We want to achieve measurable impact with the work that we do, across three key areas:
ECONOMY
ENVIRONMENT
PEOPLE
Economy
Our work aims to create economic efficiencies and mend market failures to remove barriers for the adoption of more sustainable models of production. These models could result in benefits for responsible and compliant operators, for rural communities that add value to their natural resources, or for circular economy models based on solid waste recovery and recycling. Our work helps create new sources of income in developing countries, which has many knock-on benefits for local and national economies.
A Responsible Commodities Facility to finance Zero Deforestation Soy in Brazil
Growing demand for soy globally is resulting in a continuous expansion of
the area under cultivation in Brazil, creating a major driver of deforestation, destruction of natural habitats, loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas
emissions. At the same time, there is widespread consensus that agricultural production in Brazil can be achieved without the need for additional
deforestation. This was the objective of the 2017 Cerrado Manifesto, signed by more than 200 NGOs and private sector organisations.
There is a need, however, to create incentives to engage farmers in the production of responsible commodities. This is the rationale for the creation of the Responsible Commodities Facility (RCF), a fund capitalised by green bonds to provide low interest finance (crop finance loans) to farmers who commit to zero deforestation, to only expand soy cultivation into abandoned and sub-utilised pastureland, and to comply with the Brazilian Forest Code.
The RCF is now run by BVRio partner Sustainable Investment Management (SIM) and will reach US$ half a billion in 2028.
Environment
Our work encourages voluntary and compliance-driven adoption of environmental laws and objectives. This results in protecting forests from illegal logging, reducing deforestation for intensive food production, and plastic from entering the oceans.
Improving land use at the landscape scale
The Forest Code is the cornerstone of Brazil’s land-use transition. Its full implementation has the potential to reconcile highly productive agriculture and livestock farming with ecosystem conservation and restoration. In addition to creating jobs and income in rural areas, enforcement of the law preserves and sequesters vital carbon stocks, protects biodiversity, and improves water availability. Its implementation also fosters a sustainable forest economy that benefits people and the climate.
Since 2012, BVRio has worked to translate this legislation into practice through market-based solutions and support for public policies. Its main achievements include the National Forest Code Implementation Plan (PlanaFlor), the development of market platforms for Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRAs), the Forest Code Monitoring Portal, and direct support to help rural producers achieve environmental compliance.
As part of its efforts to conserve native vegetation, BVRio has actively worked to combat the illegal timber trade, one of the main drivers of forest degradation. Its Responsible Timber Exchange provided the international market with advanced due diligence and legal compliance tools. This experience has given BVRio the expertise needed to support the assessment and alignment of other supply chains with the most stringent global requirements, including European legislation (EUTR), the US Lacey Act, and the FLEGT program.
People
Many of our projects provide additional income and opportunity to the world’s poorest people, including many which directly benefit women. Our mechanisms seek to reward responsible farmers, land-owners, agricultural producers, community forest managers, formal and informal waste pickers, offering tools that provide a competitive edge and opportunities.
Circular Action Hub is creating job security for artisan fishers
The Circular Action Hub is a socially inclusive platform that connects community waste management projects with companies and investors. Informal waste workers can also access guidance, support and a means to measure and monetise their positive environmental impact.
One of the projects supported by the Hub is the ‘Fishing For Litter’ project in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which combines environmental and socio-economic benefits. The bay is heavily polluted in some areas, with waste entering via rivers or being illegally dumped, threatening the fishers; traditional way of life. With funding secured through the Hub, fishers now work two days per week, collecting waste from the water, mangroves and beaches, sorting it for onward recycling or more appropriate disposal. Their waste ‘catch’ is logged digitally by material type and the information is provided to the project’s funders. In 2025, the project had benefitted over 100 fishers who had removed over 500 tonnes of waste from the environment. The project also led to the fishers’ creating their own waste cooperative.
