China and Brazil plan to set up a green investment fund

Deal to be announced during Brazilian president's visit to China next week

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with the first lady, Rosangela da Silva, at the inauguration of the Neoenergia Renewable Complex in Santa Luzia. EPA

Brazil and China are in talks to create a fund for financing the development of green industry and renewable energy in both countries, two senior Brazilian officials told Reuters.

The proposal could be announced during President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Beijing next week, although government officials said there were still some details to work out.

"I don't know if it will be possible to announce, because these things are complex, but the idea is to have a bilateral fund ... for investment in this area," Mr da Silva's top foreign policy advisor Celso Amorim told Reuters.

Mr Amorim said he expects an agreement on renewable energy during Mr da Silva's visit, which includes a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.

Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva, who will be part of Mr da Silva's delegation, said the new fund under discussion would be used to recover forests and develop a more sustainable economy, including production of green hydrogen.

"Our expectation is that we can have a climate change agenda that is strategic for the world because it is undoubtedly one of humanity's greatest challenges today," Ms Silva told Reuters.

Brazil already received a commitment from the administration of US President Joe Biden on climate policy and forest protection when Mr da Silva visited the White House last month, she said.

In the case of China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, Ms Silva expects there to be "an increasingly strong agenda on the issue of climate, the protection of forests, and biodiversity".

Ms Silva said, however, that China will not join the billion-dollar Amazon Fund started by Norway to finance sustainable development and protect the world's largest tropical rainforest, which Spain, France and Britain are looking at joining and the US has committed to supporting.