PROJECT HISTORY
The challenge
Before constructing a wood pulp facility, our client needed to assess potential repercussions, and guidance to stay true to ESG values.
Clear ESG vision, strategy and action to deliver positive socio-economic change
New industry set to bring transformative change in Brazil
The solution
Arcadis experts have consulted on likely impact, and acted as the connection between local communities, government, and the project.
The impact
Clear vision of how the facility will fit its surroundings allows client to deliver significant positive socio economic change in the region.
12,000
Jobs created at peak production
Year 2025
Completion date
The challenge
A global manufacturer of wood products is seeking to cement their position as a leading producer of wood pulp – a key component of many commonly used wood products around the world. Part of their strategy to achieve this is the creation of a new 3 billion USD facility in Brazil. The project scope includes significant infrastructure to support the plant, such as roads, a railway branch, a port terminal and a solar generation plant for its energy requirements.
Of central relevance are the repercussions all this will have on the surrounding area and communities. As such, the client required a detailed assessment of exactly how this will affect the region, with a related strategy for maximizing the considerable potential benefits for the local people and environment, and mitigating any negative impact. Meeting and exceeding stringent ESG requirements is not only critically important for a client deeply committed to their values, but also essential for the investment powering the project.
The solution
Our role has been to develop an complex, multifaceted socio-environmental plan to take the project forward in a way that maximizes benefits and acknowledges and mitigates negative impact by guiding where and how money should be spent.
We deployed a team including urban planners specializing in territorial planning, professionals with legal expertise, economists, anthropologists, and environmental engineers. We’re maintaining a permanent presence in the project city, acting as an impartial liaison between the project team, the community and local government. Cooperation with local and national regulatory bodies for various environmental and urban matters is a major way that we are supporting the client, acting as their voice in these important conversations.
Our team has analyzed the project in the context of the client’s ESG commitments, to ensure the high standards will be met. We have also been involved with discussions centering on the Master Plan of the local town, whose population is only half the size of the projected workforce of the finished plant. From contributing to workforce accommodation strategies and development schemes to negotiating the licensing of the port terminal, we are acting as a strategic consultant. With a holistic view and multidisciplinary approach, we are helping the client ensure that the new plant will bring maximum benefit to local communities, cementing a positive legacy in the region.
Our client’s commitment to exemplary ESG standards and creating a positive legacy of economic change in the region was at the heart of our approach. The team was driven by finding ways to ensure change will land in the best way possible, and deliver the most benefits to the most people.
The impact
With a clear vision of the likely impact a new plant will have, and advice on how to minimize any harm while increasing opportunities for employment and development for local communities, the client now has the power to take that insight and shape the future of both their business and the people they will be working alongside.
They can fulfil their obligations to local government and investors, stay true to their own corporate values and commitments, and move forward with this region-enhancing project in a responsible, proactive and purposeful way, creating positive change that will last for future generations.
