Brazil holds a rare combination of assets and is experiencing a decisive moment for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). With capital already mobilized, the challenge has changed: in addition to attracting resources, the focus shifts to ensuring pipeline readiness, execution capacity, and market infrastructure.
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For the economy of nature to scale, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) must be understood beyond the purely environmental agenda. In this study, NBS represents the intersection where solving climate and social challenges meets net gains in biodiversity and economic viability.
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“The central problem became organizing the conditions for this market to scale with integrity, with no need to prove that SbN matters.”
By definition, this study considers that SbN mostly addresses resolution of social and climate challenges, net gains in biodiversity, economic viability and human well-being.
The 10 segments do not operate in silos. Data qualifies the pipeline. The pipeline connects to capital. Capital enables territorial implementation. Demand, anchored in public policy, builds predictability and scale.
A restoration project, a sociobioeconomy cooperative, and a nature technology company will not reach capital through the same route. Reading the market as a single asset class reduces the efficiency of each allocation decision.
An invitation to interactive exploration (tools and data)
To ensure that the intelligence of this mapping was not restricted to static spreadsheets, we transformed market information into two dynamic tools: an affinity network (graph) and an analytical dashboard (dashboard). We invite you to interact with the data and immerse yourself in the specifics of segments, biomes, and roles.
Explore the connection of 2,177 organizations mapped not by business partnerships, but by thematic affinities and shared purposes. The colors indicate the strategic segment, while the geometric shapes reveal the actor's role in the market: circles for offerors, squares for financiers, and triangles for dynamizers.
To navigate the complete graph: click on the image below. Navigation tip: double-click any organization to activate “focus mode” and isolate your immediate network of connections.
Use our interactive exploration center to apply matched filters and create tailored analytics. Navigate through the thematic tabs (“Panorama”, “Anatomy SbN” and “Crossings”) and use the side menu to cross-reference information by activity biomes, role breakdown and specific markers (tags).
Navigation tip: this view is optimized for desktop and tablet.
By exploring the above tools, the data reveals a high interdependence of the ecosystem and brings to light crucial industry patterns:
Three segments concentrate the largest slice of the ecosystem: Forest Conservation, Nature Techs and Green Infrastructure. This reflects areas with already established traction in ecological assets and the technologies (such as Nature Techs) that provide the digital infrastructure to make the others viable.
The tools expose a structural bottleneck: there is an abundance of providers at the end, but a severe shortage of financiers and territorial dynamizers. Without these articulators, initiatives cannot access capital.
The long biological cycles and risks of SbN require financial innovations. The capital flow demonstrates the protagonism of investors using blended finance and patient capital to make the market viable.
The biome map reflects an underrepresentation of the Coastal and Marine Zone. The Blue Economy in Brazil still faces regulatory challenges and a lack of a structured pipeline to attract venture capital.
In Sociobioeconomics, the high proportion of cooperatives and community businesses proves that the scale of this segment depends, intrinsically, on the strengthening of local organizations and community governance.
More than mapping, the study indicates systemic interventions to accelerate market functioning. To unlock this scenario, the study proposes systemic interventions structured on five complementary fronts:
The main gap today is the lack of a readable pipeline. Minimum standards and comparable assets need to be created to facilitate risk assessment and connection with capital.
Scale is not born only from individual projects, but from local arrangements (such as BioHubs) capable of articulating governance, technical assistance, processing and financing on the same territorial basis.
Standardized solutions fail in the face of long biological cycles. The next phase will require financial architectures that combine grants, catalytic capital, flexible debt, and blended finance to align risk and return with natural conditions.
The value of SbN depends on attributes that need to be proven (such as carbon, origin and biodiversity). Traceability and robust monitoring systems (MRV) are not just technical support, but central conditions for ensuring trust and financeability.
No market scales with supply alone. The State and corporate buyers need to help induce demand via public procurement, credit lines, and long-term contracts (such as offtake) to provide revenue predictability to projects.
The Brazilian market for Nature-Based Solutions does not start from scratch. In recent years, a robust middle layer of coalitions, platforms, funds, territorial organizations, and financial institutions has formed that already fulfill the decisive function of structuring the ecosystem. The study identifies these structures in four areas of action:
Organizations that produce market intelligence, structure solutions of blended finance and operate induction programmes to reduce risk and bring assets closer to compliant capital.
Initiatives focused on establishing eligibility criteria, common languages (such as taxonomies) and on connecting the SbN to planning and public policy instruments.
The dynamizers who work at the front end with technical assistance, strengthening community businesses, local governance and articulation of sociobiodiversity chains.
The new generation of platforms (Nature Techs) aimed at traceability, MRV, geointelligence and compliance, fundamental to transforming socio-environmental value into comparable and bankable assets.
Participate in the structuring of this market
Brazil can go beyond just participating in the global Nature-Based Solutions market – we can help define it. Download the full study, explore the interactive tools, and discover the connections that will drive your next strategic move.
We work in collaboration with organizations and institutions committed to the climate agenda and sustainable development, including:
These partners play a crucial role in the development and implementation of the solutions and analytics presented by OV Insights.
Daniel Contrucci
Laura Fostinone
Ude Lottfi
Laura Fostinone
Daniel Contrucci
Ude Lottfi
Fabiana Philippi
Heloisa Garcia
Maria Eugenia Buosi
Vitor Salomao
Queries and Code
Indense
Juliana Baladelli Ribeiro – Boticário Group Foundation
Guilherme Karam – Boticário Group Foundation
