Susana del Granado is an environmental and social officer at IDB Invest based Panama, responsible for evaluating environmental and social impacts and risks of loans, proposing mitigation measures consistent with international best practices, and supervising project performance. Susana holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Policy from the State University of New York at the School of Environmental Sciences and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in United States. She also holds a Master of Science from SUNY-ESF and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (United States). She has a degree in biology from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in Bolivia. As environmental and social coordinator at the Inter-American Corporation for Infrastructure Financing (CIFI), she has evaluated environmental and social risk in highway, hydroelectric, solar, and port projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a senior researcher at the think tank for Advanced Studies in Development (INESAD) she focused on research projects in environmental and ecological economics. She worked as an associate researcher at the Institute of Ecology of La Paz-Bolivia, leading research on adaptation to climate change in Aymara-peasant communities and at the School of Development Studies (CIDES) of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, leading historical comparative studies on non-renewable resource management.
Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors have evolved from externalities to key components of business models, and integral elements of corporate strategies.
Disclosure and transparency on the management of ESG factors provides companies with added value, as many investors are building investment portfolios with ESG factors where only companies that meet certain criteria are eligible.
The point of ESG principles is that they should be integrated into company strategy, for the benefit of shareholders and stakeholders, including investors in emerging markets. Non-financial risk disclosure is following the same historical trend as the financial risk report.
Circular economy (CE) presents an opportunity for an inclusive and resource-smart future. It is also a chance for Latin America and the Caribbean to depart from an incremental into a transformative change.