Climate Action, Climate Finance and Achieving Sustainability
Climate action to reduce harmful carbon emissions, known to cause planetary warming and in turn, disastrous effects on nature and human life is an urgent sustainability consideration.
This year’s Sustainability Day coincided with Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Change Week (LACCW) held in Panama City from October 23-27. LACCW was a crucial convergence point for the region to continue assessing progress, needs and opportunities for meaningful climate action ahead of COP28.
Financing the energy transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy is a significant part of that climate action necessary for sustainable societies. In the Caribbean alone, a recent Roadmap for the Caribbean’s Energy Transition produced by the Atlantic Council, outlines that not only is a transition to renewables necessary, but so too is a complete energy transformation to upgrade outdated energy grids.
The authors write, “For these transformations, we expect the initial cost of energy-sector investments to range from $5 billion to $7 billion.”
Figures from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in 2021, show a total debt to GDP ratio of 74 percent of total GDP (2021 figures) for the 15-member block, recognised as one of the most indebted regions in the world. In essence, while a $7 billion dollar price tag may be modest for many developed countries, it is monumental for the Caribbean; and this is only for the energy transformation. More financing is needed to transform sectors like health and agriculture.
This is why the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator (CCSA) will join with its coalition countries to strongly advocate for the successful implementation of a Loss and Damage Fund agreed at last year’s UN Climate Change Conference, COP 27, at this year’s COP. However, collaboration, private investment and innovation are being pursued on a regional level to drive financial steps to progress.
For the CCSA this means building on its investor forums to match climate-smart projects to investors and actively participating across Latin America and the Caribbean in initiatives to close the climate finance gap.
Most recently, the CCSA was announced as a part of the advisory board of the newly formed Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) Latin America and Caribbean Network launched at LACCW 2023. This network will work with local financial institutions to “accelerate efforts to unlock climate finance in the region.”
The CCSA was also a sponsor of the second Caribbean Investment Forum which took place in October as well, in The Bahamas. Hundreds of attendees including investors, policy-makers and energy players from across the globe met in a push for transformation to a “Bold New Caribbean”.
There is a clear sense that the sustainable transformation the region and the world seeks cannot be done in silos but requires coming together to share, strategize and find solutions.
Join the CCSA in this thrust for sustainable transformation. Visit our funding page to learn about project financing opportunities available now.
