Energy Innovation: A key path to global sustainability
Eldorado Brasil Celulose S/A
Uma das empresas mais competitivas do setor de celulose no mundo
By Elcio Trajano Jr , Director of HR, Sustainability and Communications at Eldorado Brasil Celulose.
The energy transition is no longer just an environmental commitment. Today, it is a strategic point of reflection for companies aiming to maintain their relevance in a global landscape increasingly pressured by resource scarcity, climate change, and regulatory demands. In the forestry sector, this movement is even more decisive: we are facing a concrete opportunity to lead a transformation that combines productivity, supply security, and environmental responsibility.
The 7.5% increase in energy demand in Brazil in 2024, according to data from the ONS, is not an isolated number — it is a directly reflects of a growing country that must ensure stability and efficiency in its energy matrix. At the same time, international agreements such as those established at COP29 in Baku (Azerbaijan) reinforce the role of renewable sources in building a new global model. The goal to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 and the $300 billion pledged annually by developed countries to support this transition signal an unavoidable shift: we must invest in new energy solutions or risk being left behind.
In the pulp and paper industry, this choice is no longer optional. The sector holds a unique potential for integrating bioeconomy and clean energy generation — whether through the use of biomass or technologies that maximize the reuse of industrial waste. At this point, sustainability ceases to be an abstract value and becomes a strategic operational advantage.
Companies like Eldorado Brasil already view the modernization of their energy matrix as a natural extension of their sustainable management model. The Onça Pintada Thermal Power Plant (UTOP), inaugurated in 2021, is a clear example of how seriously we take this. With an installed capacity of 50 MWh, it uses eucalyptus trunks not suitable for pulp production to generate electricity. In 2023, it delivered 317,000 MWh to the National Interconnected System — enough energy to supply a city of more than 2 million people. What was once waste has become a solution.
We have also gone further by implementing the world’s first mini-hydropower plant that generates energy from treated effluents. This pioneering initiative not only reduces environmental impact but also increases operational autonomy. Integrating different sources and optimizing every available input is part of our systemic vision for the future — one that combines technical consistency, collective responsibility, and adaptability in challenging contexts.
Recent studies, such as the one from Brasil Biomassa (2024), indicate that Brazil could replace up to 50 TWh of fossil fuels with bioelectricity by 2035. Achieving this will require investment at scale, advanced technology and public policies that provide predictability. The forestry industry can — and should — play a central role in this transition, shifting from consumer to provider of competitive renewable energy.
Structural actions to support energy transition commitments in the productive sector must be developed so that this topic moves beyond rhetoric and becomes a key focus in executive decision-making — with real investment, efficient management and openness to new perspectives. Embracing this process with seriousness and a focus on sustainability is essential for those who want not only to follow the market but to help drive its evolution.
Sources:
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