WASHINGTON — Impact investing will be essential to Latin America and the Caribbean’s recovery from COVID-19, according to IDB Invest Development Effectiveness Chief Alessandro Maffioli.
IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, works directly with the private sector in a variety of industries such as infrastructure, finance, and agribusiness to maximize investments for development effectiveness. The long-standing inequality of the region, plus the expected 9.1% decrease in economic output in 2020 because of the pandemic, is endangering progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, Maffioli said.
“Everything that we do is meant to have a contribution to the SDGs, and the contribution to the SDGs … is measured through having a specific indicator that is rated to one specific target of the SDGs that we can track over time,” Maffioli said. “It’s not just a line, just saying, ‘This transaction may have to do with climate change.’ No, it’s setting a specific indicator that will allow me to say, ‘This transaction will allow me to reduce emissions by XYZ amount.’”