From Caribbean News Now

NASSAU, Bahamas — The fifth Caribbean Sustainable Energy Forum (CSEF) gets underway in Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday evening under the theme ‘Future Energy, 2027’. Prime minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie, will deliver the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the forum.

The focus of the three-day event, designed around an agenda of constructive engagement, is the region’s transformation from a fossil fuel base to sustainable energy. The forum will seek to catalyse consensus among stakeholders on what they are prepared to do to further define and support the long-term commitments that are necessary for energy transformation within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The forum has attracted more than 100 participants including government ministers, senior officials representing national, regional and international institutions and industry experts. They will reflect on a number of matters ranging from energy, climate and sustainable development and their effective linkages to the Caribbean sustainable energy roadmap and strategy (C-SERMS) to lessons learned over the past five years regarding energy transition, and information and capacity-building.

Participants will also discuss financing the region’s sustainable energy needs and provide an outlook for the next ten years.

A ministerial panel will start the sessions on Tuesday morning. The panel will explore the topic: ‘Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development: How to effectively link the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?’

CSEF V is a CARICOM Secretariat event that is organised in collaboration with the government of The Bahamas. Support for the staging of the forum is being provided by: the US government, through the Organisation of American States (OAS); the German ministry of economic cooperation and development (BMZ), through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)-executed renewable energy and energy efficiency technical assistance (REETA) programme; the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), through the Canadian Support to the Energy Sector in the Caribbean Fund; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); and the World Bank through the SIDS DOCK support programme.

CSEF was established as a biennial sustainable energy event in the Community. The Forum is intended to facilitate dialogue and actions towards the adoption of more robust policies and the transfer of appropriate technologies in renewable energy and energy efficiency in CARICOM. It seeks ultimately to enhance stakeholder support and contribution to diversification of the regional energy supply from its current fossil fuels base to a mix that includes significant renewable sources. The previous events were held in July 2008 in Grenada, in June 2010 in Jamaica, in September 2012 in St Kitts and Nevis, and in November 2014 in Barbados.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Caribbean-sustainable-energy-forum-gets-underway-on-Monday-in-Bahamas-33272.html