Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco has raised $408m (1.049 billion reais) from a consortium of foreign lenders to finance renewable power, energy efficiency and water-treatment projects.

The money from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank affiliate, is funding $101.78m in five year loans, which will be lent to investors at a rate of Libor +1.4%.

The resources from Bank of America, Commerzbank and Mizuho Bank will provide $306.28m divided in equal amounts that Banco Itau Unibanco will lend out in three year loans at rates of Libor +1.2%.

Though the rate is below the about 7-8% rate offered by the National Development Bank BNDES, the maturity cannot be compared to the 16-years the Brazilian federal bank offers to wind power developers.

“This operation is aligned with Itaú Unibanco's objective to promote an improvement of Brazil's power mix”, says Banco Itau Unibanco chief executive Candido Bracher.

The announcement comes after Itaú Unibanco lent Italian renewables company, Enel Green Power (EGP) $100m for development of 260MW of wind power in the states of Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte and Pernambuco.

In 2013, EGP secured $200m in financing from the IFC for construction of wind farms in Brazil, the only such transaction by the bank there.

Itaú Unibanco's initiative also comes amid expectations that the feeral government will increase financing costs of the National Development Bank BNDES this year as part of fiscal control measures.

BNDES accounts for just over 70% of all long term financing in Brazil, according to Brazilian Capital Markets Association (Anbima).

It is the main source of financing for wind power projects in Brazil – with loans for developers and for acquisition of turbines with local content. In 2014 alone, loans to the wind sector reached R$6.6bn ($2.6bn), an 83% increase from 2013.