Expression of Interest for Towards the Sustainable Transformation of the Buenos Aires Productive Network. Publication Date: 11/06/2025 12:00 AM EST EOI Deadline: 11/19/2025 11:59 PM EST The World Bank has been assisting Argentina in strengthening its environmental policy, through implementation of the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin Sustainable Development Project (P105680) and with the preparation of the Argentina Environmental Management Project (P180028). In this framework, inadequate waste management has been identified as one of the main sources of environmental degradation, while the circular economy and the reconversion of production processes are emerging as key strategies to maximize the use of resources, reduce waste generation, make energy use more efficient and generate new productive opportunities. With the support of the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF) and the ProBlue Fund, the Bank has been working closely with the Province of Buenos Aires on the design of strategic studies and projects aimed at strengthening the transition to more sustainable production and consumption models. These include the formulation of the Provincial Plan GIRSU as a long-term roadmap for comprehensive and inclusive waste management and the development of the executive project of the San Pedro-Baradero Regional Environmental Center, with technical support from the Korea Institute of Environmental Technology and Industry (KEITI). These advances consolidated a process of institutional learning and international cooperation, strengthening the technical capacities of the province and enabling a strategic work agenda at the intersection of environmental management, technological innovation, social inclusion and territorial development. In this process, the technical mission of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Environment to the Republic of Korea in June 2024 was especially relevant, which allowed them to learn first-hand about the Korean strategy on environmental innovation, establish links with companies and international organizations, and identify collaboration opportunities for the development of new projects. Institutional background of the Ministry of Environment Since its creation in December 2021, the Ministry of Environment of the Province of Buenos Aires (MAPBA) has assumed a proactive agenda in the face of the environmental challenges associated with productive development. One of its first structural initiatives was the creation of the Industrial Reconversion and Technological Innovation Program (PRIIT), designed not only to address the environmental impacts of the Buenos Aires industrial sector, but also to promote technological innovation as a key vector of sustainable transformation. Through this program, the Ministry laid institutional and technical foundations aimed at facilitating the ecological transition in strategic productive sectors, with a focus on MSMEs. The strategic relevance of PRIIT was strengthened when it was included in the international cooperation project "Strengthening the Environmental Policy of the Province of Buenos Aires," signed jointly with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This agreement placed the PRIIT on the same level as other structural policies, such as the integrated management of urban solid waste (GIRSU) and the development of regulatory and environmental planning instruments, reflecting a comprehensive vision of environmental policy and positioning technological innovation as a cross-cutting axis of institutional strengthening. This transformative vocation was also expressed in the development of the Provincial Plan GIRSU, which articulated technical capacities and international cooperation to establish a provincial roadmap in the field of waste management. This process also strengthened institutional ties with South Korea, particularly with the Institute of Environmental Industry and Technology (KEITI), whose model was introduced to Ministry officials during a technical visit in 2024. The Korean experience sparked interest in developing a provincial center with similar functions, aimed at promoting technological innovation, technical training and public-private articulation in sustainability. On the other hand, the Ministry promoted key studies to understand the territorial, sectoral and institutional context of the ecological transition in the province. As a strategy for generating evidence-based public policies, the Ministry already has "Guidelines for the Energy Transition", the "Low Emission Hydrogen Roadmap" and the "Provincial Inventory of Greenhouse Gases (updated to 2018 with international methodology)". These studies not only identified sectors that are already undergoing change processes due to multiple "drivers" (economic, technological, market, reputational) but also revealed institutional and regulatory obstacles that limit innovation, reinforcing the need to develop new state capacities and adequate frameworks for their promotion. In the field of circular economy, the development of the Provincial Plan GIRSUpromoted with support from the World Bank and the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF)enabled a new planning process: the Provincial Circular Economy Strategy. It is being developed together with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to overcome current limitations through more comprehensive policy approaches, adapted to the heterogeneity of the Buenos Aires productive fabric. In this regard, the Ministry leads an inter-ministerial roundtable that brings together key areas of the provincial government and other actors for its design and implementation. In parallel, the Ministry began to explore international experiences of green innovation, such as the Green Hub promoted by IDB Lab and Climate-KIC in Latin America, which emphasize the need for multi-stakeholder platforms capable of articulating dispersed capacities, scaling sustainable solutions, and channeling climate finance. This initiatives regional diagnostic was particularly insightful in identifying common structural obstacles, such as institutional fragmentation, the disconnect between policies and capabilities, and weak public-private articulation. These references served as a catalyst for the Ministry to assume an active role in articulating the local sustainable innovation ecosystem. This desire was publicly expressed during the Latin American Environmental Agenda event, organized by MAPBA on July 31 and August 1 of this year, with the participation of companies, chambers such as the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires, international academics, and representatives of global networks such as the Global Compact and Climate-KIC. Within this framework, the Ministry promoted the "Innovation for Sustainable Transformation" roundtable, which made it possible to consolidate the interest and maturity of multiple actors, and marked a turning point to advance in the design of a provincial roadmap for green innovation. Rationale for the Initiative As a result of the institutional process that has been undertaken, the Ministry of Environment of the Province of Buenos Aires has decided to move forward with the design of a better strategy that integrates and strengthens existing initiatives. The purpose is to consolidate a public policy that strengthens the innovation ecosystem for sustainability, favors synergies in value chains, promotes circular economy dynamics, promotes industrial reconversion and improves the competitiveness of the Buenos Aires productive fabric. Currently, the province lacks a systematic and updated diagnosis of the industrial universe, which limits the planning of circular economy policies and productive reconversion. Therefore, one of the central objectives of the study is to produce this mapping as a structural input for the subsequent phases of intervention. In this sense, the development of a technical study is proposed to serve as a basis for defining a roadmap of strategic interventions in green innovation together with a detailed mapping. This initiative seeks to transcend the sectoral and fragmented logic, moving towards a vertical, segmented and territorially anchored intervention model, which summons scientific-technological, business and institutional capacities based on the concrete challenges of sustainability of the Buenos Aires productive framework. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/6210/view.html
