Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved BRL 148.5 million (~USD 27 million) in financing to Bioo Paraná Holding S.A. to build a biomethane production plant in Toledo, western Paraná. The credit is split between BRL 101.5 million from the Fundo Clima (National Climate Change Fund) and BRL 47.1 million from the Finem line, against a total planned project investment of BRL 196 million. The plant will produce 11 million cubic meters of biomethane per year plus organic-based fertilizer, avoiding an estimated 80,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually, and is expected to generate 210 direct and indirect jobs during construction and 90 permanent positions.

On 22 July 2025, BNDESPAR — the equity-investment arm of Brazil's national development bank BNDES — approved a BRL 114 million (approx. USD 20.5 million) minority equity subscription in Grupo Santa Clara, a Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo)-based producer of special fertilizers and bioinputs founded in 1997. The deal gives BNDESPAR a 19.9% stake, implying a company valuation near BRL 570 million, and is BNDESPAR's first direct variable-income (equity) operation since the bank reactivated its equity-participation strategy in June 2025 — a decade after its last direct stock investment. Proceeds are earmarked to expand Santa Clara's biofactory in Jaboticabal (SP) and fund the group's growth plan toward BRL 1 billion in revenue by 2030.

On 2 August 2024, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned Lei nº 14.948/2024 (with partial veto, Mensagem nº 741) at a ceremony in the Pecém Industrial-Port Complex in Ceará, following Senate and Chamber approval of PL 2308/2023; the law was published in the Diário Oficial da União on 5 August 2024. The statute establishes Brazil's first comprehensive legal framework for low-carbon hydrogen: it (i) creates the National Low-Carbon Hydrogen Policy (PNH2BC) under the National Energy Policy umbrella, (ii) sets a statutory definition of "low-carbon hydrogen" as fuel/industrial input with lifecycle GHG intensity ≤ 7 kg CO₂e/kg H₂, (iii) institutes the Brazilian Hydrogen Certification System (SBCH2) for origin and emissions accreditation, (iv) creates the Special Incentive Regime for Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production (Rehidro), suspending PIS/Pasep and Cofins for five years on capital-goods, raw-materials and services purchases by qualified producers, and (v) authorises the Programa de Desenvolvimento do Hidrogênio de Baixa Emissão de Carbono (PHBC) — a tax-credit envelope capped at BRL 18.3 bn between 2028 and 2032 (subsequently regulated by Lei nº 14.990/2024 sanctioned 30 September 2024). ANP gains regulatory authority over hydrogen transportation, storage and import/export licensing, while the law amends Leis nºs 9.427/1996 (ANEEL) and 9.478/1997 (Petroleum Law) to integrate hydrogen into the energy-policy and electricity-regulation framework. Industry reporting at sanction cited >USD 30 bn in announced project pipeline, concentrated in Northeast renewable-rich states (Ceará, Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte) leveraging Pecém, Suape and Açu as hydrogen-derivative export terminals.