During my stay in Belém, closely following the effervescence of COP30 amid complaints about infrastructure and security issues, one point stood out in the discussions taking place both in the Blue Zone and beyond its traditional political bottlenecks: climate finance initiatives and nature-based solutions in spaces outside the official bubble.
As the Blue Zone enters its decisive week—marked by complex negotiations and calls for greater inclusion of other relevant agendas—the Brazilian government, development banks, and the private sector have showcased pathways to enable the ecological transition. One of the most frequently heard messages at side events is that private capital is expected to finance 75% of the ecological transition, with the remaining 25% coming from official institutions. This reflects a well-established concept: governments act as catalysts, while private capital operationalizes much of the transition.
Unlike past climate negotiations, COP30 has made clear the growing protagonism of private capital in the global climate effort, commonly referred to as blended finance. It is estimated that 65%¹ of global climate finance already comes from private investors or donors (investment funds, banks, companies, philanthropists), and this share is expected to grow.
Among the initiatives launched, the following stand out:
TFFF – Tropical Forests Forever Fund: A Brazilian proposal to remunerate countries for the conservation of tropical forests. Its innovative approach—performance-based payments at the national level—could establish a new paradigm for climate finance if successful. With a target of USD 125 billion and contributions already announced by Norway, France, Indonesia, and Brazil, the World Bank will serve as administrator. This is one of Brazil’s flagship initiatives, featuring an ambitious plan that foresees fundraising, implementation, and some level of payments for forest conservation as early as 2028.
Eco Invest Brasil: A national program launched in 2024 that mobilized more than BRL 75 billion in sustainable investments in just one year. It uses competitive auctions among banks to leverage private capital (blended finance) for projects in the bioeconomy, clean energy, and regenerative agriculture. Launched in October 2025, the third Eco Invest auction introduced an unprecedented foreign-exchange hedging mechanism for foreign investors. The Eco Invest Brasil Monitor, also launched at COP30, provides transparency regarding financed projects.
Planaveg and forest restoration: BNDES has entered into partnerships with companies such as Re.green, BTG Pactual, Pátria Investimentos, Tree+, and Flona Irati Florestal to restore more than 86,000 hectares through already contracted projects. These initiatives are part of the national goal to restore 12 million hectares by 2030, as set out in Planaveg. In addition, the second Eco Invest Brasil auction mobilized BRL 30 billion to restore 1.4 million hectares across all Brazilian biomes.
Climate Fund (Fundo Clima): Overseen by the Ministry of the Environment and administered by BNDES, the fund was strengthened with BRL 2.67 billion in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), focusing on expanding access to green credit for SMEs and municipalities.
International partnerships with BNDES: BRL 7.89 billion raised from European banks to finance green infrastructure and renewable energy.
These last two mechanisms together amount to BRL 10 billion directed toward the implementation of urgent climate measures—especially those requiring capillarity, such as financing for small and medium-sized enterprises and municipalities, as well as large-scale green infrastructure.
But what bottlenecks still hinder the effective deployment of these resources?
Despite the financial mobilization, structural obstacles remain that limit access and execution by subnational entities and private actors:
- Complex guarantee requirements: Many municipalities and SMEs are unable to meet financiers’ requirements, limiting their capacity to access funding.
- Lack of local technical capacity: The absence of trained teams to structure projects and comply with technical and environmental requirements prevents the submission of competitive proposals.
- Audit and accountability processes: While essential for transparency, control mechanisms are still poorly adapted to the reality of smaller actors, generating delays and uncertainty.
- Low institutional coordination: Fragmentation among levels of government and insufficient integration of public policies hinder coordinated project implementation.
Outside geopolitical and procedural constraints, the private sector has taken advantage of the space opened for new climate-related businesses and solutions. Highlights include:
- Decarbonization projects for hard-to-abate industries;
- Expansion of regenerative agriculture mechanisms;
- The creation of Ecora, a Brazilian certification body focused on traceability of carbon projects;
- Discussions on international trade in carbon credits.
Although the central objective of the COP is to promote debate on climate issues among the 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—each with distinct and often divergent political, geopolitical, economic, social, and cultural realities—the environment of these conferences proves fertile for the discussion of climate mechanisms and solutions that do not depend directly on political consensus. These movements are essential to keeping the climate agenda active and relevant not only during the COP itself, but also in the intervals between conferences, consolidating the issue as contemporary, comprehensive, nonpartisan, and above all, urgent.
[1] Climate Policy Initative | Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2024
