The Government of Costa Rica, through the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) and several Superintendencies (Sugef, Sugeval, Supen, Sugese), have launched the project denominated “Aligning Financial Flows of the Costa Rican Financial Sector with the Climate Change Objectives of the Paris Agreement”, which is financed by the Green Climate Fund and the European Union through the EUROCLIMA Program.

The project, whose purpose is to support Costa Rica’s goal of achieving zero-emissions by the year 2050, seeks to develop and implement a taxonomy of sustainable finance to classify investments and economic activities that contribute to the fulfillment of the country’s climate change objectives. The taxonomy aims to guide private investment towards the economic activities necessary to achieve this goal. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, along with its Financial Initiative (UNEP FI), will be involved in the project supporting local authorities and the private financial sector.

Costa Rica is highly exposed to risks associated with climate change. It is estimated that the fiscal cost of the direct effect of extreme hydrometeorological disasters has represented between 0.3% and 1.7% of GDP per year, in the last decades.