Latin America at the climate frontline: strategic opportunities for impact ecosystem

Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue, it is one of the defining forces shaping today’s world. It is transforming ecosystems, economies, and geopolitics, while disproportionately impacting tropical countries that have contributed the least to the problem. Driven by rising human-made emissions, climate change now sits at the center of global decisions on trade, finance, energy, and security. 

The impacts of climate change are clearly visible in the human dimension. According to the IPCC (2023), between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people live in territories with high climate vulnerability, where mortality associated with droughts, storms, and floods between 2010 and 2020 was 15 times higher than in less exposed regions. Additionally, an estimated 70,000 internal displacements occur daily due to climate-related disasters, accumulating 250 million displaced people since 2015 (UNHCR, 2025). These figures illustrate how climate change deepens existing inequalities, widening gaps between countries, and exacerbating the vulnerability of communities exposed to extreme events.

In economic terms, the scale of the impact is also striking: the costs of natural disasters are estimated to exceed USD 58 billion for the region, including cascading effects on ecosystems and local economies (UNDRR, 2025). Latin America and the Caribbean is the second most disaster-prone region in the world, after Asia and the Pacific, which further amplifies these risks (UNDRR, 2025). These costs are compounded by impacts affecting food production, international trade, and economic stability, prompting governments, central banks, and international organizations to incorporate climate change as a tangible risk in financial and economic decision-making.

From an ecological perspective, the climate crisis multiplies pressures on nature to historic levels. For instance, with a global temperature increase of 1.5°C, coral reefs could decline by up to 90% (IPCC, 2023). Similarly, in 2024, 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest were lost due to fires exacerbated by global warming (WEF, 2025a). According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), Latin America was at the center of this trend: Brazil and Bolivia ranked first and second globally, with Brazil’s forest loss rising from 1.14 million hectares in 2023 to 2.82 million hectares in 2024, while Bolivia saw a sharp increase from around 0.49 to 1.48 million hectares (WRI, 2025). Peru also entered the top five, with losses increasing from approximately 0.15 to 0.19 million hectares between 2023 and 2024, underscoring the growing pressure on the region’s forests (WRI, 2025).

Taken together, this scenario demonstrates that the climate crisis is not only environmental, but also human, financial, and ecological, threatening the foundations of development and life on Earth itself.

COP30: Challenges and opportunities

Due to this challenge the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), recognizes the role of human activity in this process and seeks to stabilize “greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (UNFCCC, 1992, p.4). The Convention established the Conference of the Parties (COP) as its decision-making body to advance the commitments adopted by countries in the fight against climate change. Since then, multiple COPs have been held in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Argentina, Morocco, India, Mexico, Peru, among many other countries.

In this context, COP30, held in Belém, Brazil, generated high expectations, not only because of its location in the Amazon, one of the global spots of biodiversity and climate regulation, but also because of Brazil’s renewed leadership in Latin American environmental diplomacy. The Conference also took place at a time marked by the intensification of natural disasters, significant advances in scientific knowledge about climate change, and the undeniable crossing of the 1.5°C global temperature threshold, following the adoption of multiple international commitments on mitigation and adaptation. All of this reinforces the urgency of moving toward more responsible models of consumption and production, sustained by international cooperation and coordinated action among countries, communities, and sectors.

Following the end of the Conference, the results reveal important progress, particularly in financing and the recognition of territorial actors, but also signals of stagnation that raise concerns for global climate action. Among the most clear achievements are the creation of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, which secured an initial funding of USD 5 billion (WWF, 2025a); the increase of the global climate finance target to USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035 (Global Compact, 2025); the recognition of the consequences of misinformation for climate action (Global Compact, 2025); and the increased participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities (WEF, 2025b).

Additionally, during COP30, the Just Transition Mechanism was launched to support workers and communities affected by the energy transition (Global Compact, 2025). The Gender Action Plan was also adopted, recognizing the intersectionality of climate impacts, while discussions advanced on carbon trade measures (WEF, 2025b). These conversations also emphasized the strong interconnections between two of today’s most pressing crises: biodiversity loss and climate change (WWF, 2025b). Furthermore, a coalition of 35 philanthropists committed USD 300 million to projects integrating health and climate change (UN, 2025b), and the alliance of Multilateral Development Banks presented a practical guide to improve the measurement and financing of nature-related investments titled Financing Nature: A Practitioner’s Guide to Result Metrics Selection (IDB, 2025).

Despite these advances, the Conference left important gaps and adopted decisions that did not fully match the urgency of the climate crisis. These include the absence of clear agreements and commitments to gradually phase out fossil fuels (WWF, 2025b), limited political consensus to secure commitments on deforestation and land-use conversion (WWF, 2025b), insufficient recognition of the rights and contributions of smallholder farmers in addressing climate change (Torres, 2025), and the lack of a clear roadmap to mobilize the expected financial resources for adaptation, energy transition, and deforestation prevention (IIGCC, 2025).

Davos 2026: 

Following COP30, the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum was held in Davos, a gathering that brings together global leaders to discuss the main geopolitical, social, economic, and environmental challenges. The meeting generated high expectations among decision-makers, business leaders, academia, and civil society, particularly in an international context marked by growing uncertainty and tensions.

Discussions at Davos 2026 highlighted increasing international fragmentation driven by geopolitical conflicts (WEF, 2026c). Leaders also underscored intensifying competition over access to strategic resources and technological development, in line with findings from the Global Risks Report 2026 (WEF, 2026d), which identifies geoeconomic confrontation and armed conflicts between states as key concerns for the coming year. These discussions align with the report’s broader analysis: while political and social tensions dominate in the short term, climate change and biodiversity loss remain among the most severe global risks in the long-term horizon.

