El Salvador — CLP Cohort Data Summary

CLP Cohort History

El Salvador joined the CLP program in 2023, making it the newest country in CTH's portfolio. Cohort participation has been smaller in scale than Colombia, Costa Rica, or Peru — reflecting both the country's smaller cleantech ecosystem and the absence of a REIN Hub to provide sustained post-cohort support. Startup quality has been concentrated in solar energy and specialty coffee technology.

Cohort Summary

Sector Distribution

Across El Salvador CLP cohorts, sector distribution is: Energy (42%) — dominated by solar deployment and distribution startups leveraging flat terrain and high irradiance; AFOLU (42%) — specialty coffee traceability, drought-resistant agriculture, and agroforestry; Climate Intelligence (16%) — climate data and early warning systems for drought/ENSO events.

Key Observations

El Salvador's CLP participation reveals several patterns: (1) The cleantech ecosystem is early-stage — most startups are pre-revenue or early-revenue; (2) Solar energy has outsized representation due to favorable geography (Pacific-facing, flat terrain, 5.5+ kWh/m²/day irradiance); (3) Coffee sector startups are increasingly EUDR-motivated; (4) The absence of a REIN Hub limits sustained engagement — startups lose momentum between cohort cycles; (5) Dollarization simplifies international investor engagement for those startups that reach investment readiness.

{
  "country": "el_salvador",
  "iso_code": "SV",
  "cth_clp": true,
  "cth_rein": false,
  "gf_taxonomy": false,
  "ndc_year": 2021,
  "eudr_commodities": ["coffee", "cacao", "wood"],
  "schema_version": "1.1"
}