In this section, we shine a spotlight on partners who are using budget advocacy to bring transformational change to their communities. This month, we talk with Dr. Sandra Guzmán, founder and global agenda coordinator at the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Q: How did you get involved in the environmental sector and climate change work?
A: I studied international relationships to understand the best ways to collaborate among countries to face a global crisis such as hunger and poverty. However, while I was studying, I identified a significant threat for all of humanity related to the environment: climate change. I understood that climate change was a problem caused by human activities, especially in developed countries. I realized that while developing countries may not be the major emitters of greenhouse gases that caused climate change, these countries are following production patterns and consumption patterns that threaten the environment.
Q: How did you come to realize the importance and intersection of climate change and budget work?
A: After focusing my work on what is necessary to take developing countries down an alternative development path, I realized that the key problem is not always the existence of the necessary policies, but the lack of resources to implement them. This led me to start analyzing public budgets to understand to what extent these budgets were aligned to climate action. I concluded that there will not be a successful transition toward low carbon development if countries do not mainstream climate change in their planning and budgeting processes.
Q: How was the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean started and what are you currently working on?
A: In collaboration with friends and colleagues, we created the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012. After many years of work, including my doctoral studies, we launched a campaign called “Sustainable Finance for the Future: putting life at the center of investments“ and created the Sustainable Finance Index – a tool that tracks budget allocations related to climate change, as well as allocations to activities that are carbon-intense, to identify the gaps that exist between these two. Simultaneously, the tool also measures the type of sustainable revenue that comes to these countries from international sources and those revenues that are also carbon intense.
Q: What are some of the findings you’ve discovered as a result of the Sustainable Finance Index?
A: We applied this index to the 21 major greenhouse gases emitters in Latin America and the Caribbean and found that none of these countries spent more than 1% of their budgets on sustainable matters in 2019. We also learned that they spent 6.5% of their budget in the energy sector, with 60.3% of that budget going to the production of hydrocarbons, while only spending 0.3% on renewable energy. While this is not good news, this information allows us to highlight these gaps and provide recommendations to structurally transform these governments and get them on a path to incorporating climate change in their planning and budgets.
Q: Why should the average citizen care about climate finance?
A: There is no topic more relevant to citizens than public finance. We’re seeking greater public participation related to climate and sustainable finance, including public and private resources. We call on people to engage in this conversation toward transforming the financial system to ensure that present and future investments protect the environment and human rights.
Very impressed and inspiring- keep up the good work on climate finance, hope to learn more from you on how to start our Malawi climate finance landscape group.
:)