Push.
Barbara Bressan, a Technical Advisor at CGEE, discussed the technical, economic, environmental and social impacts that can be expected from investments in selected low-carbon technologies, as explained in the report Performance indicators associated with low-carbon energy technologies in Brazil: Evidence for an Energy Big Push.
Meanwhile, Carlos Mussi, Director of ECLAC’s Office in Brazil, highlighted the main findings related to the policy framework, based on the key characteristics of the experiences of selected countries and strategic guidelines that could promote investment in clean energy innovation, citing the report Incentive mechanisms for clean energy innovation in Brazil: Paths for an Energy Big Push.
In addition, a panel discussion took place between Fernanda de Negri, Researcher at the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economic Research – IPEA; Aurélio Calheiros de Melo Júnior, Coordinator of the R&D Program at the Superintendency of Research & Development and Energy Efficiency of the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency – ANEEL; Fabio Stallivieri, Advisor to the Director at the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Research and Innovation – Embrapii; and Jean-Baptiste Le Marois, an Energy Innovation Officer at the IEA.
The event’s concluding segment focused on next steps and featured the presence of Eduardo Soriano, Director of the Structuring Technologies Department at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), and Agnes da Costa, Head of the Regulatory Advisory Office at the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).
Related links:
Final reports of the Energy Big Push (Grande Impulso Energia) Brasil in Portuguese:
Final reports of the Energy Big Push (Grande Impulso Energia) Brasil in English:
