MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CAF, World Bank to join efforts financing climate actions

Climate actions need financing to achieve “a faster green recovery,” CAF's Díaz-Granados said

Latin America's Development Bank CAF and the World Bank’s Latin America and the Caribbean Region have pledged at COP-26 to join efforts to implement climate action strategies throughout, Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries, it was announced Friday.

This partnership will help LAC countries achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), as well as the goals of the Paris Agreement in addition to Biodiversity targets agreed upon internationally. The partnership “will ramp up green financing to the region to better adapt to climate change, reduce emissions and make ecosystems more sustainable,” the two institutions said in a statement.

The partnership also seeks to aims to boost resilient growth to create greener and more inclusive post-COVID-19 economies, increase green financing to the region and encourage measures in key sectors, including agriculture, energy, forests, water, marine-coastal areas, urban development and sustainable cities, and disaster risk management, among other goals.

It is also aimed at promoting the participation of the private sector in the implementation and financing of actions in support of the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework as well as and improving the conservation of strategic ecosystems in the region, including the Amazon, wetlands, moors, and marine-coastal areas..

“Climate change demands immediate actions to mitigate its potentially devastating effects, improve
resilience to climate related events and build greener and more sustainable economies,” said Carlos
Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank Vice President for the Latin America, and Caribbean Region.

“Coordinated actions and cooperation towards these common goals will allow for faster and better results that benefit all,” he added.

CAF Executive President Sergio Díaz-Granados also pointed out that “Latin America and the Caribbean needs to address the unpostponable call for action to enhance all necessary measures aimed to climate mitigation and adaptation to assure timely resilience for climate extreme variability effects.”

“CAF and the World Bank will work closer, with a full commitment to increase national and regional capabilities towards a faster green recovery post COVID-19 and promote solid sustainable growth for the region,” he went on.

CAF is a multilateral financial institution committed to improving the quality of life of all the people in Latin American and the Caribbean. Sustainable development and regional integration are the institutional pillars shared with its 19 partner countries (17 from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal). CAF supports the region with financial operations and technical and financial structuring of projects for both the public and private sectors. CAF is committed to become the Green Bank of LAC.

The World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for
developing countries. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has deployed over US $ 157 billion to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic.

The World Bank last year provided US $ 3.5 billion to countries across the region to support their climate ambition and accelerate a recovery that will unlock greener, more resilient, and more inclusive development.