Press Releases

On December 20, 2021, JICA’s participation as a cooperating organization in an initiative called “Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean” (RELAC) was officially decided.

RELAC is a platform aimed at promoting the introduction of renewable energy in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is a voluntary initiative of countries in the region, established at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) promotes the activity as the leading secretariat. The initiative aims to achieve both economic development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the introduction of renewable energy, and has the ambitious goal of increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the region to 70% or more by 2030. RELAC is working on various measures to ameliorate climate change. Currently, 15 countries (*) are participating, and each country is required to declare its goals for the introduction of renewable energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and others also participate in RELAC as cooperating organizations, and regularly discuss issues in the field of renewable energy in the region with the participating countries and consider solutions.

Through participation in RELAC, JICA plans to quickly identify issues and support needs related to the introduction of renewable energy in the region, working towards timely cooperation.

In March 2021, JICA and IDB signed a memorandum of understanding on expanding partnerships aimed at "Cooperation for Economic Recovery and Social Inclusion (CORE)" in the region. At the same time as promoting quality infrastructure investment, including the field of renewable energy, we are expanding the scope to the fields of disaster prevention and international health, and promoting cooperation with the IDB Group's IDB Lab and IDB Invest to strengthen support for the private sector.

(*) Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay.