Delivering Climate Agenda for LAC: IDB Group Actions to 2020

Date
Dec 2017
Climate change presents challenges to ensuring global sustainable and inclusive development. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement and the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflect an unprecedented level of commitment to deliver sustainable development to meet these challenges. The transformation of the global economy needs to start immediately if we are to meet the Paris objective for keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C by the end of the century, which most estimate will mean achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. The Agreement recognizes the need to achieve zero net emissions, calls for the alignment of all financial flows to a pathway for low-carbon and climate-resilient development, and urges industrial countries to jointly increase climate finance to US$100 billion per year by 2020. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, natural disasters, water and vector-borne diseases, and changing precipitation and temperature patterns that jeopardize health, productivity, and food-producing crops. These impacts threaten poverty, inequality reduction and sustainable growth in the region. In the context of the Paris Agreement, 25 of the Inter-American Development Bank Group’s (IDBG) 26 borrowing member countries have submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or Nationally Determined Contributions (referred to as NDCs throughout this document), that include emissions reduction commitments and climate resilience plans (as of September 2017). Progress toward implementation of pledges will determine the rate at which the world will be able to act to tackle climate change.