Financing Sustainable Infrastructure and Multilateral Development Banks: The BRICS Experience 1

This article aims to analyze the role of public development banks in financing sustainable infrastructure investments in response to the climate and environmental emergency. It focuses on the New Development Bank (NDB), created by the BRICS in 2014, as an expression of a new stage of expansion and transformation of multilateral development banking in the Global South. The study is structured in four parts. The first outlines the theoretical framework on the role of public development banks in sustainable finance, drawing on heterodox perspectives that view them as institutions that transcend the notion of mere market-failure correctors. The second provides a historical analysis of the recent expansion of multilateral development banks, with particular attention to the issue of sustainable finance. The third examines the emergence and evolution of the NDB, analyzing its approved and implemented projects between 2016 and 2024 in terms of geographical distribution, supported sectors, and financing modalities. Finally, the fourth part presents the conclusions, highlighting the opportunities and contradictions the NDB faces as an instrument to foster a just energy transition.