The greater concern with the environment under the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), elected president this Sunday (30), compared to Jair Bolsonaro (PL), will contribute to Brazil re-entering the radar of foreigners, he says. João Paulo Pacífico, founder of the investment company Grupo Gaia, which works to raise funds for the financing of socio-environmental projects.
“The environment today for the world is a central theme for decisions about where the money will be channeled, although it is not for Faria Lima [região em São Paulo onde se concentram empresas do mercado financeiro]which is completely disconnected from the world”, says Pacífico.
An example in this sense, he says, came just a few hours after the confirmation of the former president’s victory, with Norway having announced that it will resume financial aid against deforestation in the Amazon in Brazil, frozen during Bolsonaro’s presidency.
According to statements to AFP by the Norwegian Minister of the Environment, Espen Barth Eide, about 5 billion Norwegian kroner (US$ 482 million, or R$ 2.5 billion) are waiting to be used in the fund for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest.
The asset management arm of Nordea, one of the biggest banks in the Nordic countries, said on Monday (31) that it could lift the ban on buying Brazilian government bonds after Lula’s victory.
Bolsonaro’s negligent attitude towards the environment, says Pacífico, has made Brazil a pariah on the global stage, and the expectation is that the scenario will change completely under the leadership of the Lula government from 2023 onwards.
“I am very optimistic. Brazil has never had such a good relationship with other countries as in Lula’s governments”, says the executive, recalling the role that elected federal deputy and former Environment Minister Marina Silva (Rede) played during the PT campaign and the expectation as to the role it will play in the new government.
He also says that the strengthening of public policies aimed at reducing extreme poverty and hunger will help to promote the Brazilian economy in a broader way. “People understood that if you don’t have a consumer, you don’t have a market.”
In September, Pacífico announced the donation of Grupo Gaia to an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization). Agricultural productions from the MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement) and affordable rental social housing in São Paulo are among the projects that were financed through the company.
The founder of Gaia says that, in recent years under the Bolsonaro government, the group’s actions represented a kind of “knife punch, going in the opposite direction of the Brazilian government”. Now, the expectation is that a more focused look at the less favored classes and the environment will attract greater interest from foreign investors in projects that focus on tackling these issues, says Pacífico.
with Reuters
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