Steering public, private money to battle climate crisis a challenge for IDB

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Addressing the climate crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean involves "incorporating and increasing private and public capital" and channeling this financing towards joint projects, said the vice-president for Sectors and Knowledge at Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Benigno Lopez, in the framework of the COP27 summit taking place at the Egyptian resort Sharm El Sheikh.

In an interview with Agencia EFE, Lopez stressed the challenge of getting both the public and private sectors to come together to carry out adequate policies to address the climate emergency, an issue that he considered key "to determine that the future is not lost."

The CEO of IDB Invest, the private sector institution of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, James Scriven, said the fundamental role of multilateral banks such as the IDB is to "accelerate the economic transition and climate transition" of the Latin American region through synergies among all agents involved.

Both men took part in the IDB Group event "Accelerating Climate Action Implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean" along with Ecuadorian Environment Minister Gustavo Manrique.

Manrique acknowledged the challenge that Latin American ministers from different portfolios such as Economy, Health, and Environment have going forward to define budgets that address climate justice and confront the effects of climate change without neglecting the most vulnerable populations.

In 2021, the IDB Group mobilized $6 billion in climate financing, half of which was allocated to mitigation projects and activities in different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Over the next few days, the IDB will organize other events at the COP27 convention center's MBD pavilion: "Ecosystems of Innovation and Climate Action" on Thursday and "How Climate Finance Mobilization Promotes Adaptation and Resilience in the Private Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean" on Saturday.

Until November 18, the COP27 climate summit will bring together nearly 40,000 participants including public authorities, academics, climate activists, businessmen, and representatives of civil society, in order to seek commitments to address the climate crisis.

Financing adaptation to climate change is one of the central issues of the gathering, which will devote the entire day Wednesday to analyzing how to solve the problem of how to pay for decarbonization and energy transition.

SOURCE Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)