By Gaulbert Sutherland in Washington
US Secretary of State John Kerry last evening announced a major initiative to fund renewable energy projects in the Caribbean and Central America as the region seeks ways to ensure energy security in the face of a number of challenges.
“USAID funding associated with the Caribbean and Central American renewable energy project is going to come online tomorrow, May 4 and we are going to begin taking project applications right away,” Kerry told a gathering of Caribbean and Central American leaders during a reception at the State Department in Washington yesterday. President David Granger is representing Guyana and several other Caribbean leaders are present at the energy summit in the American capital which opens today. Security issues will also be discussed.
While the US Secretary of State did not disclose the extent of the funding, he emphasised that the energy market is the future even as he pointed out that “last year for the first time in history, more money was invested in clean energy products than in fossil fuel” products.
He said all need to get on board and highlighted the importance of the Paris Agreement against climate change and the importance of moving to cleaner sources of energy.
The Paris Agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The agreement was approved by the 196 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris on December 12 last year. The deal also requires rich nations to maintain a US$100 billion a year funding pledge beyond 2020, providing greater financial security to developing nations to build their defences to extreme weather.
A number of world leaders signed on to the Agreement in New York last month and committed to ratifying it soon to bring it into force which could happen before the end of this year.
Moving to clean and renewable energy is seen as central to the success of the Agreement and energy security will be the central theme of the U.S.-Caribbean-Central American Energy Summit being hosted by US Vice President Joe Biden today.
“The summit builds on the work of the Caribbean Energy Security Summit that the Vice President hosted in January 2015.
Today, the results of the energy task force for the Caribbean and Central America announced by US President Barack Obama last year will be released. The summit is also expected to identify steps that the United States and regional leaders can take to ensure that citizens of these regions achieve a more secure, affordable, and clean energy future”, Kerry said.
Meantime, Kerry urged the leaders to fight against corruption, highlighting the damage the scourge can do to a country’s development.
“Now, more than ever, citizens all around the world are making it clear to everybody that corruption is not going to be tolerated,” he said while pointing out that the Arab Spring, which saw the toppling of leaders in several countries in the Middle East, did not begin based on any religious concept, ideology or extremism but because of corruption.
“Corruption as a whole, robs the future of a country. It steals not just money from citizens, it steals their trust in government,” he said. The US Secretary of State pointed out that in some countries, the people have been robbed of their national wealth as tens of billions have been squirrelled away in bank accounts.
Kerry said that corruption limits the countries’ GDP growth and thus reduces economic opportunity. He said it also disadvantages those businesses that do not want to pay a bribe or cannot pay a bribe who want to have a fair shake and a level playing field.
He highlighted that corporations also have a role to play and was critical of “sweetheart deals” engaged in by corporations and officials.
However, the Secretary of State pointed out that more and more citizens are saying “not anymore” and are working to increase openness and hold leaders to higher standards.
