Relatório de pesquisa: avaliação dos critérios de sustentabilidade dos financiamentos apoiados pelos fundos constitucionais brasileiros

Abstract

The aim of this report is to evaluate the environmental sustainability criteria and indicators of the programs supported by the Constitutional Funds of the Midwest (FCO), Northeast (FNE) and North (FNO). It should be noted that each Fund has specific programs aimed at sustainable development, namely: FNE Verde (FNE), Pronatureza (FCO) and FNO Amazônia Sustentável (FNO). The central question of the research is whether the criteria and mechanisms used by financial agents are adequate enough to select projects with an emphasis on environmental conservation. The resulting question is to suggest which instruments or mechanisms can be designed to increase the relevance and efficiency of environmental criteria in the analysis of projects, as well as to improve the performance of programs specifically aimed at projects that value the environment. The methodology used to carry out the analysis consisted of interviews with technicians from the banks responsible for managing the Funds and an analysis of the plans for investing the Funds' resources and other documents made public by the managing banks and controlling bodies. Originally, the idea was also to carry out a life cycle analysis of randomly selected projects in order to understand how environmental variables were incorporated into practice. However, due to reasons of banking secrecy, the banks responsible replied that they could not make the data of approved projects available, and so this type of analysis could not be carried out. The Funds were analyzed separately, according to their objectives and regional potential. However, it was found that the problems are almost always common to the management of the three Funds and, for the same reason, the suggestions and solutions aimed at improving the environmental efficiency of the programs are quite similar. Among the problems identified, the heterogeneity of the criteria for analyzing the environmental risk of the programs is an obstacle to improving the Funds. In the current system, the procedure for granting funds is based on the requirement for an environmental license and credit analysis by the managing bank's technician, who looks at the credit risks and environmental impacts involved in implementing the project. The analysis sector is allowed to incorporate extra-legal requirements, but this decision is not made uniformly between projects, which gives significant importance to the analyst's individual interpretation of the matter.