The mission of CAF, the Latin American Development Bank, is to stimulate sustainable development and regional integration by financing the public and private sectors in Latin America. CAF acts as a catalyst for sources of green and climate finance to promote the transition to a green and sustainable economy by means of the Programa Negocios Verdes y Eficiencia Energética. As part of this programme, and with support from KFW, CAF offers credit lines to Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) to finance demand-side energy efficiency projects (EE-D) at SMEs in Latin America. CAF also provides hands-on operational support to FIs and their clients in implementing relevant investments.
To that end, CAF contracted in 2020 a consulting consortium led by IPC to support PFIs in the launch of EE loans in seven countries in Latin America* (Medida Complementaria para financiar EE-D en PYMEs a través de instituciones financieras). The project has a duration of 3 years.

• conducting market studies to identify market potential for EE-D finance
• identifying EE-D measures for SMEs in different sectors
• analysing and defining the baselines for the EE-D measures with the highest potential in the project countries, as well as the respective eligibility criteria to achieve minimum energy savings
• adopting, maintaining and implementing facility procedures and tools for PFIs participating in the programme
• establishing and maintaining the relationship between CAF and interested PFIs, as well as liaising with the local offices of CAF in the project countries

­ – conducting portfolio screenings to identify the business potential of green lending
­ – conducting institutional assessments of PFIs to provide focussed TA (e.g. training, credit design)
­ – developing targeted financial products (lean analysis processes, reporting)
­ – developing and implementing training and capacity building programmes for the PFI’s with regard to green lending practices and related eligible investments
­ – developing business strategies
­ – developing reporting systems to ensure accurate and efficient impact accounting of EE-D projects to CAF
­ – conducting reviews of the PFIs’ E&S systems