Financing to Catalyse Private Sector Investments in Climate-Smart Agriculture

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) recently launched an initiative Climate-Smart Agriculture Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean (CSAF) to facilitate finance while promoting climate resilience, sustainable agriculture and development across the region. Its main goal is to mobilise capital for climate-smart investments, change the perception of such investments and expand the portfolio of projects that bring benefits for both the investor and the environment.

Climate-smart agriculture practices address directly the vulnerability of the agricultural sector to climate change. New technologies, innovation and a better understanding of the approach will help sustain the sector’s productivity and support overall mitigation and adaptation efforts. The CSAF will provide climate-smart projects with concessional finance and technical assistance, mostly implemented by small, medium and large scale agribusinesses in the region. The IADB hopes with this initiative to be able to increase the investment in climate-smart agriculture, increase climate resilience, reduce emissions from agriculture and improve livelihoods.