Santiago MacIa

About Santiago MacIa

With over 20 years of experience in climate strategy, climate risk management, sustainability, and business development, I have built a career at the intersection of finance, heavy industry, infrastructure, and energy, helping organizations translate climate and sustainability ambition into measurable, decision-ready action.I currently serve as Climate Risk Management Officer at IDB Invest, where I lead the integration of climate-related risks into the Bank’s enterprise risk management framework. My work focuses on strengthening methodologies that link climate with financial risk at the portfolio level (USD $14 billion), ensuring climate considerations are embedded across investment decisions, portfolio supervision, and reporting. I prepare quarterly climate risk reports for executive management committees, coordinate sector- and region-specific portfolio analyses, provide guidance on transactions with high climate materiality, and conduct environmental and social risk assessments and due diligence.Previously, I led IDB Invest initiatives supporting over 20 financial institutions in emerging markets to strengthen their climate risk management capabilities, including the development of a TCFD/ISSB self-assessment tool and advisory work on governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics.Before joining IDB Invest, I served as Director of Climate Change for a multinational cement group, where I designed and implemented the corporate climate strategy, managed over 8 million tons of CO₂ annually across 400 facilities in 14 countries, and led multidisciplinary teams to reduce climate risks and operational vulnerabilities.I also held the role of Director of New Business Development at Argos USA, the fourth-largest cement producer in the United States, where I identified and executed new business initiatives across logistics, materials, and construction solutions, building a pipeline with USD 11MM in revenue potential.As a consultant, I have advised organizations in the energy, infrastructure, cement-mining, and financial sectors, conducting benchmarking, gap assessments, and regulatory analysis to strengthen sustainability strategies, ESG reporting, and climate risk management. I have worked extensively with multilateral development banks, private sector organizations, regulators, and industry associations across Latin America and the Caribbean, contributing to low-carbon plans, policies, and institutional capacity building.

Experience

1. Risk Management Officer - Climate-related Financial Risk

   BID Invest

   Dec 2022 — Present · Washington, DC, US

   Coordinate sector/region specific portfolio analysis toidentify and assess climate risks, trends and lessonslearned- Develop and enhance methodologies to link non-financial risk and financial risk, particularly at the portfolio level, with aview toward stress testing- Coordinate the integration of climate risk oversight andreporting at the corporate level to foster risk awarenessthrough lessons learned and knowledge building- Coordinate the IDB Invest TCFD Working Group andlead the Annual IDB Invest Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reporting, liaising with IDB counterparts and engaging with other MDBs and relevant external stakeholders- Collaborate and liaise closely with other Departments on climate-related issues and act as the Risk Management Department’s focal point on climate-related issues- Provide guidance and input as needed on transactions with high climate-related materiality-Contribute to ensure implementation and maintenanceof policies and procedures. Identify issues, operational opportunities that are systemic, thematic, or of policy nature, with the goal of promoting coherence and consistency in IDB Invest institutional approach towards environmental, social and climate risk assessment.

Education

• Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia

  Bachelor's degree, Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering

  1997 — 2002

• Universidad EAFIT

  Specialization in Project Management, Project Management

  2004 — 2005

• Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquia

  Certified in Theory of Constraints (TOC), Administration

  2005 — 2005

• Leuphana Universität Lüneburg

  Certified Sustainability Management, Sustainability

  2006 — 2006

• Leuphana Universität Lüneburg

  Professional Training in Sustainability Management, Sustainability

  2006 — 2007

• Universidad de Medellín

  Certified Marketing and Sales, Marketing

  2004 — 2004

• Leuphana University

  Master of Business Administration (MBA), Sustainability Management

  2006 — 2008