UNFCCC and Latin American Bank agree on clean development cooperation

The United Nations Convention on Climate Change secretariat and the Latin American Development Bank have signed an agreement to develop and implement clean development projects in the region.

A clean development mechanism regional collaboration centre in Bogota, Colombia, will be established that will focus on the Kyoto Protocol's CDM and promoting the CDM accross the region.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said, “The C.D.M. has demonstrated what can be achieved when we use markets to incentivize action on climate change and development, the R.C.C. in Bogota will help tap the potential for C.D.M. projects in Latin America and serve as a working example of the kind of inter-agency cooperation necessary to tackle climate change”.

The Regional Collaboration Centre in Bogota will seek to identify priority areas for development; identify opportunities for potential projects and programmes; provide direct support in the development of project design documents for projects; and work in collaboration with current and future R.C.C.s in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia.

The agreement between UNFCCC and Latin America Development Bank marks the fourth C.D.M. R.C.C. established by the U.N. body. The first centre was opened in Lome, Togo, to increase participation in C.D.M. projects in West and Francophone Africa, the second was established in Kampala, Uganda, to serve the rest of Africa, the third one was established in Saint George's, Grenada, to assist the region of Caribbean