ProFloresta+ Call for Proposals Exceeds Expectations and Receives 16 Carbon Credit Sale Proposals

Petrobras and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) closed the submission period for proposals for the first ProFloresta+ call for proposals after receiving 16 proposals. The result—well above the expected contracting level—demonstrates market interest in forest restoration projects that generate high-integrity carbon credits and reinforces the role of ProFloresta+ as an instrument for the development of the voluntary carbon market in Brazil and for the expansion of ecological restoration in the Amazon.
 
Launched last November during COP 30, the call provides for the purchase by Petrobras of carbon credits generated from ecological restoration projects using native species in the Amazon biome, with rigorous integrity standards, through long-term contracts. The objective of the first call is to acquire 5 million credits, distributed across five contracts of 1 million VCUs each. The deadline for proposal submissions closed last Friday, January 9.
 
The winning projects may access differentiated financing from BNDES, such as Climate Fund lines aimed at restoration with native species.
 
"The volume of proposals submitted indicates that ProFloresta+ responds to a concrete demand for forest restoration initiatives with high integrity standards. The program was conceived as an inducement public policy, capable of combining predictability, rigorous technical criteria, and alignment with the climate agenda, creating conditions to scale up ecological restoration nationwide," said Tereza Campello, BNDES Director for Social and Environmental Affairs.
 
The proposals will now move to the technical effectiveness evaluation phase, in accordance with the criteria established in the call for proposals, which include, among others, rigorous requirements for environmental integrity and socio-environmental safeguards. Petrobras will select the set of proposals that represent the lowest disbursement for the total number of carbon credits to be contracted.
 
According to Angelica Laureano, Petrobras' Executive Manager for Energy Transition and Sustainability, market interest in ProFloresta+ reinforces Brazil's potential in the nature-based carbon market. "We are committed to enabling projects that generate high-quality, high-integrity credits, delivering climate, socioeconomic, and environmental benefits for Brazil. The purchase of credits, as a complementary tool in our decarbonization pathway, offers the possibility of achieving even more ambitious results than those attainable through the intrinsic decarbonization of our operations, while at the same time contributing to the preservation of Brazilian ecosystems," said the Petrobras executive.
 
The outcome of the bidding process, including the identification of the winning proposals, the volumes contracted, and the amount to be paid for the credits, will be announced by Petrobras after the conclusion of the procurement process, expected in the first half of 2026.

About ProFloresta+

ProFloresta+ is a joint initiative by BNDES and Petrobras announced in March 2025, which promotes forest restoration in the Amazon through remuneration from the sale of carbon credits.
 
The project's objective is to promote the restoration of up to 50,000 hectares of degraded areas in the Amazon, generating approximately 15 million carbon credits (each credit is equivalent to 1 metric ton of CO₂e). This volume of credits is associated with an emissions reduction equivalent to the annual fuel consumption of 8.94 million gasoline-powered cars, considering that each car travels 10,000 km per year with a fuel efficiency of 10 km/l. Overall, ProFloresta+ has the potential to mobilize more than R$ 1.5 billion in investments for the reforestation of the Amazon in the coming years.
 
The initiative aims to support Petrobras' emissions reduction commitments and is part of the BNDES Forests strategy, a front of the Bank that brings together different financial and technical instruments to develop and consolidate, at scale, the ecological restoration and forest bioeconomy sector in the country.
 
Developed collaboratively, the initiative received technical contributions from the Mattos Filho law firm, Imaflora, Agroícone, and the Climate and Society Institute (iCS), in addition to suggestions received through a public consultation. This process results in the first public transaction of ecological restoration carbon credits in Brazil and is expected to serve as a benchmark through long-term public contracts, greater transparency in carbon price formation, and increased attractiveness for investors, strengthening confidence in the voluntary carbon market in Brazil.