Cuba

Cuba is the most biologically diverse island in the Antilles, characterized by the remarkable values of its natural environment, the great diversity of ecosystems and the high degree of endemism of its resources, making the national territory a representative and unique exponent of regional and world heritage.

It joined the BIOFIN initiative in 2016, with funding from the German government. Its entry coincided with the definition of the Bases of the National Economic and Social Development Plan (PNDES) until 2030, which has Natural Resources and the Environment among its strategic axes. Since that date, it has accompanied the National Biodiversity Biodiversity Programme (NBSAP). In 2017, the State Plan to Combat Climate Change "Tarea Vida" was approved, which has provided the opportunity to work in a coordinated manner on biodiversity and climate change finances.

Among the main results achieved through BIOFIN are: the creation and subsequent consolidation of a formalized institutional platform between the country's key ministries of environment, economy, and finance; the determination for the first time in Cuba of biodiversity expenditure in the period 2010-2016; the budgeting of the 20 NBSAP targets for the period 2016-2020 and the determination of the financial gap to ensure their fulfillment. Of great value was the design and approval of a Biodiversity Finance Plan with 20 solutions, new or being refined, to be implemented until 2025, on which progress has been made in phase II of the initiative, and in its extended phase.

Among the results obtained in phase II, the following stand out: the approval for the first time in the country of a Specific Environmental Accounting Standard, issued by the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP)[1], and the approval of the first Payment for Environmental Service, carbon removal for sustainable forest management[2], a financial solution of the BIOFIN Financial Plan with an innovative character for the country, which is expected to continue scaling up.

Through the SDG F Environmental Finance project and with the support of the BIOFIN initiative, an Enabling Framework for Environmental Finance in Cuba has been formulated and approved, with a roadmap and action plan until 2030, involving actions for biodiversity and climate action. Possible financial solutions to be implemented in the non-state sector have also been identified.

Progress is being made in the greening of Cuban banking, a financial solution in which the entire national banking system is involved. A leadership team has been set up to permanently monitor its progress. Ninety-three training activities have been carried out with more than 4,000 participants (managers and key players) from the banking system throughout the country. Diagnostic tools, manuals, and methodologies on environmental and social safeguards and eco-efficiency in banking have been developed. Work is underway to identify projects with capacities to be worked on as green projects in the project portfolio.

Key challenges include defining the country's biodiversity and climate taxonomies, completing the process of improving the National Environment Fund, and scaling up financial solutions in the non-state sector. Particular attention will be paid to accompanying the costing process of the new NBSAP; monitoring the roadmap drawn up and updating the information required by the digital platform, designed as a management tool for decision-making in the enabling framework of environmental finance.

^[1] Ordinary Official Gazette number 3 dated 25 January 2019, which includes Resolution 925/2018 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, which approves the Specific Environmental Accounting Standard" (NEC No.11). www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu

^[2] Resolution 28/2024 of the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG)