Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) has launched its R$500m ($144m) Sustainable Energy Fund (Fundo de Energia Sustentável) aiming to bolster the country’s fledgling local-currency green bond and tax-exempt infrastructure bond markets.

The 15-year fund will invest in the so-called local-currency infrastructure bonds – known as infrastructure debentures – issued by renewable project developers, including wind and solar project sponsors that are financed by BNDES itself.

BNDES’s