Sustainable BusinessRecent posts
Financial Health: Driving Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean
According to the latest Global Findex database, the proportion of adults in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with account ownership rose from 39% in 2011 to over 75% in 2025. This increase was driven by the rise of digital-first financial service providers, expanded government transfers, and innovations that enhance the value proposition, such as the growth of e-commerce and instant payment systems in countries like Brazil, Peru, and Costa Rica.
IDB Invest and the New Push for the Private Sector in Paraguay
Imagine investing in a portfolio of projects in a country with sustained economic growth, low inflation, abundant clean energy, and preferential access to a regional market of 270 million consumers. That country is Paraguay, where IDB Invest has committed to mobilizing up to $1 billion to support strategic private-sector projects that drive sustainable development.
Energy and Transport Infrastructure: Projects Driving Jobs and Transforming Communities
IDB Invest works to boost job creation through the private sector and ensure these opportunities reach areas with the potential to develop new productive sectors and generate formal employment. Financing energy and transport infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean has been crucial for creating quality jobs and increasing women's workforce participation.
The investor world and green growth
I recently attended the Regional Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) in Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile. At this forum and in the business world, we witness how issues of sustainability and green growth are transforming the real economy. In the coming years in Chile, non-conventional renewable energy will make up more than 70% of new installed capacity. In Brazil, the second auction round for solar drew more than 2 GW in bids for investments of almost $3 billion. And in Costa Rica, hundreds of companies have small-scale power generation systems, as part of the country’s distributed generation power plan.
10 things a company needs to know about the market at the base of the pyramid
Seventy percent of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean – more than 400 million people – live on less than $10 a day. Even though their income is low, this segment of the population still demands goods and services, and represents a market of $760 billion per year. Hundreds of pioneering companies see opportunities in this market to do profitable business while improving the quality of life of low-income people. But where should they start?
The “Latinization” of public-private partnerships: What the world can learn from Latin America and the Caribbean
*By David Bloomgarden The world can learn from the experience of Latin American and the Caribbean in mobilizing private investment in public infrastructure and services.
What is the Value of Nature?
An apple at a supermarket: $0.50. 1,000 gallons of tap water in New York City: $4.95. Annual value of pollination to agriculture: $200 billion. Cost savings from good land management in New York City's watershed: $8 billion. Total value of benefits from nature: priceless? Robert Costanza, a leading environmental economist, just published the article: "Changes in the Global Value of Ecosystem Services," where he estimated the total value of these benefits at $145 trillion per year. That’s about twice as much as the total output of the global economy. Some of the value that nature provides has an obvious cost. Other values don't directly affect your wallet and are less visible. But just because we don't pay for some of nature's benefits doesn't mean they have less value.
Is Sustainability a Business Opportunity?
Today, forward-thinking companies understand the “why” behind investing in sustainability. Simply put, it makes business sense. However many companies, large and small, are still looking for the “how to”.
WANTED: Innovative companies for a $760 billion market
It has been more than ten years since we first read about the base of the pyramid (BOP) and the large and virtually untapped market represented by this socio-economic segment. People at the BOP in Latin America and the Caribbean live on less than $10 a day, but they have benefited from the region’s economic growth between 2000 and 2010 and their incomes have been growing ever since. Latin America’s BOP now encompasses 406 million people and represents a market of $760 billion. A market segment that awaits for innovative companies.
