In the context of the United Nations 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, the EU-LAC Foundation organised the side event “Innovative Initiatives for Climate Finance: Reshaping Climate Finance Architecture for Latin America and the Caribbean”
The dialogue brought together representatives from the EU-LAC Foundation member states, international organisations, development banks and the scientific sector who gave insights onto new financial mechanisms and strategies that aim at increasing the necessary resources to address the climate crisis and to enhance our societies’ resilience.
In his opening remarks, Alberto Brunori, Executive Director of the EU-LAC Foundation highlighted that for the organisation, the achievement of sustainable, political, economic and social development through bi-lateral, bi-regional and multilateral cooperation instruments and programmes stands at the heart of its mandate. “From our view, the design of the current financial and cooperation architecture requires a considerable portion of fresh ideas, out-of-the box-thinking and innovation”, Brunori said.
Keith Nurse, President of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) delivered the keynotes. He was followed by María José Martínez, Deputy Minister for Public Credit, Ministry for Finance, Dominican Republic; Carlos Arturo Hoyos, Vice minister for Foreign Affairs of Panama; and Daniel Cámara Ávalos, Director General of American Regional Organisations, Ministry of External Relations of Mexico.
Speakers underlined that the LAC region receives only a small share of global climate finance, far below its actual needs; despite growing global attention to climate finance.
Furthermore, many countries face a “silent debt crisis” that undermines their ability to invest in sustainable development. The message was clear: the international financial system must undergo a transformation to meet the climate challenges of our time—especially in vulnerable contexts like the Caribbean’s Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The event also counted with the contributions of Sebastian Nieto Parra, Head of Latin America and the Caribbean of the OECD Development Centre; Maria Jimena Duran, Senior Executive for Global Partnerships of the Development Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) and Luis Jimenez Mc Innis, representative of the Inter-American Development Bank Europe (IBD).
Throughout the event emphasis was put on the urgent need not only to expand the volume of climate finance, but also to reform the architecture through which it is delivered. Current mechanisms often fail to match the region’s specific development and climate vulnerabilities. It was also underlined that enhancing access, ensuring equitable distribution, and tailoring financial instruments to national and local realities
