Race to Belém — Stop the Clock on Deforestation
Launched at Davos in January 2025 and concluded at COP30 in Belém in November 2025, Race to Belém was a Silvania-initiated campaign to mobilise private sector finance to protect Brazil’s forests — bringing together conservation NGOs, leading banks, global businesses, Brazilian state governors, and Indigenous leaders around a shared mission.
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
A catalyst for systemic change and forest protection in Brazil
Race to Belém was initiated by Silvania in collaboration with Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and the We Mean Business Coalition — a campaign to mobilise private sector finance and accelerate landscape-scale programs for the protection of key forest biomes, with a specific emphasis on the Amazon basin ahead of COP30.
The campaign worked at the intersection of conservation science, government policy, and capital markets — bringing Brazilian state governments, Indigenous peoples, local communities, farmers, and global businesses together to demonstrate that protecting a standing forest is more economically valuable than cutting it down.
Through storytelling, events, and sustained advocacy, Race to Belém brought the Amazon and Cerrado to the forefront of global climate finance conversations — vast, living systems of rivers, forests, biodiversity, and communities whose future will define the fate of our climate, nature, and global prosperity.
What we achieved
Building the foundations for forest finance
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Introduced the State of Tocantins as the first Brazilian state to issue Jurisdictional REDD+ credits — a pioneering example of systemic forest protection at scale
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Inspired multiple Brazilian states to explore large-scale forest protection programmes, with the campaign directly catalysing new JREDD+ policy development
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Established the first commercial framework for corporate purchasing of Brazilian Jurisdictional REDD+ credits — creating the infrastructure for a new asset class
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Raised awareness of JREDD+ to the point that Brazil’s Minister of the Environment began referencing it in speeches
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Demonstrated that protecting a standing forest is more economically valuable than cutting it down — influencing corporate leaders, investors, and policymakers worldwide
The global convening series
Conservation rooted in communal land ownership
Race to Belém brought together an exceptional coalition of conservation organisations, financial institutions, and government partners — each contributing essential credibility, reach, and expertise to the campaign.
World Economic Forum
The campaign launched at Davos with an intimate dinner convening global investors and business leaders around the natural capital investment opportunity — setting the agenda for a year of action to protect Brazilian forests ahead of COP30.
London Climate Action Week
An Evening of Ambition and Action in London’s Natural History Museum beneath the Blue Whale skeleton — transformed into a rainforest. Speakers including Ana Toni (COP30 CEO) and M Sanjayan (CI CEO).
Forest & Finance
An intimate dinner to celebrate new partnerships and to explore how private-sector collaboration can accelerate investment in forests and nature, with conversations on JREDD+ as a credible, scalable model for forest finance.
Climate Week NYC
Celebrating Progress — an event to convene supporters and announce new partnerships. Conversations with Johan Rockström, Carlos Nobre, and Peter Seligmann on the urgency of protecting the Amazon and the science of planetary boundaries.
IUCN Conservation Congress
Convening partners from across the Middle East’s business and NGO communities for an evening of film and dialogue — featuring a world-first advocacy cut of the documentary film How to Live on Earth from Open Planet Studios.
COP30 — The finale
A Celebration of Climate, Nature and People — the campaign’s final dinner brought the journey full circle, uniting partners from business, finance, government, and civil society at the most significant climate conference for forest protection in a generation.
The Tocantins Story
The film that brought the campaign to life
Program activities
The coalition behind Race to Belém
Race to Belém brought together an exceptional coalition of conservation organisations, financial institutions, and government partners — each contributing essential credibility, reach, and expertise to the campaign.
Conservation International
Provided technical credibility, introductions to corporate counterparties, and joint outreach to leading global businesses — lending CI’s scientific reputation to the campaign’s market-building work.
The Nature Conservancy
Brought technical insights, connections to broader coalitions including the Forest & Climate Leaders Partnership, and lent TNC’s global conservation reputation to the campaign’s credibility.
We Mean Business
Organised high-profile private sector engagement events at LCAW, Climate Week NYC, and COP30 — curating guest lists, producing co-authored thought leadership, and positioning Race to Belém as a key achievement for Brazil.
The legacy
What Race to Belém means for the future of nature finance
Race to Belém was a campaign with a time limit — but the work it started has no end date. The relationships built, the market intelligence gathered, the awareness raised, and the momentum created at COP30 are the foundations on which Silvania’s commercial future is being built.
The campaign proved that landscape-scale forest protection can be made investable — that government-led, science-based, community-centred conservation is not just the right thing to do, but the smart commercial bet in an era of growing regulatory demand for high-integrity nature credits.
Introduced the State of Tocantins as the first Brazilian state to issue Jurisdictional REDD+ credits — a pioneering example of systemic forest protection at scale
Built a coalition of global businesses, conservation NGOs, leading banks, and five Brazilian state governors working together on landscape-scale climate action
IC-VCM Core Carbon Principles are raising quality standards and eliminating low-integrity supply — rewarding rigorous developers
Raised awareness of Jurisdictional REDD+ to the point that Brazil’s Minister of the Environment began referencing it in speeches and it was covered by O Globo and Valor Econômico
Demonstrated that protecting a standing forest is more economically valuable than cutting it down — influencing corporate leaders, investors, and policymakers worldwide
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