The Amazon Fund was established by the Brazilian government in 2008 to receive donations for the results achieved in the reduction of carbon emissions coming from deforestation and support projects. From 2023 onwards, the Amazon Fund has the potential to enter a new phase in its history, attracting millions of dollars in donations. For this, it must maximise its trustworthiness. The theory of public institutional integrity supports the Fund in identifying how it could improve its trustworthiness.

The results of the assessment of public institutional integrity in this paper demonstrate that the Fund is operating with suboptimal levels of integrity, particularly because of inadequacies of the articulation of its purpose, consistency, efficiency, and robustness. Based on this results, the policy recommendations for the Fund are to: 1) reinstate internal rules, 2) restore relationships with historical donors and seek new donors, 3) improve the project selection process, 4) ratify the Amazon Fund in law, and 5) reform the Theory of Change to consider the Fund’s results in deforestation prevention and emissions.

Please find the full working paper (BSG-WP-2022/048) and an abridged version in Portuguese above.