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This slide presentation discusses options for financing climate change adaptation in the water sector. It first analyzes the investments needed and the difficulties in estimating the exact costs of adaptation. It then presents various funds in support of developing countries. It conclude with a case study and lessons learned.

This technical document surveys climate change funds related to Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries and attempts to derive some implications through performance analyses of these funds. The performance analyses show that the following matters should be addressed: increases in participation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as an agent in the projects for the LAC region, enlargement of the scale of co-financing in the IDB-brokered cases as well as in the LAC region, and reinforcement of the linkage between the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) Funds and international climate change funds.

This brochure highlights possible actions to promote climate change adaptation in Mesoamerica. It includes options for various sectors such as water, health, energy and transport and specific activities proposed by countries.

This manual aims to support decision makers who need to deal with the impacts of climate change but are not familiar with its science and interpretation of results from climate models. The document starts with a basic climate primer defining the concepts of weather, climate, climate variability and climate change. The mechanisms by which increases in greenhouse gases can cause climate change are discussed. This leads into a description of climate models and their function. Focus then turns to using the model output in assessing likely impacts and vulnerabilities. This includes model verification using observations, quantification of model probabilities and uncertainties, identification of key vulnerabilities as well as adaptation potentials, and, finally, developing response strategies. The manual concludes with a summary of likely climate changes confronting Mesoamerica in coming decades and the possible consequences of those changes.

This technical document discusses a strategy of inclusion of adaptation and mitigation expenses in a model of optimal growth under threat of climate change. Calamity is defined as the result of a shock that reduces the utility level (even to extinction forever) and/or triggers a fundamental change of the economic structure. Mitigation expenses reduce the long-run probability of a calamity or the speed of convergence to it; adaptation expenses help to improve the standard of living after the calamity. The willingness to contribute to those expenses and the effects on the long-run capital stock of the economy depend on perceptions on how they will modify the law of evolution of probabilities of the shock and the standard of living after the shock. The choice between a clean technology and one that increases GHG emissions is also discussed.

This technical document provides a rationale for developing countries to announce future credible commitments to reduce GHG emissions even if these are not to materialize in the short run, and for domestic reasons only. A simple framework is presented in which it is shown that it may be costly for an economy to transition from high to low emissions; and that, if climate policy eventually will be enacted, then it may be better for countries to commit earlier and therefore eliminate the uncertainty for the private sector to invest appropriately in clean technologies. In particular, conditions are shown under which the private investor prefers a pre-announced climate policy, and how this policy affects investment decisions and the deployment of clean technologies.

This policy document presents a framework for action to address climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It notes that in order to face adaptation challenges, LAC countries should target such key economic sectors as land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF), agriculture, water resource management, and urban development, as the consequences of inaction in these sectors could be catastrophic for the economic sustainability of LAC nations. The means to protect these sectors should be developed and concrete adaptation measures fully incorporated into sector planning. Equally important are mitigation policies and related sustainable development practices. The document also highlights financial mechanisms and resources for addressing financial gaps and scaling up investments in the region and the support that can be provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

This technical document provides background information, data and examples on the linkage between agriculture, forestry and climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. It notices that forests are an important component of national climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. To respond to country needs in this context, this report strongly focuses on aspects related to forests, mainly on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, including sustainable forest management and forest conservation as well as forest restoration. These activities are currently under negotiation under REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

This analytical report aims to support the collection and analysis of information needed for the formulation and adoption of climate change adaptation policies in the Mesoamerican region. The document is divided into two parts. The first presents a summary of key findings on the vulnerability of the region and the adaptation process in motion. This part includes identification of projects and adaptation measures, actors and financial cooperation as well as an analysis of information gaps. The second part presents recommendations for possible cooperation on adaption in the sub-region. These recommendations range from the adoption of policies and sectoral plans to definition of strategies for funding and participation in international negotiations.

This technical document aims to contribute to the discussion on climate change in light of the available evidence on the possible channels of transmission of the economic impact of this phenomenon and the results of the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 15), held in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December 2009. The document presents the outcomes of COP15, their implications and the technical bases for an international agreement on climate change, followed by a discussion on greenhouse gas emissions in Latin America and the Caribbean. It then addresses the economic costs of the impact of climate change and the opportunities for regional integration and coordination in the pursuit of low-carbon economies.

