IDB helps Latin America and Caribbean region to access over $200 million in climate change financing

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) assisted Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica and Bolivia in accessing a combined total of more than $200 million from the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) in meetings this week.

Multi-disciplinary teams of specialists from the IDB supported the countries in preparing national climate change investment plans which were endorsed by the CIF this week, allocating the following resources to contribute to the countries’ efforts towards climate change mitigation and adaptation:

Mexico: $60 million to fight climate change and deforestation

Mexico’s Investment Plan under the Forest Investment Program (FIP) was endorsed by the CIF on Monday, October 31, 2011. Part of the CIF, the FIP is allocating $60 million in concessional financing and grants to Mexico in order to help reduce deforestation while creating more inclusive opportunities for communities. The Investment Plan aims to bring forest and non-forest areas under sustainable management. It will work to increase institutional and local capacity and investment to address the direct and underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation in Early Action REDD+ areas located in the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan. The IDB will channel $18 million in FIP resources, which will support the creation of a dedicated financing line for low-carbon strategies in forest management and provide assistance and capacity building for ejidos and communities in order to access finance.

Honduras: $30 million to support renewable energy

The Investment Plan of Honduras under the Program on Scaling up Renewable Energy for Low-Income Countries (SREP) was endorsed by the SREP Subcommittee of the CIF on November 1, 2011. A mix of concessional loans and grants, totalling US$30 million, will be used to strengthen the renewable energy policy and regulatory framework in the country, as well as to develop renewable energy grid-connected and rural energy projects.

Jamaica: US$25 million to mainstream climate change and improve adaptive capacity

During the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) Trust Fund Committee Meeting of the CIF on November 2, 2011, the PPCR Sub-Committee endorsed the Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) for Jamaica. The Jamaican SPCR, which is led by the IDB, outlines a strategic investment program in the amount of $25 million, to fund the implementation of three investment projects that will help mainstream climate change into the country’s development path as well as to improve its capacity to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Bolivia: $86 million to mainstream climate change and improve adaptive capacity at national and sub-national levels

The Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) Trust Fund Committee endorsed the Strategic Programme for Climate Resilience presented by Bolivia on November 2,2011. The SPCR aims to strengthen Bolivia's capacity to define and implement an Integrated River Basin Management approach as a structural element for a climate resilience strategy at the central level and in three prioritized sub-basins. Through IDB, the PPCR will channel around $44 million of the endorsed proposal to finance a water investment project in La Paz –El Alto.