Renewable energy to advance in Caribbean from partnerships
Clinton Climate Initiative partners with Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room to advance renewable energy in Caribbean Island-Nations
WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 29, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, today announced its official partnership with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Carbon War Room (CWR) in promoting a transition to renewable energy and energy-efficiency solutions in the Caribbean region.
The partnership combines the work of the nonprofit organizations’ complementary initiatives: the Resilient Communities Program of the Clinton Climate Initiative and the joint Ten Island Challenge of Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room. CCI, RMI and CWR focus on removing economic and other market barriers that stand in the way of reducing the Caribbean’s dependence on diesel, and scale investment in energy-efficiency and renewable-energy solutions.
The partnership will:
- Work in select Caribbean islands to develop energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects;
- Identify project-financing and investment opportunities that will bring needed capital to the region; and
- Develop best practices and potential for collaboration between countries to support current and future work in island regions.
In the near term, CCI, RMI and CWR will work to develop and advance a hospital energy-efficiency retrofit and an LED street-lighting program in participating Caribbean countries, and over 15 utility-scale solar, wind, and geothermal projects.
“The world has a moral imperative to save island nations from disappearing or suffering irreversible damage, and an economic imperative to reduce their reliance on costly imported fossil fuels and build climate resilience to avoid catastrophic disasters,” said President Clinton. “Working in partnership with Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room, the Clinton Climate Initiative is bringing governments, businesses, and financial backers together to help design, implement, and scale up clean energy projects across the Caribbean and around the world.”
“With the combined experience and expertise of RMI, CWR and the Clinton Climate Initiative, we can more rapidly unlock the challenges island nations face in transitioning to a clean energy future,” said RMI Cofounder, Chief Scientist, and Chairman Emeritus Amory Lovins.
Working in partnership, the organizations will coordinate efforts to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in Caribbean island nations and leverage their respective resources and expertise to increase impact. CCI, RMI and CWR will disseminate a comprehensive best-practices playbook that will provide clear guidance, steps and helpful tools for the development and execution of an island’s renewable-energy vision. Participating Caribbean countries will collectively contribute to the development of a renewable-energy blueprint that is replicable and scalable for other isolated economies around the world.
CCI’s Resilient Communities Program, which evolved from CCI’s Islands Diesel Replacement Program, has partnered with governments of 25 island nations across three continents. Over the past two years, CCI has prepared over 20 renewable energy projects across nine island countries, including facilitating the groundbreaking of the 24-megawatt Wigton Wind Farm in Jamaica and working with the UN Development Programme to establish a 1.3-megawatt solar rebate program in the Seychelles. This work is made possible through grants from the Norwegian Government.
Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room’s Ten Island Challenge currently includes the countries of Aruba, the Bahamas, Colombia (Providencia and San Andrés islands), Grenada, Saint Lucia, and the Turks & Caicos Islands, with four more countries expected to join the Ten Island Challenge later this year.
“The Government of Saint Lucia welcomes the partnership of Clinton Climate Initiative and Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room,” said Dr. James Fletcher, Minister of Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology of Saint Lucia. “Both organizations have provided meaningful contributions to our country’s energy transition. We are confident their partnership will further accelerate our efforts and the efforts of other island governments towards a prosperous energy future.”
Over the past year, Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room have:
- Developed a Caribbean-specific, comprehensive hospital-retrofit guide and corresponding web tool,
- Launched a request for qualifications for a waste-to-energy plant in Saint Lucia, and
- Launched a request for proposals to deploy solar-powered, off-grid, LED street lights in Providencia and San Andrés.
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About the Clinton Climate Initiative
The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) launched in 2006 to implement solutions to the root causes of climate change. CCI works to improve building energy efficiency and advance building retrofits; to increase access to clean-energy technology and deploy it at the government, corporate, and homeowner levels; to help over 20 island nations reduce their reliance on diesel and adopt renewable energy; and to monitor, preserve, and grow forests in line with national governments and communities. CCI’s approach addresses the major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the people, policies, and practices that impact them, while also saving money for individuals and governments, creating jobs, and growing economies.
About Rocky Mountain Institute
Since 1982, Rocky Mountain Institute has advanced market-based solutions that transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure future. An independent, nonprofit think-and-do tank, RMI engages with businesses, communities, and institutions to accelerate and scale replicable solutions that drive the cost-effective shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. For more information, please contact media(at)rmi(dot)org or visit http://www.rmi.org
About Carbon War Room
Carbon War Room, originally founded as a global nonprofit by Sir Richard Branson and a team of like-minded entrepreneurs and recently merged with Rocky Mountain Institute, accelerates the adoption of business solutions that reduce carbon emissions at gigaton scale and advance the low-carbon economy. Carbon War Room focuses on solutions that can be realized using proven technologies under current policy landscapes. For more information, please visit www.carbonwarroom.com
