Nassau, The Bahamas, June 9, 2023, (Press Secretary, OPMSKN) – Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew, and Minister of Energy Hon. Konris Maynard attended the Atlantic Council Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030) Climate Resilience Clean Energy Summit on Friday, 9th June 2023.
The one-day PACC 2030 Summit was held on the sidelines of the US Vice President’s visit to The Bahamas to bring together companies from the US and Caribbean nations, local leaders, technical assistance experts, policy experts, academics, and government partners, to discuss the best practices in advancing climate resilient clean energy in the Caribbean, identify funding/technical assistance gaps that could be bridged through greater partnership, and explore opportunities to further unleash the clean energy transition in the Caribbean while building greater climate resilience – dual objectives of PACC 2030.
Prime Minister Dr. Drew delivered the closing remarks and thanked The Atlantic Council for the opportunity as he expressed his desire to continue partnership, and shared insight on the Federation’s Sustainable Island State Agenda.
“In our recent National Determined Contributions submitted to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), we committed to reducing our greenhouse gases and charting a course for sustainable, climate-compatible development. This is consistent with the policy position articulated by my government just a few months ago when we outlined our vision for the transformation of St Kitts and Nevis to a Sustainable Island State with a strategic 7-year roadmap for our twin-island Federation aimed at building a climate-resilient, inclusive, equitable and sustainable nation, in which energy will play a key part”, Prime Minister Dr. Drew stated.
The Prime Minister outlined the Government’s vision to develop renewable energy as a sector, emphasizing the importance of energy security.
“You might say that we are a small country, but when you look at the resources that we have and the possibility of developing energy as a sector, we see this as a golden opportunity for solid investment to be made with the possibility, of course, for making tremendous profits. If we have one gigawatt of geothermal energy as a small nation, we may only need about 100 megawatts the most, we have 900 megawatts left. What are we going to do? That is an excessive amount of energy that can be transformed and that can be exported, whether into hydrogen, whether into ammonia, or we can think about running cables into neighbouring islands, to perhaps Puerto Rico. We can power almost the whole country with what we have left,” he added as he shared his vision.
Dr. Drew further outlined the Government’s commitment to exploring all possibilities to ensure that reliable and sustainable investment opportunities are taken advantage of.
“When we see all of the structures in place that have been inhibiting us from having access to the finance that will allow us to unleash what we are trying to achieve, we are saying that it cannot continue like this otherwise we would not achieve much. The Caribbean is not just waiting and sitting around for someone to bring the solution, unlike in the past. The reason why some Caribbean islands are in this situation is partly because we were not at the table, and when you are not at the table you are on the menu,” he stated.
He added, “The Caribbean now has taken the bold step, an important step, and I think a welcoming step by all because we are at the table and saying that we need mechanisms to make sure that the Caribbean can continue to exist, and this is what the Caribbean is bringing to the table. What I am very comforted by is that we are seeing others who are willing to have those conversations with us and to partner with us to ensure that we achieve the goals that we have set.”
The US-Caribbean PACC 2030 was launched by US Vice President Kamala Harris and Caribbean leaders at the June 2022 Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. PACC 2030 is the US government’s flagship partnership with Caribbean partners to advance climate adaptation and resilience and to expand clean energy programmes across the region.
The summit showcased ongoing efforts in renewable energy and climate resilience within the Caribbean, emphasized the significance of the US-Caribbean Partnership, and fostered collaboration for a more resilient future.
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