New Reports: Emerging sustainability frameworks at Chinese and Brazilian national development banks
Friends of the Earth has launched the new report series, “Emerging Sustainability Frameworks,” which looks at how new development banks in China and Brazil are redefining the landscape of international development and sustainable finance.
As the global economy evolves, development finance is increasingly provided from banks in the developing countries themselves. In particular, China Development Bank, China Export-Import Bank, and the Brazilian Development Bank, or BNDES, have emerged as major players in influencing where and how development finance is allocated.
Today, China Development Bank is the largest national development bank in the world, followed by Brazilian National Development Bank — essentially pushing aside typical Western financiers like the World Bank and the Export-Import Bank of the United States as the world’s top public institutional lenders. And as Brazil’s and China’s overseas investment footprint has grown, so has their influence in offering alternative sustainable finance models.
Download the CDB and China Exim report
The “Emerging Sustainability Frameworks” series provides an overview of the sustainability principles and measures that have been established at these Chinese and Brazilian development banks. These papers are meant to serve as reference documents for those interested in understanding how environmental and social considerations are integrated into the banks’ loan process, as well as describe the scope of Brazil and China’s national green finance regulatory context.
The third paper in the series will contrast green finance standards among BNDES, CDB, China Exim, World Bank and the International Finance Club in an effort to understand how national development banks are contributing to the evolution of sustainable finance norms on an international level. The third installment will be published later this year. As reference documents, the series does not assess the level of implementation or efficacy of these policies.