Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government on Thursday signed the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE). The signing was done at the Thirty Eighth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in St. George’s, Grenada.

The signing of the Agreement by ten countries – Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname – represents the clearing of the penultimate hurdle to the legal establishment of the Centre. The last step is the ratification of the Agreement by at least five signatories. As the only CARICOM institution with an exclusive energy mandate, the Barbados-based CCREEE is intended to function as the implementation hub for the CARICOM Energy Policy, as well as the Caribbean Sustainable Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS). When it is fully operational, the Centre is expected to improve the quantity and quality of programmes and projects in sustainable energy within the Region. 

Energy plays a critical part in supporting the sustainable development of Caribbean countries and the CCREEE, an action-oriented institution, can lead to improvements in sustainable energy production, delivery and use, through increased renewable energy applications and energy efficiency measures.