CABEI strengthens its role as Central America's Green Bank by promoting environmentally and socially sustainable projects
The Bank is working to reduce its direct and indirect impacts in its representative offices.
Tegucigalpa, April 29, 2021.- For yet another year, World Earth Day is commemorated by reflecting on the environmental impacts caused by humanity and, in this line, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) reinforces its role as the Green Bank of Central America by promoting sustainable initiatives and practices with the environment and society.
"Regional growth and integration are anchored to the protection of natural wealth, rational use of resources and equitable access to development opportunities for all the inhabitants of our member countries, which is why CABEI is committed to developing as many initiatives as possible within the framework of our Environmental and Social strategic axis, which integrates climate change adaptation and mitigation variables into financing and initiatives," said CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi.
Among the operations recently approved for this purpose is the US$15.5 million CAMBio II Program, which aims to increase the climate change resilience of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MIPYMEs) in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic by providing access to financial and non-financial resources to help them adopt and implement the best measures for adapting to climate change. This was also the first financing supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through CABEI.
Another example is the US$250 million Development Policy Operations Program for Costa Rica, plus an additional US$50 million from the Regional Program for COVID-19 Support and Preparedness and Economic Reactivation, which will be the basis for the creation of a National Guarantee and Guarantee Fund that will provide quick-disbursing financial resources to MIPYMEs affected by the pandemic, and will strengthen the country's fiscal sustainability by promoting green growth and low-carbon development.
The Central American Dry Corridor for US$268.3 million with the participation of CABEI, GCF and local financial institutions is another example. It includes a line of grants, a guarantee fund and a line of credit with concessional and non-concessional loans; while the CABEI Electric Passenger Train for the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica, for US$500.0 million is one of the largest operations approved in CABEI's history and is currently being analyzed by the GCF to further improve the project's financial conditions.
On the other hand, non-reimbursable financial cooperation has also been approved, such as the US$0.5 million Costa Rica Train project preparation facility, as well as the US$0.75 million Institutional Strengthening preparation project in Nicaragua, which aims to strengthen the capacity of the country's key institutions to implement the policy and a program of work with the GCF, in addition to orienting investments towards a low-emission economy and a climate change resilient society.
CABEI and its commitment to the environment
CABEI's commitment to environmental and social sustainability is also reflected in its daily operations, in which resources are managed as efficiently as possible to leave the smallest possible environmental footprint.
These efforts have been subject to international certifications. For example, the Bank's headquarters in Honduras obtained for the second consecutive year the "Environmental Management System ISO14001-2015" certification for its administrative and operational activities, which is expected to be extended to the El Salvador office in 2021.
CABEI's facilities in El Salvador are certified in gold under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, and the knowledge acquired from this program is expected to be applied in all CABEI offices, ensuring compliance with sustainability and eco-efficiency standards alike.
The Costa Rica office obtained "Carbon Neutral" certification for the fifth consecutive year, indicating that it neutralizes the Bank's contribution to climate change through the identification, monitoring and offsetting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Since 2010, volunteers in the six countries of the region have been planting trees every year to offset the environmental footprint generated by paper consumption in the Bank's operations. To date, 17,230 trees have been planted in vulnerable areas affected by climate change.
Turtle release activities have also been carried out in Guatemala and Panama, with a total of 335 turtles released between the two countries, in addition to beach clean-ups.
All of the above is possible thanks to the commitment of its collaborators and the strategic vision of its authorities, who make possible the participation of people, reinforcing their social cohesion and leading to the sustainable development of Central America.
