2026 Brazil Nature-based Solutions Investment Summit
Four years ago, nature investments in Brazil was undergoing what we might call a seedling phase: average deal sizes were under US$10 million and there were very few specialized investment funds.
Today, NbS and the bioeconomy are central to Brazil's climate strategy, supported by a significantly stronger policy and financing environment.
The Brazil NbS Investment Summit played a key role supporting this evolution. Hosted by C4C as a core part of Brazil Climate Investment Week, the fourth annual summit established itself as the premier event for strengthening connections between capital allocators, policymakers, project developers, and market infrastructure leaders across the NbS sector.
While the 2025 Summit was focused on building momentum towards investment commitments as part of COP30, this year’s focus was to begin to convert commitments to deployment. The 2026 NbS Investment Summit has grown to reflect this: it featured 20 investment opportunities—seeking a combined in total $1.4Bn in funding—an increase of US$300M compared to the previous year’s 36 opportunities showcased.
Throughout BCIW 2026 (May 19–22), C4C also hosted the session Matchmaking for Deployment, participated in plenaries and roundtables, curated dealmaking sessions and organized field visits to NbS projects. Across these activities, the objective was to connect investors, project developers, policymakers, and market participants to further support capital deployment into the sector to the strategic context of NbS opportunities in Brazil.
Watch the Summit Recap and the panels from Capital for Climate’s tracks at BCIW 2026 below.
Opening Remarks
In his opening remarks at the NbS Investment Summit, Capital for Climate Co-Founder Tony Lent highlighted a critical market reality: scaling the Nature-based Solutions (NbS) sector requires robust financing infrastructure capable of connecting institutional allocators with high-integrity project developers.
Operating as a market enabler, C4C actively accelerates capital deployment by organizing an investment-grade pipeline, facilitating strategic matchmaking, and supporting leading project developers.
This infrastructure is already delivering measurable market impact. Over the past 3.5 years, C4C has tracked approximately US$400 million in direct transactions and fund formation activity driven through our core ecosystem: the NbS Investment Summit, the NbS Investment Platform, and our monthly market intelligence Newsletter.
The Catalytic Role of Policy to Unlock Private Capital
Moderator: Patricia Ellen – President Systemiq LATAM, Co-Founder AYA
Henrique Vasconcellos – Executive Responsible for Sustainable Finance, Banco do Brasil
Luciana Costa – Director of Infrastructure, Energy Transition, and Climate, BNDES
Mario Gouvêa – Federal Auditor of Finance and Control, National Treasury
Brazil has rapidly consolidated a robust suite of public financing mechanisms, scaling climate capital access from the millions to the billions. To illustrate this momentum, representatives from BNDES, Banco do Brasil, and Eco Invest joined the panel to map these tools and reinforce Brazil's status as the global premier enabling environment for scaling NbS.
Key data points presented included:
- BNDES: Infrastructure investment pipeline exceeding BRL 1.1 trillion for (2023–2026), with BRL 300 billion already approved.
- BIP (Infrastructure and Climate Investment Platform): BRL 4.3 billion raised for climate funds and US$250 million from the Green Climate Fund through partnerships with investment managers, including Generation, NBF Capital, and Brookfield (which is launching its first dedicated Brazil fund).
- Eco Invest: The first four auctions have mobilized approximately BRL 30 to BRL 55 million per round.
- Banco do Brasil: BRL 3.2 billion deployed into the Amazon bioeconomy, representing approximately 80% of investment in the segment nationally, and issuance of the first NbS Bond dedicated to the recovery of degraded areas.
Carbon Markets: From Design to Deals
Raphael Niemeyer – Partner, Stocche Forbes (introduction)
Moderator: Pedro Venzon – Brazil Lead, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)
Caio Franco – Director of Public Policy and Communications, Mombak
Damien Ricordeau – Vice-Chairman and Co-Founder, hummingbirds
Filipe Oliveira – Chief Markets Relation Officer, TPG/Rubicon Carbon
Rodrigo Lauria – Director of Climate Change and Decarbonization, Vale
Leonardo Fleck – Senior Head of Sustainability, Santander Brazil
The panel brought together project developers, corporate buyers, international investors, and legal advisors to discuss the evolution of Brazil's carbon market. The discussion focused on three themes:
- Maintaining integrity across different market systems;
- Connecting regulatory, financial and market infrastructure; and
- Defining Brazil's role in attracting global investment while linking voluntary and compliance carbon markets.