This analytical report aims to show how microfinance services may undergo the impacts of climate change, analyze the opportunities available for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and propose concrete actions. It highlights that although microfinance services are not the sole alternative for promoting adaptation to climate change, they have the opportunity and capacity to provide incentives for it, in order to reduce the vulnerability of both their portfolio of clients and the MFIs themselves, in addition to satisfying the growing technological and financial needs occasioned by the impact of climate change with innovative financial services.

This analytical report discusses opportunities for greenhouse gases (GHG) mitigation in Latin America, with particular focus on carbon finance and the clean development mechanism (CDM). The document introduces the CDM and its project cycle, provides an overview of the global and regional carbon market, and highlights challenges and opportunities for the CDM in various sector such as energy, forestry and transport. 

This technical document stresses that an important challenge for Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) is to increase agriculture production to meet growing global demand for food, fiber and energy without proportionally increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, it notices that, while progress has been made in measuring the site-specific and activity-specific GHG emissions associated with an array of land clearing and agricultural activities, there are important gaps in knowledge that need to be filled before informed policy action can proceed. In order to provide a contribution, the study uses the IMPACT model to examine agriculture-GHG emissions links and the effects of policy and other changes on these links. It concludes reporting the results of the baseline and policy scenarios associated with the model and discussing their policy implications.

This policy document provides an overview of issues related to sustainability from the perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In particular, it reviews the main challenges faced by the countries of the region in their quest for sustainable development, with a focus on emerging trends related to increasing demands for infrastructure development, energy supply, and commodity exports, as well as opportunities offered by the global response to climate change. In all cases, the document highlights areas where a greater cooperation between the LAC and the European Union (EU) is possible. This document was prepared as a contribution from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to the process of dialogue between the regions.

This policy document represents a coordinated effort among several institutions and organizations in the Latin America and the Caribbean region to present the results of a joint reflection on the issue of water-based adaptation to climate change as part of a Regional Policy Dialog process. The main purpose of this Dialog is to communicate to politicians and decision makers – both within the water community and from other public policy areas relevant to the topic – and other actors involved, a series of key messages and recommendations that enable them to define, in an informed manner, public policies and corresponding actions on climate change adaptation. This document incorporates comments and suggestions obtained through presentation and discussion in three international events.

This analytical report analyzes climate change impact on tourism in the Caribbean. It highlights several implications for this sector, including altered seasonality, desertification and floods, damages caused by increased incidence of natural hazards, coastal erosion and loss of beach areas, and loss of natural and archeological attractions. Therefore climate change not only threatens the environment but also the economy of the Caribbean and the livelihoods of its people. The report presents some political responses to this challenge and concludes with recommendations for government and business decision makers and regional groups in the tourism sector.

This technical document reviews water charge instruments for water management. After presenting a summary review of the literature, this study analyzes water charge experiences in France, Mexico and Brazil. Each country evaluation is organized along four guidelines covering topics of relevance for the application of a policy instrument, namely: (i) policy analysis phase (the policy setting in which the water economic instrument (EI) was introduced as a mean of achieving policy goals); (ii) instrument design phase (the theoretical, institutional and legal basis on which the EI was conceived); and (iii) instrument implementation phase (successes and failures of the EI application and its review process).

This technical document includes four case studies commissioned in two Asian and two Latin American cities as part of a project on climate instruments in the transport sector. It analyzes nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) in Jakarta (Indonesia), Mexico City (Mexico), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), and Hefei (People’s Republic of China). Taken together, the studies demonstrate that NAMAs in the transport sector have the potential to achieve significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and provide a substantial contribution to sustainable development. They also give the first on-the-ground evidence of the policies and guidelines that will need to be in place in any post-2012 climate agreement for transport NAMAs to achieve their full potential.

This analytical report gives an assessment of the current state of affairs with regard to the impact on the transport sector in developing countries by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). Based on desk analysis and case studies in Asian and Latin American cities, this study also provides recommendations for the successful scale-up of climate finance and capacity building, particularly by the use of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions for the transport sector.

This technical document is intended as a preliminary, qualitative analysis of existing instruments to promote non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) in Chile. After a short introduction, section 2 provides a description of the electricity sector and energy policy objectives for NCRE in the country. Section 3 focuses on the identification and analysis of regulatory instruments and incentives and section 4 discusses key issues to promote a more significant development of this energy. Finally, section 5 concludes and provides both general and specific recommendations to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).