It is for this reason, that the Community must continue to strongly advocate for climate justice and climate finance. Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, who assumed the Chairmanship of CARICOM on 1 July 2025, pledged that his country will be a “strong advocate” on the climate front. He made the commitment at the opening ceremony of the Forty-ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM on 6 July in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Climate finance, a matter of “the Region’s survival and prosperity”, was one of the key items on the agenda of the Meeting.

“For others, the issue of climate change may be an academic discussion between scientists trying to determine whether the data set is accurate or whether historically, climate has changed overtime, and therefore climate changing now is nothing new. But last year, just around this time, Jamaica was staring down the earliest forming and perhaps the quickest forming Category 4 hurricane, which devastated a third of our island. So, for us, climate change is not an academic discussion; climate change is real. We live it almost every day. The impact of this has to be understood at the fiscal level, need for financing, but certainly because of our size,” he pointed out during his address at the opening of the Conference.

Dr Holness added that as the Region prepares for COP30 in Brazil later this year, “our call is urgent and clear: the promises of the Paris Agreement must be met—both in emissions reductions and access to climate finance at the level and scale required.”

REITERATED their commitment to further strengthen relations between the Caribbean Community and the Republic of Colombia, to advance regional cooperation as an important instrument to achieve sustainable and inclusive development in each of their States, as well as regional integration and coordination mechanisms in which they share membership, and to renew their support for the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

AFFIRMED their commitment to face the global triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Noting that despite current efforts to maintain the goals set out by the Paris Agreement, these challenges continue to pose an existential threat to humanity;

ACKNOWLEDGED the intrinsic relationship between climate change and biodiversity loss, and the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their value-systems and ancestral knowledge for the protection of ecosystems, and the adaption and mitigation of the effects of climate change;

HIGHLIGHTED the importance of South-South Cooperation as a strategic tool for foreign policy that may allow the promotion and strengthening of best practice exchanges and knowledge-sharing, oriented towards capacity building underlined by solidarity, replicability, and horizontal cooperation;

EMPHASIZED the relevance of developing high added value, integrated and sustainable cooperation projects, with the support and commitment of all technical government bodies for the implementation of concrete solutions to local and shared challenges;

ACKNOWLEDGED the importance of the development of projects such as “ImPARAbles” for the Caribbean Paralympic Development, as well as strategies and successful experiences in terms combating of cybercrime, cooperative emergency response within Urban Search and Rescue operations, and digital agricultural projects completed with the support of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI);

COMMITTED to promote the development of cooperation projects within the Colombia-CARICOM, Joint-Commission of Technical, Cultural, Educational and Sports Cooperation. Furthermore, the Member States expressed their commitment to issue invitations to their corresponding technical government bodies to participate in the different activities within the approved 2023-2025 Joint-Commission project framework. With a view to continue our cooperation in these areas, both sides agreed to proceed with the negotiations and approval of the III iteration of the Joint-Commission in 2026, which will be based upon Colombian shared best practices found within the Colombia Supply Portfolio presented at this Summit and focus on areas such as sustainable development and climate change, disaster management, financing for development, renewable energy, health and tourism, among others;

UNDERSCORED the importance of strengthening and enhancing trade relations between CARICOM and Colombia. In this regard, CARICOM and Colombia have committed to redouble efforts to revitalize their bilateral trade relationship, including through the current negotiations to expand preferential market access under the CARICOM-Colombia Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (TECA). The negotiations will serve to consolidate and update the Agreement with a view to promoting trade between the Parties and providing a critical base for export and market diversification within the context of current global geopolitical realities.

AGREED to convene the IV CARICOM-Colombia Ministerial Summit in the next two years, for the purpose of reviewing and examining the implementation of the agreements reached herein, and to continue a high-level dialogue.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community expressed their gratitude to the Colombian Government for convening and hosting the III Ministerial Summit in the City of Cartagena.

Ministers considered the compounding impacts of the planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, as well as the economic uncertainty due to external shocks, and limited institutional and financial capacity. They noted that the Region’s survival continues to be severely challenged, and time for securing a sustainable future is fast running out.

