COP28: European Investment Bank to collaborate with Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES on funding of climate action projects

Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Aloizio Mercadante, President of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), signed a memorandum of understanding today at COP28 in Dubai to explore co-financing opportunities in Brazil's renewable energy, environment, and social sectors, including the Amazon region. 

The memorandum of understanding will improve cooperation between the two institutions, promoting cooperative initiatives and ensuring complementary and coherent work. The EIB and BNDES are also contemplating a possible €300 million credit line with a focus on the water and sewage sectors.

The EIB is the world’s largest international public bank and a leading financier of climate action projects around the world. BNDES, for its part, is a long-standing partner for renewable energy in Brazil and is currently the leading financier of renewable energy in the world. The memorandum of understanding will enable the EIB and BNDES to cooperate and exchange experience to further support clean energy investment, promote renewable energy in Brazil and develop the Amazon region. For the EIB, this memorandum of understanding is part of the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative supporting projects that improve global and regional connectivity in the digital, climate, transport, health, energy and education sectors.

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said: “The European Investment Bank recognises the potential of building on its collaboration with BNDES. Together we will explore how the EU climate bank can play a role in supporting Brazil in its energy transition and in decarbonising its energy, industry and transport sectors, all while strengthening energy security in the years ahead. The cooperation with BNDES builds on the EIB’s global climate engagement and our support for climate action in Brazil over the last three decades.”

President of BNDES Aloizio Mercadante said: “This cooperation with the EIB, considering the European Union’s relevant expertise, is an opportunity to enhance BNDES’s recognised path in fostering renewable energy to boost potential new sectors in Brazil, such as the batteries market and green hydrogen, and further explore the vast opportunities of solar photovoltaic energy. This collaboration may promote the expansion and diversification of the Brazilian clean energy matrix, which is key in promoting green reindustrialisation for the country. 

The MoU may also open a new stage in strengthening the partnership between the EIB and BNDES via future co-financing operations in Brazil, including for sustainable development, preservation and combating deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region.”