In December 2017, Caribbean leaders announced the formation of a public-private coalition to make the Caribbean the world’s first “climate-smart zone”:

The Caribbean Climate-Smart Coalition aims to find a way to break through the systemic obstacles that stop finance flowing to climate-smart investments. With the right domestic and international reforms, the world can step up – and help unleash the means to catalyse an ambitious US $8 billion investment plan to bring greater energy and infrastructure resilience to 3.2 million Caribbean households. This would help Caribbean islands to eliminate their costly dependency on fossil fuels so that they can meet close to 100% percent of their energy needs from renewable sources, and to embed resilience into communities and livelihoods to realise the bold ambitions of all Caribbean people.

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Caribbean leaders have brought together a Coalition of global organisations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, as well as businesses and supporters from the Caribbean and the international community. The Coalition aims to reinvigorate the islands that have been impacted by recent hurricanes Irma and Maria, and help build more resilient infrastructure and communities across the region as the likelihood of future extreme weather events increases. Coalition members will help to establish partnerships that can make investment deals happen. They will also bring their collective abilities together to break down the technological and financial barriers which represent the last obstacles to Caribbean people grasping the transformational opportunities that are in reach.

Read more about the Coalition at Reliefweb.  See also the Charter of the Climate Smart Coalition [pdf].

[Image: via phys.org]