Ministers remained concerned that as the years progress, the Region’s vulnerability is increasing while its access to climate finance on concessional terms is increasingly limited, resulting in the smallest allocations amongst all groupings. Concern was also expressed about the insufficient funding for adaptation and resilience building, against the background of increasing loss and damage resulting from the growing frequency and intensity of climate-linked disasters.

In this regard, Ministers viewed the Fourth International SIDS Conference as historic, presenting an opportunity to chart a new course to resilient prosperity of Small Island Developing States, building on the outcomes of the previous three conferences. Ministers were unified in the call that the special case for SIDS must be reaffirmed. They pledged their full support to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, host of the Fourth SIDS conference and indicated that there is a special onus on CARICOM SIDS to lead the charge. Ministers committed to the implementation of the new Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) as a platform for concrete actions to address the unique vulnerabilities of SIDS.

Considering that COP29 will be a “finance COP,” Ministers emphasized that the special circumstances of Small Island Developing States, which have been affirmed in the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, are a main priority for the Region and must be operationalized throughout the climate change policy agenda and appropriately reflected in the decision establishing the new collective quantified goal on climate finance.

In this regard, Ministers called for 1.5 degrees Celsius limit above preindustrial levels to remain the north star for mitigation ambition; that the best available science be the technical basis for defining the ambition of updated Nationally Determined Contributions and provision of adaptation finance; and that finance, capacity-building and technology transfer be adequately provided to maintain global warming limit below 1.5 to meet the objectives of Paris Agreement. Ministers called for developed countries to take the lead in delivering mitigation plans and financial commitments commensurate with an ambitious 1.5 aligned agenda. Finally, Ministers affirmed that the new finance goal must also assure protection for the most vulnerable having regard for their needs and priorities for adaptation and for responding to increasing loss and damage now.

As we head to COP 29, Ministers stated that SIDS issues on access, quality, and transparency of climate finance must be reflected in the draft substantive framework to be prepared for the negotiations of the New Collective Quantifiable Goal. In addition, the Ministers emphasized that the new climate finance goal can support the roles of regional and national direct access entities in facilitating and mobilizing access to finance.

The Ministers also considered the Region’s progress in ratification of the New Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Treaty. They congratulated the Government of Belize as the first Caribbean country to ratify the treaty and noted the progress made by other CARICOM Member States in preparing to sign or ratify. The Ministers noted the strong linkages between the BBNJ Treaty with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the international dialogues on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources and called on the CARICOM Multistakeholder Advisory Group on BBNJ to pay close attention to these linkages.

The Ministers of Environment remained deeply concerned about the unsustainable linear plastic production models that have impacts on human health and resulting in untenable amounts of plastic pollution leakage into every ecosystem on earth. Ministers committed to continue strong engagement, in partnership with AOSIS, in the final stages of the global plastic pollution treaty negotiations to secure an ambitious treaty that substantially reduces harmful chemical compounds in plastic products, provides a framework of support for remediation of legacy plastics pollution, reduces single-use plastics and micro plastics, and promotes circular approaches.

Ministers underscored that technology transfer and innovation in key sectors are critical to SIDS, engagement of civil society and in particular, youth and community groups and robust data systems to monitor and evaluate impacts of interventions, regional collaboration and knowledge sharing among SIDS, must drive implementation.

Ministers called for a unified and collaborative approach as the Region participates in the high-level engagements scheduled for 2024. Recognising that the Fourth SIDS Conference presents an opportunity for recalibration to place SIDS on the path to resilient prosperity, they urged the active engagement of Member States, partners and stakeholders.

MAY 2024

Salutations: Excellencies, Fellow Panelists, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

I thank the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, ON, OCC, OE, KC, Statesman in Residence, for this initiative which provides an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences on strengthening cooperation in the pursuit of development and prosperity of the Caribbean and Africa.

It is my pleasure to present along with the distinguished members of this panel, Professors Taylor and Akinola, on the matters of climate change mitigation strategies.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation is a standing agenda item at the highest level of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the Meetings of the Conference of Heads of Government. Sustainable Development, including Environment and Disaster Management and Water, is a portfolio assignment in the CARICOM Quasi-Cabinet, with the Lead Head being the Honourable Prime Minister of Saint Lucia.

