Climate Action 2010-2011

Policy and Governance
Figure 1: Global solar water heater use, total capacity 2008 per 1,000 inhabitants (kWth/1,000 inh).
Credit: International Energy Agency, Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, 2008.
The billion-dollar crude oil bill
The Caribbean’s total fuel import bill was US$6.5 billion
in 2004. Three years later, at the end of 2007, fuel imports
climbed to US$12 billion. While official figures are not
yet available for regional fuel expenditure in 2008, the
doubling of energy prices to an historic high of US$147
per barrel in the first half of that year would have had a
corollary impact on expenditure.
In the Caribbean, only Barbados, Haiti and Trinidad
and Tobago are not signatories to the PetroCaribe
Agreement. Drawn up by Venezuela and launched in
2005, the agreement was to supply fuel under deferred
payment terms and establish an energy management
structure for the Americas. Latin American signatory
countries include loan financier Venezuela, along with
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Caribbean
Signatory Countries are; Antigua and Barbuda,
Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican
Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts
Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and
Suriname. By December 2007, just two and a half years
after the signing in 2005, signatory countries
had amassed a total debt of US$1.17 billion. In
supplying these figures, eminent Caribbean economist,
Norman Girvan, projected that the debt owed by
Caribbean signatory countries to Venezuela under
PetroCaribe would reach US$4.5 billion by 2010. This
was the estimated debt prior to the 2008 super-spike
in oil prices.
Renewable Energy Technology –
making the transition
According to the World Energy Outlook 2009,
“governments hold the key to changing the mix
of energy investment. The policy and regulatory
frameworks established at national and international
levels will determine whether investment and
consumption decisions are steered towards lowcarbon
options.” Starting in 2007, seven Caribbean
countries developed and published National Energy
Policies (NEPs), namely Anguilla, Barbados, Bermuda,
Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent.
Significantly, Dominica subtitled its policy ‘A Platform
for Development’ while Grenada named theirs ‘A Low
Carbon Development Strategy’.
Some of the policies were entirely home-grown, some
followed regional collaborations with the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and others
grew out of efforts with regional development partners
including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
World Bank, the European Union, the German Society
for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Caribbean
Sustainable Energy Programme under the Organization
of American States (OAS). These policies vary in
strength and approach but they all promote a transition
to RETs such as is appropriate for countries’ individual
socioeconomic circumstances and resource availability. The
policies advocate an energy mix of RETs to fossil fuels in
ratios varying between 15 and 30 per cent by 2020/2030.
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