The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is supporting Member States of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in their efforts to build capacity to develop robust climate change projects for financing.

Today, the Bank’s Board of Directors approved a grant from the German international development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in the amount of EUR249,860 for the initiative. CDB and the OECS Commission contributed EUR24,986 and EUR12,493, respectively to the venture.

“The grant from GIZ will help our Borrowing Member Countries in the OECS tackle the effects of climate change and make the transition to resilient, low-carbon economies,” said Monica La Bennett, CDB Vice-President of Operations.

Following the Paris Agreement, the historic international climate change deal made at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015, the OECS countries outlined their intended climate actions after 2020 to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement.

The grant aims to assist Eastern Caribbean countries in developing bankable, financially viable projects to tackle climate change.

The venture will help Eastern Caribbean countries advance project ideas to the concept note stage so that they can be considered for funding by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Adaption Fund (AF) or CDB. It is planned that project concepts will be developed for four pilot countries – Dominica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Thirty technical staff throughout the sub-Region will also be trained to use SOURCE, an online tool for project preparation and management. In addition, the OECS Commission will hold a workshop on priority investment projects.

“Eastern Caribbean countries are in great need of technical assistance and concessionary financing from CDB, GCF, AF and other emerging finance streams to deal with the effects of climate change. This initiative will concretely support countries in the sub-Region so they can better meet their needs,” said La Bennett.

The activities of the venture will be completed by November 2019.