Governments of the Region have begun to take steps to reduce emissions and contribute to a global solution. You therefore see a blend of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the Nationally Determined Contributions of our Member States, indicating how they intend to reduce emissions over a five-year period. This is notwithstanding that, while the Caribbean as a whole contributes negligibly to the global emissions that accelerate climate change, we along with the rest of the developing world bear the brunt of the impact of climate change.

We engage in the cyclical process of negotiating, which for many of us is survival, in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that should be leading to reduced global emissions. During these annual cyclical negotiations, we seek to ensure a circular flow of information from technical to ministerial officers, to Heads of Government, who then [provide] feedback with policy guidance and direction. This [approach] recognizes that matters of climate change mitigation and adaptation, access to funding to address the challenges we face, and the effectiveness of the commitments to the reduction of emissions by the Global North – which group of countries is responsible for the greatest proportion of the emissions that drive climate change – climate negotiations, in general, are at this stage determined primarily as matters of policy and diplomacy, not of science.

In this process of articulating policy and agreeing positions in the global negotiations that surround climate action, greater collaboration and coordination between Africa and the Caribbean can make a world of difference to both regions.

Despite the lethargy of global action, CARICOM is committed to climate resilience as a crucial developmental imperative. Our efforts will be advanced in May this year when Antigua and Barbuda will host the Fourth International Conference on Small Island and Low-lying Coastal Developing States (SIDS), from which the expected outcome is a new 10-year plan of action for SIDS that is agreed between SIDS and international partners. We are in a lengthy battle that will require the active engagement of our best minds and extensive participation, including from civil society and young people from the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond.

There is already a foundation of cooperation between Africa and CARICOM. At the First Africa-CARICOM Summit in 2021, both sides engaged on common challenges and opportunities and discussed critical global issues. These included the impacts of climate change, and the need for urgent global action and financing to support adaptation and mitigation investments in the developing world. The Leaders reaffirmed commitments “to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels as called for in the Paris Agreement”.

CARICOM and Africa already have a record of cooperation as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Africa Medical Supplies Platform provided much-needed assistance to CARICOM countries to access vaccines. The opening of an Afreximbank office in Barbados to drive trade and investment between Africa and CARICOM, will hopefully lead to investments in renewables, climate-smart technologies and in other areas.

At the policy level, CARICOM has traditionally had a strong voice in the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which also counts African countries among its members. We look forward to coordinating with all our partners so that we can more effectively pursue efforts in the global space to address the existential threat that climate change poses to our Regions and our planet.

Two things that we can do better together- and I am limiting myself to just two at this time because there are many more: (i) pursuing a transition to renewable energy and energy efficiency; and (ii) leveraging natural assets – our forests and seas – to balance the global carbon footprint.

Like most developing and largely post-colonial countries, we in the Caribbean are faced with heavy dependence on costly imported oil, ageing power infrastructure, and vulnerable electrical grids. We are all vulnerable to fluctuations in both prices and supply within the global oil markets which exacerbate the Region’s energy insecurity and susceptibility to the impacts of climate change.

Renewable energy and energy efficiency are cornerstones for building resilience in our Region. We do this primarily to provide secure and sustainable supplies of energy and minimise energy waste across all sectors. We are implementing projects to transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient energy sources – whether solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, green hydrogen – in various CARICOM countries. The transformation of the energy sector is supported through the CARICOM Energy Policy and the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy.

Estimates of what is needed to upgrade the Region’s power sector with modern, efficient, alternative energy options and increased generation capacity are north of US$11 billion. We need to add to that the investment necessary to modernize the power grids to reduce energy loss and increase disaster resilience. The reality is that much of the technology we need must be sourced from the global north and access to technology is difficult, even if we can meet the high cost.

Efforts to build energy security are also underway in Africa, and there is a great opportunity to share knowledge and work together to support advances in transition to renewables.

The second mitigation strategy is the great potential of leveraging nature to balance the carbon footprint by the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. CARICOM Heads of Government have placed renewed regional focus on advocacy to include forests, nature-based solutions, and blue carbon into market mechanisms.

New sources of finance for resilient development of the Region are possible through existing forest conservation programmes and carbon credit schemes. But there is a clear need for clarity of purpose, as well as transparent accounting and reporting systems. In particular, in the absence of effective commitment by all to transparency of process, we run the risk of being once again marginalised in an evolving system that could be helpful to developing states but could likely not be if we do not work more effectively together.

