When Brazil passed a law in 2010 requiring companies to report on their waste management practices tech entrepreneurs Chicko Sousa and Raphael Guiguer saw an opportunity. In 2016, they created GreenPlat, an ESG management and monitoring software that tracks processes and supply chains from origin to destination to help companies comply and manage their operations
At first, they struggled to sign up customers. Corporates told them the law had no enforcement mechanism, so they were not interested, Sousa said during a June 25 panel at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in China, moderated by The Innovator’s Editor-in-Chief.
So, in 2018, GreenPlat donated its software to the São Paulo municipality, enabling it to monitor and assess the environmental impact of companies across all industries. It worked so well that in 2020 GreenPlat donated a new enforcement software to collect specific types of digital data to control circular economy and real estate development to the state government. Both of these successes pushed the federal government to pass similar new regulations. Before GreenPlat’s software was adopted by the government only 14,000 Brazilian companies registered and less than 5,000 were complying and paying taxes.
Today, thanks to GreenPlat, a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, 722,00 companies have registered and 45,000 have complied. While many corporates were reluctant at first, clients like a McDonald’s franchise are now seeing a return on their investment, turning waste into new revenue streams, says Sousa.
It’s a powerful example of why technology alone is not enough to go green, says Sousa. A systemic approach is essential to achieving a future of zero waste and zero pollution.
That was the central message of the “Tech Meets Pollution” panel in Tianjin, which also included Forum Technology Pioneer DePoly, a Swiss company pioneering chemical recycling technology that converts plastics and polyester textiles – including unsorted and contaminated PET waste – into virgin-grade raw materials. These materials are then sold back to companies in the chemical, textile, and plastic packaging industries to produce new products.
Research shows that a transition to a circular economy – a regenerative model of production and consumption in which products and materials are redesigned, recovered, and reused to reduce environmental impact – could benefit both the planet and the economy, generating up to $4.5 trillion in additional global economic output by 2030.
Before adopting uniform digital measurements of used cooking oil GreenPlat client Arcos Dorados, the largest independent franchise of McDonald’s in Brazil, was reporting sales of 80,000 to 85,000 liters of used cooking oil per month. Once it started using GreenPlat’s software, which provides uniform digital measurement, that figure rose to 2.6 million liters, says Sousa. “It was not only because they are frying more French fries,” says Sousa. “It was a matter of visibility. Now that used cooking oil has become a source of profit.”
Another South American country is currently in discussions with GreenPlat to roll out a similar nationwide approach.
With the right technology, patient capital, government backing, and the establishment of common KPIs, Sousa believes this momentum will lead to global change in waste management.
As the world strives for a more circular and sustainable future, many challenges remain. Participants in the June 25 session were invited to contribute to shaping the Forum’s work on zero waste and zero pollution, which includes dedicated efforts on air pollution and textile waste.
Alliance For Clean Air
The Alliance For Clean Air, which was launched at COP26 by the World Economic Forum, Clean Air Fund and Stockholm Environment Institute, brings together business leaders to measure and reduce emissions, champion action, and bring air quality into the climate movement.
Around 1.2 billion workdays are lost globally each year due to air pollution, affecting both customers and employees. At the same time, increasing demand for sustainable investment means businesses which fail to act on air pollution will lose out financially. “Accurate reporting on emissions helps businesses measure their environmental and health impact, clean up their value chain and mobilize people and resources to make the air breathable for everyone,” says a Forum white paper.
A strong ESG proposition, which should include air quality, creates value in five ways: top-line growth, reducing costs, minimizing regulatory and legal interventions, increasing employee productivity and optimizing investment and capital expenditure, says the Forum.
An Integrated Guide has been developed by Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the Stockholm Environment Institute. It enables businesses to quantify air pollutants alongside greenhouse gas emissions and address both climate and air quality goals simultaneously. Alliance members are cross industry with representation from advanced manufacturing, automotive and new mobility, supply chain and transportation, health and healthcare, energy utilities, professional services, amongst others. Members that have adopted the guide and published their air pollutant emission inventories include Inter IKEA Group, Maersk and GEA Group.
It its next phase, the Alliance will expand the network of business and non-business organizations engaged in the activities and will explore new opportunities to inspire private sector leadership for better air quality.
Creating A Circular Textile Economy
In parallel, the Forum is intensifying its efforts to drive the fashion and textile industry towards circularity. As one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, and waste generation, the industry faces mounting pressure to transition towards a circular and sustainable model. Less than 1% of materials used to produce clothing are recycled into new garments and most are landfilled or incinerated. With hundreds of billions of dollars in value lost annually due to underutilized clothing and the absence of large-scale collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure, the call for systemic change is growing louder.
The Forum plans to kick off these strategic efforts at its Sustainable Development Impact Meetings this September, coinciding with New York Fashion Week. A white paper on economic opportunities and financing models is expected to follow in early 2026.
Creating Flywheels For Systemic Change
Both the Alliance for Clean Air and the Forum’s work stream around circularity in textiles aim to play “a unique role in catalyzing positive, reinforcing flywheels of systemic change: feedback loops where progress in one area or by a particular stakeholder group accelerates momentum across others, eventually generating self-sustaining transformation,” says Thom Almeida, the Forum’s Lead for Circular Economic Systems. “These flywheels are essential for tackling today’s complex, interconnected challenges.”
At the heart of this approach is a deliberate sequencing of actions to unlock systemic progress, says Almeida. The process typically begins with convening a multi-stakeholder coalition of organizations to align on a shared vision and set of goals. This is followed by the co-creation of action-oriented research and insights, which help identify strategic priorities and interventions.
Early implementation by first-mover companies and public sector actors delivers proof points and builds confidence, he says. These initial successes reinforce trust, attract broader participation, and stimulate supportive institutional reform. As more actors join, momentum compounds and the system accelerates toward durable, large-scale transformation.”
“These positive flywheels are already visible in practice. GreenPlat’s success in Brazil illustrates how aligning technology with government action can unlock broader private sector engagement,” says Almeida. “This is the kind of systemic momentum the Forum aims to accelerate across industry sectors – from textiles to clean air – by designing multi-stakeholder initiatives that not only solve challenges but shift entire systems.”
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