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INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Highlights of the IDB Sustainability Report 2011

2011 Sustainability Report Summary (English)

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2011 Sustainability Report Summary in English version

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Page 1: 2011 Sustainability Report Summary (English)

Inter-AmerIcAn Development bAnk

Highlights of the IDB Sustainability Report 2011

Page 2: 2011 Sustainability Report Summary (English)

SuStainability in Our regiOn

Meeting growing global demands for food and other agricultural products is an important economic opportunity for Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet the critical long-term environmental and social challenges this presents include impacts on ecosystem services, greater vulnerability of rural communities, land use changes, and increased climate change impacts.

The region can take advantage of the opportunities and address the challenges through better access to technologies, certification and round table approaches to environmental and social sustainability, and lower production costs through improved market access. With appropriate technological support, small-scale farmers could adopt “green agriculture” techniques and inputs, increasing productivity while stabilizing and relieving pressures on ecosystem services. Given the complexity of the issues, an integrated strategy founded on a sound systems-based understanding will be critical to ensure sustainable and equitable food production.

This year, in light of the Rio+20 conference, the focus of the Sustainability Report is on sustainability in agriculture in our region.

The challenges to our region’s agriculture and food security illustrate the need for a green economy that recognizes the complexities of our interrelationships with the natural world.

IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno

The report presents leading-edge thinking on food security, climate change, land use change, and ecosystem services. Rodomiro Ortiz, Luiz Martinelli, Britaldo Soares-Filho, and Susanna Hecht discuss agriculture from social and environmental perspectives, including how climate change affects agriculture, the interrelationship with ecosystem services, approaches to low-carbon agriculture, and the sociopolitical transformation of agriculture and deforestation over the last 30 years. In addition, Pavan Sukhdev, José Campos, David McLaughlin, and Hector Malarín offer their perspectives on how to better achieve sustainability in today’s rapidly changing world. These articles and viewpoints provide a regional context for the important sustainability work of the Bank. One clear message comes through: solutions to today’s pressing problems must come from an integrated understanding of our world that incorporates changes in water, environment, climate, productivity, and sociopolitical systems.

Page 3: 2011 Sustainability Report Summary (English)

SuStainability in Our OperatiOnS

Our institutional strategy for sustainabilityIn the Ninth General Capital Increase, approved in 2010, the Bank set two overarching objectives: reducing poverty and inequality and achieving sustainable growth. In pursuit of those goals, we have identified protection of the environment, response to climate change, promotion of sustainable energy, and ensuring food security as an institutional priority. In 2011 the Bank continued to support countries in planning and designing policies relating to climate change, biodiversity protection, and food security.

Sustainability prioritiesWe continued to focus attention on addressing priority sustainability issues associated with biodiversity loss, food security, and climate change through policies and strategies, investments, and activities contributing to knowledge creation. Highlights in 2011 include preparatory work for a Biodiversity Platform to be presented for consultation at Rio+20, expansion of the IDB Food Crisis Response Fund, approval of the Integrated Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation and for Sustainable and Renewable Energy, the launch of the Sustainable Cities Platform, and implementation of the Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Action Plan. The Bank works with such partners as the Global Environment Facility, the Climate Investment Fund, and the Forest Carbon Partnership Fund.

Our sustainability investmentsIn 2011 the IDB approved 167 loans, 54 of which targeted climate change initiatives, sustainable energy, and environmental sustainability, totaling US$4.6 billion—a significant increase over previous years. Approved operations included two projects to support climate change mitigation policies and finance in Peru and in Trinidad and Tobago, five green credit lines, a non-reimbursable grant to Haiti for technology transfer to small farmers, a loan for flood mitigation infrastructure for Belize City, the rehabilitation of a hydroelectric plant in Brazil, four non-sovereign guaranteed investments in wind power, 11 sanitation operations, and a program to support agri-food health and safety in the Dominican Republic.

US$4.6 billionIDB Sustainability Investments (Loans) 2011

Page 4: 2011 Sustainability Report Summary (English)

gHg portfolio emissions reportedIn 2011 the Bank applied a methodology it had developed for calculating emissions from projects it finances that generate significant amounts of GHGs, as well as emission reductions from low-carbon development projects. The results show an increase in avoided annual emissions of 43 percent in 2011—comparable to a small-sized coal-fired power plant. The number of IDB projects focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency to avoid or reduce emissions has risen, so the emissions avoided by IDB projects have grown significantly in three years.

improved environmental and social safeguard performanceIn 2011 we developed and implemented new procedures to strengthen the supervision of projects in order to ensure more-effective environmental and social management. We began to establish a baseline of the performance of environmental and social measures in our portfolio so we can monitor the satisfactory implementation of environmental and social management and mitigation measures in Bank-financed projects, particularly those with high environmental and social risks. The initial results demonstrated the complexities of safeguard performance in the highest-risk operations, and they underscored the need for continued robust monitoring and supervision of environmental and social safeguards.

Our contribution to meeting regional development goalsNew IDB investments in 2011 included support to seven national frameworks for climate change mitigation (exceeding our target of five), three projects with components that contribute to better management of terrestrial and marine protected areas, access to agricultural services and investments for more than 2.5 million farmers, and access to improved low-carbon transportation systems for over 800,000 people.

79% satisfactory safeguard performance (14 non-sovereign guaranteed operations)

73% satisfactory safeguard performance (49 sovereign guaranteed operations)

Page 5: 2011 Sustainability Report Summary (English)

SuStainability in Our inveStmentS

Some examples of the Bank’s projects in 2011 include:

boosting productivity and conserving resourcesAn innovative program in the Dominican Republic is helping small-scale farmers by providing subsidies and technical assistance for new technologies. Using a US$34.3 million IDB loan approved in 2010, the technologies offered all have positive or neutral effects on environmental sustainability.

Controlling energy costs with photovoltaicsChilean-owned Grupo Subsole, a hemispheric leader in environmental practices in the agro-industrial sector, is building one of the first full-scale photovoltaic plants in this sector in Latin America, supported by an IDB US$32 million loan extended in 2011. Subsole’s example is expected to influence other agricultural firms to make similar investments.

building resilience for farmers and food securityIn Jamaica, a new IDB-financed study uses real data from recent events to generate recommendations on building climate change resilience into agricultural systems The study proposes measures for farmers and for government, such as informal irrigation systems, crop diversification, and adjustments in planting seasons.

lowering energy use and gHg emissionsWhen the Tupi Cement Plant in Paraguay requested IDB funding, the plant design chosen did not meet our guidelines for energy efficiency and CO

2 emissions. External

engineering consultants worked with the client and the manufacturer to bring efficiency to state-of-the-art levels that would both reduce emissions and cut fuel costs. After the plant achieved compliance, the IDB approved a US$50 million loan for the project.

protecting small-scale farmersIn advance of rehabilitation work on the Peligre hydroelectric plant in Haiti, an environmental and social safeguard audit found that draining the reservoir to make repairs would jeopardize the livelihoods of the valley’s farmers as well as Haiti’s food security. Engineers recommended inspecting and repairing blocked dam gates underwater, so overall repair work could go ahead without emptying the reservoir.

the full Sustainability Report 2011 is

available at www.iadb.org/sustainability

Contact us: [email protected]