The potential for all developing states, to combine conservation goals, carbon sequestration and development financing through blue carbon and blue bond initiatives, in both private markets and bilateral arrangements, requires coordination and collaboration among all of us. There is much that can be done together if we sit together, work together, negotiate together and stand strong together.

The Caribbean has been at the forefront of increasingly frequent climate-related disasters. In the 2017 hurricane season, we had a record-breaking number of category five storms and hurricane names that have been retired because of the death and destruction they left in their path. We have strong Institutions, such as The University of the West Indies, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and others, which coordinate scientific research, technical support and disaster response in our Region.

We – Africa and the Caribbean – are well within common strategic priorities for Caribbean institutions and African institutions to continue to build strong relationships to share knowledge and experience as we seek to stay alive, develop and prosper, even as the unfair and unequal impact of climate change advances upon us.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, there is a lot of work that has begun, and there is much more that we need to do together in the mutual interest of the Caribbean and Africa.

Thank you.

The event was convened to demonstrate continued Small Island Developing States (SIDS) leadership and ambition and tounderscore the need for immediate climate action internationally.  Hosting this event prior to the 12 December 2020, Climate Ambition Summit to be hosted by the United Nations, United Kingdom and France to celebrate the Paris Anniversary, served to amplify the voice of CARICOM SIDS.

The event featured addresses by Lord Tariq Ahmad, UK Minister for the Commonwealth, Ambassador Irwin La Rocque Secretary General of CARICOM and Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre.

In his opening address to the Event Lord Tariq Ahmad, UK Minister for the Commonwealth said:

“As small island states, Caribbean countries are on the frontline of the climate crisis. Their leadership in tackling climate change, even in the face of COVID-19, is an inspiration. I hope at tomorrow’s Climate Ambition Summit, other countries match the innovation, ambition and commitment demonstrated at today’s CARICOM Moment of Ambition Summit.

“The UK will use our COP Presidency to accelerate progress, increase global ambition and motivate urgent, targeted action to protect climate-vulnerable countries from the impacts of climate change.”

The CARICOM SG praised Member States for their leadership in articulating ambitious revised Nationally Determined Contributions.  He noted however that SIDS ambition will not get us close to the 1.5 temperature goal and called for increased ambition by the international community. 

In signalling his concern he noted

“What is also abundantly clear in the five years since Paris is that the Caribbean cannot afford the cost of the catastrophic consequences of climate change. We also cannot afford the cost of adaptation”

Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre in his remarks noted that CARICOM NDCs are in line with the Region’s negotiating position going into Paris. Analysis of the NDCs found that they are focused mainly on mitigation and generally reflect interventions in sectors with the greatest greenhouse gas emissions such as energy, agriculture and industrial processes and product use.

The Event featured presentations by H.E Pearnel Charles, Jr, Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change Jamaica, H.E Silvano Tjong-Ahin, Minister of Spatial Planning and Environment  Suriname,  H.E Simon Stiell, Minister for Climate Resilience Grenada and  H.E Adrian Forde, Minister of Environment and National Beautification Barbados on their countries’ NDCs

H.E Hon. Ramon Cervantes, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration Belize, shared reflections on the accomplishments of Belize during their two-year tenure as Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

All Ministerial interventions included pledges of support for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda as incoming chair of AOSIS taking over from the Government of Belize, the outgoing chair.

The event was rounded out with presentations by the youth- a

statement by AOSIS Fellow, Brittany Meighan of Belize and a

Creative Performance by Deneka Thomas, Spoken Word Poet from Trinidad and Tobago.

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was more than just another international agreement on another complex international issue.  It reflects the acknowledgment and acceptance that climate change is a global issue requiring global solutions.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is therefore deeply dismayed and disappointed by the decision of the United States to withdraw from the Agreement.

For us Climate Change is an existential threat.  As members of a Community of Small-Island and Low-Lying Coastal Developing States (SIDS), the reality of climate change is making itself manifest to us, especially given that our Region is the most prone to natural disasters globally.

The need for global action to combat this phenomenon is past urgent.  As one of the prime contributors to the emissions which continue to push global temperature rise to an untenable level, the leadership of the United States in efforts to curb the warming of the planet is an important factor.

