New Private Markets | 3 February 2026

by Michael Bowen 

Brazilian national development bank BNDES has selected seven funds for a climate investments programme called Chamada de Clima, or Climate Call.

The funds are set to receive as much as 4.3 billion reais ($818 million; €694 million) from the development bank’s equity investments division, BNDESPar, and are expected to mobilise around 16.2 billion reais in private investments, according to a press release.

“BNDES is assuming a strategic role by anchoring funds in areas where private capital still faces barriers,” BNDES CEO Aloizio Mercadante said in the press release.

BNDES opened the bidding in September last year and received proposals from 45 funds. It ended up choosing five equity funds and two credit funds for investments in energy transition and nature-related projects.

For energy transition investments, Brookfield’s Catalytic Transition Fund will receive up to 1 billion reais from BNDESPar, while Just Climate’s Latin America Fund will get up to 800 million reais and the EB Clima II fund from eB Capital will have up to 500 million reais.

For nature investments, the Patria Latam Reforest Fund I from Pátria Investimentos and the Amazon Reforestation Fund II from Mombak will each receive as much as 500 million reais from BNDESPar.

On the credit side, the two funds chosen by BNDES – Vinci Crédito Soluções Climáticas from Vinci Compass and Clima Riza Farma from Riza Asset Management – will both get up to 500 million reais.

“Their cheque size is large in any place,” Eduardo Mufarej, co-chief investment officer at Just Climate, said of BNDES’ commitments. “It’s not just large for Brazil. It’s large anywhere.”

According to Mufarej, BNDES is attempting to “catalyse” climate investments in Brazil through the Chamada de Clima programme.

“By fostering global managers like us they would like to see more capital from institutional investors coming into Brazil,” Mufarej told New Private Markets.

Energy transition investments can include low-carbon industries like green steel and cement, critical minerals, green hydrogen and biofuels along with renewable energy, energy storage, sustainable food production and the circular economy, among others.

Nature investments, meanwhile, will focus on reforestation projects in the Amazon rainforest as well as the Cerrado and Mata Atlântica ecoregions, according to BNDES.

All the money provided by BNDES must be invested in projects or companies in Brazil.

BNDES previously committed to the Good Karma Impact Fund, a Brazilian growth fund managed by Good Karma Partners. São Paulo-based Good Karma completed a merger with Just Climate in May last year.

The state-owned development bank also contributed to two funds managed by Vinci – Vinci Climate Change Fund and Vinci Impact and Return IV – in recent years, according to the NPM database.

BNDES’ other commitments include contributions to the Vox Tech for Good Growth I from Vox Capital and the Lightrock LatAm Growth Fund from Lightrock, according to the database.