Within the scope of the project, The Economics of Climate Change in Central America and the Dominican Republic, launched by ECLAC from 2015 to 2017, and as a result of the dialogue between the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Treasury or Finance Ministers of Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (SE-COSEFIN) and ECLAC, the Executive Secretary of COSEFIN gave a presentation in meeting VI of the project’s Regional Technical Committee (CTR), a series of regional efforts was proposed to strengthen capabilities and analysis to increase the resilience of public investments in the face of climate change, oriented towards fiscal and environmental sustainability in the countries of the subregion. The request involved the carrying out three events:
- A regional course on developing the capabilities to integrate climate risk criteria in the design of public investment projects.
- A forum for experts from countries that made progress in the different relevant topics to share experiences (including exploring the standardization of cost methodologies, budget classification for spending linked to climate change).
- Carry out a half-day work session with the CTR treasury delegates to identify points of collaboration and to develop a working plan.
Course Objectives: Upon finishing the course, participating officers from the ministries of the treasury, finance, or planning, will have a greater ability to:
- Identify and integrate climate risk management and promote sustainability in the design and evaluation of public investment projects starting at the pre-investment stage, after having evaluated the threats of climate change and variability, as well as an analysis of exposure and vulnerability.
- Identify different indicators for assessment of public projects, including structural measures to reduce climate risk.
- Strengthen environmental impact analysis and measurement of greenhouse gas and water footprints to improve the sustainability of public investment projects.
Forum Objectives: Make known experiences, best methods, and lessons learned about applying climate risk valuation and analysis methodologies, and the promotion of adaptation and sustainability in public investment projects, be it in the stages of implementation and/or pre-investment where there is the potential for climate finance.
Objectives for the CTR-Hacienda Delegate Meeting: Analyze and agree to opportunities for cooperation between ministries or secretariats of treasury or finance within the regional institutional scope of SE-COSEFIN with the technical support from ECLAC on the topic of climate risk reduction in public investment projects and other lines of action on the fiscal policy and climate change agenda.
Course Participants:
- National-level technical officers from National Public Investment Systems responsible for the evaluation of public investment projects and the development of methodologies in the ministries of treasury and other state bodies responsible for green and gray infrastructure projects.
- National-level technical officers responsible for disaster risk analysis, specifically climate-related ones, greenhouse gas emission and water footprint measurement, and the application of these methodologies in the profiles of public investment projects.
Forum Participants:
- National, regional, and international experts that specialize in applying methodologies for including economic valuation of climate and other disaster risks in infrastructure projects.
- National, regional, and international experts that specialize in measuring greenhouse gas emission and water footprints using International Organization of Standardization (ISO) methodologies in public investment projects.
- It is highly desirable that all candidates for participation be economists, environmentalists, and/or any type of engineer able to use spreadsheets and presentation software, with experience using mathematics/finance tools in investment projects, as well greenhouse gas and water footprint measurement in public investment projects.
Meeting Participants: Members delegated to the Regional Technical Committee of Finance/Treasury for the ECC CARD Project.
Conclusions and Recommendations
- Some thirty officers/experts from planning or treasury ministries were trained in the course on economic valuation of disaster risk and sustainability in the process of public investment project design and evaluation.
- The activities included an analysis and discussion about specific projects in a regional forum using economic valuation of disaster risk highlighting lessons learned and experience with such exercises, including some in pilot projects. As a result of the course and regional forums, a list of possible lines of actions was made, approved, and validated by the participants to be shared with the authorities within their respective institutions.
- The work session was held with the regional technical committee to define topics of interest such as the evaluation of activities of member countries under the potential impacts of climate change initiative, disaster insurance, and the use of classifiers to estimate earmarked funds for risk management and climate change by country.
