Latin America and the Caribbean: A historic opportunity to lead a sustainable recovery

Date:  10 June 2021, 9h00-10h30 (GMT-5)

Watch the event here

This high-level panel discussion will see the launch of a new platform to analyze the recovery policies of the 33 economies of the region, and to establish to what extent these are aligned with global environmental objectives.

The data obtained from the Tracker are also the basis for the accompanying report, Is the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Building a Sustainable Future? A snapshot from Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the event, leaders from key countries and international institutions will debate and attempt to answer some of the most pressing questions, including:

• What is at risk for the region’s economies if they fail to align their recovery efforts with the Paris Agreement?
• Can recovery spending bring strong economic and employment impacts while securing environmental progress?
• Have countries been using COVID-19 spending to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution?
• How can LAC countries better leverage recovery spending to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable and inclusive economy?

The study comes after the XXII Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean, where the ministers urged that post-COVID-19 recovery plans enable a climate-resilient, low-emission, regional economy that generates sustainable growth, decent green jobs and leaves no one behind.

Latin America and the Caribbean has been the hardest-hit region by the pandemic. The sharp contraction resulting from the health crisis has had enormous economic and social costs, as it came after several years of low average growth and limited progress in social indicators, including unemployment, poverty and inequality. On the other hand, the region’s high vulnerability to natural disasters increases the countries’ economic risk, making climate events the greatest threat to development.