Securing funding for mitigation and adaptation actions and delivering effective solutions that consider the environment AND the people is crucial for a just, inclusive green transition. At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), we are very proud to have been solidifying strategic partnerships with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which has served as an operating entity of COP’s financial mechanism since 1994, and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), a multilateral fund created in 2008, to enable consistent investments in low-carbon, climate-resilient, and nature-positive development and overcome the climate emergency.
In late June, both organizations chose the Brazilian capital to host meaningful international events for the climate agenda: the CIF 15th Anniversary, organized alongside CIF Trust Fund Committee Meetings and the 64th Council meeting of the GEF. The trust in Brazil to receive these events symbolize the global significance of the country’s commitment to providing constructive approaches to the multi-faceted global crises in climate and biodiversity. The IDB Group was proud to participate alongside our partners in the important discussions, celebrate the impact achieved, and, most importantly, reflect on how to increase speed and scale, leveraging financial innovation.
To start with the good news, the governing board of the CIF endorsed a $70 million plan to support grid flexibility for clean energy integration in Brazil, a result of IDB´s collaborative work with the World Bank Group and the Brazilian Government. As part of the plan, the country is set to double renewable energy capacity, reduce emissions by at least 57 million tons of CO2 equivalent, accelerate large-scale hydrogen production, and advance clean energy access for millions of people. It is estimated that the funding will enable the mobilization of more than US$9 billion from partners, including US$8 billion in private investments.
At the same stage, we also had the opportunity to present one of our flagship projects under CIF’s Forest Investment Program, the Macaúba Palm Oil in Silvicultural System, led by IDB Lab, focused on land regeneration with the involvement of family farming. Through an investment in INOCAS, an innovative agri-company, this project combines both positive results for the environment while also remarkably benefitting more than 350 smallholder farmers and their families.
Regarding the GEF, two IDB Group regional projects have been approved within the $1.4 billion record work program: the $15 million “Towards a better understanding of the Amazon Aquifer Systems for its protection and sustainable management” and the $ 6 million IDB LAB “Yield Lab Opportunity Fund I: Accelerating technology and local innovation for sustainable and decarbonized food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which will finance a portfolio of early-stage tech-based startups supporting sustainable food systems as enablers for high impact in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and restoration throughout the value chain. As Brazil is within the scope of these projects, it is expected that their implementation will translate into positive development impacts for the country.
IDB’s commitment to green action
Our ambitious target of 40% climate and green finance by 2025, our commitment to assess all our new operations seeking to ensure they do not obstruct the transition to low greenhouse gas and climate-resilient economies in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement, and to mainstream nature and biodiversity considerations across our business comes along with great delivery responsibility. As the IDB Group continues to strive towards these goals by using our funds to ramp up action, we also recognize that tackling climate change and biodiversity loss are objectives shared with the rest of the international community.
This is why we celebrate our long-term partnerships with the CIF and the GEF by highlighting these relevant developments of the events. In the run-up to the Amazonian COP in Belem, with the clock ticking, we assume our part of the collective responsibility and will keep counting on our valuable partners to support and mobilize substantial additional resources to progress climate and nature-positive action together with local leaders, ensuring a just green transition, with diversity and inclusion.
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