1) Debate: the first thing I’ve done when I got back to the university was to join forces with the local student directory and organize a seminar to discuss the curriculum of the Bachelor’s Degree in Management. I invited students from freshmen to seniors, professors, staff members and entrepreneurs to mediate groups that discussed the inclusion of themes like entrepreneurship, sustainable development and social innovation in the curriculum. Important issues like the role that alumni play in society and the interaction between educational activities and real problems have been addressed. The resulting ideas were presented to the school director.

2) Talk about sustainability whenever you have a chance: I always choose sustainability-related themes when professors allow students to pick their subjects. Recently, in a Marketing Management course, I made a very successful presentation about greenwashing. I also gave a lecture about work opportunities in sustainability, together with my friend and work colleague Bruno Peroni.

3) Start a Net Impact chapter: I’ve contacted students with compatible interests to found a Net Impact chapter in Porto Alegre. Net Impact is a global network of leaders who are changing the world through business.

4) Write a thesis: I’ve already talked to some professors about my research project, which is the final endeavor of my degree, to be accomplished until July 2011. I intend to link sustainable finance and public policy for climate change in an innovative way. I hope it works.

The strength of consumer culture: the recent development of the city’s commerce is remarkable. New shops are more aware of trends and niches. Taking night life as an example, there is a rampant supply of bars offering boutique products, such as premium-quality beers. Moreover, a new and huge shopping mall has opened its doors in the southern part of the city, which is considered to be more peaceful. It seems to me, by talking to people, that they now aim to belong to social groups which are able to take advantage of this growth in the offer of new and better products and services. They forget, perhaps, the other dimensions of life.
I believe in the transience of such fetishism. When clear signals of mitigation of social inequality in Brazil appear, other forms of individual and collective expression tend to emerge.

The disappearance of kindness: the traffic in Porto Alegre is an expression of the individualistic greed that prevails among the inhabitants of this emerging metropolis. It’s all about a dispute to arrive faster, earn faster which follows a ruthless pragmatism in relations between people. There is no reason to thank somebody if we won’t see the person anymore.

Inefficiency, though: everybody runs, but arrives late. Each service takes twice as long as it should.

The seeds of good news: in the political arena, some initiatives deserve attention. There is a councilman who promises to spread environmental awareness in the city, a strong investigation against corruption in the state government, an amazing campaign regarding safety of pedestrians, and the intensification of civil society movements. I’ve attended to a seminar named “Creative City”.
The arts seem to be a little more present. Bienal do Mercosul is coming soon.

These new vibrations, combined with the flourishing economy, make me believe: it is a good time to be here.

This text was originally written in Portuguese.

Pigouvian solutions are a tool for correction of market failures related to the non-inclusion of externalities to the price of goods. Consumers in gas stations do not pay for all the social and environmental costs generetad by the fuel they buy. As highlited by Lester Brown, the costs of climate change are not included in fossil fuel prices. Such failure is an incentive to the massive use of these fuels worldwide.
The role of the State is to correct such malfunction, taxing oil-related products and investing the revenue of this taxation in programmes to compensate the negative consequences. Governments which consider such possibility have the opportunity to increase tax revenues from products such as gasoline and diesel, and thus to relieve other sectors or products that generate welfare for the population. Additionally, some benefits of such policies are intagible. The humanization of cities, generated by reduction of the number of cars on the streets, is an example of immeasurable reflex of these actions.

The effectiveness of pigouvian solutions depends, however, on government efficiency, given that the State expands its role in resource management when such measures are adopted. It is true that Brazil does not exhibit a great performance in the management of public finance and the institutional environment, but there are signs of improvement which allow some boldness in the formulation of sustainable public policies. Anyway, it is better to lose some time due to inneficiency than moving in the wrong direction.

In the 21st century, some actions of Brazilian government contain traces of what we may call Beetle solution, in a reference to the well-know public policy to encourage production and purchase of cars that pushed the German economy just before World War II. Since then, Germany has learned many lessons and now leads efforts for sustainable innovation, including governmental activity, as shown by Iochpe, the commentator.

The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has just signed an agreement with General Motors that provides a deadline of 10 years for the first payment of 75% of the taxes generated by the expansion of the local plant of the company. GM still has 12 years, after the commencement of the payments, to remove the debt. No interests will be charged! This means that the State is taking a huge risk and a loss of tax revenues in favor of supposed economic benefits of a multinational which faces a process of reorganization (after going bankrupt) in its home country. The project is also being funded by BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) and Banrisul (a local state-owned bank), instituting extremely favorable conditions to the corporation.

Besides investing in a business (and economic development) model which is completely outdated, the government of Rio Grande do Sul will have to deal with a conflict of interest. The administration probably expects to receive, someday, the debts of the American multinational. Therefore, government and banks may lose their willingness to invest in public transportation, sustainable urban development and intercity trains. The ideal situation now is that every local buys a car to help with the success of the factory, which has no plans to build electric or energy-efficient vehicles.

That is what I call moving in the wrong direction. What is expected of a government committed to sustainability is a clear policy to encourage the replacement of cars by other means of transportation, more compatible with the reality of the planet and cities. Taxes are only a way to express that choice. In the European Union, the current proposals for the taxation of cars is taking environmental factors into account very seriously.

Notice: the content of this website does not represent the position of any institution. The author does not disclose any information related to the role of the institutions he works for.

This text was originally written in Portuguese.