About BVRio
Founded in 2011, BVRio is a non-profit organisation working at the intersection of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Our mission is to design and promote innovative market-based solutions for the benefit of the economy, the environment and people.
BVRio (Bolsa Verde do Rio de Janeiro – Environmental Exchange of Rio de Janeiro) was originally created with the objective of developing market mechanisms to facilitate compliance with Brazilian environmental laws. The models and approaches developed there have now been adapted to develop market mechanisms, economic tools, and support the development and implementation of environmental initiatives and markets in different countries and regions worldwide.
Originally incorporated in Brazil, BVRio today has presence in the UK, China, Ghana, Indonesia and the Netherlands. We have supported projects and initiatives in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Our multidisciplinary approach to supporting the green economy;
- Creating market mechanisms to increase economic efficiency and address market failures
- Developing tools and initiatives to support the use of market-based approaches and create liquidity to the mechanisms created
- Contributing to public policy and promoting legal and regulatory frameworks that are efficient and able to generate environmental positive impacts.
Our Strategic Focus 2021-2025
How we work
Our development process starts with careful analysis of factors affecting the sustainability of a sector, including the legal, financial, and structural barriers. Where we think there are opportunities, we undertake stakeholder mapping and consultation, before proposing changes of regulatory framework or developing mechanisms, tools or initiatives.
Pre-operational activities
Using the insights gathered, we can then start to design and develop products and services, often starting with pilots or demonstrator projects to test proof-of-concept. Results are analysed, published and shared, and then one of three things will happen;
Results and growth
Where the product or service is best suited to being run as a non-profit initiative, we will seek to find additional funding to support the continued development, scaling-up and running by BVRio, or, in some cases, we will look for a partner to take over the running of non-profit initiatives for their long term operation for public benefit
Where there is a clear commercial application, we aim to scale our initiatives through spin-off companies or commercial ventures, such as Circular Action and Sustainable Investment Management, ensuring there is investment back into developing new initiatives.
Through this approach we can continue to create and run innovative market-based solutions with an economic, environmental and social benefit.
Governance and Funding
BVRio is funded through a combination of philanthropic support from its founders, foundations, and development organisations who share our values, vision and mission, complemented by revenue generated by products or services provided by BVRio to the private sector. By combining philanthropic seed funding with private sector revenue, BVRio aims at securing long term financial sustainability for the organisation.
Advisory Board
Pedro Moura Costa – BVRio UK, Chair
Walfredo Schindler – Brazilian Fund for Sustainable Development (FBDS)
Sérgio Bessermann – Economist and Environmental Specialist
Roberta del Giudice – Executive Secretary of the Forest Code Observatory
Alice Thuault – Executive Director of Instituto Centro de Vida – ICV
Fabricio de Campos – Agronomical Engineer with a Finance and Banking MBA
Audit Committee
Mario Henrique Lima
Felipe Guinle
The BVRio Group
BVRio Institute in Brazil (“BVRio Brazil”) is the original organisation of the BVRio group. It is a non-profit association with seven members incorporated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. BVRio UK Ltd, in turn, is a non-profit limited by guarantee company incorporated in the UK, wholly owned by BVRio Institute in Brazil. Through investment and board membership the following organisations are also part of the wider BVRio Group;
Strategic Partnership
BVRio has a strategic partnership with Sustainable Investment Management (SIM), an environmental finance firm based in the UK and Brazil, to scale up some of the concepts and models it creates.
Global Impact
BVRio believes in the South-South transfer of its initiatives, innovations and approaches. Over the last decade BVRio has expanded its operations from Brazil into the rest of the world and currently has offices and associates in the UK, China, Ghana, Indonesia and the Netherlands.
Our mission to design and promote innovative market-based solutions for the benefit of the economy, the environment and people has no geographical boundaries. The problems we seek to address are commonplace in the global south, but their impact is felt worldwide and so our solutions are designed to be transferable and adaptable, so that they can be applied wherever in the world they are needed.
Our Team
Executive Directors
Pedro is co-founder and director of the BVRio group, based in Oxford, United Kingdom. He is specialised in environmental policy and finance, responsible for the development of financial mechanisms to assist the compliance with environmental laws and, today, focused on internationalisation of the activities originally created by BVRio in Brazil.
Pedro Moura Costa
Co-Founder (UK)
Mauricio is co-founder and director of the BVRio group, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is specialised in commercial and environmental law, is responsible for the development of financial mechanisms and for coordinating the group's activities in Brazil.
