A Call for Greater Regional Cooperation in Renewable Energy at CAF’s International Economic Forum

A compelling case is being made for greater regional cooperation on renewable energy in the Caribbean by Ambassador Francine Baron, former CEO of the Climate Resilience Execution Agency of Dominica (CREAD) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica. Speaking at CAF’s International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama City, Baron said there was an urgent need for Caribbean and Latin American nations to work together in harnessing their collective renewable energy resources to drive energy security, economic resilience, and climate action.

Participating in the panel “Clean Energy: The Region’s Potential to Accelerate the Energy Transition,” Baron said while the Caribbean has abundant renewable energy potential, individual nations face significant challenges in advancing clean energy projects due to high capital costs, limited technical capacity, and climate-related vulnerabilities. She urged governments, multilateral institutions, and private sector stakeholders to collaborate on regional solutions that will accelerate the clean energy transition.

Baron said Dominica, for example has vast geothermal resources, which exceed the island’s own energy needs and said this was an example of how regional cooperation could transform the energy landscape. She called for energy-sharing agreements that would allow surplus clean energy to be exported to neighbouring islands, creating an integrated Caribbean energy market.

“We have much more resources than we could ever use in geothermal, and there’s a potential for being able to provide other islands in the region with renewable energy. It comes back to the point that was raised earlier—how do we share our resources with other countries as well to help in achieving their renewable energy goals?”

CAF is already playing a key role in this transformation, providing technical support to the Government of Dominica for the development of a 120MW green ammonia production facility using geothermal energy. This project has the potential to boost energy security, attract sustainable investments, and position the Caribbean as a leader in clean energy innovation.

Despite its vast potential, the Caribbean’s clean energy transition faces several critical challenges, including high capital costs, aging infrastructure, technical expertise gaps, climate vulnerabilities and more. Climatic events pose a serious threat to the Caribbean’s clean energy thrust because of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, which threaten energy infrastructure.

Baron also called on multilateral development banks like CAF to play a greater role in unlocking financing for clean energy projects, particularly for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). She highlighted the need for blended finance solutions, increased access to green financing and technical assistance and knowledge sharing.

CAF remains committed to empowering the Caribbean’s clean energy transition by providing technical and financial support to scale up sustainable solutions.