The financial sector is an actor with a crucial role to play in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. This will require far-reaching transformation processes for the sector to be able to integrate climate risks, both transitional and physical, into its investment portfolios to the maximum extent possible. In addition, precise classifications that define what are sustainable-green investments and what are not (taxonomies) are of paramount importance to this process. This will allow the sector and countries in the region to benefit more from the opportunities created by economic transformations due to the transition, and will support access to climate finance for adaptation and mitigation.

In this context, UNEP in the framework of EUROCLIMA+, starting in Panama and Costa Rica and in pursuit of future scaling up, will support financial and insurance institutions, as well as environment and finance ministries and regulators to address this transformation. This will be done by promoting the creation of enabling conditions that strengthen the financial sector's commitment to climate action.