Abdication of that responsibility sends a negative signal particularly to those of us most vulnerable to the effects of climate change despite the fact that we do little or nothing to contribute to its causes.

However, CARICOM is encouraged by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Nations remains firmly committed to the Paris Agreement.  Our own commitment will never waiver. Our existence is at stake.

The Paris Agreement on climate change will enter into force today, 4 November 2016, thirty days after the required minimum of States (55) – accounting for 55 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions – ratified the convention.

The central aim of the Agreement is to keep global temperature rise during this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to try to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius (the level pushed by CARICOM during the Paris negotiations). This commitment supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (Climate Action) and 12 others that include targets addressing climate change.

Countries will begin to tackle implementation of the Paris Agreement when COP22 (the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)) convenes in Marrakech, Morocco from 7 to 18 November 2016. The CARICOM Secretariat will joint several CARICOM Member States at this meeting.

At this first meeting of the parties to the Agreement, areas of focus will include emissions reduction, resilience, finance, transparency, technology transfer, migration, capacity building, and loss and damages.

CARICOM MEMBER STATES – DATES FOR SIGNATURE AND RATIFICATION

 This is the warning given by UWI Professor Emeritus and former Assistant Secretary General for Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat,  Dr.  Edward Greene, to a large audience at the UWI Distinguished Open Lecture at the UWI, St Augustine on 21 June 2016.

In his presentation entitled, Climate Change: The Future of the Caribbean, Dr.  Greene referred to the Paris Agreement, ratified by 192 nations of the UN, as a landmark declaration aimed at keeping global warming below 2 degree Celsius. According to him, “for the first time there was a global commitment to pursue efforts to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius”. 

Tracing the journey to Paris, Dr. Greene commended CARICOM and the leadership of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs)  for the  campaign 1.5 to stay alive, initiated in 2009 ahead of the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen –   “the CARICOM Campaign is to be celebrated” he said.

Noting that the objectives of the Paris Agreement requires multi-sectoral action, he illustrated their  linkages  with many of the sustainable development goals, especially those related to: food, nutrition and sustainable agriculture; gender equality and empowerment of women and girls; access to affordable and clean energy; and ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all ages.

Dr Greene who chaired the CARICOM Steering Committee on Climate Change during the period 2008-2010, pointed out that the implementation of the agreed CARICOM Plan for climate resilience is a step that could catalyze the Region’s integration movement; but that it required game changers. In this regard he identified the special role of the Universities and other institutions of higher education; making functional cooperation pivotal to the climate change enterprise; investing in the renewable energy sector; engaging schools and communities; and involving the people, civil society, in climate decisions and actions as priorities.

 He also pointed to the need for overcoming the challenges and the gaps to be addressed by the Region, which he identified as including insufficient development of climate impact models, inadequate early warning systems, insufficient venerability studies and inadequate technical, institutional and financial capacity.  But Dr. Greene is worried “that rampant nationalism stands in the way of a viable Caribbean Community that is a prerequisite to deliver on the priorities of climate change “.

The sourcing of adequate financial resources to fund activities for climate adaption and mitigation and for risk reduction was deemed equally important by the former Assistant Secretary-General. Drawing on a series of studies, he concluded that by 2050, the overall cost of inaction will revolve around   losses and damages for the Caribbean, in absolute terms estimated to a total of US $22Billion annually or 10 percent of GDP.

He called on the University if the West Indies to seriously consider a Consortium Graduate School for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean and  on CARICOM to establish a Commission of Caribbean Community Climate Change Implementers.

“I believe that the Climate Change agenda and the bold actions we must take provide a golden opportunity for the revival and strengthening of the regional movement and for the sustainable future of the Caribbean” he concluded.

by Voldering Hackett

The participation of 175 signatories far exceeded the historical record for first-day signatures to an international agreement, a UN report said.

“The world will have met the requirement needed for the Paris Agreement to enter into force,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “if all 175 Parties that have signed today take the next step at the national level and join the Agreement.”

“Fifteen countries submitted their ratifications during the signing ceremony including small island developing countries that are on the frontlines of climate impacts,” the report added.

