By RCC St. George's

A climate finance strategy workshop for independent member states in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) was held on 13 and 14 September 2022 in Saint Lucia. The workshop was convened by the OECS Commission, hosted by the Government of St. Lucia and organized by UN Climate Change with the assistance of RCC St. George’s. The workshop engaged 25 participants from 10 countries.

The Hon. Minister of Environment, Education and Sustainable Development of St. Lucia Mr. Shawn Edward opened the workshop highlighting the needs and opportunities of the OECS Member States given the regions common challenges and lack of climate finance access and mobilization.

As part of the COP-mandated Needs-Based Finance (NBF) Project, the workshop also provided the opportunity for country experts to share experiences and exchange information on their own priority climate finance needs and ways to address common challenges.

The workshop considered a draft Technical Assessment (TA) of climate finance and a draft regional Climate Finance Access and Mobilization Strategy for OECS member states containing details on climate finance priorities, goals, and actions for the region. The workshop closed with the recommendation for adoption of the strategy and TA annex at the upcoming EOCS Council of Ministers meeting. The proposed strategy aims to ensure that climate finance can be effectively accessed, mobilized, and scaled up to contribute to the region’s climate and development goals between 2022 and 2030.

Moving forward with the aim of understanding the requirements in developing a pipeline of regional projects, participants also agreed to hold a climate finance training workshop together with operating entities of the financial mechanisms (GCF, GEF, AF), and local, regional and international finance agencies.

In the closing Ms. Dawn Pierre-Nathoniel, the Deputy Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer of the Department of Sustainable Development, Saint Lucia thanks all participants, the secretariat and RCC for the support provided in helping countries come up with a common strategy for the benefit of their collective needs.

Presentations from the workshop can be found here.

Contact rccstgeorges@unfccc.int for more information.