Motiva calculates the “cost of inaction” against climate threats.

Belém - Two major tragedies, one after the other - the landslides on the northern coast of São Paulo in 2023, and the floods in Rio Grande do Sul in 2024 - sounded the alarm at Motiva . The infrastructure and mobility company spent around R$ 250 million just on the recovery of roads in Rio Grande do Sul, which are in the final stages of construction.

“Climate change has been in our risk matrix since 2022, but what happened in São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul reinforced the relevance and urgency of the issue for us and showed that it was necessary to accelerate climate adaptation strategies for all of the company's businesses,” says Juliana Silva, sustainability director at Motiva, to NeoFeed .

Some of these were presented in panels throughout the first week of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference ( COP 30 ) in Belém.

One of the most comprehensive and meticulous initiatives is the creation of nearly five thousand plans to strengthen the resilience of highways, airports, subways, and trains under Motiva's concession. Based on scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the company has identified the main climate risks, kilometer by kilometer, for its assets up to 2050.

And that's a lot. Formerly CCR and valued at R$ 25 billion, Motiva manages 4,475 kilometers of roads in six Brazilian states – placing it fourth in the ranking of the largest private highway operators in the world. In addition, the group controls 189 kilometers of railways, used by 750 million people annually. And there are also 20 airports (17 in Brazil, one in Costa Rica, another in Ecuador, and the last one in Curaçao).

The company is also one of the originators of the Coalition for the Decarbonization of Transport. At COP 30, the alliance, committed to reducing CO² emissions from the Brazilian mobility industry by 70% over the next 25 years, reached 121 participants, including companies, concessionaires, and associations linked to the sector.

Leading these strategies is Juliana, a 43-year-old biologist. The daughter of a multinational executive father and a mother dedicated to social causes, she always wanted to be involved in projects that combined impact and scale. She worked in the NGO world, spent about a decade in the chemical industry, and in October 2024, took on the role of sustainability director at Motiva.

Now, in the transportation sector, it faces the climate challenges imposed on the industry that moves Brazil – whether by road, rail, or air, half of the Brazilian population travels with Motiva at some point.

In the hustle and bustle of COP 30, between one commitment and another, Juliana spoke with NeoFeed about the company's initiatives to adapt to increasingly extreme weather conditions and initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of Motiva and the entire sector - the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the country, behind only agriculture.

Read below the main excerpts from the interview:

The transportation and logistics infrastructure sector is one of the most susceptible to extreme weather events. How is the company preparing?
We have a climate resilience strategy, divided into two main pillars. A more short-term perspective, called operational. We have partnerships with some startups, such as MeteoIA and Climatempo, and with Cemadem [National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters]. Daily, they provide reports to our operational control center. And with this information, we can already predict, for example, if it will rain, where it will rain, how much it will rain… If any section of our road is at risk, we block it before any accident happens. That's the short-term perspective.

"We looked kilometer by kilometer of our highways, station by station of our trains and subways, and every airport to understand which sections were most critical to the business."

And what about the long-term perspective?
Climate risk has been part of Motiva's corporate risk matrix since 2022. And, two years ago, we began reviewing all these threats. We looked kilometer by kilometer at our highways, station by station on our trains and subways, and at each airport to understand which sections were most critical to the business until 2050. We did this based on IPCC studies and arrived at almost 5,000 climate adaptation plans.

Have you estimated the financial impacts of climate threats?
Yes, we priced in those risks. I know, for example, how much we'll spend if a certain kilometer of the AutoBan highway needs to be rebuilt. Or if the company has to block a toll plaza, how much revenue it will lose. Or even if, in the case of implementing improvement works, how much it will cost if that work is delayed. With this, we can calculate the "cost of inaction" for the business.

What is that cost?
We will disclose this in our next report, at the beginning of the first quarter of next year.

Do you intend to implement these 5,000 plans?
No, that's not the idea. Right now, we're evaluating the implementation costs of these plans based on a combination of criteria. One of them is the safety of our employees and our users. If we do nothing, are we putting them in danger? Another criterion is the impact on biodiversity.

How does biodiversity fit into this equation?
Preserving biodiversity means preserving a large part of these problems. Conserved forests, for example, help with drainage, thermal regulation, and erosion reduction. In other words, preservation measures are also measures for adapting businesses to climate change.

When should plans considered priorities be put into practice?
We will ensure they are in the 2027 budget. We have agreed with the Board that, at the beginning of the first quarter of 2026, we will return this recommendation to senior leadership.

Do you have any idea how much Motiva would have saved, for example, from the floods in Rio Grande do Sul if these plans had already been implemented?
It's very difficult to say for sure. Even adopting adaptation measures, it's impossible to guarantee that we won't lose anything in an emergency situation. We'll prepare as much as possible... certainly, prevention is cheaper.

"It's pointless to be prepared to face rising temperatures if we continue emitting [greenhouse gases]."

After agriculture, the transportation sector is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Brazil. What is the company's mitigation agenda?
It's pointless to be prepared to face rising temperatures if we continue emitting. The sector represents 11% of the country's emissions. We are committed to carbon neutrality by 2035. Therefore, we must reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 59% and scope 3 emissions by 27% by 2033.

What have you done to get there?
All the energy used by Motiva is renewable. Thanks to a partnership with Neoenergia, last year 60% of our energy is wind energy produced by us. We buy the rest. About 90% of our light vehicle fleet is electrified. The rest uses biofuel. The big challenge is heavy vehicles. We are working with some partners to develop some renewable fuel for heavy vehicles as well. Our estimate is to end 2025 with 55% less emissions compared to 2019.

But will it be possible to achieve zero emissions by 2035?
To achieve carbon neutrality, we will need to purchase carbon credits. We have some operations underway in partnership with Reserva Votorantim and SOS Mata Atlântica.

Motiva has individual and collective projects, such as the Coalition, to reduce the carbon footprint of the company and the sector. Are there any initiatives related to the user?
We have another alliance, with companies like Volkswagen, to create a corridor on the Dutra highway with charging points for electric vehicles [the project is called e-Dutra]. It's a way for us to start using our operations to also positively influence the user.

*The journalist traveled at the invitation of Motiva, the organization behind the Coalition for the Decarbonization of Transportation.