The Barbados government says “significant progress” had been made during discussions with officials from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) regarding the establishment of a Green Climate Finance Bank for the Caribbean.
This comes following a three-day working visit from GCF officials who were invited at the request of the Government of Barbados.
A government statement said the Director of GCF’s Private Sector Facility, Kavita Sinha, and the Fund’s Investment Officer, Tom Bishop, had been invited to Bridgetown last week for talks with “government officials, numerous financial and development finance agencies, and other key players in the renewable energy sector where they presented the Green Climate Finance Bank’s role in climate financing and the creation of innovative products”.
The statement quoted Sinha as commending the government for the “impressive” background work that had been done in conceptualizing green initiatives.
She said the ideas submitted for approval were in keeping with the Green Climate Fund’s mandate to support vulnerable economies to become more resilient against the impacts of climate change.
Sinah acknowledged that the costs for building a green climate-resilient economy are high and could not be fully funded by government financing.
“So, we need to mobilize private capital and other public capital which would otherwise not come into low-emission climate-resilient development. So, GCF plays the role of catalyzing our private sector to crowd in private capital as well as in public capital in such projects,” she said.
The statement said Sinah lauded Prime Minister Mia Mottley for coming up with the Green Climate Finance Bank, calling it an “innovative idea,” pointing out that the bank will help other Caribbean countries to meet their targets for Nationally Determined Contributions, and achieve a climate-resilient low-emission future.
The Green Climate Fund, as one of the proposed founding equity investors in the bank, will provide technical assistance and other support to develop the funding proposal, for approval by the board.
CMC
