By Abdullahi Lukman
A new Regional Platform for catalysing Resilience and Climate Action was launched on June 16, 2025, to accelerate climate finance and resilience-building efforts across the Caribbean.
The initiative aims to drive game-changing, country-specific investment opportunities while promoting a coordinated regional approach to tackling the escalating climate crisis.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who also chairs CARICOM, led the creation of the platform, emphasizing the urgent need for bold, long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes.
“The Caribbean will not wait… We will lead. We will innovate. And we will act together,” Mottley stated.
Seven Caribbean governments—including Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago—have committed to the platform, with others expected to join soon.
The platform will focus on mobilizing public and private investments in sustainable energy, resilient infrastructure, innovative financial tools, and food and water security, while aligning regional education and demographic goals to build collective resilience.
Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), praised the initiative as a pioneering example of regional leadership and confirmed GCF’s support through its Readiness Programme, which offers grants of up to $7 million per developing country.
The platform will be governed by a Regional Steering Committee, supported by a Secretariat at the Caribbean Development Bank, with technical working groups and partner networks providing expertise to implement the strategy.
Participating countries plan to allocate some of their GCF readiness funds to back the platform’s activities.
This marks the first-ever regional investment platform dedicated to enhancing climate resilience in the Caribbean, aiming to transform the region’s response to climate threats through collaboration and strategic finance mobilization.
