Petrobras, BNDES Pick Amazon Carbon Credit Winners

ProFloresta+ auction will buy 5 million carbon credits from Amazon restoration projects and deepen cooperation on critical minerals.

Brazil’s state development bank BNDES and Petrobras (PETR4.SA, PETR3.SA) selected Systemica, brCarbon and re.green as winners of the first ProFloresta+ auction, a program designed to purchase high-integrity carbon credits generated by ecological restoration projects in the Amazon.

The announcement was made Monday (22) in Rio de Janeiro during an event marking BNDES’ 74th anniversary, according to the bank’s news agency. The ceremony was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante and Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Magda Chambriard.

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The auction covers the purchase by Petrobras of 5 million carbon credits from projects using native species to restore degraded areas in the Amazon biome. BNDES said the initiative is expected to mobilize about 450 million reais in planting investments, create 6,300 green jobs, enable the planting of more than 25 million native trees and capture 5 million metric tons of carbon.

Systemica won a 2 million-ton CO₂ equivalent lot at $55.33 per tCO₂e. brCarbon secured another 2 million tCO₂e lot at $55.76 per tCO₂e, while re.green was selected for a 1 million tCO₂e lot at $73.82 per tCO₂e. The companies are privately held.

Mercadante said the result shows Brazil can lead a new global economy based on restoration, biodiversity and high-integrity carbon credits.

“This result shows that Brazil has the conditions to lead a new global economy based on restoration, biodiversity and the generation of high-integrity carbon credits. ProFloresta+ combines firm demand, long-term financing and transparency in price formation, creating security for investors and scale to recover degraded areas of the Amazon. It is an innovative initiative, built with Petrobras, that transforms the forest into an economic, climate and social asset for Brazil, under the leadership of President Lula,” Mercadante said.

Chambriard said ProFloresta+ creates an effective mechanism for ecological recovery in the Amazon while supporting Petrobras’ climate commitments.

“It will contribute to Petrobras meeting its net-zero climate commitments, while enabling the development of the country’s forest restoration sector, which will have guaranteed returns on its investments through firm demand for credit purchases by Petrobras. It is a profitable initiative for companies, local communities and the environment,” she said.

Created through a partnership between BNDES and Petrobras, ProFloresta+ seeks to encourage Amazon restoration financed through the sale of carbon credits. The program is aimed at restoring degraded areas with native species, strengthening Brazil’s voluntary carbon market and helping Brazilian companies meet their climate commitments.

The program was announced in March 2025 to address what BNDES described as a major gap in the market: the lack of firm demand for high-integrity carbon credits. The model includes public long-term contracts, guaranteed purchases by Petrobras and access for winning projects to differentiated financing conditions from BNDES, including the Climate Fund – Native Forests.

BNDES said the initiative will disclose, for the first time in a public transaction in Brazil, the price negotiated for carbon credits generated by ecological restoration. The contracts will run for 25 years and include social and environmental safeguards.

Tereza Campello, BNDES’ socio-environmental director, said, “The ProFloresta+ inaugurates a new stage for ecological restoration in Brazil. We are talking about projects with native species, biodiversity, green-job creation and direct impact on rebuilding the Amazon forest. BNDES enters with financial instruments capable of giving scale to this market, and Petrobras enters as the buyer of high-integrity credits. This combination is decisive to transform restoration into an economically viable and socially inclusive activity,”

The auction winners may seek BNDES financing under what the bank described as some of the most favorable conditions available for ecological restoration in Brazil. Options include the Climate Fund – Native Forests, which offers interest rates of about 2% a year, total terms of up to 25 years, grace periods of around five years and financing of up to 250 million reais per project.

In total, ProFloresta+ could reach as much as 15 million tons of carbon credits through the BNDES-Petrobras partnership. The estimate includes the restoration of up to 50,000 hectares of degraded land in the Amazon through new calls for the purchase of credits from forest restoration projects.

The initiative is part of BNDES Forests, a strategy that combines credit, non-reimbursable funds, financial innovation and technical support to scale Brazil’s ecological restoration and forest bioeconomy sectors.