Trinidad and Tobago Energy Minister Stuart Young earlier this month used his address to the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Conference in Port of Spain to assert that securing funding for the smaller countries in the Caribbean to pursue renewable energy undertakings is a consideration that ought to be brought further to the forefront of the wider regional agenda. The smaller countries in the region, particularly, need more funding for renewable energy Young told the gathering at Port of Spain’s Hyatt Regency Hotel on Sunday June 4.
Tagging his pronouncement to an appeal to multilateral agencies to “find ways” to support investments in renewable energy undertakings in the region, Young declared that in his view, the only way renewables can become bankable in some of these jurisdictions is when there is an element of grant funding attached to their financing. ”So, if you’re interested in reducing emissions globally, you have to contribute because smaller countries are not going to be able to afford it,” the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Minister is quoted as saying. A report in the June 5 Trinidad Express quotes Young as saying that even as there are manifestations of a more aggressive lobby for clean energy, Trinidad and Tobago’s main focus continues to be on energy security.
It is much the same in the rest of the region where Guyana is currently aggressively heading in the direction in maximizing its returns from its fortune-changing oil discoveries since 2015. Another CARICOM member country, Suriname, is anxiously waiting to take advantage of the country’s eagerly awaited oil finds in the Guyana/Suriname basin. While the focus of the fossil fuel resources owned by Trinidad and Tobago, and more recently the emergence of Guyana’s oil resources, have amplified the environmental debate in the region, Young asserted that Trinidad and Tobago’s position is that the twin-island Republic is going to do, “with no apologies”, “continue using and utilizing our God-given resources of oil and gas because that is what keeps our economy going.”
Contextually, the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Minister told the gathering that Latin America and the Caribbean have contributed a minuscule amount of greenhouse gas emissions while some of the world’s most populated nations, including China, the United States, and India have contributed to almost half of the world’s emissions. Young said that he, personally, “was pushed to place added emphasis on energy security when the Russia-Ukraine conflict began as it simultaneously highlighted the importance of energy security in developed nations while also derailing initial plans for this country to develop renewable energy sources,” according to the Express report.
Seemingly anticipating that his assertive posture on Trinidad and Tobago maximizing the use of its fossil fuel resources might trigger responses from regional environmental lobbyists, Young told his audience that his position on maximizing the growth opportunities afforded by fossil fuels “did not preclude exploring green energy practices,” even as he outlined Trinidad and Tobago’s capacity for “carbon sequestration.” With policy postures and pronouncements in Guyana increasingly making clear that a mindfulness of environmental considerations will not preclude the use of its oil and gas resources to transform the economy, Young’s address to the regional sustainable energy forum would appear to be seeking to, among other things, help fashion the foundation of a wider regional position on fossil fuel and the environment.
“The Russia-Ukraine war starts. Trinidad and Tobago is in the middle of negotiating the completion of our large solar-scale project, Project Lara. And we saw literally on the table before us the cost of a renewable solar project goes up. Why? Because throughout Europe nowadays, in a gas crisis, they now rush to take the renewable resources of solar etc. These are the realities. The Caribbean region and Latin America need energy security. Our small CARICOM neighbours are desperate for what we take for granted,” Young told the energy forum. He declared that this position did not preclude exploring green energy practices, even as he outlined Trinidad and Tobago’s capacity for “carbon sequestration.”
