Incentivizing a clean energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean

Register here for the third Regional Finance Forum in Santiago

The energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean will likely backslide without financial incentives, delegates at the next Regional Finance Forum in Santiago, Chile, will hear when they meet for the third instalment of talks aimed at urgently ramping up climate finance.

The Forum is one of five regional meetings, convened by partners including the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and Egyptian COP27 Presidency, in August and September. The event will bring together stakeholders from government and the private sector to discuss how to finance the transition to a decarbonized and resilient world.

Latin America and the Caribbean is uniquely positioned to benefit from a regional and global transition to renewable energy. But without incentives, these countries risk returning to investments in non-renewables.

The meeting will discuss how the energy transition offers opportunities in three critical and interrelated areas for the region to develop sustainably and accelerate the mitigation and adaptation process: electromobility, the expansion of renewable energy, and the governance of critical raw materials, and incorporate the opportunities to invest in resilience in the Caribbean. Challenges that are unique to the region, such as the regional governance of critical raw materials, will also be addressed.

The event aims to:

• Facilitate engagement with a broad set of partners and stakeholders, to accelerate public and private investment in concrete initiatives, platforms, and projects, and to identify and encourage policy actions that correspond to the region’s sustainable energy transition and narrow the gap in Paris-aligned financial flows.
• Address barriers to access to financing for development in the different subregions of Latin America and the Caribbean and consider current financing and debt challenges.
• Identify and share climate finance and investment opportunities that also support the acceleration of the region’s sustainable energy transition.
• Highlight successful examples of countries leveraging investment opportunities for climate action as well as financial institutions and investors turning climate commitments into action and financial flows.
• Connect representative groups of development partners, governments, and private sector investors to propose and consider concrete instruments and initiatives that accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Speakers include Amina J. Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General; Mario Cimoli, Acting Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); H.E. Dr. Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and President-designate COP27; Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda and Climate Champion COP27, and the presence of the High-Level Champion of COP26, Nigel Topping.

Case studies will be presented by Jorge Rivera Staff, Energy National Secretary, Panamá; Claudio Huepe Minoletti, Minister of Energy, Chile; David Abiamofo, Minister of Natural Resources, Suriname; and Maurizio Bezzeccheri, Head of Latin America Region, Enel, among others.

The next two Forums will take place in:

Beirut, Lebanon (15 September) – A one-day regional forum on climate finance needs and investment opportunities in Arab States.

Geneva, Switzerland (20 September) – High-Level Roundtable on ‘enhancing sustainable management and financing for the critical raw materials required for low-carbon transitions

Read more (in Spanish) here.