Brazil is projected to have US$ 437.6 billion (R$ 2.32 trillion) in revenue for the year.debt servicing in 2026, which represents 40.8% of the estimated government revenues for the year. The amount is 45 times larger than the US$ 9.6 billion (R$ 50.88 billion) that were identified as necessary to fund.climate goalswhich should be funded by the country itself, according toreportDebt exacerbates climate crisis: How Funding Flows, from ActionAid.
The debt service gathers the resources destined to fulfill the country's debt obligations. In the survey, the calculation considers both internal and external debt.
The US$ 9.6 billion does not represent what Brazil actually spends on climate actions. The value corresponds to the funding need estimated by the study for unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), a portion of the climate goals that must be financed with the country's own resources.
Brazil appears in a table of additional countries analyzed by ActionAid in partnership with Development Finance International (DFI). Therefore, it does not belong to the group of the 65 most vulnerable countries to the climate crisis, which constitutes the main universe analyzed by the report.
"For too long, debt and climate crises have been treated separately. This research reveals how they are deeply interconnected and quantifies the devastating cost involved," says Arthur Larok, Secretary-General of ActionAid International.
Debt exceeds health and education spending
The burden of debt also appears when compared to government revenues. According to the study, the debt service corresponds to 40.79% of the State of Brazil's US$ 1.07 trillion (R$ 5.67 trillion) revenue in 2026. The figures are budgetary values for the year, and not actual expenses incurred.
The survey also compares Brazil's debt service to resources allocated to public services. According to the calculations presented, US$ 437.6 billion is equivalent to 3.05 times the spending on education and 8.12 times thehealth spending.
To obtain the data on debt, revenues, and public spending, DFI used information from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and government budgetary documents. The report states that the values were selected for 2026 and, therefore, correspond to budgetary forecasts, not final execution.
The Brazilian figures are part of a broader ActionAid analysis on how debt can reduce the available space in budgets for climate policies and public services. In the set of the most vulnerable countries analyzed in the study, the debt service is almost 25 times higher than the budgetary spending on climate actions.
In some countries, the revenue commitment is even greater. Angola, Congo, Mozambique, Niger, and Senegal allocate more than 80% of their revenues to debt service. In Bangladesh, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone, the projected value for 2026 exceeds 100% of national revenues. According to the report, this is because these countries resort to new loans to pay off previous debts and avoid default.
In Senegal, one of the cases detailed in the study, the debt service amounts to more than 96% of revenues and exceeds the budget allocated to climate actions by more than 600 times in 2026.
"The debt represents a triple blow to the climate: it drives the expansion of fossil fuels and industrial agriculture, blocks vital climate action, and leaves communities dangerously exposed when disasters occur," says Teresa Anderson, global climate justice leader at ActionAid International and one of the report's authors.
ActionAid advocates for changes in debt treatment
Among the proposals presented in the report are the cancellation of debts deemed unjust or unsustainable, and the suspension of payments by countries affected by major climate disasters. The organization also demands that climate finance be provided in the form of donations, rather than loans or other instruments that generate new debts.
ActionAid also advocates for the creation of a UN Convention-Framework on Sovereign Debt, with a multilateral mechanism for debt resolution, and changes to debt sustainability assessments to take into account necessary investments in response to climate change, public services, and human rights.