Representatives of the Finance Sector, Scientists, and Indigenous Peoples Meet Alongside the Amazon Presidents’ Summit to Discuss a Zero Deforestation Amazon

As the planet warms and the Amazon moves towards dangerous tipping points, the Presidents of the region’s nations came together in Belem (Pará, Brazil) on 6 August for a historic meeting.

The Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA), together with the Global Canopy and the Climate Champions, convened a high-level workshop alongside the Amazon Presidents’ Summit for finance sector leaders from across the Amazon region. The discussion focused on opportunity, leadership, and the vital role that the finance sector can have in turning the vision of a zero-deforestation Amazon into a practical reality. There were discussions of impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities for the finance sector and wider economies; statements from some of the banks and investors from the region already financing solutions; and discussions on the remaining barriers to action, and the steps that finance sector leaders must urgently take in the coming months and years before the world turns its eyes back to Belem for COP30 in 2025.

The workshop, "Finance for a Zero Deforestation Amazon", was convened with a shared understanding that finance is at the heart of any solution to sustainable development challenges in the region. Financing will be required in the transition to more sustainable agriculture in the region, the restoration of degraded land to bring into productive use, and forest conservation and restoration in line with sustainable development pathways.

The session, moderated by Mr. Roberto Waack (Arapyaú Institute), included keynote remarks from former Brazilian Minister of Economy Joaquim Levy, SPA Co-Chair Carlos Nobre, and Indigenous leader and activist Alessandra Munduruku.

It also included the participation of representatives of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), the World Bank, the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), and the Brazilian Federation of Banks (FEBRABAN), as well as representatives from Alisos, the Aya Earth Partners, Brazilian Association for Development (ABDE), the British Embassy in Colombia, BroadBranch Capital, Climate and Society Institute (ICS), Colombia’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Conexsus, Capital+Safi, Ecological Research Institute (IPE), Fama Investimentos, Fundo Vale, Impact Bank Amazonia, the International Finance Corporation, JBS Amazônia fund, JGP Asset Management, the NatureConservancy, NatureFinance, the Taskforce on Nature Finance Disclosure, Soros Economic Development Fund, Sustainable Investment Management, Systemiq, UNODC, and the WWF.

At the end of the discussion, participants identified five key challenges to be addressed for a zero deforestation Amazon.

1. Scale solutions and models tested in blended finance mechanisms.

2. Increase implementation capacity by structuring technology and technical assistance services to companies and businesses in the region.

3. Expand financial flows and redirect existing financial liquidity mechanisms towards transformative economic activities (i.e., restoration, bioeconomy, sustainable transition, adaptation, and mitigation) through new instruments with appropriate mandates (geography, sectors, returns, etc.).

4. Capital providers (banks, asset managers, and companies) drive change via their portfolios using risk assessment and management tools and exerting pressure on investors regarding their exposure to deforestation.

5. Improve regulatory frameworks to effectively account for nature (climate and environmental) risk in the finance sector’s decision-making (accountability) and to level the competitive moves within the financial sector with sectoral alignment.