1.How did the Planetiers project come up? What is your assessment?

Planetiers takes shape from a willingness of having a more prominent role in the creation of a more sustainable society and economy. Carlos Carvalho, the other co-founder, also had this disposition. Before Planetiers, we had already developed a pilot game with sustainability lessons; it was distributed by the schools in the municipality of Guimarães. We had excellent feedback, both from children and from schools. However, we wanted something we could implement more rapidly.

In 2017 we created an exclusive marketplace for sustainable products – Planetiers was born. After 3 years of growth, it was noteworthy there was a community around these premises. We wrote a document, “Manifesto Planetiers”, encompassing the guidelines, the values and the key characteristics for a person with a ‘planetier profile’; someone focused on solutions, about promoting the inventiveness and the creativity of humanity for the actual challenges, instead of thinking about destroying the “system”; someone who believes and works in collaborative models. It was clear we had to bring this community together to share knowledge, experiences, contacts and resources in order to accelerate this innovation and sustainable transformation that we so badly need.

The assessment is very positive. We have 15,000 people from more than 60 countries in our community. We held 2 editions of Planetiers World Gathering, from the beginning one of the largest events dedicated to sustainable innovation, with 1,000 participants in the venue and 20,000 people online in 2020, a year of pandemic. Last year we already had 4,000 people participating in the 3 days of the event and 13,000 online from more than 100 countries. Especially, we have created a group of close partners of great reputation who are absolutely committed to work with Planetiers in order to grow the international community and develop ambitious projects in various cities around the world.

2.Why this concern on sustainability?

The first “why” is easy to understand. Some scenarios already foreseen in recent decades are unfortunately taking place now and occur from the unsustainability of the systems on which humanity has relied upon for its existence; economic, governmental and social systems. We must change the mindset and the way we decide and build everything. We must start with the children’s education, going on to training professionals, from both the public and the private sector, to the investment in this new form of knowledge and innovation. Sustainability is no longer philanthropy. It is now a fundamental reason for organizations to become resilient and more competitive. Our world is extremely unpredictable.

There is also always a more personal “why” about what moves us forward. For me, I admit it is appalling to go on without feeling I left anything good or better behind. I'm very picky about myself about the legacy I’m going to leave. I really believe that, in this attempt to understand each other better, lies the motivation to continue and the will to transform the world.

3.Most companies see this concept as a challenge with various obstacles. How important is sustainability for companies and brands?

The implementation of the mindset and of the sustainable processes in the organizations is a question of competitiveness; for some sectors, even a survival one. Climate change, changes in water systems and their access, social and economic stability are issues already very difficult to avoid. Therefore, it is important that companies have a more balanced view with nature and the environment. It is also necessary more vision of regeneration, that is, to work beyond the break-even with the planet. Regenerating once-prosperous ecosystems now destroyed by human activity is not only critical to reclaiming our planet, but also for developing resilient and equally prosperous businesses.

Organizations will also win. In a world where we are increasingly bombarded with information, our brain defends itself more by becoming more judicious in what goes in. I don't think there's a better way to win over consumers or partners than to relate with each other about sharing values.

4.Which are the major challenges for sustainability?

Right now, I believe it's the huge gap between the urgency of the theme and the natural slowness of global change, this being multisystemic. It is about changing education, the financial system, production and processing industries, logistics, extraction markets, whether materials or energy production. This change must be combined and systemic. This is why we promote the connection of institutions and organizations around the world, from various sectors and in different stages of transformation. We need more collective optimism to perceive it is possible; in this idea, we will find the greatest opportunities for the coming years.

5.What are your main concerns, as an organization and a movement advocating sustainability?

My greatest concern is that we may not have the ability to change the planet and the society as rapidly as needed. Even at Planetiers we feel we are always a step behind about the required. But we haven't given up on learning and we continue to evolve. In fact, this is an essential feature for a Planetier.

6.What criteria must brands comply to be your partners?

For that matter, we must perceive a genuine will, on the mission and on the investment the companies are doing about these issues. We advocate the inclusion of every sector and area for the reasons I mentioned above – we need systemic and multi-sectorial transformation. If we deal with an organization that, due to its activity, has impacted the planet very negatively, but now is presenting an effective plan to transform itself, this company will be part of Planetiers. We do not exclude by the transformational phase; we do include by proven progression.

The only justification for being excluded from our ecosystem will be the existence of evidence of deliberate or negligent decisions that lead to negative impacts on nature or people.

7.How does Planetiers want to contribute to promote sustainable solutions?

We started online. After several problems with suppliers during the pandemic, we have lost the ability to thrive in that channel. However, we will be back with news on how we will promote on the internet.

We will continue to promote local and international networking, shared information and cooperation. Our events play a key role in this dynamic and we will invest more and more in this construction of frameworks to impact the territories with sustainable solutions.

Other tools are being developed and other processes are being put to work, and soon we will also gain the necessary scale and more Planetiers, as agents to promote sustainable solutions, will join the movement.

8.What are your predictions on trends for the future?

A challenging future, in which we will have to live with many consequences of the past. However, we are confident that humanity has everything necessary to overcome these challenges and reverse this current path to a new one, a regenerative one.

Energy, Water and Circular Economy will be the most urgent issues. From our perspective, and from several of our advisors and partners, these are the pillars of our entire society. If we change our production, management and dumping processes, it will be much easier to recover prosperous systems in areas essential to our existence and quality of life, as agriculture, construction, transportation or even health.