Victor Cardenas-Santiago
Climate risk consultant and applied researcher. Twenty years at the intersection of government policy, multilateral development banks and private financial markets.
Practitioner first, researcher by necessity
Senior advisor with more than twenty years designing sovereign catastrophe risk transfer instruments across thirty countries. Conceived Mexico’s first sovereign catastrophe bond in 2006 from within the Ministry of Finance — the transaction that seeded the World Bank’s MultiCat Program — and in 2009, as part of the World Bank team, helped structure its first issuance under that program. Built the first ENSO-linked parametric risk financing instrument for microfinance in South America.
Recent work spans Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Vanuatu), the Caucasus (Armenia) and West Africa (Niger, Burkina Faso) with UNDP and ADB; disaster risk financing support across Central and South America with the IDB and the World Bank; the first sovereign-developed disaster fund in East Africa; and — in the private sector — a critical infrastructure climate risk assessment covering 25,000 assets for Latin America’s largest telecommunications operator.
Doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. Research spans climate credit risk, compound flood risk to coastal infrastructure, climate risk disclosure by British Columbia companies, and the cost of capital of renewable versus fossil-fuel energy projects. Trusted advisor to the World Bank, UNDP, IDB, ADB and national governments. Combines rigorous analytics with executive communication.
What the work is built on
Engagements & Collaborations
