The Brazilian Climate Change Fund Program

On February 13, 2012, the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (Ministério do Meio Ambiente – MMA) and the Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social – BNDES), launched the lines of credit for the Brazilian Climate Change Fund Program (the "Climate Fund"). The aim of the Climate Fund is to provide support for projects related to efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in adapting to climate change and it is one of the main instruments in the Brazilian climate change policy. It is expected that up to 2014 these resources may reach R$ 1 billion.

The resources which form the Climate Fund come from the 60% portion of the Special Participation of Oil (Participação Especial do Petróleo), received by the MMA. Such resources are split into two modalities: (i) reimbursable, which will be operated by BNDES; and (ii) non-reimbursable, which is to be directly managed by the MMA¹.