BRDE: financing a low-carbon and climate-resilient Southern Brazil

Home to around 30 million people, Southern Brazil is a major economic region increasingly exposed to extreme climate events. The devastating floods that struck Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024 highlighted the need to strengthen both climate adaptation and disaster preparedness across the region.

As the regional development bank serving Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, BRDE is responding by expanding sustainable finance and strengthening its capacity to channel investment towards a low-carbon and more resilient economy. Its first Sustainable Finance Action Plan for 2025–2028 provides a framework for this transformation.

Since 2018, BRDE and AFD have built a long-term partnership to expand sustainable investment across Southern Brazil. Three successive financing operations have already mobilised €220 million. This fourth operation adds a €120 million credit line to finance sustainable agriculture, resilient infrastructure and investments in sectors including water, health and urban development.

The new operation also broadens the partnership by enabling BRDE to finance investments in disaster preparedness and response, including infrastructure such as drainage systems, parks and dykes. Through BRDE’s regional network, financing can reach municipalities, SMEs, cooperatives and public enterprises across the three southern states.

A €650,000 grant complements the credit line with technical cooperation designed to support BRDE’s Sustainable Finance Action Plan and strengthen the bank’s capacities in sustainable finance, asset-liability management and gender equality. Technical cooperation is structured around three complementary areas: sustainable finance, asset-liability management and gender equality. European and Brazilian expertise is mobilised through GFA Consulting Group and WayCarbon, FINOR and Frankfurt School. The programme also creates opportunities for dialogue with other partners, European partners on sustainable urban development.

First results : Nine months after the credit agreement was signed, the programme is operational. By February 2026, 23 eligible investments representing €25.3 million had been approved, and a first €8.2 million disbursement was made. BRDE had also identified a further pipeline of around €50 million in potentially eligible investments. 

The three technical cooperation components have also started, supporting BRDE in implementing its 2025–2028 Sustainable Finance Action Plan and strengthening its practices in sustainable finance, financial management and gender equality.

Expected Results

Over time, the programme is expected to expand financing for low-carbon and climate-resilient investments across Southern Brazil and strengthen BRDE’s capacity to support municipalities and economic actors in adapting to climate risks. The new disaster preparedness and response window provides an additional tool for this purpose.