Ep24: Equator Principles

Hernan Pareja, principal investment officer and telecom lead for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Obinna Isiadinso, global sector lead for cloud and data center investments and a senior investment officer at the International Finance Corporation, join Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about data centers. We explore why data centers are an important part of digital infrastructure investment in emerging economies and what is driving demand for new data centers. We also discuss the role of cloud providers and considerations for investors, including project bankability and sustainability of data center projects.

Jessica Espinoza, chief executive officer, and Sana Kapadia, director of strategy, of 2X Global, a global membership organization focused on facilitating gender-smart investing, join Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about "2X Certification," an independent certification mechanism for gender-lens investing. We explore the criteria to achieve certification, what it takes to become a flagship fund and the sources of demand for third-party certification. We also discuss regulatory landscapes where 2X Certification is particularly useful for a fund or investor.

Raj Kumar, founding President and Editor-in-Chief of Devex, joins Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about reforming multilateral development banks. We explore the recent G20-IEG two-volume The Triple Agenda report on strengthening multilateral development banks and discuss the key points from Raj’s book The Business of Changing the World. Raj also shares what he thinks will dominate the climate finance discussion at COP28.

Will Troutman and Stuart Neely, partners with robust experience in human rights and ESG-related compliance issues, join Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about the Equator Principles (EP4) and how they affect project developers. We explore the concept of “human rights due diligence,” key risks for the renewables sector and scrutiny that companies may face regarding human rights performance.

In this episode, we explore gender-lens investing with Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor in emerging markets. Dr. Anne Valto and Lauri Etelämäki, senior advisors leading Finnfund’s work in this area, discuss the investment criteria and requirements for projects and share examples of gender-focused investments. We also discuss current priorities and future prospects for gender-conscious investing.

Cesar Vargas, senior executive, structured finance and infrastructure at CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, joins Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about clean transportation and e-mobility in Latin America. We discuss the current landscape of Latin America’s transportation infrastructure from a climate impact perspective and efforts to develop and finance low carbon transport and infrastructure projects. We also discuss CAF’s energy transition agenda and explore successes and challenges to advancing “green” mobility in the region.

Dante Trevedan and Hernán González, partners in our Mexico City office, join Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about recent amendments to Mexico’s mining law. We discuss what has changed, what it means for the mining industry, what we can expect from implementing regulations, and how existing projects can protect their rights in the face of these changes. We also discuss the potential impact of lawsuits by private parties. Since the recording of this episode, some companies have filed “amparo” lawsuits to block implementation of the mining law amendments.

Sam Kwon, general counsel of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), joins Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about USTDA’s role and approach to supporting project development in emerging markets. We discuss USTDA’s current priorities and outlook for the near future. These include connecting US businesses with renewable and clean energy projects in Southeast Asia, investing in digital infrastructure in Africa, and advancing sustainable development.

Camila Ramos, founder and managing director of Clean Energy Latin America (CELA), joins Sarah Devine and Rebecca Abou-Chedid for a conversation about renewable energy in Brazil. We discuss why distributed generation has made more inroads there than traditional utility-scale generation, what barriers distributed generation companies still face in the country, and more.

In this episode of Earth, Wind and Solar we discuss the “what, why, when and how” of political risk insurance (PRI) with two seasoned professionals: Hoda Atia Moustafa, global head of portfolio management at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and Kenneth Hansen, a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright’s projects group. We explore what risks PRI aims to mitigate, why organizations operating in emerging markets get this coverage, when it comes into play and how MIGA approaches claims. We delve into several examples and the specific considerations and outcomes of having PRI project coverage.