Brazil elections "pivotal time" for two Ashden winners

Brazil has elected Dilma Rousseff as its first female president. In her victory speech, Ms Rousseff said her first priority would be to lift 20 million Brazilians out of poverty. The BBC reports that Ms Rousseff is expected to increase the state's involvement in mining and to oversee the huge expansion of Brazil's oil industry.

Two Ashden Awards winners - CRELUZ and Creral - come from the state of Rio Grande do Sol, where Ms Rousseff was originally Secretary of State for Energy.

Valdair Pedro, Director of Finance and Administration at CRELUZ, says this is a "pivotal" moment for the company.



"Election times are always a unique moment in the life of a nation, and it's a pivotal time for CRELUZ: each government proposes different policies in relation to social and environmental work.

The previous government has been good for us in relation to environmental work - its model of working had guaranteed the continuation of our projects in every area, in the technical, social and environmental, given over to the fact that its politics centre around social and environmental issues.

It is important for us that the previous government's agenda will be continued so that we can carry on with our projects for generating clean and sustainable energy. We are currently investigating the installation of new forms of renewable that currently have incentives under the government in areas such as the generation of solar, wind and other forms of energy"

See Brazil's ex-Energy Minister could become Most Powerful Woman in the World.