The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is releasing today its 2020 Sustainability Report, with a focus on a sustainable and inclusive recovery for Latin America and the Caribbean after the pandemic. The report highlights the Bank's work on issues such as digitalization, sustainable infrastructure, and the development of next-generation skills and jobs for all. It also highlights key projects from the perspective of decarbonization, natural disaster risk assessment and corporate sustainability, while providing examples of the implementation of environmental and social policies in projects.

The report is complemented by a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) annex, which sets global standards for sustainability reporting, and relies on best practices for reporting on a range of economic, environmental and social impacts.

In 2020, the IDB achieved important milestones under the sustainability framework. The Bank's Board of Directors approved a new Environmental and Social Policy Framework (ESPF), which is expected to enter into effect later this year. The ESPF sets ambitious new standards to help IDB clients address environmental and social issues. In addition, a new Environmental and Social Risk Management Unit was established in the Risk Management Office, to provide supervision of environmental and social risks in the IDB-financed portfolio and provide services throughout the project cycle.

Likewise, the IDB Group approved its Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025, which presents actions aimed at helping countries and clients achieve low-carbon and climate-resilient development. The Bank also approved its Gender Action Plan 2020-2021, which includes actions for women's productivity and economic opportunities, and its Diversity Action Plan for Operations that offers guidance to support the mainstreaming of diversity in the Bank’s activities and operations and improve the quality of its interventions.

Driving the improvement of the Group's performance regarding its strategic priorities, the Corporate Results Framework 2020-2023 is the corporate monitoring tool that establishes ambitious goals and key indicators to monitor finances and social and environmental sustainability results.

Finally, the report highlights the work on sustainable development bonds. In 2020 the Bank issued a record volume of US$8.2 billion in eight different currencies, including Australian dollars, Brazilian reals, British pounds, Canadian dollars, Indian rupees, Indonesian rupiahs, Mexican pesos and US dollars.

As one of the regions most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, Latin America and the Caribbean will have to overcome profound social and economic challenges in its economic recovery efforts that take into consideration job creation and health impacts under a gender, diversity and inclusion focus.