Representatives of the European Investment Bank expressed on Monday their interest in investing in adaptation projects for resilience to climate change in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean.
Participating in a panel to learn about the main needs, priorities and challenges of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), senior executives of the Luxembourg-based financial institution, together with heads of several European organizations linked to climate change, insisted on the need to address the vulnerabilities and adaptation needs of the 39 countries that respond to this condition.
The meeting, moderated by the head of environment, climate change and social policy of the European Investment Bank, Stephen O’Driscoll, was attended by the international director of integration and policy coordination of the Directorate General for Climate Action of the European Commission, Elina Bardram; the vice president of the European Investment Bank, Ricardo Mourinho-Félix; the president of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Gene Leon; and the executive vice president of the National Council for Climate Change of the Dominican Republic, Max Puig.
During the panel, the deficiencies of the Island Developing States in terms of infrastructure and technical capacities to face their vulnerability to the effects of climate change were analyzed, which highlights the investment needs related to climate resilience.
With regard to capacity building, the Dominican representative pointed out that “given the high standards imposed by international funding agencies for the approval of adaptation projects, it is essential to build capacity to access climate finance,” said Max Puig.
The academic and senior official pointed out that the Dominican Republic has already established its needs and priorities in this area in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) updated in 2020, and that the adaptation measures initially considered represent an investment of close to nine billion dollars, equivalent to 48% of the total estimated investment to meet the 2030 goals.
