The Superintendency of the Securities Market (SIMV) and the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MMARN) launched this Tuesday the Green Taxonomy of the Dominican Republic, an instrument developed with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) that will provide investors and companies with strategic investment opportunities aligned with the country’s environmental objectives.
The launching ceremony, held at the JW Marriott Hotel, was led by Ernesto Bournigal Read, Superintendent of the Securities Market, and the Minister of the Environment, Miguel Ceara Hatton, and Carolina Cárdenas, resident representative in the Dominican Republic of the IFC.
The taxonomy is instituted with two resolutions, R-NE-SIMV-2024-04-MV of the Superintendency of the Securities Market and 0017/2024 of the Ministry of the Environment, signed by Superintendent Bournigal Read and Minister Ceara Hatton.
The event was attended by Clara Fernández Martín, counselor of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in Santo Domingo, and Julio Lozano, director of Economics and Social Banking of the Asociación de Bancos Múltiples (ABA), who highlighted the relevance of this milestone in the context of environmental sustainability and the country’s economic development.
The Green Taxonomy will enable investors, companies and other market players to more easily identify strategic investment opportunities that align with the country’s environmental objectives, such as those set out in the Paris Agreement. This, in turn, will help attract private capital to environmentally sustainable projects, which will contribute to the transition to a low-emission, resilient, sustainable and inclusive national economy.
The instrument summarizes the joint effort led by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Superintendency of the Securities Market with the participation, through the project’s governance committee, of the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Superintendency of Banks and the National Council for Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism.
More than 170 experts from the public, productive and financial sectors, academia, civil society and international organizations participated in the process of developing the Taxonomy.
The pillars of this taxonomy are: Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Water and Water Resources, Ecosystems and Biodiversity, Pollution Prevention and the Circular Economy. As for the activities selected for the development of the taxonomy, in this first stage they were classified into seven sectors: energy, waste management and emissions capture, construction, transportation, water supply and treatment, information and communications technology (ICT) and industry.
The Superintendent of the Securities Market, Ernesto Bournigal Read said that the innovation of this Green Taxonomy of the Dominican Republic “is that it is the first in America that addresses this specific approach to water resources as the main objective, being a new chapter, for which there was no reference at the global level”.
Bournigal Read said that the taxonomy strengthens the country’s competitiveness “on the road to sustainable development and the fight against climate change”.
“From the Superintendency of the Securities Market we have, within our strategic plan, a roadmap of new guidelines to be issued to complement the Green Taxonomy, and go towards our investment funds can align their portfolios to the taxonomy and be able to extend its implementation, as well as the disclosure of sustainable information by issuers of securities, among others, so we do not stay only with the Green Taxonomy,” he said.
On his side, Minister Ceara Hatton highlighted that this day “marks a historic moment for our country with the presentation of the Green Taxonomy, not only as a tool, but as a testimony of our commitment to sustainable development”.
“This initiative encompasses nine crucial economic sectors and is aligned with global sustainability goals. With partnerships across financial and government institutions, we are setting a solid course towards a resilient and sustainable Dominican Republic. Our collaborative efforts today mean more than just plans; they represent concrete actions towards a greener and more prosperous tomorrow,” he said.
Meanwhile, Carolina Cárdenas highlighted that “for IFC it is an honor to collaborate and facilitate the development of the Green Taxonomy, and to see how this joint effort will translate into a growth in the mobilization of green capital in the country, which will serve as a demonstrative example for the entire Caribbean region”.
The Green Taxonomy stands as a fundamental pillar in the Dominican Republic’s commitment to sustainability, environmental preservation and the promotion of a green economy. It also represents a crucial step towards building a more sustainable and prosperous future for the country.
The Green Taxonomy document is available through the web pages of the Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores (https://simv.gob.do/) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (https://ambiente.gob.do/).
About the Green Taxonomy
The Green Taxonomy is an identification system for economic activities and assets with substantial contributions to the achievement of environmental objectives, which respond to the commitments, strategies and policies outlined in this area by the country.
This tool will serve to identify initiatives or assets that contribute substantially to the achievement of environmental or climate objectives. The taxonomy can help in avoiding greenwashing and for channeling preferential capital flows to green and sustainable projects.
Source: Presidencia.gob.do
