“Our role, as the region’s leading development bank, is to help our 26 borrowing member countries mitigate and adapt to climate risks. We are ready to help seize an unprecedented opportunity to achieve a decarbonized and climate-resilient future in the region.”
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has thrown its weight behind the shift towards loans and projects being fully aligned with the Paris climate agreement, timing its announcement for COP26.
This shift in strategy will come online by 2023 and will impact transactions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
The announcement comes as world leaders gathered at COP26, the annual UN climate change conference being staged this year in Glasgow, Scotland.
IDB president Mauricio Claver-Carone said: “We are also pushing past the Paris Agreement objectives to help address this truly global challenge.
“We know that if we prioritise smart investments today, the cornerstone of our global fight against climate change can mutually reinforce our pandemic recovery efforts and we can speed up our responses.
“Aligning our work to Paris Agreement objectives furthers our commitment to limit the temperature rise to well below 2° Celsius and build climate resilience. But this alone is not enough.”
IDB also took the COP26 opportunity to announce another ambitious climate target – to provide $24 billion for climate and green finance over the next 4 years.
The IDB president said: “We are pushing the envelope on our financing, improving our internal structure to prioritize climate action, and increasing our engagements and external partnerships.
