CAF presents the report IDEAL 2022 in Buenos Aires

CAF (Development Bank of Latin America), together with the state-owned company Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos (AySA), presented the report Infrastructure in the Development of Latin America (IDEAL) 2022, entitled "Energy, water and health for a better environment". The event took place on Thursday 1 December at the Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes and was attended by the organisation's president, Sergio Díaz-Granados; the corporate vice-president of strategic programming, Christian Asinelli; the head of AySA, Malena Galmarini; and the undersecretary of International Financial Relations for Development, Leandro Gorgal. 

Also participating in the activity were the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, the Director of Finance of YPF, Alejandro Lew, the President of Grupo Energía Bogotá, Juan Ricardo Ortega, CAF's Senior Executive, Walter Cont, international specialists, and CAF's executive representatives.

The report analyses the role of strategic sectors such as energy, water and public health for the sustainable development of the region, within the framework of the commitments assumed by CAF to become the green bank that accompanies the economic and productive recovery of Latin America and the Caribbean. To this end, the organisation plans to invest 25 billion dollars by 2026, and to increase sustainable financing from 26% to 40% by that year.

"IDEAL is one of CAF's most important knowledge reports, which was born with the objective of studying what is happening with our infrastructure throughout Latin America, in the context of the profound impact that global warming is having on the region. Latin America is a continent that emits in proportion to its economic activity and population. In other words, we are not a major emitting region, but we suffer dramatically from the consequences of climate change, especially in the Caribbean. Our bank has the role and the commitment to make this situation visible at a global level," said Díaz-Granados.

Malena Galmarini, President of AySA, stated, "For us it is not an expense, it is an investment for our communities to have drinking water and sewerage. I want to thank CAF for all its support. It is impossible for Latin America and Argentina to develop major works without the necessary international support and accompaniment. No country's budget can withstand these works, which cost more than 1 billion dollars. We believe that we cannot work on energy, water, health and the environment alone. It cannot be done by a government alone, nor by one or several international banks, but with the community, collectively".

In line with the continent's commitments to decarbonisation, the report analyses the region's multiple energy matrices and proposes initiatives to promote the transition to a system based on primary sources with lower emissions, a greater electricity component, a decrease in energy intensity and an increase in carbon capture and storage (CCS) mechanisms, among others.

In the water sector, it reviews the policies, regulations and investments in infrastructure carried out in the region, which aim to limit polluting activities, boost the circular economy and promote a more efficient management model focused on the conservation of water resources.

Finally, it also incorporates in its analysis the health sector and its capacity to respond to possible disruptive events based on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report aims to promote tools and mechanisms to transform the current economic paradigm into a sustainable and climate-resilient model that guarantees a better quality of life for all Latin Americans and Caribbean people.