Among our most innovative solutions in progress is the climate-smart agriculture project we are working on in Jamaica.  We are partnering with the private sector to pilot this programme to target at-risk youth and create entrepreneurship while identifying a path to food security for the region.  The project aims to combat the negative impact of future climate scenarios while promoting food security, and building capacity in alternative farming methods in order to provide income.

Investors have been excited by the prospect of this programme and have been coming on board as the cash flows create a fertile opportunity to invest in new solutions that also save foreign exchange by targeting import substitution. The project in its initial iteration will use climate controlled refrigerated shipping containers outfitted with solar powered air conditioning units in collaboration with and following the Simply Mushrooms model from St. Lucia.

Four Caribbean countries are currently piloting the resilience scorecard concept developed by CCSA as part of the Islands Resilience Action Challenge. They are Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman and Dominica. The scorecard aims to help Caribbean nations identify the areas of resilience most in need of investment, and provides empirical data to philanthropists to help them understand the needs and landscape of the region individually or across various countries.  The scorecard also provides an opportunity to highlight priorities while developing a mechanism to attract funding for initiatives.

With mangroves forming a critical coastal ecosystem in the Caribbean that also supports fisheries, this year CCSA collaborated with various execution partners to help accelerate the regeneration of mangroves across the region.

We are currently working as the crucial connective tissue between sectors and across a diverse landscape of partners to create financial solutions that can bring these projects to scale more rapidly. The intention is to catalyse and expand new carbon resilience credits and other innovative financial products linked to blue forests to attract impact investment, and accelerate and scale resilience and adaptation. This will help develop a blueprint for coastal communities around the world aiming to achieve coastal resiliency and sustainability.

One of the key challenges faced by countries as part of their national adaptation plans is finance acquisition. As part of our mission to create financing pathways for projects, we lead a task force that is responsible for the creation of the Caribbean Blended Finance for Resilience Fund (CBFR), a regional blended financial instrument that will provide equity, impact investment, mezzanine, debt and a risk mitigation window for climate-resilient infrastructure.

The Fund will provide opportunities aimed at addressing one of the systemic issues impeding the transition to resilient and sustainable energy in the Caribbean, support both public and private sector climate-resilient infrastructure investments, and facilitate recovery or ‘building back better’ strategies. The CBFR Fund is also in alignment with two of the CCSA’s four focus areas; 90% renewable energy for all and 1.5% new green jobs for physical and economic resilience.

“With the CBFR, countries in the region and investors will have access to a blended financial instrument that can help high-impact solar projects get off the ground,” said Cheryl Senhouse, CCSA’s Finance Innovation Director. “This tool makes acquiring financing for renewable energy transition more accessible to countries who do not possess unlimited resources, and encourages investments that can transform lives and contribute towards Sustainable Development Goals”.

In August, our CEO Racquel Moses was approached to be a UNFCCC Global Ambassador and enthusiastically accepted the role. Racquel is the only Global Ambassador from a Small Island Developing State (SIDS).  “This demonstrates that we serve as the voice not only of the region but also as the voice of SIDS,” said Communications Lead Damon Leon. “ We are working across all SIDS to amplify our needs and to fulfill the promise of climate finance to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

UNFCCC Global Ambassador and Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator CEO Racquel Moses being interviewed on COP26 TV in Glasgow last November.

EXPANDING OUR GLOBAL INFLUENCE

Throughout 2021, CCSA participated in numerous climate-oriented forums and conferences across the world. In October, CCSA went to COP26 in Glasgow with a mission and returned with greater ambition. Our COP26 activation involved a series of meetings and engagements with high-level stakeholders and we also hosted our own COP26 virtual webinar on November 10th 2021 from Glasgow: Caribbean prosperity and sustainability-climate finance as a driver for climate action. Learn more about our COP26 activities on our website.

Blue Economy Development Workshops

In December, CCSA also supported the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in rolling out training for blue economy business development as part of their Blue Economy Project Development Workshop series.

This initiative was targeted to international organisations, donor agencies, business support organisations, non-governmental and governmental organisations, commercial entities, start-ups and nonprofits looking to collaborate, grow and benefit from the blue economy in the CARICOM region. The workshops were designed to enable all projects related to the blue economy to: become investment or grant ready; have access to training on leveraging IP and innovation tools; get access to key resources; gain access to business model development and partners; join a community of inspiring leaders who are serious about establishing the blue economy and; collaborating with projects in other industries.