{"id":77054,"date":"2022-11-15T11:08:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carilec.org\/?p=77054"},"modified":"2022-11-15T11:42:43","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:42:43","slug":"as-rich-nations-haggle-over-climate-solutions-storm-ravaged-caribbean-is-taking-matters-into-its-own-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/as-rich-nations-haggle-over-climate-solutions-storm-ravaged-caribbean-is-taking-matters-into-its-own-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"As rich nations haggle over climate solutions, storm-ravaged Caribbean is taking matters into its own hands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0Rachel Ramirez<\/span><\/a>, CNN<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Published 12:07 AM EST, Tue November 15, 2022<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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CNN<\/span>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/cite>When\u00a0Hurricane Fiona slammed<\/a>\u00a0into Puerto Rico in September, it triggered a\u00a0nearly island-wide blackout<\/a>\u00a0as the storm\u2019s strong winds took down the fragile power grid.<\/div>\n

Carlos Ramos spoke to CNN as he helped his friends clean up their flood-damaged beach home in Salinas. Ramos said most of his neighbors in Aguas Buenas, in the island\u2019s central mountain range, were among those who lost power in the wake of the hurricane.<\/p>\n

But Ramos\u2019s home maintained power.<\/p>\n

Frustrated by the rising cost of electricity and the ever-looming threat of power outages on the storm-stricken island, the 59-year-old retired bank worker had solar panels installed on his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my neighbors said I was crazy for getting the solar panels,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cNow they\u2019re sitting in the dark. It was the best investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

World leaders are in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this week for the\u00a0UN\u2019s COP27 climate summit<\/a>\u00a0where they are negotiating solutions to the climate crisis and haggling over how to help developing nations switch to clean energy and pay for extreme weather disasters.<\/p>\n

But as they do so, millions of people are already\u00a0dealing with the impacts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the regions that have long endured these devastating impacts are the Caribbean islands, where\u00a0sea level is rising<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0hurricanes are becoming more intense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Caribbean leaders, residents and even utility companies say they are tired of waiting for world leaders to save them. Experts and residents tell CNN that the islands are now eagerly adapting on their own through grant funding, phasing out fossil fuels and advancing clean energy across the region, to make them better prepared for the worsening impacts of the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the luxury of being able to sit by and wait until the planet comes to an agreement,\u201d Racquel Moses, CEO of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, told CNN. \u201cWe have been waiting, and we have been trying to do the best that we can with the resources that we have. But we are not seeing enough momentum and we keep sustaining losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microgrids keep the lights on<\/h2>\n

Last year, the Bahamas successfully developed a solar-powered microgrid that provides renewable energy to every home on Ragged Island \u2013 a small island community which was devastated by Hurricane Irma. The\u00a0Category 5 tore through the Caribbean<\/a>\u00a0in 2017, displaced thousands of people and leveled electric grids.<\/p>\n

The Ragged Island electric project was designed so that the next time a storm hits and takes down the power system, the 390-kilowatt microgrid can disconnect from the main grid and keep the lights on for residents.<\/p>\n

That project\u2019s success created a\u00a0ripple effect<\/a>\u00a0across the Bahamas, said David Gumbs, director of the Islands Energy Program at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit group that\u2019s working to scale up clean energy programs to curtail global emissions. The country has now deployed even more microgrids to other islands, totaling nearly 6.5 megawatts of renewable power across the country \u2014 which is enough to power around 300 Caribbean houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project is definitely a success,\u201d Gumbs told CNN. \u201cWe\u2019re in the phase of transition. There are now a number of islands that are champions in big initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Damaged trees after the passage of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in September 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Moses said 2017\u2019s\u00a0back-to-back hurricanes<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 first Irma, then Maria \u2014 was the turning point for the Caribbean, where residents and government leaders said they could no longer afford to wait and \u201cbe sitting ducks, hoping\u201d that wealthy countries would rescue them from the climate crisis, or halt its acceleration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are already under threat,\u201d Moses said. \u201cYou\u2019ve just seen Hurricane Fiona and what it\u2019s done, not only to islands in the Caribbean, but also in the US \u2013 the most powerful economy on the planet \u2013 and yet responding to billions of dollars\u2019 worth of damages is going to be problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Caribbean islands contribute a tiny fraction to the climate crisis \u2014 less than 2% of planet-warming emissions, Moses said \u2014 yet they are on the frontlines when it comes to climate disasters.<\/p>\n

And on top of the flooding, fallen trees, battered roads and broken infrastructure, soaring utility prices have become unaffordable, Gumbs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re paying four times as much for electricity, and your income is four times less than the average income in the US, it just creates such a hardship for people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd those are the people we are worried about getting left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future-proofing the Caribbean<\/h2>\n

Gumbs experienced the wrath of Irma himself in his home island of Anguilla, where at the time he was the CEO of the island\u2019s utility company. Now with RMI, he has been overseeing this energy transition across the Caribbean region, redesigning the electricity grid to be free of fossil fuels and climate-resilient.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such an enormous opportunity,\u201d Gumbs said. \u201cWe would love for it to happen at scale, to just transform the entire system to renewables tomorrow, but there are certain barriers to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

At COP27, money is the biggest debate. Developing nations are\u00a0putting more pressure<\/a>\u00a0on the world\u2019s richest countries to help them recover from climate disasters. Negotiators will also discuss the existing promise of climate finance meant to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to clean energy \u2013 a\u00a0$100 billion-a-year pledge<\/a>\u00a0that rich countries have yet to make good on.<\/p>\n

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A woman walks on a street in Saint-Martin on September 11, 2017, after Hurricane Irma.<\/p><\/div>\n

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But even then, Gumbs said it\u2019s hard for low-income countries \u201ctap into\u201d those funds: \u201cIt just takes years to get the money out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always a problem, but there are a number of ways to overcome that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, RMI and investment fund Lion\u2019s Head Global Partners launched a new\u00a0Caribbean Climate-Smart Fund<\/a>\u00a0to accelerate that clean energy shift. The initiative intends to expand the islands\u2019 access to resilient clean energy, which advocates say would help Caribbean nations not only adapt to a warmer future, but also save millions each year in utility costs.<\/p>\n

Gumbs said the fund will comprise more than $150 million of philanthropic money and will be spread across more than 20 Caribbean islands.<\/p>\n

Charlin Bodley, the global south manager for RMI, said wealthy countries must look beyond reducing their climate emissions \u2013 which she said is the \u201ceasy part\u201d \u2013 and consider how they will support small island nations suffering the consequences of their fossil fuel use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a level of support that is necessary,\u201d Bodley, who is based in St. Lucia, told CNN. \u201cIt\u2019s really, at this point, a matter of survival for Caribbean.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because the Caribbean islands see clean energy as a solution to withstand disasters but also to save on electricity costs, Moses said the momentum and political interest across the region is growing, and island governments are turning to groups like RMI and other nonprofits for grant funding to pursue their clean energy goals.<\/p>\n

But Gumbs said they still need more clean energy programs, educational resources for residents, as well as access to funds from grant-making entities. To him, the solutions are ready. He said the Caribbean might just be the model that would convince both wealthy nations and the private sector to invest in solutions through climate finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate-smart funds provide a vehicle to eliminate a big part of the problem,\u201d Gumbs said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to bring people along with these solutions, and we\u2019re going to do it in a way that\u2019s sensitive to the local environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CNN\u2019s Ray Sanchez contributed to this piece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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