New tools for climate impact evaluations

The evaluation of environmental and social risk processes in operations financed by CAF widens, to incorporate mitigation and adaptation to climate change tools. 

The first consists in the adaptation of a program that calculates the carbon footprint based on the Green House Gas Protocol. The software, from the French Development Agency, calculates the equivalent amounts of CO₂  from basic data regarding the characteristics of the project and a wide set of standardized emission factors.  

The second tool will be developed with the support of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) to design and validate a program to support decision making, to evaluate the risks related to the impact of climate change and climate variability on projects. It will consider model scenarios for the evaluation of vulnerability in 30-50 years, supported by cartographic information based on a socio-economic trend analysis. 

The base variables to consider include: precipitation, temperature, bio-physic data, socio-economic data, geomorphology, use of the land, water resources, river flows, and torrents.  

This information will enable to determine the current vulnerability, as well as model scenarios of future vulnerability due to droughts, floods, landslides, and analysis of the combined vulnerability. 

With the incorporation of these tools, CAF seeks to strengthen the process of environmental and social evaluation of its operations, by incorporating the evaluation of vulnerability to climate change and climate variability in the projects it finances. 

The Institution's alliances with the AFD and KfW, has been decisive in the selection of the two new tools. 

AFD and KfW, along with CAF, belong to the International Development Finance Club, a network of 20 national, bilateral, and regional banks founded in 2011. Its members act as financial backers, advisors, partners, and executors, in order to mobilize financing and experience toward development projects in emerging and developing countries.  With a similar vision regarding development strategies, the Club prioritizes social and green development for a sustainable future.