Grenada, CMC – The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has signed an agreement with the South Korea–based Green Climate Fund (GCF) intended to support climate related projects in the Caribbean.
The CDB said that the signing of the Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA) took place on the margins of the Green Climate Fund’s Caribbean Structured Dialogue meeting that ended here on Friday.
Plans for Caribbean Climate action
The meeting brought together regional and international stakeholders to plan climate action across the Caribbean region.
GCF is a financial mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which seeks to promote a paradigm shift to low-emission and climate-resilient development, taking into account the needs of nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate.
Increase financial flows
GCF executive director, Javier Manzanares, said the agreement is important for increasing financial flows to climate projects in the region:
“The Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to climate change devastating impacts and significant investments are needed in the region’s infrastructure to strengthen its resilience.
“The Caribbean Development Bank has a long and successful track record and I’m convinced that our partnership is a huge step towards unlocking new climate finance potential in the region. GCF is looking forward to new climate projects by CDB and to working together to accelerate climate action in the Caribbean,” he said.
CDB vice-president, Operations, Monica La Bennett said the bank views the signing of the agreement as an important milestone in its relationship with GCF.
“This agreement will catalyze our efforts to mobilize much-needed funding to build climate resilience in the Bank’s Borrowing Member Countries. We are looking forward to a productive partnership with GCF, having taken this very important step towards implementing innovative climate solutions in our region,” she added.
AMAs are the central instrument in the relationship between GCF and an Accredited Entity. They set out the basic terms and conditions as to how the Accredited Entity and GCF can work together for the use of GCF resources.
The agreement is a prerequisite for all GCF Accredited Entities to implement GCF-approved projects. Accredited Entities are key to GCF’s climate finance work as they bring forward funding proposals to the Fund and then oversee, supervise, manage and monitor these proposals when approved.
The Caribbean is one of the key priority regions for GCF due to its exposure to climate impacts and its needs of climate finance. To this date, GCF board has approved a number of climate adaptation projects in Barbados, Grenada, Dominica and other Caribbean countries.
