Climate finance doubles in Brazil to USD 67.8 billion
A report released this week by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) research center at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ) shows that investments in climate action in Brazil have more than doubled since 2019, reaching USD 67.8 billion in 2023.
“In Brazil, mobilizing climate finance is crucial to achieving the country’s climate and development goals, promoting greater adaptation to climate change, and reducing socioeconomic vulnerabilities,” says Joana Chiavari, research director for the initiative.
The increase was driven by the energy as well as the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sectors. In the energy sector, solar expansion raised investments from USD 9.5 billion in 2020 and 2021 to USD 22.4 billion in 2022 and 2023. In the case of AFOLU, the volume almost doubled in the same period, from USD 14.9 billion to USD 28 billion, with an emphasis on sustainable crops, agroforestry, and ranching.
Despite their climate relevance, forests received only one percent of the total. Investment plummeted from USD 1.5 billion in 2019 to USD 254 million in 2023.
“The low investment in forests reveals how their role in the climate agenda is still an underutilized opportunity. To advance the fight against climate change, forests need to be understood as key assets,” said Juliano Assunção, the initiative’s executive director.
Domestic sources accounted for 90 percent of total investments mapped from 2019 to 2023. Private sources accounted for more than two-thirds of the funds in 2022 and 2023, with financial institutions, households, and companies standing out. In public financing, the federal government and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) led the way, with an average of USD 6.6 billion and USD 7.2 billion, respectively.
The portion allocated to mitigation accounted for 79 percent of the total, while adaptation accounted for seven percent, and dual objectives accounted for 11 percent. Losses and damages, although still a minority, grew from USD 0.2 billion in 2019 to USD 2.2 billion in 2023. In 2024, after the climate tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul state, they reached USD 8.1 billion.
The mapping is said to create a baseline for monitoring the alignment of investments with the climate agenda in the coming years, amid expectations generated by the commitment announced at COP29 to mobilize USD 300 billion by 2035 – given the estimate that the world will need USD 1.3 trillion to respond to the climate crisis.
