CABEI: leader in mobilizing funds to achieve resilience, mitigation and adaptation to climate change in the region

Tegucigalpa, November 16^th, 2022. - The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has established itself as the leading institution in the management of the financial resources that the region requires to urgently address the problems related to climate change and its adverse effects on the quality of life of millions of people, and the mobilization of financial resources is one of the priority issues that the countries are demanding.

This was made clear at the last Conference of the Parties (COP), held in November last year, where the Glasgow Agreement was agreed upon, which calls on "multilateral development banks, other financial institutions and the private sector to improve financial mobilization in order to deliver the scale of resources needed to achieve climate plans, particularly for adaptation", a topic that will be taken up again during COP27 in Egypt, where CABEI will actively participate.

"The call to action to facilitate financing for adaptation is something we have been attending to with great care for several decades and with greater emphasis since COP21, with the signing of the Paris Agreement.  Since that date, between 2015 and 2021 we have approved US$6.9 billion in green finance to our member countries, which represents 40% of our total approvals," explained CABEI President Dr. Dante Mossi.

The funds disbursed by CABEI have been aimed at facilitating the execution of programs and projects identified by the beneficiary countries as part of the major global and regional strategies to achieve the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and their contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mobilization of resources through innovative instruments

CABEI's capacity to respond quickly and effectively to regional needs for sustainable development has been possible thanks to the leadership, solidity and financial credibility achieved by CABEI, which has the best risk rating in all of Latin America, endorsed by the rating agencies: Standard & Poor's with AA (stable outlook); Moody's with Aa3 (stable outlook); as well as the Japan Credit Rating (JCR) with AA (stable outlook).

Together with the support of its member countries and strengthening its international credibility, CABEI has deployed an entire strategy to raise international funds, making it the main partner for addressing climate change in the region, with an important network of allies built up over the years. "These alliances with several leading institutions worldwide have resulted in financing agreements that have led us to generate credits in the amount of US$1,180.5 million directed entirely to climate change operations in recent years," said Mossi.

Likewise, CABEI's leadership also results from its accreditation with global funds such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), of which CABEI is the main partner in mobilizing resources for the region, with impacts such as 54.9 million tons of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) avoided and more than 2.5 million people with greater resilience to climate change; as well as with the Climate Change Adaptation Fund (AF), which has facilitated the mobilization of US$538.4 million. 

Dr. Mossi emphasized that financial creativity is another of CABEI's distinguishing features and one of the innovations of recent years is the issuance of green and thematic bonds in the amount of $2.2 billion to finance environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) operations with an impact on sustainable development in the region.

Thanks to these mechanisms, CABEI can offer its member countries loans under better financial conditions, supporting them in the execution of their national priorities as established in its Institutional Strategy for the five-year period 2020-2024, updated this year, precisely to reinforce, among other issues, those related to Climate Change.