ReportAlert.info - Inter-American Development Bank Publishes Sustainability Report 2012

The company reports on its efforts to help bring about development in Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that maximizes positive environmental and social impacts and minimizes risks
Mar 14, 2013 9:00 AM ET

March 14, 2013 /3BL Media/ - The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) issued its annual Sustainability Report—a detailed report on its efforts to help bring about development in Latin America and the Caribbean in a way that maximizes positive environmental and social impacts and minimizes risks—ahead of the IDB’s Annual Meeting in Panama, on March 14-17. The IDB is the main source of multilateral financing for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2012 the IDB approved 169 projects for US$11.4 billion. Of these, 45 qualified as supporting initiatives related to climate change, sustainable energy and the environment, totaling $3.75 billion. This amounted to one-third of its total approved lending last year and surpassed the 25 percent target the Bank has set for 2015.

The report also looks at where the IDB stands in implementing environmental and social safeguards effectiveness targets. Last year, Eighty-one percent of IDB projects with high environmental and social risks rated satisfactory in the implementation of mitigation measures, just four percent shy of the goal the IDB has set itself for 2015.

Additionally, the IDB has made great progress toward attaining specific numerical targets, which are a reflection of the results of the projects it finances. For instance, thanks to IDB projects 1.6 million more people now have access to improved public low-carbon transportation systems, out of a 2015 target of 8.5 million. Five infrastructure loans included specific activities contributing to the improved management of conservation of protected areas. In 2013 the Bank will implement a new Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services program.

The report includes a special section that underscores the complex relationships between water and human well-being, water and business productivity, water and energy production, water and food production, and the way climate change is impacting these relationships.

Contact us for more information, or visit it us online: sustain@iadb.org / www.iadb.org/sustainability