At this third meeting, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Honduras shared the experiences they are developing to ensure greater involvement of the various actors in the financial system in its climate action.
Santiago de Chile, November 20, 2020. With a session focused on financial articulation, the initiative “Dialogue among Peers to strengthen the implementation of NDCs in Latin America” of the EUROCLIMA+ Programme, ended the Second Dialogue among Peers which, on this occasion, took place through three virtual sessions in the framework of the Joint Regional Event: “Climate action in times of crisis: Boosting sustainable recovery post COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
The Dialogue among Peers initiative aims to promote and provide Latin American countries with a space for reflection, exchange, and mutual learning, to boost the implementation of the NDCs and increase ambition in the region. For its implementation, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) have formed a strategic alliance and received support from the AVINA Foundation.
The main purpose of this third virtual meeting was to exchange outstanding experiences on the relevance of the involvement of actors in the local financial system (private banking and development banking) to strengthen climate action, taking as a reference framework what was established by the Paris Agreement: "to place financial flows at a level compatible with a path that leads to climate-resilient development with low greenhouse gas emissions" and the pending task that exists in Latin America in this area.
The welcome was given by Silvia Brugger, GIZ's Climate Governance Coordinator for the EUROCLIMA+ programme, who stressed that "It is crucial to mobilise public and private financial resources to meet climate objectives. Advancing low carbon development requires a change in investment perspectives, where regulatory frameworks and institutional aspects are needed to address them".
Then it was the turn of Heloísa Schneider, a consultant with ECLAC's Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division, who highlighted the key aspects of the financial dimension in order to strengthen climate action in the region and the ambition to update the NDC's. "Based on the monitoring carried out on climate financing in the region, the mobilisation of a significant amount of resources has been noted, but this trend is still erratic and without a growth trend. They only respond to current stimuli, such as the Paris Agreement, and decrease when there is an economic impact in the region," she said.
Next, the experiences of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Honduras were presented, who shared some examples of how governments are promoting initiatives and involving actors in the financial system to strengthen climate action.
Martín Ramírez, from the Ministry of Environment and Water of Ecuador, presented his experience from the First Round of Climate Negotiations an event that was held virtually, and whose objectives were focused on generating a space for interaction between financiers and project proponents for the implementation of the NDC; promoting Ecuador's NDC and its content with special emphasis on youth and adolescents, as well as compiling the results of the negotiations and identifying business opportunities to encourage partnerships with the private sector. This virtual round had the broad participation of different sectors and gathered conclusions and recommendations such as the identification of potential businesses; the high deficit of funds with soft conditions (second tier; pre-investment and investment); investment in climate projects as a great opportunity due to the current situation of restricted liquidity and the need to strengthen capacities for projects with social and environmental benefits.
On behalf of Colombia, Carlos Casallas from the National Planning Department -DNP-, presented the involvement of the Colombian financial sector in climate change. Casallas gave an overview of the entities and sectors involved in climate financing in the country, which "have started to look for green projects". He also commented on the National Strategy for Climate Financing (whose technical secretariat is at the DNP), whose objective is based on the identification of paths that allow the mobilisation of resources in a sustainable and scalable manner to achieve the objectives of the National Climate Change Policy -PNCC-.The main lines of the strategy focus on the development of economic instruments, as well as access to sources of financing, among others. Casallas shared some results on the implementation of the national strategy, such as the development of guides and material, which allows for monitoring and/or contributing to the achievement of climate goals, as well as results on how this whole development process has been integrated within the NDC.
Ligia Castro, director of climate change at the Ministry of Environment of Panama showed the collaborative work between the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and the Directorate she heads, highlighting the integration of climate variables in financial institutions and cooperation with the MEF to make public investment projects green, which includes the preparation of a roadmap for the inclusion of climate change in public finances, as well as support in building a portfolio of green projects.
Similarly, Panama highlighted the work they are doing with Readiness for Financial Institutions, aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Panamanian Banking System, insurance companies, and stock exchanges to identify, assess and manage climate risk.
Finally, Marlon Escoto of the Honduran Presidential Office for Climate Change presented the initiative for Climate Financial Inclusion in Honduras, which aims to achieve the reforestation of one million hectares of forest and thus contribute to meeting the emissions reduction targets set in its NDC.
Jimy Ferrer, ECLAC Economic Affairs Officer, was in charge of the closing ceremony. He also highlighted the relevance of the experiences presented by the countries, pointing out that "there are different mechanisms, strategies and tools to strengthen climate action. The financial dimension in any of them is fundamental for the formulation of the updated NDCs and their subsequent implementation".
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About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is the European Union's flagship programme for cooperation with Latin America. It aims to reduce the impact of climate change and its effects on the region by promoting climate change mitigation and adaptation, resilience, and climate financing.
It is implemented in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), and the UN Environment Programme.