Cariforum and the European Commission (EC) recently inked a US$2.45M financing agreement to support the Caribbean in the sustainable management of its energy resources.
A press release from Caricom said as part of its total it is contributing US$200,000. The objective of the project is to increase the contribution from renewable energy sources to the overall energy consumption of Cariforum countries. This will put the Community on track towards “a cleaner, more secure and more competitive energy future, while also making a contribution to the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.”
According to Caricom the Energy Agreement has its origins in a larger programme coordinated by the Inter-national Development Part-ners and is valued US$38M. It targets Cariforum member states, the Economic Com-munity of West African States including the West African Economic and Monetary Union Region, the Pacific ACP states and the Southern African Development Com-munity Region. The Agree-ment aims to contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by reducing poverty through improved Regional cooperation and targeted action for the poor (mainly rural and peri-urban populations) in the energy sector. The EC is contributing more than US$10M to the overall programme.
The common strategy selected to achieve this objective is to support capacity building and institutional strengthening in these four Regions in energy policy making and programme delivery. Specifically, the project seeks to strengthen institutional capacity in the Region to support renewable energy and to address the existing barriers to its deployment. This is expected to be done by supporting the Secretariat’s Energy Desk’s legal and regulatory capability, training stakeholders, facilitating the participation of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and designing and implementing public awareness campaigns. The project also seeks to increase investment in various renewable energy projects, develop national industries and create jobs by making use of existing international risk guarantee mechanisms and exploiting CO2 emission trading opportunities and processes for projects.
Acknowledging the varying challenges between Regions, differentiated Region-specific activities and expected results have been defined. Caricom said for the Caribbean this implies that activities being developed are consistent with the Caribbean Regional Energy Policy which seeks to reduce the Region’s dependence on fossil fuels. It also aims to improve energy access through the removal of barriers to renewable energy use thereby fostering its commercialisation and development.
The agreement was signed at the Caricom Secretariat.
