Leadership on the
climate change agenda

Renata Piazzon is the Director-General of the Arapyaú Institute, co-facilitator of the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, a member of the Council for Sustainable Economic and Social Development, and a counselor for the Group of Institutes, Foundations, and Companies (GIFE). At Arapyaú, she works on coordinating actions and projects that promote sustainable development in Brazil. An emerging leader in the climate change agenda, Renata gained prominence by helping to establish the initiative Amazon Concertation, a network with over 500 members of civil society that aims to generate knowledge and influence the region in national and international debates. At Arapyaú, she was one of those responsible for incubating the collaborative network MapBiomas, which maps land cover and land use.

She is a lawyer and holds a master’s degree in environmental law from PUC-SP, with specializations from the Harvard Kennedy School, Schumacher College, Amani Institute, and the Homeward Bound initiative. She served as a pro bono member of the Legal Group of Sistema B Brasil and was a professor of environmental law at PUC-SP. During her time as an environmental lawyer, she was recognized in the Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500, and Chambers Latin America listings.

Interest in socio-environmental causes started in childhood, influenced by her father’s envolvment with the NGO Expedicionários da Saúde, which provides medical assistance to the most remote regions of the Amazon. Despite persistent requests, she was never able to travel with him on these journeys. However, her curiosity about the forest and respect for its inhabitants remain alive, shaping her personal and professional trajectory. She is the mother of Francisco and lives in the middle of the woods in São Paulo.