Author Bio
Luis Alejandro Mejía
Luis Alejandro is Lead Advisory Officer in IDB Invest, where he oversees the Sustainable Finance advisory practice for investment funds and financial institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
During his ten-year role as Senior and Lead Investment Officer at IDB Lab and IDB Invest, he has led and originated various emblematic IDB group funded projects in the region, two of them received the IDB Group “Diversity Award” in 2018 (first version of the Award) and in 2020. He structured the advisory services that allowed first of its kind thematic bonds issuances, such as first sustainable bonds by the banking industry in Uruguay, Central America, and in El Salvador, as the same as first SLB in Latin America.
Before joining the IDB group, Luis Alejandro was an entrepreneur and innovator at the corporate and banking private sector, were he led the first worldwide transaction of carbon credits from forestry investments in voluntary carbon markets. He also developed, as a first mover in Latin American financial industry, green financing lines for renewable energy, sustainable transport, and agroforestry activities. In 2012, he received the beyondBanking award in planetBanking category, as an acknowledge to those innovations.
Luis Alejandro holds Agricultural Engineering degree, specialized in hydraulics and irrigation at Israel, and a MBA major on Sustainable development from INCAE Business School.
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Posts by Luis Alejandro Mejía
Integrating Green Finance Into the Core Business of Financial Institutions
Green finance in the private sector was predominantly linked to corporate responsibility. It’s now the time to integrate climate action into the core business of financial institutions.
The Net-Zero Opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean
The abundance of renewable resources places the regional industry well below many of its rivals in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of electricity generated — a unique advantage that can help the region move rapidly towards the net-zero emission target.
Increasing Green Finance Calls for More and Better Impact Reporting
Addressing climate change in the region calls for financial institutions to step up their role in channeling capital towards green investments, including the green transition. It also calls for boosting impact measurement and reporting capacity to avoid green washing.
How a New Sustainable Mindset Will Help Future Construction
It’s important to invest in the construction of buildings that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it is equally, or more, important to create a new financial framework and a new mentality that helps investors direct their funds in this regard.
First Sustainable Bond in Central America, A Regional Trailblazer
Banco Promerica Costa Rica's first sustainable bond issue in Central America paves the way for the region's financial sector to align itself with the latest trends in international finance and refine the environmental and social impact assessment of its operations.
Maximizing the impact of sustainable development investment
Investing and financing are the first steps on the road to sustainability. In sustainable development, knowledge and experience are needed too.