Infrastructure companies present investors with a pipeline of green city projects. Water and Sanitation set to be a key sector for investment in 2019 including renewable energy and public lighting.
What’s it all about?
Green Infrastructure was the buzz of the day at the final meeting of the Brazil Green Finance Initiative (BGFI) last week, at Mattos Filho Advogados headquarters in São Paulo.
BGFI members and special guests representing over BRL 300 billion in assets under management gathered to discuss Brazil’s green infrastructure opportunities and what this could bring for cities across the region. Renewable energy remains a key investment area for local investors, but last week’s meeting highlighted the ambition to attract green finance beyond energy and more into sectors such as water and sanitation and urban LED lighting.
The main attraction, Banco Fator, a Brazilian investment bank that operates in the creation and intermediation of infrastructure projects, gave investors a strong signal that water and sanitation will be a major offering in their investment portfolio for 2019. Currently, the investment bank works with BNDES in the modeling of potential partnerships for the states of Rio de Janeiro (CEDAE) and Pernambuco (COMPESA).
Other presenters included AEGEA, Brasilprev, BNDES, Vinci Partners and Siemens Participações.
Who’s saying what?
Eliane Lustosa, Managing Director Capital Markets, BNDES
"We do not see sustainability as an impediment to investment, but as an added value. The lack of liquidity in the debt market is not due to the shortage of resources, but due to the absence of projects in the market”.
Gabriel Galípolo, CEO, Banco Fator
"The crisis that hit the infrastructure sector in recent years has left a huge project bottleneck, especially in the water & sanitation sector. Without good projects, it will be virtually impossible to attract investment to meet this demand."
Rogério de Paula Tavares, Vice-President, AEGEA
"We all know that the lack of projects is a problem for the Water and Sanitation sector. Now it's time to look for solutions that will be either via the BNDES, or via the private sector in articulation with the multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank. We will thus create an offer, a great opportunity: and because the sector is resilient there will certainly be investment interest."
Justine Leigh-Bell, Director of Market Development, Climate Bonds Initiative
"The green infrastructure agenda in Brazil is all about growth and economic prosperity. We need to educate and build capacity at issuer level while developing the tools that will connect investors to the investment opportunities. We have a lot of work to do on the investors side: we need to mobilise, educate and create awareness about what they should be looking for."
The last word
What a busy year we had. In 2018 we worked on creating awareness for green across infrastructure, agriculture and energy pipelines; building investor confidence; travelled from across Brazil promoting the green finance agenda.
It was great to hear from all of you and take your contributions onboard. We are looking forward to what 2019 will bring for Brazil’s green finance development.
Here we come!
See you soon,
Climate Bonds
