Thiago Veloso, Tenaris Environmental Leader in Brazil. Tenaris
Since he first set foot in Tenaris, Thiago Veloso, environmental leader in Brazil, has been involved in activities that aim to minimize impact to the environment. After graduating as an environmental engineer, he began his journey at the company, joining the equipment area as an intern in 2016. However, his life was intertwined with Tenaris long before, he says, “My story with Tenaris in Brazil began over 30 years ago. Why? Because that’s where my father and my mother met.”
Veloso later formed part of Tenaris’s Global Trainee program, joining the environment team, which was where he started to use his knowledge of the environment and computing. This fired his desire for change, and he began to digitize and automate the daily production processes in the environmental area. For him, being a Global Trainee in a new and bigger area in which he had to learn very complex processes, this stage was possibly the most challenging in his career – but one that enriched him with lessons.
"I like working with people" says Veloso, "Sustainability isn’t exclusive to one person alone, but is everybody’s business." Tenaris
However, Veloso considers his most significant achievement to be leading the waste management project in Tenaris’s mill in Brazil, which resulted in a 95% waste recycling rate. The project enabled Tenaris to transform waste into materials that could be sold to other companies for use. Basically, together with a business partner, the welding slag, one of the main residues generated in the plant, is transformed into briquettes using cane molasses and residues from other industries, that then can return to the steel industry, contributing to the circular economy.
Veloso is also part of aproject to raised environmental awareness among his colleagues. They communicated with their team through safety talks and worked with all areas of the plant to encourage their participation in sharing know-how to achieve energy efficiency. Tenaris’s plant in Brazil utilizes more than 80% of renewable electric energy and Veloso believes that the key to progress is to improve how it's used. Through actions in boosting efficiency and incorporating renewable energy is how the team is contributing to Tenaris’s goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030.
Hiking with his wife, Fabiana. Tenaris
The 32-year-old engineer believes that care for the environment must be present throughout production. "If there is a quality problem, the environmental impacts can be tremendous. If we don't have process efficiency, we consume a lot more from the environment. So, taking care of the environment means working efficiently and working with quality."
Veloso's dedication and passion for the environment make him a vital member of the Tenaris team. He emphasizes that it's crucial to work with suppliers who have minimum emissions in the production of materials to ensure the issue of Scopes 2 and 3 emissions in the value chain is managed correctly.
He aspires to continue to share his ideas and make a bigger impact for positive change.
Outside of work, Veloso enjoys running and striking a balance between personal and professional life with his wife, Fabiana.
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