BVRio Environmental Exchange

Bolsa Verde do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro’s Environmental Exchange) or BVRio is a not-for-profit association based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created with the objective to create and promote the use of market mechanisms to facilitate compliance with Brazilian environmental laws.
Foundation, partnerships and governance.
BVRio was created in 2011 by social entrepreneurs Pedro Moura Costa and Mauricio Moura Costa in partnership with the Rio de Janeiro State Government and the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro. More recently, it has established collaboration agreements with the Brazilian Amazonian states of Pará, Amazonas, and Acre. Its board includes the participation of Funbio (), FBDS (Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development), CEBDS (the Brazilian chapter of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development), and high visibility citizens, including environmental economist , as well as representatives from Rio de Janeiro’s State and Municipal governments.
Sectors of activity.
Launched in December 2011, BVRio initially focused on establishing partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders from government, NGOs and industry and to identify and prioritise sectors in which to focus its efforts. After consultation with these stakeholders, it became clear that BVRio should aim at operating at both the rural and urban environments, as well as at the industrial sector:
At the end of its first year, BVRio launched a trading platform to support the market of Forest Reserve Credits for compliance with the Brazilian Forest Law. Today, the exchange has the participation of more than 3000 participants and over 3 million ha of rural properties offering credits throughout Brazil. With relation to the reverse logistics system, the FRC Market already counts with the participation of more than 7,000 waste collectors, represented through 150 cooperatives distributed throughout the country. The sale of Reverse Logistics credits greatly increased the income of these waste collectors (estimated at ca. 50%), generating positive social and environmental benefits.
Prizes and awards.
In 2003 BVRio won the Katerva Award in the Economics category and in 2014 BVRio was nominated a "Climate Action Leader" by the R20 Regions of Climate Action as an acknowledgment for BVRio's work on the Green Finance Mechanism. Additionally, it received the Madeira Awards in 2014, and was shortlisted for awards from Yale University and UNDP in 2013/2014.