Environment

The Bank supports environmental sustainability through the rigorous application of its safeguard policies and procedures and a wide range of cross-cutting financial and nonfinancial activities, including investment loans, technical assistance, Global Environment Facility investments and strategic country-level assessments.

During 2007 the IDB approved a total of 20 environmental loans, investing $1.1 billion in projects that were also supported by $335 million in counterpart funding. Eighty-four percent of the financing was directed primarily to the areas of water and sanitation (see Box 5 • Water and Sanitation Initiative). The rest included a $40 million investment, supplemented by $10 million in counterpart funding, for clean production and environmental management in Argentina (see Box 6 • Promoting Clean Production), and a $40 million investment, generating $80 million in counterpart funding, for a bioenergy project in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, that was the IDB’s first private sector financing in this area (see Box 7 • Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative and Biofuels).

In addition, a total of 81 technical cooperation grants were approved totaling $32.4 million, backed by $10.4 million in counterpart funding, for environmental projects in such areas as disaster risk management (see Box 8 • Disaster Risk Management), integrated natural resource management, rural development and sustainable agriculture.

Beyond its investment in environmental projects per se, the IDB continued to finance environmental components in lending programs in energy, roads and industrial development. All Bank loans are subject to environmental and social reviews, 397 of which were conducted for IDB operations in 2007.

As part of the sector analysis performed for preparation of the Bank’s country strategies, country-level environmental assessments were conducted for Brazil, Nicaragua and Paraguay. The assessments identified sectors and issues that are of highest priority for the countries. For instance, the assessment for Paraguay addressed issues and opportunities in agriculture and land use in specific geographical areas. In the case of Nicaragua, the focus was on establishing linkages between environmental performance and access to external markets. The environmental assessment process contributed to cross-sector policy dialogue, engaging government agencies, private sector representatives and NGOs.

Through its Sustainability Initiative, in 2007 the IDB carried out activities in core areas to better manage environmental risks and opportunities associated with Bank operations. These included the development of a safeguards training strategy and supporting instructional materials, an Environment and Indigenous Safeguards Handbook to accompany policies, a project safeguards information database, and material on best practices for the private sector for incorporating sustainability in large-scale infrastructure projects and occupational health and safety guidelines.

The Bank also continued to consult the Blue Ribbon Panel on Environment and civil society stakeholders to ensure transparency and participatory engagement on institutional and technical sustainability issues. This included a stakeholder session on the Bank’s investment in the Camisea natural gas and liquefied natural gas projects in Peru, and an exploratory session on avoided deforestation.

The IDB’s commitment to environmental and social sustainability includes an effort to reduce to a minimum the environmental impact of the Bank’s own offices and daily operations. In 2007, the Bank made progress in measuring its consumption and waste patterns as a prerequisite for establishing and meeting targets to improve these patterns. A crossdepartmental Greening the Bank Task Force identifies measures to reduce the IDB’s corporate environmental footprint.

At its Annual Meeting in Guatemala in March 2007, the Bank announced the expansion of its initiative to make the IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C. carbon neutral in 2007. The initiative will be extended in 2008 to the IDB’s 26 Country Offices and to its offices in Paris and Tokyo. As part of this move, the IDB began to procure Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for 100 percent of its headquarters energy supply and formed a partnership with a leading carbon broker to purchase Verified Emission Reductions to offset emissions, such as those from business travel and the Bank’s Annual Meeting. In late 2007 the IDB made formal its public commitment to calculating, reducing and offsetting its carbon footprint by partnering with the United States Environmental Protection Agency to become a Climate Leader Partner, a Green Power Partner and an Energy Star partner.