Two Barbados-based regional organizations have agreed on a framework to cooperate on growing businesses through sustainable energy.
The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) and the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) signed a cooperation agreement to officiate their relationship, given their symbiotic mandates.
“Caribbean Export is excited to be working with CCREEE to tackle the immense challenges which our region must confront – firstly, global climate change; second, building sustainable and affordable energy systems and third, poverty reduction through private sector development.”, said Caribbean Export executive director, Deodat Maharaj.
Maharaj noted that according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), it is estimated that decarbonization will lead to the net increase of jobs in the Caribbean by 3.1 percent the creation of approximately 400,000 jobs.
CCREEE executive director, Dr. Gary Jackson, said, “energy is one of the most pressing development challenges of our time; a challenge that is best addressed, especially within the Caribbean context, through cooperation.
“We are resilient collectively, not separately. It is our human capacity that defines our resilience. “As we cement our partnership today, our hope is that the CCREEE and Caribbean Export can adequately set an example of what can be accomplished with the coalition of the willing.”
The agreement outlines areas of cooperation, including technical assistance projects to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy capacity building for the private sector.
These initiatives will assist businesses in enhancing their climate resilience, increasing energy access, developing sustainable buildings, and promises to ensure knowledge management and transfer and promote sustainable industry and business growth. Together the organizations are supporting businesses’ capacity to provide a suite of renewable energy and energy-efficient products and services.
In addition, Caribbean Export and the CCREEE highlighted that the signing is merely a formalization of the already functional partnership. The two organizations have partnered previously on the development of capacity-building initiatives and eagerly anticipate enhancing and increasing these and supporting small and medium-sized businesses, with three projects having already been identified.
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