Although relevant conversations took place on social, political, and economic issues, explicit references to ecosystem degradation and the climate crisis were limited. One of the few moments when these issues surfaced was in discussions around access to essential resources such as water, primarily framed through a lens of justice and equity (TIME, 2026). Despite this relative absence, the call for co-creating solutions to shared challenges, including biodiversity decline, ecosystem collapse, and the increase in extreme climate events, remained a cross-cutting message of the meeting, implying action from philanthropists, the private sector, and public institutions to generate meaningful impact (WEF, 2026).

In this context, the agenda discussed in Davos suggests that Latin America will need to position its climate and biodiversity priorities not only as environmental commitments, but as strategic components of economic stability, competitiveness, and geopolitical resilience if it seeks to remain relevant and attract investment in a global landscape increasingly shaped by risk and geopolitical competition.

Implications for our members

International conferences and regional narratives revealed important opportunities for actors investing capital (financial, human, or intellectual) with an impact lens. Among them: 

  • Leveraging Latin America’s ecological and cultural richness to propose projects and initiatives rooted in and designed for local communities, positioning the region not only as vulnerable territory but as a strategic actor in global climate stability.
  • Mobilizing and using the Tropical Forests Forever Facility as a strategic financing pathway to support conservation initiatives and strengthen Indigenous peoples and local communities.
  • Capitalizing on increased global targets for climate and adaptation finance to expand access to resources for environmental, social, and territorial projects.
  • Strengthening the production and dissemination of verified information and protecting scientists, journalists, and community leaders to consolidate evidence-based alliances and knowledge generation.
  • Creating high-value conversations that leverage regional talent and expertise in technology, entrepreneurship, and local knowledge to enhance shared understanding, ideation, and collaboration.
  • Advancing cross-cutting agendas such as gender, just transition, and biodiversity, expanding opportunities for investment, innovation, and collaboration among foundations, companies, universities, accelerators, and impact funds.
  • Integrating social, economic, and environmental dimensions in an interdependent manner when designing solutions, promoting investments that combine productive development, territorial equity, and ecological sustainability to maximize systemic impact.
  • Adopting strategic climate risk management approaches that integrate short-, medium-, and long-term scenarios, incorporating transition risk and physical risk into investment and philanthropic decisions.
  • Strengthening regional capacities in innovative financial structuring, including blended finance, guarantees, catalytic funds, and risk-mitigation mechanisms capable of mobilizing private capital toward climate and biodiversity solutions at scale.

However, these spaces also highlight profound challenges for our members, including:

  • Managing uncertainty due to international political fragmentation and divergent climate narratives between major powers and Latin America, anticipating potential regulatory shifts and weaker global coherence in commitments.
  • Reducing uncertainty regarding the region’s potential in carbon markets by closing gaps in infrastructure, transparency, and trust required by the market.
  • Taking a more active role in promoting standards, financing mechanisms, and policies that effectively accelerate climate action in the region, particularly where international leadership may fluctuate.
  • Addressing limited credibility or support for the energy transition in certain countries, particularly those highly dependent on fossil fuels.
  • Strengthening coordination between local and national entities to avoid duplication of efforts and increase clarity and confidence in the allocation of resources aimed at preventing deforestation and land-use conversion.
  • Overcoming complexity in measuring impacts related to emissions reduction and deforestation by advancing toward comparable, traceable metrics aligned with international standards.
  • Managing tensions between macroeconomic stability and climate ambition across several countries in the region, evaluating risks associated with regulatory incentives, legal certainty, and predictability for long-term investments.
  • Contributing to the depolarization of climate debates through evidence-based narratives that position climate change as a structural, long-term challenge requiring technical solutions, multisectoral cooperation, and institutional continuity beyond political cycles.

Strategic opportunities for our ecosystem

Considering the above, at Latimpacto we recognize that scenarios such as COP30 and Davos generate important articulations and consensus among entire nations. However, we also acknowledge that beyond those discussions lies a call to action that depends on each and every one of us.

The world needs decisive and measurable actions that recognize the value of local knowledge, involve multiple actors from their respective areas of expertise, and contribute to mitigating two of the most pressing global crises: climate change and nature degradation.

At Latimpacto, we are committed to advancing this agenda in a cross-cutting and articulated way across our ecosystem. For this reason, we will continue supporting our members in conversations that bring the ecosystem together, generating knowledge for informed decision-making, learning from concrete success stories, and identifying relevant opportunities in these areas.

We know the coming years will be challenging, but we are convinced that together we can build a more just, inclusive, and resilient impact ecosystem. As part of this ongoing effort, we invite you to our annual conference: Impact Minds, where we will continue the conversation and explore concrete pathways for action.

About Latimpacto

Latimpacto is a regional network that works to mobilize capital and strengthen the impact investing and philanthropy ecosystem across Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 2020, the organization connects philanthropic organizations, corporations, development finance institutions, impact investors, and ecosystem actors to promote collaboration and develop financing solutions that support social and environmental initiatives. Through its work across the capital continuum, from philanthropy and blended finance to impact investment, Latimpacto supports the design of collaborative funding vehicles, ecosystem initiatives, and partnerships that help scale impact-driven organizations and enterprises across the region.

Latimpacto has developed particular experience in climate, biodiversity, culture, education and bioeconomy initiatives, working with multi-stakeholder partnerships, investor engagement programs, ecosystem mapping, and impact management frameworks. The organization has led regional initiatives focused on climate and nature, including the Catalytic Green Fund, investor fellowships, and programs supporting climate and nature-based projects such as InNature Lab.

To learn more about our members, our regional ambition, and the initiatives we support, we invite you to explore our website and follow our work at https://latimpacto.org

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