Santander as Market Maker: Scaling Restoration and Blended Finance in Brazil

Brazil holds vast potential for restoration, with up to 100 million hectares of degraded land that could be restored to native ecosystems or productive use. By 2050, this emerging market could reach USD 180 billion, yet it remains underdeveloped.

Leonardo Fleck, Managing Director Sustainability at Santander, outlines the role of Santander as “market maker”, working with partners to help scale restoration and nature-based solutions.

At the core of Santander is direct participation – for example, through the co-founding of Biomas, a restoration company with projects already underway in the Atlantic forest and plans to expand in the Amazon region.

The company focuses on innovative financial structures, particularly blended finance. By combining commercial capital with catalytic funding from governments and development banks, Santander helps reduce risk and accelerate private investment into emerging climate and nature markets.

“We see our role almost like a market maker — showing that this potential can actually be realized at scale.” 

Looking ahead, the priority is scaling. With the launch of Brazil’s Eco Invest Programme, now one of the world’s largest blended finance initiatives, Santander sees a major opportunity for Brazil to become a global hub for climate and nature solutions, provided bold collaboration continues and ambition moves beyond pilot projects.

Watch the full conversation recorded at the World Climate Summit & the Investment COP 2025: 

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Leonardo Fleck, Managing Director Sustainability at Santander

Leonardo C. FLECK, has experience in sustainability and conservation with a focus on markets, finance, technology, biodiversity, and climate change. Leo joined Banco Santander Brasil in January 2022, where he leads the bank's sustainable innovation initiatives including in the Amazon biome.

Previously, Leo worked for ten years with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in Palo Alto, California in 2012, where he led the design and implementation of a new global program aimed at reducing ecosystem degradation associated with international commodity trade, encompassing projects in the United States, European Union, China, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Indonesia. Leo also served on the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), the largest philanthropic alliance focused on reducing green house gas emissions from land use.

Prior to joining the Moore Foundation, he was lead economist and Brazil program lead at Conservation Strategy Fund, where he oversaw projects across Latin America spanning REDD+, ecotourism, landscape planning, agriculture, energy and transport infrastructure, and protected areas. He was part of the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity initiative (TEEB), and lectured environmental economics and corporate sustainability internationally, including at Stanford University. Leo earned an M.B.A. from UNA University in Brazil ,an M.Sc. in conservation biology from the University of Kentin England, and a BS. in biological sciences from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Leo is also a Stanford Certified Program Manager.