UN documentation published after the signing reveals that Belize, Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia were among those 15 states which have also deposited instruments ratifying the treaty.

We note that the formal process for ratification in Belize requires the approval of the Senate, the Upper House of Parliament in Belize, which is controlled by the ruling party.

All Central American countries, except for Nicaragua, also signed the Paris Agreement, but apart from Belize, no other country in Central America has deposited its instrument of ratification for it.

“As members of SIDS [small island developing states], CARICOM was the first to call global attention to climate change—at a time when others were ready to dismiss those nascent warnings as apocalyptic theatre,” said CARICOM chair, Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, at the event in New York.

SIDS and CARICOM in particular, would be among those severely impacted—if not decimated—by the adverse impacts of climate change, Barrow said.

The Caribbean Climate Change Center has shared the results of a study by Krins Karnauskas, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, which indicates that 73% of islands will become substantially more arid by mid-century, up from an estimate of 50 percent, posing a threat to food and water security.

“In 2009, the world knew already that our survival was at stake; yet it took a veritable label of Sisyphus—six long years of drawn-out battle to finalize an agreement validating our hopes and vindicating our rights,” the CARICOM chair said.

He warned, though, that the aim to reduce global warming by 1.5% is threatened on the current trajectory, and underscored that the problem is “a matter of survival for our region.”

“A child born in one of our SIDS today may very well see her home disappear within her lifetime,” said Barrow, adding that it is essential that unrelenting pressure be maintained to realize the aims of the Paris Agreement.

“Everyone must play a part,” he added, underscoring the need to “act together, act urgently act now… to get absolutely right an existentially fraught climate future that is already upon us.”

“Even as the agreement was adopted, countries recognized that present pledges to reduce emissions were still insufficient to reach these goals. The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to review progress, and to consider whether it is necessary to increase ambition,” the UN report said.

Barrow also spoke of the need for an equitable climate financing mechanism, and the promise in the Green Climate Fund as an effective implementation mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), against the backdrop of latest developments of the financial landscape of the Caribbean.

That landscape has changed substantially with de-risking, which Barrow said has been depriving domestic financial institutions of correspondent banking relations and threatening to lock already small economies out of the international trade regime.

At the meeting, companies were challenged to put a US$100 price tag on a metric ton of carbon they emit.

“As world leaders from the US and more than 150 countries gather on April 22 to sign the Paris Climate Agreement, more than 100 leading companies joined together to welcome the agreement and call for the US economy to shift to a low-carbon future,” the companies said in a joint statement Friday. They include Adidas, Du Pont, eBay, Hewlett Packard, Ikea, Kellog’s, Timberland, and Philips.

by Adele Ramos

See also:

Jamaica urges strong action – Foreign Minister – VIDEO

Trinidad and Tobago committed to maximizing renewable energy – Foreign Minister – VIDEO

Expect more sever weather if no greater commitment to lower temperature rise – Minister Fletcher – VIDEO

Recent weather events show Region’s vulnerability to climate change – PM The Bahamas – VIDEO

International Community urged to scale up climate change financing – Antigua and Barbuda’s PM – VIDEO

PM Stuart proud to have chaired CARICOM’s efforts at Paris Climate Change Negotiations – VIDEO

St. Kitts – Nevis aiming to be first green country in the world – PM Harris – VIDEO

Paris Agreement a hopeful step – Minister Gonsalves, SVG: VIDEO

“We saw our community operating at its best on the international front in Paris,” Ambassador LaRocque stated emphatically as he reflected on the 30 November to 11 December conference that led to the approval of an historic Climate Change Agreement by 195 countries.

“The coordination was superb. I want to say hats off to our negotiators, led by Minister Jimmy Fletcher, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development in St. Lucia and of course the role played by all our Ministers and our Heads of Government. I was there feeling very proud. We were of a single mind. We were one body with several parts working together in unison to achieve a set of goals that we had set. We left Paris with … our objectives being addressed in the Agreement,” the Secretary-General added.

Minister Fletcher agreed that the coordinated approach strengthened the CARICOM campaign.

“One of the things that made a big difference this time around has been the CARICOM coordination and the presence of the CARICOM Secretary-General. The SG’s presence here, encouraging us, allowing us to caucus, keeping the CARICOM team tight, has made a difference in how focused we’ve been and in ensuring that it’s the CARICOM position, and not just Member States’,  that came across,” the Minister said.