Mauricio Moura Costa
Co-Founder (Brazil)
Directors
Graduated in public relations, Claudia has post-graduation in marketing and e-business by FGV - Fundação Getúlio Vargas. With over 20 years experience in managing third sector organizations, Claudia has performed as head of communication, marketing and sustainability in large companies. Based in Rio de Janeiro, as Operations Director at BVRio in Brazil, she is responsible for communication, information technology, legal and finance.
Claudia Jeunon
Chief Operating Officer (Brazil)
Beto is a forest engineer, Doctor of Environmental and Forestry Sciences. As Director of Policies and Institutional Relations of BVRio, he is responsible for liaising with partners and representing institutions in various forums. He coordinates projects and initiatives in the areas of forest, sustainable production and public policies.
Beto Mesquita
Director of Forests and Public Policies (Brazil)
Grace has over 15 years of experience in tropical ecology, project management, and sustainable land use practices and policy. Grace has a MSc from Oxford Brookes University and a PhD in Tropical Forest Ecology from the National University of Singapore. She has worked on a variety of land use and forestry projects in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Grace Blackham
Director of Land Use & Operations (UK)
Lucy is a Chartered Public Relations practitioner with over 20 years experience in corporate communications, latterly within a science research and climate context. She leads the BV Rio communications team and is responsible for all institutional communications, including content production, branding, media relations, digital and social media, and events.
Lucy Cox
Director of International Communications (UK)
Professor Benito Müller is managing director of Oxford Climate Policy (a BVRio UK subsidiary), convener international climate policy research at the Environmental Change Institute of the University of Oxford, and director of the European Capacity Building Initiative (ecbi) leading the trust-building Oxford Fellowships. Prof. Müller has published extensively on the subject of multilateral climate policy and has done significant work on various financial instruments related to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.
Benito Müller
Director, Oxford Climate Policy (UK)
Thierry is responsible for BVRio's Hub and Circular Action Services, which provides tailor made solutions for the waste footprints of consumer good companies.
Thierry Sanders
Director, Circular Action (Netherlands)
Land-Use, Agriculture, Forests & Bioeconomy
James, based in Ghana, is responsible for BVRio’s Responsible Timber Exchange activities in West and Central Africa. He is the contact point for timber trade inquiries in West and Central Africa.
James Parker
Regional Director (Ghana)
Francisco is a geographer, responsible for analysing all opportunities for developing environmental assets, especially in the area of forests; he prepares studies and analyses that are used as subsidies for the elaboration of proposals; technically contributes to the execution of ongoing projects.
Francisco Godoy
Environmental Assets Analyst (Brazil)
Renato is the SIMFlor Commercial Manager, responsible for implementing and developing the origination of properties and commercial negotiations with the owners of eligible areas.
Renato Castro Santos
Commercial Manager - SIMFlor (Brazil)
Marcelo is an economist graduated from PUC/SP, with a master’s degree in Ecological Economics and Social Environmental Management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Marcelo has over 20 years in consulting for companies, the public sector and for the third sector. Has extensive experience in environmental valuation work, development of public policies, environmental impact studies, among others. At BVRio, he assumes the position of Project Manager, with the challenge of identifying the limitations and potentials of existing policies, plans and instruments related to the Forest Code and land use, proposing in a relatively simple and concise manner a Plan that can effectively influence decision-making, generating jobs, economic growth, restoration and forest conservation in Brazil.
Marcelo Hercowitz
Projects Manager (Brazil)
Theresa is experienced in Spatial Data Analytics and Mapping - Modelling of Tropical Natural Resources and Land Cover. At BVRio, she assists with Environmental and Land Tenure Spatial Analysis, providing geoprocessing, remote sensing and database technical support for the projects. Theresa is a geologist, has a MSc from Santa Maria Federal University in Soil Science and a MBA in Progress in Data Science and Analytics from Esalq-USP.
Theresa Rocco Pereira Barbosa
Geospatial Analyst
Solid Waste & Circular Economy
Maria is an Ecologist, Doctor on Social Ecology and has a masters degree in Geography. She is also a social activist on various topics related to sustainability. At BVRio, she is responsible for identifying opportunities for the development of environmental assets, for data analysing and for coordinating executing projects, especially related to solid waste management and circular economy.
Maria Accioly
Circular Economy Specialist (Brazil)
Engineer and Master in City Governance. At BVRio, he works on the project financed by IFC to map the plastic production chain in order to identify opportunities to increase the circularity of plastic in Brazil.
