Why invest in the carbon economy?

When we look at the major industrial sectors worldwide, Brazil usually has a modest presence — typically somewhere between 1.5% and 3% of production and/or consumption relative to the global total, in products like automobiles, home appliances, clothing, and white goods, according to international production and consumption data. However, there is one market where Brazil can be a giant: nature-based carbon credits.

Estimates indicate that the country could represent up to 12% or 15% of this global market (McKinsey, 2022). A historic leap. And the time is now.

This year, Brazil will host COP30, the United Nations Climate Conference. And, at the end of 2024, the law establishing the Brazilian carbon market was approved. With it, companies will have limits for greenhouse gas emissions and, upon exceeding them, will need to compensate by purchasing carbon credits.

We are talking about an economy that has just begun and is gaining traction — and not just in Brazil. The entire world is laying the foundations for a new era: the carbon economy.

YangPlanet emerges as a bet on this new economy.

Carbon credits can be generated in various ways. Replacing gasoline fleets with electric vehicles. Restructuring production chains with less energy-intensive materials. Using agricultural inputs that increase carbon capture in the soil. Conserving forests. Restoring degraded areas. And much more.

At YangPlanet, we believe there is a real opportunity here — for the market, innovation, value creation. And more than that: we believe it will only be possible to advance in nature protection and the fight against climate change if and only if through economic value creation. An economy needs companies. Businesses. People who are entrepreneurial, investing, innovating. And that's what we want to help build.

Carbon markets are being structured worldwide. The European regulated carbon market is currently the largest in the world, moving about $1 trillion per year (source)— this amount corresponds to the total ‘carbon allowances’ traded in primary markets (companies buy allowances directly from the EU) and secondary markets (companies trade allowances among themselves). But it doesn't stand alone. More than 75 countries already have mechanisms to price greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition to regulated markets, there are also voluntary markets. In these, companies from various countries buy credits not because they are legally required, but because they have made public, strategic, or reputational commitments to decarbonization. The cases of companies like Microsoft and Google are notable and have connections with our country - the companies have future credits to be produced in reforestation and conservation projects.

In Brazil, for now, only the voluntary carbon market is active — moving about 2 billion reais per year (ICC***). It's still not much. With the approval of Law 15.042/2024, we took a step to establish the Brazilian Emissions Trading System (SBCE). This is a cap-and-trade system that will create the Brazilian regulated market and should be fully operational by 2030, according to what was announced by.

The Ministry of Finance predicts that in the next decade, the carbon market could boost Brazil's GDP by 5.8%. Internationally, different countries are positioning themselves as international players in the emerging carbon economy, and agreements and mechanisms are emerging to facilitate the generation and transfer of credits between countries.

It is in this scenario that increasingly, projects, entrepreneurs, and investors are betting on this new frontier. And this is just the beginning. For this economy to truly flourish, an entire ecosystem will need to be created. It will be necessary to train professionals, develop technical skills, accelerate companies that provide services for the various links in the carbon journey (from production to retirement), and create digital solutions: software to measure emissions, platforms to store data, systems to register and track transactions.

There will need to be equipment suppliers, companies specializing in measurement, environmental engineers, field technicians, developers, auditors, communicators, jurists, and financial operators specializing in the carbon economy.

Qualified people will be needed to design projects, to plant, to analyze data, to build this new economy.

The financial market will also need to be involved — creating products and mechanisms suitable to finance long-term projects, often in remote regions, with different return cycles from those we know today. In other words: a new economy will be needed. With new actors. New products and services. New chains. New ways of thinking and creating value.

This is why we believe in the future of the carbon economy. This is why YangPlanet exists. There is much to learn, create, and build. Join us.