The new episode of the podcast ‘A quem de Direito’, a partnership between VdA and Jornal Económico (JE), is now available. Entitled ‘Blue Ocean: economic and sustainability potential’, this sixth episode features Assunção Cristas, who discusses the potential of the blue economy and the sustainability challenges for these sectors.
 
In Portugal, agricultural and forestry assets are expected to attract investments worth 500 million euros over the next two years. With this growth, it is estimated that the blue economy could contribute 7 % to the national GDP by 2030. It is from this perspective that Assunção Cristas begins by outlining the national legislative framework, which contributes to Portugal becoming climate neutral in these sectors, namely through the recent approval of the voluntary carbon market.
 
‘We are doing a very interesting job in Portugal from a legislative point of view, by creating a framework that allows us to provide solidity and credibility to projects aimed at removing carbon, sequestering carbon or reducing emissions,’ explains the VdA lawyer. This work, as she explains, extends to the European legislative framework, but also to the global one, which arose from the Paris Agreement and extends to the European Climate Law.

‘This basically means that Europe wants to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. This implies a very big effort to remove emissions, and that's mandatory, but we also know that it's only possible to achieve this neutrality if we remove carbon from the atmosphere, because it's not enough just to reduce. We have to act on both sides.’

In this episode, Assunção Cristas emphasises that Portugal is one step ahead of the European context. The two sectors named in Portuguese legislation are the forestry sector, which is already a priority, and the blue carbon market, where establishing pilot projects is a priority. ‘These are sectors that can contribute a lot to the sustainability and climate agenda. In the case of forestry, I think this role is well known, our forestry sector, which usually makes the headlines for the most difficult reasons, typically the fires, is actually a success story from an economic point of view and is also a growing case of sustainability.’

The podcast ‘A quem de Direito’ is organised by VdA in partnership with Jornal Económico. Each episode will cover topics such as agribusiness, governance, capital markets and Artificial Intelligence.

  •  This episode is available here.