Pedro Succar
Circular Economy Specialist (Brazil)
Juliana is an Environmental Science student at Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, with a background working in social entrepreneurship projects with socially vulnerable women and environmental education within schools, besides having done an internship in a pension fund in the area of responsible investments. She is currently developing a number of Circular Action Programmes (CAPS) for corporates using the innovative new mobile app, KOLEKT, to manage and monitor waste recovered from the environment as it moves through the supply chain, from informal collectors, to recycling centres.
Juliana Miranda
Junior Circular Economy Analyst (Brazil)
Operations
Ludmila is a journalist with MBA in Marketing and a Master's Degree in Human Geography focusing on Environmental Policy, Sustainable Food Systems and Cartography. She has experience working within the government, publishing, research and charitable sectors. She is responsible for the communication of projects in Brazil and supports BVRio's press relations, social media and digital channels.
Ludmila Girardi
Communications Officer (UK)
Daniela Pires e Albuquerque is a Lawyer, specialized in Public, Administrative and Environmental Law. She has worked for more than 20 years in the environmental management of public services. In BVRio she is responsible for the legal analysis on the development and operation of market and financial mechanisms for implementing the environmental laws, producing legal opinions and contracts and supporting the legal aspects of its projects e initiatives.
Daniela Pires e Albuquerque
Legal Manager (Brazil)
Marcia is an Administrator. At BVRio, she is responsible for managing administrative and financial activities, including supervising the implementation of internal control policies, cash flow control and legal and financial commitments and relationship with accounting. She is also responsible for preparing financial reports for partners and donors, for managing the annual budget, together with the board, and for monitoring audits.
Marcia Silveira
Financial and Administration Manager (Brazil)
Administrative, secretarial and financial support to the Direction and Human Resources. Responsible for the preparation of control sheets, correspondence, travel expense reports, keep files updated and organised and manage contact lists and calendars.
Rosangela Campello
Financial and Administration Assistant (Brazil)
Huoyun is the Finance Officer at BVRio UK, who is responsible for maintaining the financial systems and controls. She deals with cash management, payroll, general ledger, financial disbursements and financial reporting. Huoyun has dual-qualification in engineering science and accountancy (ACCA). Previously she worked in climate change business, specialising in GHG MVR under various schemes. In the past she has worked in finance in the education sector.
Huoyun Li
Financial Control Officer (UK)
Uriel is a systems analyst. At BVRio, he manages the development of platforms, systems and software; bridges the gap between the areas and projects that require IT products and services and the specific team; leads the development and operation of BVRio platforms and applications; studies the use and feasibility of new technologies and guarantees the availability of BVRio services.
Uriel Bertoche
IT Manager (Brazil)
Partnerships
Currently working in partnership with:
BVRio is a member of the following initiatives:
BVRio is proud to have worked with the following organisations:
Awards
Since its creation in 2011, BVRio has been awarded several prizes for its mission, vision and projects.
Selected for development by The Lab: Driving Sustainable Investment – 2018
The Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF) project was selected by The Lab – Brazil Lab program – for development. RCF aims to provide financial incentives for soy production on existing deforested and degraded land, discouraging the further expansion of agricultural land in the Brazilian Cerrado.
Trophy Entidade Amiga 2017 – ABRAMPA
BVRio received the Troféu Entidade Amiga (friendly entity award) from the Brazilian Association of members of the Environment Public Ministry (Abrampa). BVRio was awarded for its performance in the development of socio-environmental services. The Trophy aims to promote, disseminate and improve the efficient use of natural resources, preservation of the environment, best practices and support for sustainable socio-environmental projects.
Climate Action Leader 2014 – R20
BVRio was nominated Climate Action Leader by Regions for Climate Action, created by former California/US governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to the governor’s Strategic Advisor, Mr. Terry Tamminen, “The leadership and vision of BVRio are extremely impressive and exactly the kind of example that R20 values. The founding chairman of the R20 is committed to taking action on climate change and is doing so through the development and implementation of low carbon projects.”
Katerva Prize 2013
In 2013, BVRio received the 2013 Katerva Prize in the Economy category. The award, created in 2011 by the British organisation Katerva (which in Latin stands for crowd), receives nominations from a network of international experts who choose the best projects from around the world.
Best Social Organisation 2014 – Award Madeira
In recognition of the work developed in the forest market, especially for the creation of the trading platform for environmental assets Bolsa de Valores Ambientais, BVRio won the 2014 Madeira Award of the Besc Institute of Humanities and Economics, in the category Social Organisations.