The world is in a race against time to contain the effects of the climate crisis.
Governments, businesses, and financial institutions are being pressured to change not only their rhetoric, but also how they produce, hire, invest, and regulate.
In Brazil, this movement gained momentum with the enactment of Law No. 15.103/2025, which created the Energy Transition Acceleration Program (Paten).
The proposal is simple yet ambitious, because it aims to facilitate the financing of sustainable projects using existing credits, such as court-ordered payments or tax credits.
In practice, companies that are due to receive payments from the Federal Government will be able to use these amounts to secure financing linked to the energy transition, all backed by a guarantee fund, the Green Fund, managed by BNDES.
But the scope of the change goes far beyond the financial mechanism.
We are talking about a new legal and institutional arrangement that repositions the role of the State, redesigns the relationship between public and private agents, and transforms the logic of investments in infrastructure, energy, mobility, and technological innovation.
Brazil, with its predominantly renewable energy matrix and its leadership capacity in bioenergy and carbon markets, is entering a new chapter in the climate agenda.
In this article, I want to explore with you the main points of the new legislation, the strategic sectors it mobilizes, the impacts on federative entities and companies, and what all this represents for those who work with law, public policy, sustainability, and ESG.
Is energy transition a multidisciplinary challenge?
Yes! Think about it, the energy transition requires complex restructurings in sectors historically anchored in carbon-intensive patterns.
Therefore, it's not about changing the energy source, but about redesigning tax incentives, regulatory standards, financing models, and institutional arrangements.
Globally, McKinsey estimates that more than US$7,3 trillion will be needed by 2030 to finance the energy transition.
According to the same consultancy, Brazil alone has the potential to generate US$125 billion in renewable energy, bioenergy, and carbon markets by 2040.
And then the market imposes new demands:
- to guarantee legal security for investments;
- regulate emerging technologies;
- Structuring complex contracts;
- and to ensure socio-environmental inclusion in the transformation process.
What does Law No. 15.103/2025 propose?
Approved in January 2025, Law No. 15.103 creates Paten with two central instruments:
a) Green Fund
It is a private guarantee fund, with an autonomous legal nature, its own assets, and management by BNDES.
The key difference lies in the source of the funds, because the Green Fund utilizes credits held by companies against the Federal Government, such as court-ordered payments or tax credits with approved/authorized reimbursement.
These credits can be used as collateral to finance green projects, eliminating the need for real guarantees (mortgages, real estate, etc.).
Thus, the company receives equity stakes equivalent to the amount invested, and default is covered by the fund itself.
The consequence is that the operationalization of the fund represents an institutional innovation because it brings the logic of fiscal transactions and the securitization of public credits closer to climate finance, with gains in liquidity, predictability, and environmental impact.
b) Green tax transaction
Furthermore, companies with approved energy transition projects will be able to propose individual tax debt settlements with the Federal Government, adjusting the payment schedule to the revenue and execution schedule of the sustainable project.
This transaction is aligned with Law No. 13.988/2020 and Constitutional Amendment 113/2021, but now with an explicit focus on socio-environmental compensation, as per the new §13 of Article 11 of the transaction law, which mandates the pursuit of "positive socio-environmental effects".
The sectors that will be impacted by the Patent
The Patent was designed to mobilize entire economic sectors around the energy transition, so that investments will not be limited to solar and wind energy.
In practice, the program includes actions such as:
- The replacement of fossil fuels with clean sources;
- The development of carbon capture technologies;
- Energy recovery from waste;
- Support for infrastructure to supply biofuels and vehicular natural gas;
- The installation of new energy storage systems;
- Incentives for the domestic production of less carbon-intensive fertilizers.
Also noteworthy is the encouragement of sustainable mobility.
The law provides incentives for projects involving heavy vehicles, agricultural machinery, and engines converted from diesel to CNG or biomethane.
In fact, the law connected the Patent to sectors such as agribusiness, the transportation industry, and the alternative fuels market—sectors that were often treated in isolation when discussing climate policy.
The program also has a strategic focus on the transition in coal-mining regions, supporting economic diversification and the reconversion of local production chains. This reinforces the federative nature of the policy and signals that the benefits of the transition should not be concentrated solely in the major economic centers or capitals of the Southeast region.
How did BNDES get involved in this transition?
BNDES had already been playing a leading role in financing clean energy in Brazil.
With over US$36 billion financed between 2004 and 2023, the Bank appears in international rankings as the world's largest financier of renewable energy projects.
What changes with the patent is that companies now have a much simpler way to obtain credit to invest in sustainable projects.
Previously, to obtain financing, it was common for banks to require real guarantees, that is, some physical asset, such as real estate, machinery, or even a shareholding, that could be used as collateral for payment.
Of course, not every company has this type of asset available or wants to commit its assets to a credit transaction.
Now, with the Green Fund, companies can use amounts they are due to receive from the federal government, such as court-ordered payments or tax credits already approved by the Federal Revenue Service, to contribute to the fund and receive a kind of "currency": participation quotas.
These shares serve as collateral in place of physical assets. This allows the company to secure funding for its energy transition project without having to offer real estate, machinery, or other company assets.
This especially helps companies that have credits with the government but were stuck because they couldn't transform that money, which will only enter their cash flow in the future, into investment now.
With the patent, it's possible to use these values as a basis for making projects related to clean energy, biofuels, electric mobility, green infrastructure, and others viable.
And BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) steps in precisely to organize and provide security to this process. It manages the Green Fund, ensures that the rules are followed, and that the money goes to approved projects. This helps the bank that will finance, helps the company that needs the credit, and, of course, helps the country advance in its goal of reducing emissions.
And who will lead this transition?
It's no longer possible to think about climate policy without qualified people to bring the projects to fruition.
It is useless to have laws, funding sources, and opportunities if the professionals working in public policy, sustainability, law, infrastructure, and innovation are not prepared to deal with the concrete challenges of the energy transition.
And here's an important point: the technical training of those who want to have a real impact on this agenda.
The IDP MBA in ESG, Public Policy and Climate Change was designed precisely for this purpose: to train public and private leaders with the capacity for strategic action, an intersectoral vision, and mastery of the legal, economic, and environmental tools that this new scenario demands.
The course is 100% online, with bi-weekly live classes, and features professors who are directly involved in the development and oversight of environmental policies in Brazil, such as Rodrigo Agostinho (IBAMA), Suely Araújo (Climate Observatory), Carlos Netto (former Minister of the Environment), among other leading figures.
This training is aimed at those who want to understand, from the inside, how regulatory mechanisms work, green financing structures, climate risk management, the legal frameworks of the energy transition, and the role of public policies in addressing the environmental crisis.
If you work in the public sector, NGOs, the legal field, companies, consultancies, or regulatory bodies, this could be the next step in your career path.
The specialization program is now open for enrollment. Come be a part of IDP!
