Thinking about large-scale businesses, but at the same time about the impact they can generate on society, is possible. That is what the organization proposes Impact Tradewhich held an event this week in Montevideo and Punta del Este with that slogan.
“What Impact Trade seeks is to be able to connect the business internationally, in a different way, where one highlights the impact that can be generated from that commercial relationship. And we believe that this is very important because there are great challenges that are global and international trade, representing more than 53% of global GDP, is a force that can help in this,” he said. Sebastian Rodriguezco-founder of Impact Trade, Ambit.
The leiv motiv of the organization is to install the concept that business goes beyond just making money, but must be accompanied by positive social and environmental impacts.
“Earning money is good, but that means doing things well: generating a positive impact and international business links. If we achieve that, we can unite the business world – because after the family, companies are the second largest human group that exists – with the solution of social and environmental problems,” Rodríguez clarified.
“We always show the different challenges. One is the whole issue of carbon-neutrality. Another, that of the ecosystem regeneration. Another, that of the inequality and how one can overcome it, and the poverty. And, in general, the sustainable development goals contain a series of challenges and the idea is to put international businesses at the service of them,” adds the CEO of the international organization.
In this context, the choice of Uruguay as the venue for the meeting was not accidental. “It is an incredible country that has a stability on a very large economic, political and cultural level. Second, it allows it to be a reference for doing business, not only in Uruguay, but also for Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay. Furthermore, the size allows one to test in a much safer way, because the authorities, the entire ecosystem, are much more at hand to be able to generate tests that can generate impact,” contextualized the founder of Impact Trade.
Uruguay and its “green bond” as a reference
Several Uruguayan experiences were part of the event on its first day, most of them coming from the private sector. But the work of state organizations was also highlighted. Uruguay XXIthe National Research and Innovation Agency (ANNI) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) through its public debt management unit.
Your director, Hernan Kamilreferred to the call green bonusthe way that the country found to finance itself at a low rate in exchange for achieving an improvement in the indicators of climate change, specifically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maintain native forests.
“In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, we thought about how we could align the government’s debt strategy with meeting the environmental objectives that Uruguay had already committed to before the Paris Agreement (COP21). That is, building a bridge between finance and climate action. And so it was that in 2022 we issued for the first time a bond indexed to environmental indicators. Basically what we did was take the title of the government and incorporate within it a commitment that Uruguay will achieve environmental indicators by the year 2025,” said Kamil.
Impact Trade in Montevideo
“Then suddenly commitments that until then were non-binding became binding. Now we meet or that has financial consequences for the country,” he added.
The head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance placed the issue in a matter of trust, a characteristic in which the country is well located in the global context.
“One, when you sell a bond, you are actually selling confidence. If you think about it, when Uruguay exports meat, it exports the tenderness of the meat, the cut of the meat, the flavor, but it is also exporting the trust that the world has in the traceability system Uruguayan. We are also exporting confidence,” concluded the member of the economic team.
Source: Ambito
