Brazil. Ancient Wisdom, Modern Solutions
Brazil is one of the most extraordinary countries on earth when it comes to sustainability. It holds the Amazon — the world's largest tropical rainforest and one of the planet's most critical carbon sinks. It generates over 85% of its electricity from renewable sources. It feeds more than a billion people through one of the world's most productive agricultural systems.
But Brazil's sustainability story is not just about what nature has given it. It is about what Brazilians are building with it.
From advanced bioenergy and regenerative agriculture to bioeconomy innovation rooted in the Amazon, Brazil is developing solutions that are deeply local in origin and globally relevant in scale. A country of 215 million people, vast biomes, and extraordinary biodiversity, Brazil has the unique ability to test solutions at a size that few others can match.
If a solution works in Brazil, it has the potential to work almost anywhere.
4 areas of excellence
1. Clean & Renewable Energy
Brazil has built one of the cleanest electricity systems of any major economy on earth.
Over 85% of Brazil's electricity comes from renewable sources — hydropower, wind, solar and biomass — a remarkable achievement for a country of its size and energy demand. Wind energy has grown explosively, particularly in the Northeast, while solar is expanding rapidly across both utility-scale farms and distributed rooftop systems. Brazil is also a world leader in bioenergy, running a significant share of its vehicle fleet on sugarcane ethanol — one of the most efficient and lowest-carbon liquid fuels in the world.
Sugarcane ethanol and advanced biofuels Brazil pioneered large-scale ethanol from sugarcane decades ago and continues to lead in second-generation biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel research.
Wind and solar expansion The Northeast of Brazil has some of the best wind resources in the world and is rapidly becoming a global clean energy hub, with strong solar irradiation complementing wind generation.
Green hydrogen potential Brazil's combination of renewable energy abundance and coastal infrastructure positions it as a future leader in green hydrogen production and export.
2. Bioeconomy & Forest-Based Innovation
Brazil is turning its extraordinary biodiversity into a new model for economic development.
The bioeconomy — using biological resources sustainably to generate economic value — is becoming central to Brazil's national strategy. With the Amazon, the Cerrado, the Atlantic Forest and the Pantanal, Brazil holds more biological diversity than almost any other country on earth. Rather than treating this as something to be extracted, a growing ecosystem of Brazilian innovators is building products, services and business models that generate value by protecting and restoring nature.
Forest-based products and ingredients Companies are developing cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, functional foods and materials derived from Amazonian plants and biodiversity — creating economic value that makes forests worth more standing than cut.
Carbon markets and forest credits Brazil is developing one of the world's most significant regulated carbon markets, with forest protection and restoration projects generating internationally recognised carbon credits.
Community-based bioeconomy models Indigenous and traditional communities are at the heart of many bioeconomy innovations — combining centuries of ecological knowledge with new market access and financing tools.
3. Regenerative Agriculture & Agri-Tech
Brazil feeds the world — and is learning to do it more sustainably.
Brazil is one of the world's largest agricultural producers, exporting soybeans, beef, coffee, orange juice and sugar to every corner of the globe. This scale creates both a responsibility and an opportunity: if Brazil can make its agriculture more regenerative, the impact on global emissions, soil health and biodiversity would be enormous. A fast-growing ecosystem of agri-tech companies, researchers and farmers is doing exactly that.
Crop-livestock-forest integration systems Brazilian researchers have pioneered integrated systems that combine crops, pasture and forestry on the same land — restoring degraded soils, sequestering carbon and improving productivity simultaneously.
Precision agriculture and digital farm management Brazilian agri-tech startups are developing satellite-based monitoring, AI-powered advisory platforms and precision input systems that help smallholders and large producers reduce waste and improve yields.
Restoration of degraded pastures Brazil has tens of millions of hectares of degraded pastureland — restoring these through improved management and reforestation represents one of the largest carbon removal opportunities in the world.
4. Water Management & Resilience
A country with 12% of the world's fresh water is learning to manage it wisely.
Brazil holds approximately 12% of the world's surface freshwater — yet faces serious water stress in parts of the Northeast, intense flooding in urban areas, and growing pressure on river systems from agriculture and urban expansion. These contradictions have driven significant innovation in water management, urban drainage, treatment and efficiency — creating solutions with wide applicability across Latin America and beyond.
Urban flood management and sponge city concepts Brazilian cities — particularly São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro — are developing green infrastructure and drainage systems to manage extreme rainfall events that are increasing in frequency and intensity.
Water reuse in agriculture and industry Water recycling systems for irrigated agriculture and industrial processes are reducing pressure on freshwater resources while improving efficiency and resilience.
Community water access in the semi-arid Northeast Cistern programmes and decentralised water harvesting systems have brought water security to millions of families in Brazil's driest regions — a model with global relevance for water-scarce communities.
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