Above: former US President Bill Clinton

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative and the Rocky Mountain Institute have announced an official partnership aimed at promoting green energy in the Caribbean region.

The partnership will combine the work of several initiatives: Resilient Communities Program of the Clinton Climate Initiative and the joint Ten Island Challenge of Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room.

According to a statement from the Carbon War Room, the partnership will work in select Caribbean islands to develop green energy projects; identify project-financing and investment opportunities to attract capital and develop best practices for collaboration between countries.

“The world has a moral imperative to save island nations from disappearing or suffering irreversible damage, and an economic imperative to reduce their reliance on costly imported fossil fuels and build climate resilience to avoid catastrophic disasters,” former US President Bill Clinton said in a statement. “Working in partnership with Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room, the Clinton Climate Initiative is bringing governments, businesses, and financial backers together to help design, implement, and scale up clean energy projects across the Caribbean and around the world.”

The Rocky Mountain Institute and Carbon War Room have been working on the Ten Island Challenge, which includes Aruba, the Bahamas, Colombia (Providencia and San Andrés islands), Grenada, Saint Lucia, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, with four more slated to join this year.

“The Government of Saint Lucia welcomes the partnership of Clinton Climate Initiative and Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room,” said Dr James Fletcher, St Lucia’s Minister of Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology. “Both organizations have provided meaningful contributions to our country’s energy transition. We are confident their partnership will further accelerate our efforts and the efforts of other island governments towards a prosperous energy future.”

Clinton has been a major proponent of green energy efforts in the Caribbean, a plan most notably articulated in a major speech in San Juan in 2013.