MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Latin America and the Caribbean need to rapidly boost spending to up to 4.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) annually by 2030 to meet their climate targets, a United Nations agency said in a report on Monday.
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) report presented at Dubai's COP28 summit said the region must spend between 3.7% to 4.9% of GDP annually, up from just 0.5% in 2020, amounting to total investments of $2.1 trillion to $2.8 trillion by 2030.
This implies the "availability of substantial but not unattainable amounts - and the time to act is now," ECLAC Executive Secretary Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs said.
Climate mitigation - mostly projects around transportation as well as energy, infrastructure and deforestation - would take up the lion's share of spending, ECLAC said, while a remaining third would need to go toward adaptation methods.
Climate change - excluding the impacts of extreme phenomena - could strip 10% off labor productivity in some countries, it added, cutting potential for economic growth.
Persons:
Jose Manuel Salazar, Xirinachs, ECLAC, Salazar, Marion Giraldo, Sarah Morland, Sandra Maler
Organizations:
MEXICO CITY, United, Economic Commission, Latin
Locations:
MEXICO, America, Caribbean, United Nations, Latin America, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, South America's Parana, La Plata, Chile