De-risking Mechanisms to Unlock Capital
Julio Salarini – Manager, Environmental Department, BNDES (introduction)
Moderator: Lina Kee – Global Biodiversity/Nature Finance Lead, IFC
Carolina Carregaro – Director of Public Affairs, Nestlé
Craig Pettengel – Insurance Co-Lead, High-level Climate Champions
Debora Lugão – Chief Financial Officer, Violet
Mario Gouvêa — Federal Auditor of Finance and Control, National Treasury
While climate capital is increasingly available, actual deployment into NbS projects remains a persistent structural challenge. In this session, we brought together public development banks, guarantee funds, currency specialists, and corporate offtakers to map the financial instruments actively bridging that gap.
The discussion provides a deep dive into the practical application of first-loss guarantees, currency risk solutions, corporate offtake arrangements, and insurance. Panelists also discussed the macro-realities of capital disbursement, using Brazil's Fundo Clima (now funded at BRL 2 billion per year) as a prime case study for the friction between funding availability and market execution.
Success Stories: Overcoming Barriers in NbS
Moderator: Pedro Ferreira – Partner & Head of ClimateDesk at FM/Derraik
Alan Batista, CFA – Chief Financial Officer, Symbiosis
Mário Lewandowski – Director of Business Development, AGBI
Marcelo Pereti – Chief Financial Officer, Belterra
Pedro Faria – Managing Partner and CIO Growth Equities, Patria Investments
In this panel, entrepreneurs from a private equity fund, a large-scale agroforestry developer, a regenerative agriculture fund manager, and a native timber pioneer discussed the practical challenges of building scalable Nature-based Solutions businesses.
Despite representing different business models, they identified common challenges: the importance of financial innovation, operational discipline, and adapting to a market where many commercial and financing structures are still being developed.
Closing Remarks: Market Signals & Looking Forward
Anna Lucia Horta – Executive Director – Brazil, Capital for Climate
Laura Jaguaribe – Partner Fama Re.Capital
Maria Eugenia Buosi – Director, Climate Ventures
Megan Reilly Cayten – Natural Capital Investor, Climate Asset Management
The closing session brought together investors and market leaders to reflect on the progress of Brazil's Nature-based Solutions market and the challenges that remain for scaling investment.
It is a consensus that the sector has entered a new phase of maturity, but standardization remains the missing layer. Pipeline and capital now exist in abundance, yet project metrics, impact measurement frameworks, and reporting standards remain inconsistent across developers.
For international institutional investor Megan Reilly Cayten, this inconsistency is a real friction. Not a dealbreaker, but a drag on decision speed and confidence. Developing a coherent, investor-legible set of metrics for both financial return and impact is the sector's next structural priority. "Translation is underway, but it needs to accelerate."
Laura Jaguaribe (Fama Re.Capital) highlighted the expansion of financing instruments available to the sector. While equity previously dominated the market, the financing landscape now includes blended finance, private debt and concessional capital. This is the clearest sign that the market is maturing. "No single entity can drive the sector alone," she said. "Collaboration is not optional, it is the product."
2026 Investable Opportunities
This year featured the presentation of 20 NbS deals across private equity, venture, catalytic capital and debt. The opportunities spanned Development Platforms, Funds and Vehicles, and Innovative Ventures, all positioned for growth and impact.
Register on the NbS Investment Platform and connect directly with these companies:
NbS Investment Platform improved with AI Matchmaking Tool
Designed for both investors and founders and with a pipeline of US$47 billion in NbS investable opportunities, the newest version of C4C's NbS Investment Platform now offers:
Investment Memos (for investors). See a project that worths a closer look? Once you are registered, request an investment memo directly from your investor dashboard—our analyst team will provide you a comprehensive document to assist your due diligence.
Matching Tool. Skip the costly and complex process of finding and pre-diligencing NbS opportunities.
Our NbS Opportunity Sourcing & Screening Service delivers a curated shortlist of candidates tailored to your specific investment mandate—complete with detailed investment briefs and funding requirements.
Where Climate Meets Capital
In this video, Viviane Behar de Castro, Head of Business Development at C4C, outlines how Capital for Climate creates the enabling environment to scale investments in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Brazil.
It all begins with a deep understanding of the market. By actively connecting institutional capital allocators with leading project developers, C4C builds a financing infrastructure grounded in trust — fostered through the strong relationships forged at exclusive convenings like the Brazil NbS Investment Summit at BCIW.
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