Diana CÁRDENAS MONAR
Research Fellow – Tools for financing the transition at the international levelDiana joined I4CE in 2023 to contribute to the development and implementation of projects of the Economics Program with a strong international dimension. Her mission entails collaborating with international partners to share, disseminate and improve methods and approaches developed by I4CE in the French context.
Before joining I4CE, Diana was the General director of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), where she spent two years developing and managing projects involving governments, international organizations, financial institutions, and other civil society partners. In parallel and before this experience, she worked as an independent consultant and government official, notably as Innovation Director at the Central Bank of Ecuador. Over the last 10 years, her work has focused broadly on issues related to climate public finance, energy transition, integrated approaches for adaptation and disaster risk reduction finance, and financial innovation.
Diana holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Territorial Development jointly delivered by three European universities (KU Leuven, University of Paris 1, and University of Padua), a Master in Economics of Planning and Local Development by the University of Paris 1 – Pantheon Sorbonne, and a specialization in Leadership, Climate Change and Cities by the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO – Ecuador/Costa Rica). She is also a graduate in Business and International Relations from the Catholic University of Ecuador.
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13/06/2024
Blog post
After Bonn and towards COP 29: the battle on finance and the role of financing plans for the transition
Tense climate negotiations just ended in Bonn with limited progress on finance and the revised climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. During the opening ceremony of the sixtieth sessions of the subsidiary bodies (SB 60) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Simon Stiell –Executive Secretary– highlighted the need to “make serious progress on finance, the great enabler of climate action” and to aim for bolder, broader and inclusive third generation Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0) that “can serve as blueprints to propel economies and societies forward and drive more resilience”. -
17/05/2024
Foreword of the week
Carbon pricing revenues: their role in financing the climate transition
Last month, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Simon Stiell, stressed how important this and next year are for the achievement of the Paris Agreement and called for “a quantum leap in climate finance” ahead of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund. Indeed, with emissions required to peak before 2025, our window of opportunity is rapidly closing to keep 1.5°C within reach. More and better finance is urgently needed. Carbon pricing policies and their revenues are part of the tools available that can help fill the climate finance gap. -
15/05/2024
Climate Report
Maximising benefits of carbon pricing through carbon revenue use: A review of international experiences
Carbon pricing policies and their revenues are part of the tools available that can help fill the climate finance gap. With raising revenues from carbon taxes and emission trading systems (ETSs) that have tripled since the Paris Agreement, and an upward trend that could continue in the medium-term, ‘how to use carbon revenues’ has become a crucial question. This report, prepared as an activity of the EU-funded European Union Climate Dialogues (EUCDs) project, aims to inform policymakers and practitioners on lessons learned and ways forward on the use of carbon revenues, with a comprehensive approach based on a review of international experiences. -
19/04/2024
Blog post
More and better finance: maximising positive climate impacts for a timely transition
Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, significant strides have been made to foster the commitment of countries and financial institutions to address the climate crisis and ensure that climate risks and opportunities are considered in investments. However, with emissions required to peak before 2025, our window of opportunity is rapidly closing to keep +1.5°C within reach. Financial needs to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to address adaptation priorities are increasing rapidly in the meantime. Luis Zamarioli Santos and Diana Cárdenas Monar, from I4CE, believe that commitment must urgently translate into action, and action must bring the urgent change the world needs. Both governments and public financial institutions have a central role to play to deliver more and better finance, maximising positive impacts. This blogpost highlights some opportunities to advance in the path for a systemic transformation, involving key stakeholders with a whole-economy approach.
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31/08/2023
Blog post
Synergising Sustainable Development Goals Finance with Climate Finance
Sustainable development and climate change are two pressing and interconnected issues that countries have committed to address at the international level. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including climate action, at its core was adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2015. The same year, the Paris Agreement was adopted by Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Both instruments have clear global and national targets in the medium- and long-term that are still far from being met. -
15/06/2023
Blog post
Reforming development finance to enable the sustainable development transition
This blog-post is conducted by [i4ce] and IDDRI. The international community recognizes that the global development finance architecture is no longer fit for purpose. The World Bank, the IMF, and other institutions of the broader development finance system are today asked to invest more in global goods (specifically to fight against climate change and to preserve biodiversity, but their internal structure and the paradigms on which they ground their decisions have not changed since they were created with development – poverty and macroeconomic stability notably – as their main mandate. In this context, it should be no surprise that the response of these international institutions remains inadequate in terms of volume, structure and accessibility.