Brazil is pitching the climate summit underway in Belém as the “COP of implementation.” Past COP summits have failed to mobilize the volumes and types of capital needed to meet the climate crisis. How then to unlock and direct the vast sums of private capital needed?
“There is a problem of information asymmetry, and specifically, the differences in culture and language between sectors of society,” says Lucas Matarazzo of Mútua, an impact data company that is helping investors develop and execute impact strategies.
A recent survey by The ImPact, “Family impact portfolios in Latin America 2025,” found that while wealthy families in Latin America have deployed around $1.4 billion in impact investments, lack of team expertise and understanding of impact management are key challenges to deploying more.
Mútua uses a combination of public data, expert reviews and artificial intelligence to map organizations – including startups, small businesses, nonprofits and research institutes – against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, IRIS+ metrics and other frameworks. It aims to provide investors with the “decision-grade intelligence” needed to design investment strategies, evaluate opportunities, and coordinate with other investors.
Climate deal sourcing
Mútua is just one of several new initiatives in Brazil aiming to address bottlenecks that keep capital flowing to investment-ready impact projects. The Brazilian government last year launched the Brazil Investment Platform for Climate and Ecological Transformation to mobilize private capital for vetted climate projects. The 15 projects on the platform include efforts in natural vegetation restoration, low-carbon industrial materials, and clean energy.
Another government effort to direct private investors to investment-ready climate opportunities is the Eco Invest Brasil program, where private banks bid in an auction for public funding for climate initiatives, with a commitment to raising private capital.
This week, the World Climate Foundation and Converge Capital are co-hosting the World Climate Summit, a COP side event in Belem, to focus on financial innovations and resources that can “deliver tangible outcomes aligned with the Foundation’s Impact Framework and Action Agenda for COP30.”
“Private banks or multifamily offices don’t have the time to dedicate to a new topic,” says Converge Capital’s Marina Cançado. Risk perceptions, amplified by a lack of standardized data and analytical tools, results in capital getting “stuck,” she adds, “because often the asset owner lacks an intermediary structure.”
Connective infrastructure
With its solution, Mútua emphasizes its ambition to be a systemic tool rather than a deal-sourcing portal. The company, which recently launched from its beta phase, is aware of market skepticism of investment “match-making” services, which have had mixed results.
“Mútua is building the technology backbone for systems investing, helping funders and ecosystem actors learn how to design stronger theories of change, see who is doing related work, and make more informed, impactful decisions based on shared data,” says Innovative Finance Initiative’s Aunnie Patton Power,who learned about the project during its development phase.
“The industry needs more weavers: those creating collaborative, accessible and field-building tools that strengthen the collective fabric of impact investing,” she adds. Mútua’s vision of building “connective infrastructure” has attracted investment from local Brazilian investors Co-Capital, Din4mo and Oogway Capital. Matarazzo tells ImpactAlpha that Mútua’s partners working with Latin American family offices see AI and mapping tools as “key for shaping the future and guiding how [to] allocate capital.”
