Energy Advisor

William Nichols, head of Climate and Resilience at Verisk Maplecroft: “That reviving the Amazon fund was among Lula’s first orders of business really highlights the importance he’s placing on it. Reassuring the wider world that he means business in terms of restoring Brazil’s environmental credentials will play well among the investment, for which the ‘E’ in ‘ESG’ looms especially large. The United States joining the scheme marks a ringing endorsement of Lula and certainly signals closer cooperation between Washington and Brasília, given that both Biden and Lula have strong climate policy agendas. However, the United States’ $50 million pledge probably does more to lend credence to Lula’s regime as one the West can do business with than change the situation dramatically on the ground. In fact, a lot of this new funding is likely to go…”