Why the Industrial Transition Accelerator is partnering up with Brazil

Brazil will become the first partner country of the Industrial Transition Accelerator (ITA). 

Launched in December 2023 at the COP28 Global Climate Action Summit in Dubai, ITA brings together global leaders from all sectors, financial institutions and governments to unlock large-scale investments for the rapid deployment of decarbonization solutions. 

The initiative is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the United Arab Emirates.

BNamericas spoke with the ITA’s executive director, Faustine Delasalle, about what to expect from the initiative.

 

BNamericas: What are the prospects for results from the partnership between Brazil and the Industrial Transition Accelerator? What kind of projects can be stimulated from this?

Delasalle: We’re focusing on decarbonizing the industrial sector, particularly the steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizer industries. And Brazil already has a footprint and big industrial base in most of these segments. 

Brazil has the potential to produce SAF [sustainable aviation fuels], fertilizers and cheap hydrogen because of its energy fundamentals, considering its large solar and wind parks. That’s why we see major potential in Brazil. 

BNamericas: How are the projects expected to be financed? In addition to BNDES, which other financial institutions can participate?

Delasalle: We’re working in partnership with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero [GFANZ], which is a coalition of private financial institutions that gather major equity players, bankers and asset managers. 

There are some key steps that we need to go through: the first is to improve the bankability of projects, alongside policies and value chain development. Once the bankability of the projects has been improved, we strongly believe there will be interest from private international financial institutions, to partner up with sources of concessionary capital such as BNDES, the World Bank and IADB. They have high interest in decarbonization as well. 

One of the reasons why we’re coming to Brazil is the strength and ambition of the government through its ecological plan and the Nova Industria Brasil [program]. Those plans create strong foundations that we’re going to be able to build on. We'll be able to inform the government on how to improve those policies. 

BNamericas: Which regions of Brazil are the focus of the partnership?

Delasalle: We'll work more with industrialized states, like São Paulo and Rio. But by investing in industrialized regions, we expect to scale up and benefit a broader group of states in the country. 

What distinguishes ITA is that we’re really focusing on getting industrial projects to invest in the construction stage. To ensure we use everything at our disposal to make projects happen.