[{"jcr:title":"Brazil seeks an alliance between productivity and sustainability in new research network launched at Insper","cq:tags_0":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper","cq:tags_1":"area-de-conhecimento:políticas-públicas","cq:tags_2":"area-de-conhecimento:economia","cq:tags_3":"area-de-conhecimento:políticas-públicas/sustentabilidade"},{"richText":"Interinstitutional initiative brings together leading economists to produce evidence, guide public policy, and drive the country’s climate and economic transition.","authorDate":"15/12/2025 17h52","madeBy":"Por","tag":"area-de-conhecimento:políticas-públicas","title":"Brazil seeks an alliance between productivity and sustainability in new research network launched at Insper","variant":"imagecolor"},{"jcr:title":"transparente - turquesa - vermelho"},{"themeName":"transparente - turquesa - vermelho"},{"containerType":"containerTwo"},{"jcr:title":"Grid Container Section","layout":"responsiveGrid"},{"text":"At a time when the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly visible and the urgency of sustainable economic transitions is growing, the Research Network on Productivity & Sustainability (PP&S Network) was launched at Insper in São Paulo on December 9. This interinstitutional initiative brings together economists and researchers from several leading institutions in Brazil to foster high-impact studies capable of guiding public policy and transforming the Brazilian economy toward a more productive, inclusive, and environmentally responsible model. The proposal is rooted in the recognition that the challenges faced by the country—climate crisis, biodiversity loss, social inequalities, and economic stagnation—are deeply interconnected. As Sérgio Lazzarini, Academic Vice President of Insper, stated in his opening remarks: “Much of this change depends on pressures and leadership that are often beyond our control, but here, in academia, what we can do is generate high-level research, with rigor, that detects impacts, effects, and mechanisms, and helps us understand what is holding this agenda back and where the opportunities lie.” The PP&S Network is supported by the Itaúsa Institute, which sees the initiative as a necessary response to a structural gap. “Without science, there are no good public policies. Without evidence, there is no structural transformation,” said Rodolfo Villela, Executive Vice President of Itaúsa and Chair of the Board of the Itaúsa Institute. According to him, the creation of the Institute itself, two and a half years ago, was driven by a clear ambition: to work in areas such as environmental conservation and productivity growth with social impact. “Our focus is to work on both themes—productivity and sustainability—in an integrated way. These are long-term challenges that require continuous commitment and coordination across different sectors,” he said. The Network will initially be based at Insper, but its governance has been designed to be rotational, strengthening the collaborative spirit among institutions. Academic coordination for the first three years will be led by economist Rodrigo Soares, who also coordinates the research committee formed by Juliano Assunção (PUC-Rio), Paula Pereira (USP), and Francisco Costa (EPGE-FGV), in addition to Soares himself. Executive coordination is led by Leila Pereira, from Insper. Among the pillars of the Network’s work are: generating and directly supporting research; strengthening the international presence of Brazilian researchers; disseminating scientific evidence; and training new generations of scholars. Explaining the type of scientific output the Network aims to promote, Soares summarized: “The idea is to foster a generation of research aimed at high-impact international publications, but that is also deeply relevant to Brazilian public policies.” Brazilian solutions to global dilemmas The opening panel of the event also discussed the outcomes of COP30 and the paths toward reconciling economic growth with environmental preservation. Joaquim Levy, former Minister of Finance and current Director of Economic Strategy and Market Relations at Banco Safra, highlighted that Brazil could be one of the few countries in the world capable of achieving carbon neutrality in the coming decades “not at additional cost, but with productivity gains.” For him, examples such as corn ethanol—which has been transforming livestock and agriculture with positive impacts on clean energy generation and animal protein production—demonstrate that “sustainability and productivity go hand in hand, provided the right choices are made.” Levy also stressed that Brazil needs to leverage its natural advantages to lead the global ecological transition: “We have nature-based solutions that can generate value, industrialize sectors, create jobs, and serve society at lower cost. But to do so, we need more coordination and regulatory adjustments, not necessarily subsidies.” Marcelo Furtado, Head of Sustainability at the Itaúsa Institute and former director of Greenpeace, emphasized the importance of viewing sustainability as a driver of industrial development. “We are living through a transformation in which adaptation to the new climate reality will be a competitive advantage. Developing resilient seeds, safe products, resilient infrastructure—all of this creates new markets and jobs,” he said. For him, the role of the private sector will be crucial, and Brazil already has good examples of innovation, such as the ethanol-hybrid bus developed by Marcopolo. “We have engineers and centers of excellence that nobody knows about. We need to tell these stories better—to Brazil and to the world,” he added. Furtado also highlighted the importance of smart financing mechanisms, such as guarantees for access to public credit (for example, from the Climate Fund), and coordination with the financial sector to attract private resources. “It’s not just about new ideas, but about adapting existing instruments and making them work for a new reality.” The forest as economic infrastructure Responsible for dozens of publications and initiatives focused on Amazon conservation, researcher Beto Veríssimo (Imazon and Amazônia 2030) completed the panel by reinforcing the strategic role of forests. “When we deforest the Amazon, we are destroying an infrastructure that regulates climate, agricultural production, water supply, and energy generation,” he warned. He presented recent data from a study measuring the effects of deforestation on rainfall loss and hydropower generation, highlighting the urgency of incorporating this perspective into public planning. For Veríssimo, the Network represents a rare opportunity to produce applied knowledge with a direct impact on institutional decision-making. “The greatest threat to our agenda is confused people asking the wrong questions. As an academic community, we need to improve the quality of the questions that guide public policy,” he said. He also proposed that Brazil take on a position of global leadership, especially within the G20, by adopting a development strategy based on biodiversity. “We are the country with the greatest natural wealth in the world, and we still know very little about it. We have everything we need to decarbonize quickly, with productivity gains and greater inclusion,” he said, noting that initiatives such as the growing use of bio-inputs and regenerative agriculture are already showing concrete results in the field. A debate that continues The event’s program continued throughout the day with research sessions organized around themes such as environment and productivity, the political economy of environmental preservation, and the socioeconomic consequences of deforestation. Researchers from Insper, FGV, USP, and PUC-Rio presented empirical studies addressing topics ranging from the effects of natural disasters on the labor market to the impacts of deforestation on public health and energy markets. By the end of the day, it was clear that the convergence between productivity and sustainability is not only possible, but indispensable for the country’s future. As Rodrigo Soares concluded: “We want this network to be a long-term seed. That in 15 years it will have a life of its own, operating independently, with a mature, internationalized field of research that is increasingly relevant to Brazil’s development.”"}]