BELÉM, Brazil - Development banks from the Amazon basin countries today launched the Green Coalition, a pioneering international alliance mobilized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) to carry out collaborative, synergistic and complementary sustainable development initiatives with unprecedented scale and impact for the Amazon region, while respecting local and regional characteristics.
The participation of the IDB and BNDES in the Green Coalition is part of their respective long-term strategies for sustainable development, in general, and to support the Amazon region, in particular. It comes under the Amazonia Forever program on the IDB side, while on BNDES's side, it comes alongside initiatives such as the Amazon Fund, Living Forest, the Blended Finance Call for the Amazon Forestry Bioeconomy, decarbonization programs for clean energy production in the region, and structuring projects for investment in forest concessions that foster local development.
The Green Coalition aims to promote financial solutions and the enabling conditions to create and strengthen local productive activities and boost socially, environmentally and economically sustainable projects. The announcement was made during the Amazon Presidential Summit, and the institutions committed to work in a coordinated and complementary way, leveraging each one's capacities and expertise to:
- Financially support public and private projects that create sustainable, inclusive, climate-positive economic alternatives for job creation, especially for low-income households.
- Design innovative financial solutions that combine public and private resources to mitigate risks (including blended finance approaches, co-financing and guarantees), to significantly scale up private-sector investments in the Amazon region.
- Boost technical cooperation to generate a robust project pipeline, enhance local capacities and consolidate a new sustainable development model for the Amazon region.
Key areas of work include improving income, employment, security, sanitation, health, and education; enabling connectivity, green infrastructure and the energy transition; promoting the conservation and restoration of the Amazon biome; supporting MSMEs in generating value-added products and services aimed at climate-friendly economic alternatives; and improving institutional capacities and the digitalization of public services.
"BNDES defines its priorities keeping in mind that there will be no future for humanity without the preservation of the Amazon and other biomes. It is a remarkable day to join forces with the IDB and the development banks of the Amazon region, in Brazil and abroad, to launch this long-awaited Green Coalition, the main objective of which is to increase funding to promote sustainable development in the region. Through the exchange of experiences, with a comprehensive and multilateral perspective, the initiative will promote partnership between the public and private sectors to promote income, employment generation, and infrastructure for the Amazon," said the president of the BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante.
“The sustainable development of the Amazon region requires not only that we upscale our financing and use innovative financial instruments, but step up our collaboration and coordination. We are honored to have BNDES and so many prestigious development banks from Amazon countries joining efforts with the same purpose, respecting the local reality and amplifying opportunities for job creation and sustainable development in the Amazon region,” said IDB President Ilan Goldfajn.
The Green Coalition results from the commitment of the 19 development banks that signed the Joint Declaration and the contribution of the Latin American Association of Financial Institutions for Development (ALIDE) and the Brazilian Development Association (ABDE).
IDB-BNDES cooperation for the Amazon
To support the Amazon, the IDB and BNDES had already signed a partnership in 2021, mobilizing $600,000 to structure forest concessions in the State of Amazonas, and today they signed a letter of intent aimed at implementing PRO-AMAZÔNIA, an estimated $900 million program to support MSMEs and small entrepreneurs in the Brazilian Legal Amazon.
The Green Coalition adds a broader approach to social and infrastructure development for the Amazon, complementing BNDES's recognized support for biodiversity in the region.
BNDES and the Amazon
The Green Coalition's mobilization efforts by the IDB by BNDES are part of the Brazilian Development Bank's renowned long-term strategy for supporting projects for the sustainable development of the Amazon. Managed by BNDES, the globally recognized Amazon Fund has already raised more than BRL 3.3 billion in government donations, mostly from Norway and Germany, for actions to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation and to promote the conservation and use of the Legal Amazon, having been reactivated by the Brazilian Federal Government in 2023 with new financial collaboration from Germany and donation proposals from the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States.
BNDES was also a pioneer in innovative initiatives such as the Floresta Viva match-funding for this biome and the Blended Finance Call for the Bioeconomy in the Amazon. BNDES also finances decarbonization programs for the production of clean energy in the Amazon region, as well as promoting the structuring of national forest concessions in the Amazon region, following models that seek to boost local development, such as investments in community training and recovery of degraded areas, in addition to support for research projects and integration with the area surrounding the conservation unit.
The IDB and the Amazon
The Green Coalition's mobilization efforts by the IDB are part of its Amazonia Forever program, a holistic umbrella program that aims to protect biodiversity and accelerate sustainable development in three lines of action: expanding funding, boosting knowledge exchange and facilitating regional coordination among the eight Amazonian countries.
The program is based on five pillars: (i) combating deforestation and strengthening environmental control and security in the context of national governments; (ii) the bioeconomy, promoting alternative and sustainable economic activities; (iii) people, aiming at adequate access to quality education, healthcare and employment; (iv) sustainable cities and infrastructure and connectivity; and (v) sustainable, low-carbon agriculture, livestock and forestry. In addition, the program focuses on promoting the inclusion of women, indigenous peoples, people of African descent and local communities; climate and forest conservation; and strengthening institutional capacities and the rule of law.
About BNDES
BNDES is the Brazilian government's main long-term financing and investment instrument to promote Brazilian social and economic development. BNDES support takes into account the country's sustainable development through the generation of employment, income and social inclusion. BNDES is renowned for its role in promoting green and social projects, such as being the manager of the Amazon Fund and the world's top financier of renewable energy. Encouraging innovation and regional development is one of BNDES's priorities. More information: https://ri.bndes.gov.br/en/
About the IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research projects and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public- and private-sector clients throughout the region. Take our virtual tour.
Borges De Padua Goulart Janaina
Amazonia
Building on the progress made by the Amazon Initiative, and given the growing scientific consensus that the Amazon is reaching an ecological tipping point, we must further increase the impact of our actions in the Amazon.