Ecuador’s ‘Blue Bond,’ and the Future of the Galápagos and Green Finance

June 21, 2023 | 10:00 AM-11:00 AM | In-Person

Last month, Ecuador announced the biggest “debt-for-nature” swap in history, including a $656 million “blue bond” that will reduce the country’s public debt and channel millions of dollars to protect the Galápagos Islands. In all, the transaction, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, the U.S. Development Finance Corporation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, will reduce the country’s debt service by $1.1 billion and make available $12 million a year for conservation spending and $5.4 million a year for a fund for marine conservation. Ecuador’s “blue bond” continues Latin America’s leadership on “green financing,” following a successful “blue bond” issuance by Barbados and sustainability-linked bonds issued by Chile and Uruguay.

Please join the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (ET), for an in-person conversation with Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gustavo Manrique Miranda and Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries Julio José Prado about Ecuador’s ambitious conservation agenda, its historic “blue bond,” and the potential for similar innovations in “green financing” in Latin America to pay for bold responses to the climate and biodiversity crises.