ImpactAlpha Latin America

ImpactAlpha Latin America: Brazil previews its project pipeline for climate investors

ImpactAlpha · September 24, 2025

Saludos, Agents of Impact! 

In this month’s newsletter:

  • Brazil showcase climate investment opportunities
  • Green lending in Guatemala
  • How urban small business lending protects rural Amazon forests

Brazil seizes the climate spotlight to showcase investment opportunities ahead of COP30. One president went before the UN on Tuesday and ranted against climate action, calling climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” Another president told world leaders his country is already facing historic climate-related floods, fires and drought. The world “is weary of neglected carbon emission reduction targets and of financial aid to poor countries that never arrives,” Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the UN’s General Assembly. “Brazil is going to host COP30 in 2025 and is convinced that multilateralism is the only way to overcome the climate emergency.” Lula’s 25-minute speech offered a counterpoint to President Donald Trump’s nearly hour-long ramble, which pointedly sought to reverse the accelerating adoption of renewable energy in many countries around the world. Lula proudly told world leaders that his country generates 90% of its electricity from renewable sources, has reduced Amazon deforestation by 50% in the past year and is increasing the ambition of its climate goals to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above historical levels. “Brazil is emerging as a source of opportunities in a world that is being revolutionized by the energy transition,” Lula declared. “Our vision of sustainable development is based on the potential of the bioeconomy.” Lula and Trump met and even embraced briefly after the speeches and plan to meet next week. “At least for about 39 seconds, we had excellent chemistry,” Trump told reporters.

  • Conservation compensation. COP30 is the next “conference of the parties” to the Paris climate accord, and will gather in November in the northern Brazilian city of Belém, a gateway to the Amazon basin. Brazil is using the arrival of more than 50,000 delegates, advocates, experts and investors to show off its climate achievements – and to attract billions in climate investment. Lula on Tuesday announced a $1 billion investment in the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, envisioned as a permanent endowment to compensate governments for maintaining or restoring forested areas. If it mobilizes the targeted $125 billion from public and private investors, the facility could generate $4 billion annually in conservation payments, while providing investors with steady returns. PIMCO, Bank of America and Barclays have signaled they would support the fund. Lula’s commitment “primes the pump of this innovative new financial mechanism, which could ultimately represent Belém’s crowning achievement,” said The Nature Conservancy’s John Verdieck. “If anyone can achieve a breakthrough on COP, it is Brazil.”
  • Project pipeline. The Brazil Climate Summit during Climate Week NYC provided a one-day crash course on investing in Brazil and a rich pipeline of the country’s projects and investment opportunities. Marcelo Marangon of Citi’s Brazil division flagged a “robust pipeline of transactions” across sustainable agriculture, reforestation and remediation. Just Climate, the climate-solutions arm of Generation Investment management, has zeroed in on natural capital solutions in Latin America. Chile and US-based Reciprocal this week released its map of innovative climate and nature investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean (see, “The world’s untapped climate innovation launchpad”). At the summit, Capital for Climate presented candidates for institutional investors, including Biomas, which is aiming to restore five million acres of native vegetation. InPlanet is deploying enhanced rock weathering to permanently capture carbon in tropical soils. “The conditions are here – renewable power, feedstock, technology,” said Converge’s Marina Cançado, who organized the summit. “What we need now is the financing stack that allows these projects to scale before COP30.”
  • Keep reading, “Brazil seizes the climate spotlight to showcase investment opportunities ahead of COP30,” by Erik Stein and David Bank.

Dealflow: Green Lending

Banco Industrial raises $415 million to green buildings and food systems in Guatemala. The financial institution closed the debt package with backing from the International Finance Corp., along with FinDev Canada and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Canadian and Japanese development finance institutions. Banco Industrial will use the capital to grow its sustainable lending portfolio, focusing on green buildings and climate-smart agriculture. The bank, one of the oldest financial institutions in Guatemala, says its green lending push is aligned with the national government’s commitment to cut its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions by up to 23% from a 2005 baseline. Banco Industrial will also build up its small business loan book, with a focus on female borrowers.

  • Financing firsts. The deal marks FinDev Canada’s first in Guatemala. About 30% of the DFI’s portfolio is based in Latin America. Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, is also becoming more active in the region (for background see, “Financing sustainable growth in Latin America”). In February, JICA created and funded a billion-dollar fund, in partnership with IDB Invest, to spur private sector investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IFC, JICA and FinDev also inked a $150 million investment in Honduras’s Banco del País to boost financing for small businesses, female entrepreneurs and green projects in energy, water and sanitation.
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Other investment news crossing our desks:

  • Agrifood systems. IDB Invest is providing a $130 million loan to Dinvertech to build high-tech greenhouses in Mexico.
  • Blue economy. T. Rowe Price and the International Finance Corp. raised $200 million for a new Emerging Markets Blue Economy Bond Strategy, a corporate bond fund focused on water security and marine conservation.
  • Gender smart. EWA Capital raised a $24 million gender-smart venture fund for Latin America.
  • Green mobility. Vision Ridge Partners led a $250 million investment in Mexico-based Vemo, which is supporting EV adoption in the country… Chilean accelerator Magical invested $125,000 in Argentina-based Ualabee, which has developed an app to help commuters reliably plan and use public transit.
  • Inclusive fintech. Digitt raised $10 million to expand fair credit access for Mexico’s middle class… Chile-based Gokei closed a $200,000 investment round to help households manage the healthcare reimbursement process… Brazil-based RevisaPrev secured early funding from Domo VC and Bossa Invest to provide retirees with affordable credit lines against their national pension payments… Lendable provided $50 million to Mattilda for school financing in Mexico.
  • Small business finance. FMO approved a $10 million investment in Lendable’s second MSME Fintech Credit Fund to finance fintech companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America… IDB Invest closed bond issuances for small business finance in Mexico and Colombia.

Impact Voices: Sustainable Livelihoods

Protecting the rural Amazon by boosting urban financial inclusion. Brazilian impact investor Estímulo has since 2020 supported the country’s underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses with access to credit, resources and markets. Last year it launched a targeted effort to support more businesses in the Brazilian Amazon. Its thesis: Investing in quality jobs, income resilience and economic development in Amazonian cities will reduce pressure on the nearby forest ecosystems. “Poverty and lack of economic alternatives are among the main causes of illegal deforestation,” Estímulo’s Lucas Conrado explains. “Targeted credit can make the difference between an illegal economy and a path of sustainable development.” In a guest post, Conrado shares the learnings and impacts of the firm’s early work in the Amazon region. 

  • Borrower stories. Estímulo has loaned $3 million to more than 140 small businesses in 67 cities; 97% of its borrowers are in low-income areas. Paulo Pinho from Manaus took a loan to expand his solar energy business and hire three new employees. Ramon Reis in Coroatá borrowed from Estímulo for his business building rural internet infrastructure. Borrowers in the least developed, lowest-income areas had the lowest delinquency rates, Conrado notes.
  • Focused fund. Estímulo has received loan applications for $400 million, far exceeding its lending capacity in the region. To expand its work in the Amazon, the firm is in the market now with a planned $20 million fund, the Estímulo Amazon Fund. “Protecting the forest,” Conrado writes, “requires creating opportunities for people to live with dignity in their territory.”
  • Read his full piece. 

Follow the Talent

Talent recognition

Andres Baehr, managing partner of Savia Ventures, was appointed head of climate tech of the Mexican Association of PE & VC Funds… Whatsapp-based learning platform Musa and Colombian fintech Quipu are among five women-led STEM companies in Latin America to win IDB Lab’s WeXchange Women STEMpreneurs 2025.

Step up

Environmental Resources Management is looking for a climate change consultant in Lima… Also in Lima, BlueOrchard Finance is recruiting an investment and origination intern… IDB Lab has an opening for an investment consultant in Washington, DC… IDB Invest is recruiting a head of agribusiness and forestry… The Media Development Investment Fund is hiring a Latin America-focused senior investment officer. 

Meet Up

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