June 9, 2009 

Paula Cobas, national coordinator of REIF, (Renewable Energy Innovation Fund) was a member of the panel "Financing Instruments for Sustainability" at Expo Uruguay Sostenibe.. There she presented the innovative financing instrument of the REIF Program.

REIF is a fund financed by the United Nations to drive the second energy transition in Uruguay; but cooperation funds alone are often not enough to achieve the necessary changes in the timeframe required, which is why Paula stressed the importance of working both with government institutions to align with public policies, as well as with banks and the business sector to catalyze financing. REIF is therefore proposing a new way of articulation between cooperation funds and local actors to achieve greater effectiveness.

The fundamental component of the REIF Program is a trust fund with which certain credit operations are co-financed together with financial institutions. It was selected to finance a sector where there is consensus and a clear goal at the country level, such as the technologies associated with the second energy transition, to work specifically on the transformation of the financial system's view towards sustainability and the generation of capacities in both banks and the business sector.

In Paula's words, "This instrument comes to accompany banks in the transition that they are already making locally and internationally, working to incorporate this vision of sustainability, to incorporate ESG indicators and to think about how we look at investments and how we measure impact. REIF seeks to cooperate to accelerate this transformation and provide them with tools that allow them to standardize practices and processes throughout the sector".

REIF is currently associated with five of the eight banks operating in the country, and the 6th agreement is expected to be finalized in the next few days.

"We hope that (REIF) will serve as a test that opens up the possibility that this could also be applied with other funds and in other sectors that contribute to sustainable development," concluded Cobas. concluded Cobas.