Author Bio
Luis Alejandro Mejía
Luis Alejandro is an executive with more than 25 years of experience in the financial, corporate, investment, and sustainable development sectors. He currently serves as Principal Officer and Head of Climate and Environment for the Financial sector at IDB Invest, where he leads advisory work for investment funds, financial institutions, and capital markets across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Throughout his career, he has advised on the structuring of pioneering, high-impact thematic instruments, including sustainable, green, blue, and sustainability-linked bonds and securitizations. Before joining the IDB Group, Luis led the development of the first green financing facilities for renewable energy and sustainable transportation and spearheaded the world’s first issuance of forestry carbon credits on NYSE Blue.
In 2011, he received the IDB’s planetBanking Award for his innovative leadership in advancing sustainable finance in Central America. Luis Alejandro is an agricultural engineer who pursued specialized studies in Israel and holds an MBA with a concentration in Sustainable Development from INCAE Business School.
Posts by Luis Alejandro Mejía
Resilient Banking: From Risk Management to Investment Opportunities
Toward a business model that anticipates opportunities to finance resilience investments in assets exposed to extreme natural events.
Integrating Green Finance Into the Core Business of Financial Institutions
Green finance in the private sector was predominantly linked to corporate responsibility. It’s now the time to integrate climate action into the core business of financial institutions.
The Net-Zero Opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean
The abundance of renewable resources places the regional industry well below many of its rivals in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of electricity generated — a unique advantage that can help the region move rapidly towards the net-zero emission target.
Increasing Green Finance Calls for More and Better Impact Reporting
Addressing climate change in the region calls for financial institutions to step up their role in channeling capital towards green investments, including the green transition. It also calls for boosting impact measurement and reporting capacity to avoid green washing.
How a New Sustainable Mindset Will Help Future Construction
It’s important to invest in the construction of buildings that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it is equally, or more, important to create a new financial framework and a new mentality that helps investors direct their funds in this regard.
First Sustainable Bond in Central America, A Regional Trailblazer
Banco Promerica Costa Rica's first sustainable bond issue in Central America paves the way for the region's financial sector to align itself with the latest trends in international finance and refine the environmental and social impact assessment of its operations.