Established and maintained by BASF, the Foundation guides companies on their sustainability journey with a focus on value chain, natural capital, bioeconomy and circular economy
Promote sustainable development in the corporate environment and society, through tools that assist in diagnosing, measuring and evaluating the economic, environmental and social impact of products and services. With this mission, Fundação Espaço ECO® (FEE), created and maintained by BASF in Brazil, completes 15 years of operation.
Founded in 2005, FEE is an OSCIP – Civil Society Organization of Public Interest, which acts as a sustainability consultancy, developing customized projects and using scientific methodologies based on life cycle thinking that quantify and materialize aspects of sustainability, among them the consumption of resources, such as water and energy, the generation of emissions, such as CO2, or waste, among other factors.
“Attentive to the main challenges and opportunities of corporate sustainability, the Foundation has helped companies in South America to mature their sustainability strategy, making it part of the business and increasingly closer to consumers and representing an important connection between BASF and society”, says the president of BASF for South America, Manfredo Rübens.
Looking at trends in corporate sustainability, the Foundation defined four strategic pillars to guide its discussions and support its clients: value chain, natural capital, bioeconomy and circular economy. In 2020, even with the pandemic caused by Covid-19, more than 30 projects were developed for clients in South America for companies and institutions such as Kimberly & Clark, Associação Brasileira de Bioinovação and Instituto Akatu, as well as business units from BASF itself. “The Foundation has become a reference that brings together science, data and analysis for managers to make better decisions related to sustainability. It is a fundamental part of BASF's sustainability strategy in South America and in building partnerships with customers, society and government”, comments BASF's director of Institutional Relations and Sustainability for South America and responsible for the Foundation, Cristiana Xavier de Brito.
In its history, FEE has contributed to society through studies of public interest, in which it seeks to anticipate demands and trends related to sustainability and identifies opportunities to introduce more sustainable models of activities. One example is SustenBOT (http://www.espacoeco.org.br/sustenbot), a free digital tool that, through 10 questions, identifies a company's degree of sustainability in just three minutes, generating a report with its level of sustainability maturity. The objective is to allow quick access to initial sustainability data, thus promoting more knowledge on the topic and stimulating the development of initiatives and projects in the business sector.
In its 15th anniversary year, the Foundation also launched a calculator so that anyone can calculate their own CO2 emissions from common activities such as electricity consumption, food, waste production, transport and travel. In the end, the sum for the 12 months of the year is converted into the number of trees that would be necessary to plant to offset these emissions. In addition to giving tips and instructions on how to reduce your carbon footprint, Fundação Espaço ECO directs the user to a platform (https://www.espacoeco.org.br/compensacao/) where it is possible to offset your carbon footprint by donating tree seedlings.
“A lot has changed since the creation of Fundação Espaço ECO in 2005. We have developed many projects, studies and consultancies and we have followed and participated in the change in the role of sustainability in companies, from an ancillary agenda to part of the organizations' strategy. We want to continue generating a positive impact for the next generations, carrying out the Espaço ECO Foundation's mission of supporting companies and society so that together we can build a more sustainable future”, says the Foundation's CEO, Rodolfo Walder Viana.
Discover success stories from Fundação Espaço ECO
The Espaço ECO Foundation promotes dialogue on sustainable development in the corporate environment and in society; develops customized projects for organizations to measure and understand the environmental, social and economic impacts of their operations; and coordinates partners for the development of lines of research and application of scientific methodologies in business management in order to solve market challenges.
“In recent years, we have recognized a greater number of companies seeking a better understanding of their various stakeholders and the meanings of sustainability for each of them. With this, they allow you to expand the dialogue within your operations on how to meet these expectations through your brands”, explains the manager of Fundação Espaço ECO, Rafael Viñas.
Discover some of the projects carried out by the Foundation below.
Packaging eco-efficiency analysis
Since 2015, Cargill, a multinational that operates in food production and processing, has annually analyzed the sustainability of the production of its entire line of tomato products. Based on this analysis, the possibility of replacing one of the main packaging used for Elefante tomato paste, made of steel, was evaluated. Through the Eco-efficiency Analysis carried out by Fundação Espaço ECO, it was possible to make a comparison between traditional packaging and an option made with plastic material. Considering the environmental and economic performance criteria, it was concluded that the new packaging performed 6% better in environmental terms and 12% better in economic terms.
Biofuels
Fundação Espaço ECO is one of the partners of Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Company) and Agroícone (consultancy specialized in agribusiness focused on promoting biofuels and renewable energy), in disseminating tools in initiatives focused on training and training of RenovaCalc, which calculates Cbios (decarbonization credits) and evaluates greenhouse gas emissions at different stages of the biofuels life cycle. RenovaCalc is part of the Federal Government's RenovaBio program. FEE formed a partnership to publicize RenovaCalc with the institutions that developed it (Embrapa, Unicamp, Agroicone and the National Biorenewable Laboratory). Until December 2019, FEE held seven editions of the course and we trained more than 250 multipliers.
Natural capital management
The Mata Viva® Project, carried out in partnership with BASF, reflects the direct contribution to the conservation of the environment through the management of natural capital. Started in 1984, at the Chemical Complex of Guaratinguetá (SP), it has already contributed to the reforestation of 132 hectares of native forest, totaling 278 thousand trees planted along 1.4 km of the Paraíba do Sul river. It is estimated that this investment allowed the removal of 33.5 thousand tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
Materiality matrix
Fundação Espaço ECO updated the materiality matrices of the strategy for physical stores and digital platforms of Lojas Americanas, a Brazilian company in the retail segment, with the identification of sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities. The matrices guide the practices and actions to be carried out in the short, medium and long term, generating value for the company and its partners.
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