During the months of April and May 2009 a series of national focus group consultations were held in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines with the support of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network. These fora served to engage key actors in the energy sector in discussions surrounding their work and national efforts to promote renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency. Another consultation remains to be held in the British Virgin Islands.

Renewable energy (particularly biofuels), energy efficiency and climate change and their relationship to national energy security and sustainable development were the main talking points. Whilst all of the countries have or plan to develop national energy plans, and some initiatives have taken place to enhance the renewable energy supply in the country, the discussions highlighted a number of barriers to increasing sustainable energy use in the countries such as:

• Limited human resource and technical capacity
• High capital investment required
• Lack of awareness of mechanisms and incentives available for assistance
• Institutional weaknesses

A number of solutions were proposed to tackle these problems, including:

• Increased advocacy through use of champions and collaboration between stakeholders
• Education and training programmes
• Making the connection between energy, climate change and its impacts more prominent
• Policy, legislative and institutional reform
• Sustainable lending practices
• Regional cooperation in research and financing

Further details on the findings may be found in the summary report.

There was broad stakeholder participation, as the meetings brought together various members of the public and private sectors, civil society, and international development agencies who are all connected to energy and/or sustainable development. Some of the representatives included:

Government agencies

• Ministry of the Environment (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Ministry of Finance, Investment, Telecommunications and Energy (Barbados)
• Ministry of Education and Culture (St. Lucia)
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Utilities

• Antigua Public Utilities Authority
• Barbados Light and Power Co Ltd

NGOs and other civil society organisations (CSOs)

• Friends of the Environment
• Future Centre Trust
• JEMS Progressive Community Organisation

Business and professional associations

• Chamber of Industry and Commerce
• Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Association
• Barbados Agricultural Society

Regional and international agencies

• Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre
• Inter-American Development Bank
• GEF Small Grants Programme
• GTZ

 

Related Links

Archived News Articles and Press Releases Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) Caribbean Energy Information System (CEIS) Caribbean Information Platform on Renewable Energy (CIPORE) GEF Small Grants Programme Global Environment Facility (GEF)