Above: Panama City (Photo: Panama Tourism)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Panama is among the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean most-suited to attract capital for low-carbon investment, according to a report from market research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund.

The Climatescope report profiled 26 countries in the region and evaluated their ability to attract investment for low-carbon energy while building a greener economy, looking at 30 indicators to assess the climate for such investment in the region.

Panama was the highest-rated country in the Caribbean, along with several in Latin America, including Brazil and Nicaragua.

“We expect that investors and entrepreneurs will use Climatescope to discover places where value chains, finance and market conditions combine to reveal new business opportunities,” said Nancy Lee, general manager of the MIF. “Climatescope is not intended to be solely an academic tool. Its real value will derive mostly from the new businesses and new investment it helps make possible.”

The Latin American and Caribbean region attracted 10 percent of $260 billion in global investments in new clean energy projects last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data.

“The Latin American and Caribbean region is playing an increasingly important role in the emerging clean energy industry,” said Ethan Zindler, head of global policy analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “But, given the extraordinary natural resources available and the rapidly-growing demand for energy, the region has been fundamentally under-invested.”

Panama was ranked third overall in the region.