Climate Finance Regional Briefing:

Latin America is a highly heterogeneous region, with differences in levels of economic development and social and indigenous history, both among and within countries. The impacts of climate change, in particular glacial melt and changes in river flows, extreme events and risks to food production systems affect development in both rural and urban areas in the region (World Bank, 2014). Climate finance in the Latin American region is highly concentrated, with a few of the largest countries in the region such as Brazil and Mexico receiving a large share of the funding. Mitigation activities receive more than eight times that of adaptation at USD 2.4 billion and USD 0.3 billion respectively. Since 2003, a total of USD 2.8 billion has been approved for 359 projects in the region.1 Of this amount, USD 1.8 billion is in the form of grants, while slightly over USD 1 billion is provided through concessional loans, largely through projects funded under the World Bank’s Climate
Investment Funds, implemented in the region by the Inter-American Development Bank. Only nine projects have been approved in Latin America by multilateral climate funds so far in 2016. Notably, these include three projects under the new Green Climate Fund, which is providing USD 112 million in loans and grants to support solar energy in Chile, energy efficiency investments in El Salvador and forest protection measures in Ecuador.