New Collaboration to Boost Renewable Energy in the Latin America and Caribbean Region

Washington DC, June 21, 2022 – Today, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and Renewable Energy for Latin America and Caribbean (RELAC) announced a new collaboration to put renewables at the heart of the region’s efforts to boost economic development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. GEAPP, a collective action platform of 18 public and private sector partners that launched at COP26, will support RELAC’s goal of increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the region to 70% by 2030. Specifically, this collaboration will focus on identifying, addressing, and ultimately, helping RELAC’s 15 member countries overcome barriers to large-scale renewable energy investment.

“The support of partner agencies to the RELAC initiative is essential to accelerate the energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean and to effectively channel the large investments required. In this case, having a global impact initiative such as GEAPP guarantees that the private sector can get involved early in this process and identify together with member countries the most impactful set of projects. This is in line with IDB Group’s Vision 2025, our roadmap to achieve a sustainable and inclusive growth in the region” commented Benigno López, Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge at the IDB, which acts as the Technical Secretariat of the RELAC initiative.

An estimated 18 million people in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) currently lack access to modern electricity, and past climate disasters have revealed the region’s vulnerability to extreme weather events. Up to 5.8 million people in the region could be pushed into extreme poverty by climate-related events by 2030, according to a recent World Bank report. These climate events are expected to add additional stresses to already fragile and aging energy systems, and across the region, countries are disproportionately dependent on both variable rainfall and fossil fuel supply chains. Climate events are also expected to disproportionally impact already vulnerable populations, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

Simon Harford, CEO of GEAPP, said, “Collective action is critical to ensuring greater and more equitable access to reliable energy for people across Latin America and the Caribbean. This is why we are proud to be partnering with RELAC and working hand in hand with countries in the region to scale up access to renewable energy. Doing so will deliver tangible results on the ground to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, expand energy access, and create green jobs.”

RELAC, which was established at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit, and GEAPP will work in close cooperation with LAC governments, civil society, and the private sector to develop strategies sensitive to each country’s specific energy challenges. In doing so, this new collaboration will support its country partners’ efforts to achieve a just transition to renewable energy that both ensures a viable alternative to a fossil-fuel intensive development path and improves livelihoods for low- and middle-income communities by creating jobs catalyzing economic development.

A new report by the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Labour Organization highlights the benefits of this approach: 15 million new jobs would be created in LAC  by 2030 with the shift to a net-zero carbon economy. Co-benefits from this transition include targeting socio-economic and gender disparities through a green workforce as well as empowering the industrial, agricultural, manufacturing, and transport sectors to invest in innovations that improve reliability, flexibility, and autonomy for underserved communities across the region.

About RELAC: The initiative was established in 2019 under the framework of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General’s Climate Action Group with the overall aim of advancing attention to climate change by aligning economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in the energy sector. The main objective of the initiative is to achieve a regional target of at least 70% participation of renewable energy sources in the electricity matrix of Latin America and the Caribbean by 2030 (currently 56.7% by 2019). RELAC is the first initiative of its kind in Latin America and the Caribbean aiming to track and achieve a regional target in terms of sustainable energy. The network currently covers 15 countries: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Haiti, Panama, Ecuador, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

For more information on RELAC, please visit www.hubenergía.org/relac.

About the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) launched at COP26 with USD 10 billion of committed capital to accelerate investment in green energy transitions and renewable energy solutions in developing and emerging economies. This historic partnership among philanthropy, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, international organizations, and governments leverages catalytic grant funding to mobilize public and private capital and scale renewable energy projects to provide people with reliable, clean power, reduce carbon emissions, and create, enable, or support green jobs, driving inclusive economic growth.  GEAPP serves as a platform for collaborative action and provides grant funding, technical assistance, and a range of financing options.

For more information, please visit www.energyalliance.org.

Media Contacts

Eric Gay, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)
T: +1 212 852 8378
E: egay@rockfound.org

RELAC, Technical Secretariat at the Inter-American Development Bank
E: iniciativarelac@iadb.org