The view was also supported by Haiti’s lead Advisor and negotiator, Mr. Renald Luberice.

“I was very impressed to see the political involvement of CARICOM in support of CARICOM country delegations.  This is the first time I’m seeing CARICOM being involved in this manner and it sent a very good signal,” Mr. Luberice said on the sidelines of the Conference.

CARICOM Heads of Government had set up a Task Force just over two years ago, under Minister Fletcher’s Chairmanship and including representatives from Member States, to handle a series of important international engagements, including COP21.   This Task Force of expert negotiators has since been constantly engaged in intensive negotiating sessions, including five meetings this year in France.

As many as seven CARICOM Heads of Government, including the Chairman, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart of Barbados and the Lead Head of Government on Sustainable Development, Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony of Saint. Lucia, made their presence felt at the start of the conference, setting the political objectives and giving directions to the Ministers and technical negotiators. They helped to mobilise third-party support for CARICOM positions through direct engagements, including a series of high level bilateral meetings. Prime Ministers Stuart and Anthony led the Region’s engagements with the United States President and the UN Secretary-General.

The CARICOM campaign, with its popular mantra “1.5 to Stay Alive” successfully promoted the ‘temperature rise’ and a short-list of other critical issues to the Region.  The long-term temperature goal was pushed as an existential issue for the Region, and CARICOM negotiators were able to influence a number of countries in hard negotiations, to have language included in the final text which takes account of the 1.5 degree option.

“Going into Paris we had an uphill battle against those whose ambition rested on 2 degrees and for us that was just not acceptable, that was a red line for us. We were seeking 1.5 degrees or below. We came out of there with language which has set the long term goal of 1.5 with periods of taking stock every five years of where we are, in terms of countries contribution to mitigation,  and to use every stock-take period to ensure we ratchet up the ambition to the point where we reach 1.5,” the Secretary-General noted.

“For quite some time we’ve been talking about the impact of climate change on our Community; that it’s an existential issue for us; that it’s not something that is coming, it is something that we are experiencing now. We’ve had some really odd and extreme weather events in several of our Member States – Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, The Bahamas. So we have begun to feel the impact of climate change. We have also seen coral bleaching which is a significant issue for us as it has an impact on the marine food chain and will eventually have an impact on our fisheries sector.  So for us this Agreement is significant,” he added.

The CARICOM negotiators also addressed the special circumstances for the financing of the implementation activities in Small Island and low-lying Developing States, SIDS, and the text includes a baseline contribution of 100 Billion USD annually. The negotiators regarded the discussions on Loss and Damage arising from slow onset climate impacts as being among the  most difficult in the negotiations. In the end, the Region was able to get what it wanted – separate treatment of Loss and Damage (apart from Adaptation) in the Agreement and the permanent housing of the international mechanism to address Loss and Damage.  The Region’s position on REDD Plus (forest conservation) is also reflected in the language of the text. This is of particular significance to Guyana and Suriname, as well as other Member States with forested areas.

The Caribbean Community  now faces the challenge to use the Agreement as the basis for future climate action.

“There is lots to be done,” Ambassador LaRocque has noted.

“We need to ratchet up our capacity both at the regional level and the national level. We are saying there are resources that can be available to us and we need to be able to access those resources,” he added.

The Secretary-General said the Region will have to take steps towards both adaptation and mitigation.

“A critical part of mitigation for us is renewable energy, and there is a lot of investment required in this area.  We recently put in place a renewable energy centre that should be operational in the new year and will also be a hands-on technical facility for Member States to allow them to realise the tremendous potential we have in geo thermal, hydro and other areas.”

“On the adaptation side, a lot needs to be done to adapt our entire countries to the effect of climate change.  We must also be able to  have the capacity to prepare for those, whether it’s the case of preparing projects or engineering. It’s a whole slew or areas. The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), set up since 2005 to coordinate the Region’s response to Climate Change,  will have a critical role in coordinating that effort among our Member States.”

Editors:

See photo album of CARICOM negotiators at COP 21: 

See video copy of COP 21 interview with CARICOM Secretary-General