2010/11/10

(BN) BNDES Starts $587 Million Loan Program for Farm-Emissions Cuts

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BNDES Starts $587 Million Loan Program for Farm-Emissions Cuts
2010-11-10 15:02:10.358 GMT


By Stephan Nielsen
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's national development bank,
Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social, approved a
1 billion real ($587 million) loan program to help farmers cut
their greenhouse-gas emissions as the South American country
seeks to meet its 2020 carbon-limit target.
Farmers and agricultural cooperatives will be eligible for
loans of as much as 1 million reais per harvest at an annual
interest rates of 5.5 percent until June 30, the Rio de Janeiro-
based bank, known as BNDES, said in an e-mailed statement today.
Brazil has a voluntary target to cut greenhouse-gas
emissions by as much as 38.9 percent from business-as-usual
levels, according to the statement.
The Program for Reducing Emission of Greenhouse Gases in
Agriculture, or ABC by its Portuguese acronym, will support the
recovery of degraded pasture land, moves to cut deforestation
and the planting of commercial forests, BNDES said.

For Related News and Information:
Brazil and climate change: TNI BRAZIL CLIMATE <GO>
Renewable-energy special report: GREEN <GO>
Top energy stories: TOP NRG <GO>

--Editors: Romaine Bostick, Margot Slade.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephan Nielsen in Sao Paulo at +55 11 3017 4932 or
snielsen8@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.