Brazil eyes deeper China ties to boost green investments and aid low-carbon transition

Brazil wants to deepen its cooperation with China and explore ways to expand financing solutions and scale-up green investments to accelerate the South American country’s transition to a low-carbon economy, Brazilian Finance Minister Dario Durigan said in Beijing on Thursday.

“We must build long-term partnerships that generate local value, reinforce productive capacities, accelerate technological progress, and contribute to global climate goals,” Durigan said in remarks to a green finance round table held at the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) headquarters in Beijing.

Brazil was uniquely positioned to contribute to the global effort in ecological transition, and the country had vast renewable energy resources, abundant and critical minerals, competitive agricultural production, and one of the richest biodiversity reserves, according to Durigan, who arrived in China this week with a team of ecological transformation experts.

But natural advantages alone were not enough, and this was the challenge facing Brazil. The key question was how to transform the potential that exists into investment, productive capacity and sustainable development, he said.

“We see the AIIB as a strategic partner. Its experience in mobilising capital, structuring complex projects and fostering international cooperation makes it a strong partner for accelerating ecological transformation in emerging economies such as Brazil,” Durigan told the round table.

Asia boasted strong demand, manufacturing capacity as well as research capacity in green fuels, said Konstantin Limitovskiy, an AIIB chief investment officer for the public sector, at the same event.

He added that a good example was the biomass research and development work done at Hangzhou-based Zhejiang University, where organic waste was converted into eco-friendly products like renewable fuels.