CATAL1.5°T at the UNCCC Climate week in Panama

Hosted by the Government of Panama in Panama City, the Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week 2023 took place from 23 to 27 October 2023. LACCW 2023 and all the Regional Climate Weeks provide a platform for policymakers, practitioners, businesses and civil society to exchange on climate solutions, barriers to overcome and opportunities realized in different regions.

The CATAL1.5°T Latin American platform took this opportunity to invite speakers from the public and private sector with enhanced understanding regarding the technical, financial and regulatory challenges to overcome for the promotion of Climate Tech entrepreneurship in the LATAM region. They highlighted the potential of the start-up sector to respond to the climate crisis with innovative technological solutions that are scalable and economically viable. At the same time the speakers discussed current challenges that the different stakeholders are facing and indicate possible solutions to overcome these obstacles and focused on the role of governments to strengthen the climate start-up ecosystem in Latin America.

Key messages:

• All efforts must be combined to support start-ups in emerging markets to scale up innovative business models with a measurable climate impact to stay aligned with the Paris Agreement targets.
• A strong ecosystem combining stakeholders from the public and private sector that provide targeted financial and technical support for entrepreneurs with innovative climate solutions is essential for long-term economic growth and competitiveness. Climate tech entrepreneurship ecosystem in LATAM has a great potential to offer mitigation solutions.