Organization helps the bank select socio-environmental impact projects with a minimum value of R$5 million
The Movimento Bem Maior (MBM), created at the beginning of the pandemic by large businesspeople to strengthen the culture of donations, committed to obtaining R$20 million in initial contributions to the new BNDES Socio-Environmental Fund, a matchfunding launched in August through which the bank invests R$1 for every R$1 invested by the private sector in socio-environmental impact projects, up to a limit of R$100 million. In other words, in total, the available resources will reach R$200 million.
The first stage of registration runs until the 30th, but proposals will be continuously analyzed, whereas before, it was necessary to wait for a public call through a notice. To apply, projects must have a minimum value of R$5 million and aim to reduce inequalities in education, income generation or present gains for the environment.
The partnership between MBM and BNDES is unprecedented and should pave the way for other initiatives of this type, according to Bruno Aranha, director of productive and socio-environmental credit at the bank.
The fund is part of one of the BNDES' pillars to achieve goals linked to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “We want to expand the range of financial products for these actions, raise more resources from third parties to finance projects; and develop the institutional part, with advances in policies, processes and risk assessment capacity as a way of advancing this agenda”, says Aranha.
Non-refundable funds are included in the item relating to new products, which in practice are donations. They do not require credit repayment, as long as they strictly comply with legal requirements and prove the results of the proposed actions.
Socio-environmental Fund works as an expansion of the old Social Fund, created in 1997 and which has already supported 420 projects with R$1.7 billion, Aranha informs. It also operates on a model similar to Salvando Vidas, matchfunding created in April 2020 to leverage resources for actions related to health and combating the effects of the pandemic. Salvando Vidas mobilized R$113 million from 67 companies and 1,640 individuals. The money was used to help 871 hospitals with equipment, oxygen plants, respirators and refrigerators for vaccines, among others.
The expertise of Movimento Bem Maior in the area of education and entrepreneurship will be fundamental in contributing to the evaluation of the proposals presented and in validating the most interesting and far-reaching projects, according to the director.
Carola Matarazzo, executive director of MBM, believes that the ESG agenda (of good socio-environmental and governance practices) of companies will stimulate the appetite of even those that do not yet have a developed area of philanthropy. “A year ago, we began to design, together with the bank, a model that respected all the bank’s governance and compliance regulations and requirements and that was also interesting for companies”, says Matarazzo.
For six months the teams discussed the necessary standards, which resulted, according to Matarazzo, in a robust program meeting all the requirements of the public bank.
“We will help them look for partners and we are at the project validation table. The great legacy of this work is to open a path for this non-refundable line in the bank's budget”, says Matarazzo. “Care must be taken in governance, but it will be a resource available in the budget and at a time that is absolutely necessary at a time like this.”
“This partnership is another step in BNDES’s work with the corporate sector and serves as a model for future actions that aim to leverage the impact and scope of socio-environmental initiatives for society, with lasting and effective results”, says the director of infrastructure credit from BNDES, Petrônio Cançado.
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Article originally published in the newspaper Valor Econômico .
