(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     The establishment of the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) will be the focus of discussions at two Special Meetings of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) that will be held in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday and Thursday.
 
A Special Meeting of COTED on Energy will be convened on Wednesday morning at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat with CCREEE as the main agenda item. COTED, in November last year, endorsed the establishment of CREEE following a series of engagements with regional stakeholders.
 
CCREEE was envisaged to support and coordinate the execution of CARICOM’s Sub-Regional and Regional Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) programmes, projects and activities. The Centre, which is being established with the assistance of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Austrian Government, and SIDS DOCK, will have an explicit technical mandate and is expected to be action- and service-oriented in its operation.
 
Energy coordination within CARICOM, as well as matters related to the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS), are among the other areas the Energy Ministers will discuss.
 
Thursday’s Special Meeting of COTED on the Environment and Energy will also hold discussions on CCREEE. The Special Meeting was recommended to ensure exploration of the full ramifications and optimum exploitations of CREEE.
 
Focus will also be placed on the Post-2015 Development Agenda with reference specifically to the climate, water and energy nexus; strategies for increasing climate adaptation capital inflows into sustainable energy development; and climate resilience building into energy planning. The Ministers of the Environment and Energy will also consider the integration of climate issues into the C-SERMS.
 
Energy is considered the most cross-cutting of sectors. It is a very important component in CARICOM’s development agenda and can be found in its Aid for Trade Strategy and its five-year Strategic Plan.
 
The Ministerial Meetings were preceded on Monday by preparatory sessions involving regional officials in the fields of energy and the environment.
Keywords
Caribbean Community, CARICOM, Renewable Energy, COTED, Energy Efficiency, Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy, C-SERMS, post- 2015 development agenda, UNIDO, SIDS DOCK, energy coordination