The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) are to co-finance sustainable infrastructure projects in Brazil.

No figures have yet been decided upon, and a spokesperson from the IADB tells GTR that “the two banks are working to identify public and private sector opportunities to co-finance” and that “these efforts are still at a very early stage”.

An agreement signed between the pair, along with the IADB’s private sector arm, IDB Invest, will also lead to collaborative work in other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Among areas up for discussion are infrastructure development, eco-friendly energy resource management, knowledge, resources, skills and technology exchange.

Green energy projects the organisations will co-operate on include clean transportation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable water management and sewage treatment.

The spokesperson says: “The new agreement responds to a strong effort led by multilateral development banks to enhance co-operation and mobilise more development financing.”

The agreement is in line with the “from billions to trillions” movement, aiming to convert billions of dollars’ worth of development bank support into trillions of dollars of investment in order to achieve the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

The spokesperson says that the agreement “sets the stage for the IADB and NDB to share knowledge and best practices, and provide innovative and integral solutions to help their developing member countries mobilise the expertise needed to advance their development strategies”.

The NDB – also known as the BRICS Bank – established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and officially opened in 2015, finances infrastructure and sustainable projects in emerging market economies. In 2016, the board of directors approved its initial set of loans – totalling US$1.5bn – for seven projects in transportation and green energy. The first of these was the Shanghai Lingang distributed solar power project which began operating in April this year. Last month the bank jointly disbursed US$67.3mn to finance six wind farms in northeast Brazil.

IDB Invest supports sustainable Latin American and Caribbean businesses to maximise economic and social development for the region. It has a portfolio of US$11.2bn under management and 330 clients in 23 countries.