eco.business Development Facility co-sponsors Sustainability Week 2019 in Panama

The eco.business Development Facility co-sponsored the Sustainability Week 2019 in Panama from 24-28 June which was organized by IDB Invest. More than 600 leaders from various industries such as financial institutions, agribusiness, manufacturing, tourism, and infrastructure attended. This event has become a major platform to develop a knowledge network regarding environmental and social sustainability and corporate governance for the private sector in Latin American and the Caribbean. The focus this year was on risk management and measuring development impact related to the Sustainable Development Goals.

The eco.business Development Facility supported the participation of 27 partner financial institution representatives and participated in two panel discussions. The first one on “Practical realities in implementing Environmental and Social Management Systems (ESMS)” presented common challenges in the implementation and roll out of E&S Management Systems. Two of the fund’s partner financial institution representatives emphasized the technical assistance support received from the eco.business Development Facility for the development of their own ESMS.

The second panel discussed the “Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Innovation in the Financial Sector.” This focused on advances in methodologies, technologies, and incentive schemes that are helping to expand the market for ESG investments by the financial sector. Panelists presented the role of new indexes, analytical methods, and other innovative concepts that have become attractive to the financial sector. In this session, Lucía Gaitán from the eco.business Fund’s advisor Finance in Motion, shared her experience leading the responsible cattle project using technologies such as satellites and drones with partner financial institutions in Nicaragua and Panama.

Karim ould Chih, Chairman of the Investment Committee and the eco.business Development Facility said: “It is important to the eco.business Fund to be part of a platform that brings together the most well-known leaders in environmental and social sustainability and governance in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is only by encouraging dialogue between various and diverse stakeholders can innovation ensue.” 

About the eco.business Fund

The eco.business Fund aims to promote business and consumption practices that contribute to biodiversity conservation, to the sustainable use of natural resources, and to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts. By providing financing for business practices that conserve nature and foster biodiversity, the fund seeks investments with both environmental and financial returns. The fund mainly provides loans to qualified financial institutions that on-lend the money to eligible borrowers, which include holders of recognized certifications or those making improvements in line with conservation and biodiversity goals. The fund supports sustainable operations in the sectors of agriculture, fishery (including aquaculture), forestry and tourism.

The eco.business Fund was initiated by Germany’s KfW Development Bank and Conservation International with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It has received further donor support from the European Commission The fund’s additional investor base comprises IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, the U.K.  government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Dutch development bank FMO, Austrian development bank OeEB, and institutional investors such as sustainable banking institution ASN Bank, German ethical bank GLS Bank, Calvert Impact Capital, and Raiffeisen Bank International. Finance in Motion, a leading impact investing company, is also an investor.

Operating hand-in-hand with the eco.business Fund, the eco.business Development Facility provides high-impact technical assistance to financial institutions and final borrowers.

For more information please visit www.ecobusiness.fund and follow us on Twitter @ecobusinessfund.