As part of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for a Sustainable Financial System (REDFIS), we were invited to participate in the LATAM Climate Civil Society Retreat in Mexico City from August 19 to 22.

This event brought together representatives of more than 20 civil society organisations from the Latin American and Caribbean regions working on the climate emergency, alongside leading experts, consultants and journalists specialised in the field. The objective of this meeting, which is carried out on an annual basis, is to explore potential synergies between the civil society movement to present articulate positions before upcoming climate discussions on a multilateral level, such as the upcoming COP 16 on Biodiversity in Cali, Colombia, and COP 29 on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan, later this year.

Ezequiel Steuermann, our Associate Programme Officer on Economic Justice, shared key findings from a policy brief we co-authored during the launch of the REDFIS network. The brief explored the intersection of fiscal policies and climate finance from a Latin American and Caribbean perspective. We highlighted the human rights implications of climate financing and identified promising advocacy opportunities, particularly through the lens of legal obligations under the human rights framework, including international assistance, cooperation and the extraterritorial duties of states for the progressive realisation of economic, social, and cultural rights. These perspectives provide valuable insights when engaging with climate-specific regulations, such as those under the UNFCCC.

In relation to the intersection between multilateral climate debates and other open international negotiation platforms, we led the introduction of a 'silo-breaking' perspective in the deliberations. In this way, we aimed to foster the creation of bridges between the upcoming deliberations of COP 29, where a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) will be determined, and other relevant ongoing multilateral negotiations in the field of economic justice. These include the adoption of the final text of the Terms of Reference for the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation and Brazil's G20 proposal for a global minimum standard for taxing high-net-worth individuals. In this regard, an objective for the future was highlighted: the need to articulate common positions both among the States of the Latin American and Caribbean region, as well as within the internal bureaucracies of each State, such as between climate and tax authorities. The event participants explored concrete steps for future research and advocacy aimed at achieving this direction.

The retreat provided an opportunity to synergise the demands of climate civil society in the region, enabling the definition of collaborative initiatives and promoting the agenda of a just climate transition in the short and medium-term upcoming agenda milestones.