How Latin America can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

The author argues that Latin America and the Caribbean are at a crossroads and must implement an environmental "big push" to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This requires shifting toward knowledge-intensive sectors, closing infrastructure and energy gaps with low-carbon investments, and leveraging big data for public good. The document emphasizes the need for renewed public-private partnerships, strengthened regional integration through environmental value chains, and coordinated fiscal standards to attract high-quality investment.

• To achieve the 2030 Agenda, Latin America and the Caribbean must transition from a "business as usual" model toward a structural environmental "big push" that integrates Sustainable Development Goals into national, local, and corporate strategies.
• The region needs to address investment cycle breaks by creating public and private portfolios that target energy and infrastructure gaps while prioritizing low-carbon production and consumption patterns.
• As the world's most urbanized region, with more than 80% of people in cities, Latin America should focus urban innovation on low-energy buildings, wastewater and solid waste treatment, and traffic and public transport management.
• Regional integration remains insufficient; the author suggests boosting intraregional trade and developing regional value chains specifically for environmental services and goods.
• The region should coordinate to prevent a "race to the bottom" by applying common environmental, social, and fiscal standards to attract foreign direct investment and controlling illicit capital flows.

APA

Ibarra, A. B. (2016). How Latin America can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/stakeholder-capitalism/how-latin-america-can-help-achieve-the-sustainable-development-goals/

Chicago

Ibarra, Alicia Brcena. How Latin America can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. World Economic Forum, 2016. https://www.weforum.org/stories/stakeholder-capitalism/how-latin-america-can-help-achieve-the-sustainable-development-goals/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Ibarra |first1=Alicia Brcena |title=How Latin America can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=15 June 2016 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/stakeholder-capitalism/how-latin-america-can-help-achieve-the-sustainable-development-goals/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{ibarra2016how, author = {Ibarra, Alicia Brcena}, title = {{How Latin America can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2016}, month = jun, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/stakeholder-capitalism/how-latin-america-can-help-achieve-the-sustainable-development-goals/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }