Costa Rica is hosting an event on finance and climate change. Representatives of the financial sector and public policy makers meet to share experiences and search for solutions.
San José, March 19, 2019.- The “V Regional Dialogue on Climate Finance” takes place this March 19 and 20 in San José, Costa Rica, to analyse the opportunities and challenges presented by financing mechanisms and taxation policies in meeting the climate commitments of Latin American countries, as well as the role of development banks in the channelling and injection of resources.
The activity, organised by the EUROCLIMA+ programme of the European Union with the support of the Government of Costa Rica, brings together representatives of the financial sector, such as national, regional and international development banks, and officials from the finance and treasury ministries responsible for the implementation of public policies related to the sources and resources available to confront climate change in the region.
The topics for analysis addressed included the strengthening of technical capacities for the design, monitoring and evaluation of projects, the facilitation of processes to access climate financing, and reviewing the economic incentives that foster an increase in the decarbonisation rate. in Latin America.
Pelayo Castro, Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation in Costa Rica, commenced the activity congratulating the Government of Costa Rica for presenting its national decarbonisation plan just one month ago, which is relevant “for the specific issue of climate finance and how we generate better taxation, how we improve our investment capacity and make it more effective”.
“The challenge of climate change and all public policy is to find, through our taxation policies and our investment, the best system of economic and social incentives. The task is so crucial that only with a good management of these incentives will we be able to face this problem,” added Ambassador Castro.
For her part, Haydée Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Water and Seas of the Ministry of Environment and Energy emphasised: The challenge of Climate Change is currently one of the most decisive challenges facing society globally, and it is very important to address it with concrete actions, not only to move forward with the achievement of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by the countries under the Paris Agreement, but for the compliance with national policies in each one from our countries.
In addition, in the context of the V Dialogue, the workshop “The role of the Development Bank in the implementation of the Paris Agreement: Financing options for low emissions urban mobility” will be held on March 21, led by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and EUROCLIMA+, under its Climate Governance component, which is oriented toward financing and technical assistance for project execution with Latin American countries, work that is carried out jointly with ECLAC, the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), and UN Environment.
The regional dialogues have been held since 2013 and they arose to address the need to channel existing and new financial resources to climate action, since these resources are essential for increasing the ambition of the countries in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and they are insufficient to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in the average temperature of the planet by 2° C. Precisely, according to ECLAC studies, the decarbonisation rate in Latin America should triple and reach a rate of -6.3% in the coming years to achieve the goal of a maximum of 1.5° C of global warming proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The issue of climate finance is essential at a time when, according to ECLAC data, it reaches US$20 billion annually, while the Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the need for climate investment in the region will reach around US$75 to 80 billion per year between 2020 and 2030, which is almost four times the current figure.
About EUROCLIMA+
EUROCLIMA+ is a programme funded by the European Union to promote environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient development in 18 Latin American countries, particularly for the benefit of the most vulnerable populations. The Programme is implemented under the synergistic work of seven agencies: Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), French Development Agency (AFD), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Expertise France (EF), International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), and UN Environment.
Contacts
General press contact for the EUROCLIMA+ Programme: Alexandra Cortés This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ECLAC press contact for EUROCLIMA+
Nicole Tondreau. ECLAC: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.