A landmark regional platform to accelerate climate finance and strengthen resilience across the Caribbean was officially launched on Friday, marking a major step toward mobilising investment and coordinated action in response to the climate crisis.
The first-ever Regional Platform for catalysing Resilience and Climate Action in the Caribbean aims to identify and deliver country-focused game-changing investment opportunities while enhancing a regional approach to resilience building in the era of a climate crisis.
The platform was convened under the stewardship of the Prime Minister of Barbados and Chair of CARICOM Mia Mottley.
“For too long, the Caribbean has been sounding the alarm and calling for greater action to build the resilience of our people and to protect us and our countries from the impacts of the climate crisis. Today, we take another step in this regard, with the launch of the Regional Platform for Catalysing Resilience and Climate Action,” Mottley said. “This is our bold collective response to mobilise the scale of finance we truly need to develop projects and boost our capacity. We must not invest in band-aids for the moment, but in game-changing, future-defining solutions to this challenge that confronts us all.”
She said that Barbados, fellow CARICOM nations and global partners have committed to pooling efforts to confront common challenges and to cooperate in strengthening resilience.
“With one voice, we are saying clearly that the Caribbean will not wait, for the moment demands urgency. We will lead. We will innovate. And we will act together,” Mottley declared.
Seven governments have initially committed. Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Grenada, Belize, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines have submitted Letters of Support for their participation in the Regional Platform. Others are expected to join in the near future.
Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Mafalda Duarte, congratulated Caribbean countries on the launch of this pioneering regional climate change programme.
“This first-of-its-kind platform is a powerful example of leadership,” Duarte said. “It reflects a clear vision to turn untapped regional assets such as renewable energy, as well as connectivity challenges, into a strategic investment programme that can ensure energy, water, and food security in the region and beyond, helping others meet their climate goals. The Green Climate Fund is proud to support this effort through our flagship Readiness Programme, the largest instrument of its kind for helping countries make institutional arrangements, undertake relevant technical work, and structure strategic investment programmes that can align and unlock finance at scale.”
The platform aims to deliver a more programmatic, regionally led model for resilience building and climate action. It will mobilise greater public and private sector investment and strengthen coordination in key areas, such as sustainable energy transition, enhanced regional connectivity through resilient transport and related infrastructure, the development of innovative financial instruments that do not increase debt burdens but absorb excess liquidity, and enhancing water and food security.
The participating governments will also seek to better align their educational systems and the resolution of their demographic deficit with the goal of building a common resilience in the Caribbean.
The platform is set to have a Regional Steering Committee, a Secretariat housed in the Caribbean Development Bank, and technical working groups, financial institutions, and support partner networks composed of experts and representatives of partner organisations.
GCF’s Readiness Programme provides grants of up to US$7 million per developing country over four years. The launch countries for the Caribbean platform are committing to using some of their GCF readiness allocations to fund the platform. (CMC)
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