Sustainable BusinessRecent posts
IDB Invest Structures the Largest Blue Bond in History: $1.35 Billion
The transaction supports the expansion of wastewater collection and treatment in the State of São Paulo and improves living conditions for 2.5 million people through an innovative financing solution.
Governance and Succession: Securing the Future of Mexico’s Nonbank Financial Institutions
IDB Invest study: key findings and a roadmap to strengthen governance and CEO and senior management succession planning in nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs).
Korea's Cutting-Edge Innovations to Transform Agribusiness in Latin America and the Caribbean
Discover how IDB Invest connects regional agribusinesses with leading innovators in Korea to accelerate smart agriculture, agritech, and sustainable growth.
Approaching infrastructure from all angles: sustainable opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean
“Please see if it is feasible to create these roads so that they will pay for themselves,” famously declared Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the United States’ 32nd president. In Latin America and the Caribbean, such a boundless, timeless statement holds true for the majority of today’s infrastructure projects. An IDB study recently affirmed that investments in infrastructure provide financial returns upwards of 70 percent. But in the region and across the globe, the goal of infrastructure should not only be financial profitability. Given the long life of infrastructure assets and their importance for country competitiveness, the social and environmental rationale for high-quality, reliable and sustainably constructed infrastructure is equally captivating.
From knowledge to reality: Leveling the playing field for women
What a coincidence that during the same week, the IMF published “Women, Work and the Economy”, the Clinton Global Initiative announced numerous initiatives to empower women and the IDB hosted Jackie VanderBrug to kick off a speaker series highlighting influential professionals who promote women in the private sector. While long overdue, the issue of gender is getting the traction it deserves.
The private sector and trade: ensuring hardware and software compatibility
Like a computer, hardware and software must be compatible. The absence of one or the lack of coordination among the two can leave the whole system inoperable. When it comes to trade, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is making gains in “software” in the form of free trade agreements (FTAs), trade finance and customs modernization, yet more is needed to bolster integration “hardware” – infrastructure and logistics, such as roads, rails, ports, airports and broadband connections.
Measuring results and unlocking value
The more meetings and events I attend, the more results measurement is part of the conversation. What are the goals and targets? How are you going to measure results? Are those results the most meaningful?
Renewable Energy: Approaching the tipping point
Renewable Energy: Approaching the tipping point Imagine pushing a cumbersome and heavy ball up a steep incline with the goal of arriving at the top and having it roll down the other side by itself to a final destination. The initial time invested and physical strength exerted would seem worthwhile if you could just arrive at the summit – the tipping point. This is oftentimes the feeling in the renewable energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Although there is increasing activity in renewable projects and frameworks, developers, investors, engineers and others in the relatively nascent industry in LAC seem to be trudging up a hill, sweating and hoping that the industry can soon move itself without assistance. http://vimeo.com/65930811
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Key Findings from the Base of Pyramid Week
By Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen* Last week, top executives of multinational and regional companies, leading impact investors, members of government, and international organization representatives came from around the US and the globe to learn from the IDB and each other about how business models for the base of the pyramid can launch and scale quickly and profitably. The event was organized by Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ), the IDB department in charge of spotting, nurturing and funding business models to engage base of the pyramid markets on a large scale in Latin America and the Caribbean.
