Since 2015, Belize has engaged with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to improve access to international funds and to encourage investment in projects and programmes that will help the country adapt and mitigate climate change and its impacts. As such, the National Designated Authority (NDA) of Belize to the GCF in the Ministry of Economic Development and Petroleum, and the Caribbean Development Bank, have engaged with Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to design a proposed project “Transforming Finance to Unlock Climate Action in the Caribbean” for Belize, Jamaica, and St Lucia.
Furthermore, the GCF has approved funding under its PPF which will allow for the design and development of a full funding proposal worth USD68.25 million for the three countries. This programme aims to unlock the private sector investment needed to transform Caribbean productive sectors and energy systems by catalyzing a transformation of finance. The programme will accomplish this by blending GCF and CDB resources to extend concessional lines of credit to Development Finance Institutions (DFI’s) within the countries, which in turn will on-lend to MSMEs and homeowners for climate action investments.
The programme will simultaneously deliver technical assistance to facilitate programme lending and support the transformation toward climate-informed lending by Caribbean DFIs. In delivering this support, the programme aims to:
• Achieve tangible results during its implementation period, both with regards to (a) increasing lending and investment and (b) reducing/avoiding greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing resilience to the incremental risks/challenges associated with climate change; and
• Equip Caribbean financial service providers and local private sector actors with the knowledge and capacity needed to enable the continued flow of financing for climate action investments after programme closure.
The NDA in Belize will continue to work closely with the DFC, CDB, other key national stakeholders and partner NDAs in St Lucia and Jamaica, to facilitate the successful development of the full funding proposal in an effort to support climate action in the Caribbean.
