Caricom workshop in T&T focuses on sustainable energy

About 50 stakeholders in the energy sector across the Caribbean Community (Caricom) on Thursday met in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in a workshop to exchange views and build awareness about the process involved in the full establishment of the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS), a release from the Caricom Secretariat said.

Characterised by a heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports, but also having an abundance of renewable energy resources, Caricom countries face a strategic turning point in deciding the region’s future energy profile and ability to adapt to the dangers of global climate change.

Consultants have been studying each Caricom member state’s energy sector to assist in developing a long term strategic plan to help set bold and realistic targets that will lead the way to a more sustainable energy future.

This roadmap provides the Caricom countries with opportunities for them to fully utilise home-grown resources to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and is being used to guide the Region’s progress in the use of renewable energy and set energy efficiency targets.

In addition, the half-day workshop also discussed sustainable and efficient energy use in the transportation and building sectors.

According to Caricom, C-SERMS has its background in a mandate issued by the heads of government of Caricom at their twentieth intersessional meeting held in Belize in 2009.

At that meeting, the heads of government had agreed that a regional sustainable energy roadmap should be developed and implemented to guide, encourage and expedite the increased use of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

This stance was adopted in view of the role of renewable energy and increased energy efficiency in the Region as a key climate change mitigation strategies.

The release said that the roadmap and strategy was established in phases. Phase one – setting initial sustainable energy targets and strategies, began in 2011 with grant funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Phase one concludes this year.

The second phase begins later in 2013 with support from the Government of Germany through the German Agency for Inter-national Cooperation (GTZ) and other agencies. This phase will include detailed work on the assessment of the energy sector in each member state.  Some of the work to be covered will include testing political feasibility of regional strategies; coordination of financing mechanisms; identification of innovative financing solutions to bridge gaps that exist; and the development and adoption of harmonised tools to support energy sector analysis, diagnosis, performance tracking and reporting, Caricom added.

The workshop was held on the eve of the forty-first special ministerial meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development on energy.