Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Is essential to tackling climate change and ensuring an increasingly sustainable future. In this article, you’ll learn more about what decarbonization is and how it can transform the economy, the environment, and the way we live.

What is decarbonization?

Decarbonization is a global movement that emerged as a response to global warming and climate change. In practice, it involves a combination of actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere—especially carbon dioxide (CO₂). Decarbonization is primarily expressed through practices that combine innovation and sustainability to enable increasingly efficient, renewable, and less polluting products and energy sources.

The term is directly linked to the Paris Agreement, an international treaty signed in 2015 during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21). This global commitment sets the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This number was defined based on scientific studies indicating that exceeding this limit could lead to irreversible damage to the planet.

Currently, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s 2024 report, global temperatures are estimated to have already risen between 1.3°C and 1.4°C since the second half of the 19th century—a warning that reinforces the urgency of accelerating decarbonization efforts.

Read more
7 Amazon biodiversity facts​ that you should know

Why is decarbonization important?

Excessive fatigue during extreme heat days. Losses caused by heavy rains and floods. Rising food prices, such as coffee, after prolonged droughts. Even the risk of chocolate disappearing in the coming years due to the cocoa crisis. What do all these problems have in common? They are visible effects of climate change that already impact our daily lives.

In the long term, the consequences are even more serious. Ecosystem imbalance, biodiversity loss, and forced displacement of populations fleeing climate events (such as droughts or floods) are challenges that tend to become increasingly frequent. The impacts also extend to human health, such as the emergence and spread of infectious diseases and higher mortality risks, as highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Read more
What is global warming?

These consequences are not new, but since the Industrial Revolution, they have been aggravated by the intensive use of fossil fuels, illegal deforestation, polluting production activities, and rampant consumption patterns. This is where decarbonization comes into play—with the goal of reducing GHG emissions, slowing global warming, protecting ecosystems, and ensuring food security, health, and quality of life for populations.

Key strategies for decarbonization

Driving decarbonization is a collective goal. Individuals, governments, and companies must engage to promote changes in how we produce, consume, and interact with the environment. Here’s what each of these players can do.

Governments

Governments play a central role in creating policies, incentives, and regulatory frameworks that drive the transition to a low-carbon economy.

In Brazil, this commitment has been strengthened by recent measures, such as the approval of the Regulated Carbon Market Law (Law No. 15,042/2024), considered a milestone for encouraging sustainable practices to control carbon emissions. Another example is the Future Fuel Law (Law No. 14,993/2024), which promotes low-carbon sustainable mobility and aims to position the country as a leader in the global energy transition.

“Brazil starts from an advantageous position compared to other nations, especially due to the high share of renewable sources in its energy and electricity matrix—a characteristic that sets it apart from regions such as Europe and parts of Asia,” notes Guilherme Conor Coraiola, Sustainability and ESG specialist and Climate Change coordinator at Suzano. “The country has great potential in biofuel production, including biomethane, which is emerging as a proven viable alternative to fossil fuels,” he adds.

Despite these advances, structural challenges remain. The expansion of new technologies and more sustainable fuels depends on regulations and public investments to make them accessible at affordable costs. Therefore, strengthening policies that encourage the production and consumption of clean energy is seen as an essential step to consolidate the decarbonization process.

Individuals

Individual engagement through small everyday choices can also generate significant results in reducing emissions. Here are some tips to help shape the planet’s future:

Practice conscious consumption

“It’s important to pursue as much of a circular economy as possible within our homes, with conscious consumption practices and selective waste collection. These are ways to boost material reuse and reduce the need to extract more resources from nature for new product manufacturing,” suggests Guilherme.

Buying clothes from thrift stores, using recyclable or returnable packaging—or paper—and repurposing materials that would otherwise be discarded by repairing or transforming them into new objects are examples of conscious consumption you can adopt in your daily life.

Choose renewable fuel sources

“When refueling your car, choosing ethanol instead of gasoline is a simple habit change that directly contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” explains Rafael Favery, Sustainability Project Manager at AFRY Brasil, an engineering and consulting firm specializing in energy transition. To illustrate the positive impact of this action, data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that sugarcane ethanol emits, on average, 89% fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline.

Encourage others to care for the planet

The small sustainable choices you make every day can have a major positive impact on global decarbonization. Sharing what you’ve learned about sustainability and motivating family and friends to adopt more conscious practices is an excellent way to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

To strengthen this movement even further, you can use your social networks to share content, projects, and initiatives on environmental education, conscious consumption, sustainable products, climate change, biodiversity, and recycling. By spreading knowledge, you multiply the positive impact that individual actions can have in building a low-carbon economy.

On Suzano’s blog, you’ll find publications on all these topics to deepen your understanding of sustainable development trends.

Read more
Recycling facts for kids

Decarbonization and the role of companies

Companies play a central role in decarbonization and in combating climate change, mainly because they account for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions. According to data from the Carbon Majors Database, a report used to monitor and disclose global environmental information, 100 companies are responsible for 71% of GHG emissions.

Beyond the impacts they generate, companies also hold the resources, technology, and innovation capacity needed to transform how the economy operates. “Not by chance, in partnership with government agencies, large private-sector companies have already been leading this transformation, setting fossil decarbonization targets and seeking to engage their customers and suppliers,” says Rafael.

At Suzano, a pulp and paper company, decarbonization is among its strategic priorities, following an approach that combines emission reduction and maximization of removals. In its Climate Transition Action Plan, Suzano details reduction actions such as the gasification of cellulose biomass at its Ribas do Rio Pardo (MS) plant, which results in a 97% reduction in emissions from part of the production process compared to a plant that consumes fossil fuels.

What are the benefits of decarbonization?

In our daily lives, decarbonization has the potential to generate visible benefits, such as reducing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. “This means living with greater quality of life and well-being, so that current and future generations are less exposed to the risks of natural disasters,” explains Rafael.

For companies, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is also essential. The international organization Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) estimates that climate change-related losses for large companies could reach US$1 trillion, represented by inventory losses, difficulty accessing raw materials, reduced production due to energy shortages, among other consequences.

In this scenario, more than an immediate necessity, decarbonization also represents an opportunity to boost countries’ economic development by promoting the transition to the bioeconomy—a low-carbon economy based on integrating sustainability, innovation, and science into production processes. “This is not just an obligation, but an opportunity to promote a fair and sustainable transition capable of generating new jobs, stimulating innovation, increasing competitiveness, and valuing ecosystems and natural resources. In this context, the bioeconomy plays an even more strategic role for Brazil, which has unique advantages such as its rich biodiversity, abundance of natural resources, and strong forestry base,” highlights Rafael.

Read more
Environmental conservation and preservation: how to protect life on the planet

Conclusion: decarbonization is a collective and urgent process

Decarbonization is a necessary and achievable movement. It is a collective process that requires environmental studies, technical and financial analyses, clear targets, and, above all, continuous commitment from individuals, governments, and companies to drastically reduce emissions, rethink habits, and overcome dependence on fossil fuels.

More than seeking a single solution, it is essential to recognize that building a low-carbon future depends on multiple strategies and collaboration across different sectors. This is a crucial step in the face of ongoing climate change, as we urgently need to rethink how we produce, consume, and interact with the planet.

Decarbonization, therefore, represents a new way of understanding economic development—combining responsibility, innovation, and sustainability to build a more balanced and resilient future.

‍