As Guyana and Suriname strike it rich with massive oil and gas finds, the Prime Minister warned Monday morning that this fortune should not become an excuse to abandon green energy in their quest to build resilient economies.
She told Trinidad and Tobago’s annual Energy Conference at the Port of Spain Hyatt Regency Hotel that the Caribbean must begin an important discussion on what role traditional hydrocarbon-based companies will play to combat the climate crisis.
Mottley said: “There is a future for energy in the region, and that energy is both the hydrocarbon industry and the renewable energy industry.
“In Port of Spain in December of 2018, we met at the Hilton Hotel, and we signed a declaration, which reflected our commitment for the first stage to bring the regional private sector and the regional labour movement into the Conference of Heads of Government, such that there can be major players as we build out the growth prospects for this region.
“One of the four areas identified for immediate involvement of our private sector, which has now established the Private Sector Association, and will be sitting at the table formally for the first time (at this month’s Inter-sessional Heads of Government Conference)… is the area of renewable energy.”
Mottley continued: “We would be fooling ourselves to believe that we can avoid the difficult discussions of our time, and those difficult discussions will include, to what extent and in what manner can we allow the hydrocarbon industry to co-exist with the realities of climate change?
“More and more we are recognising that it is not a linear discussion and that there is a role for hydrocarbon companies to play to be part of the solution and not simply to be the bane of our existence, with respect to how we will be able to fight these issues.”
While Barbados has for decades been a world-leading user of solar water heating, most Caribbean countries have lagged in their uptake of this alternative energy use – a point the Prime Minister sought to highlight as an example of a change of thinking she believes the region still needs to adopt.
Mottley said: “Prime Minister Keith Rowley has already averted to the fact that in my own country we have had the benefit of solar water heaters since the 1970s, such that it is almost inconceivable that anybody would find a different way to heat water other than through solar panels.
“But that has not been the reality of the majority of Caribbean citizens, in spite of its clear benefit as an opportunity for investment for many of our local businesses.
“It has not taken off for whatever reason in Trinidad, and we could perhaps understand because of the huge subsidies attaching to the cost of electricity here.
“But in other Caribbean countries where electricity costs are high, you ask yourself why has there not been any movement on a matter that ought to be so basic for others to understand.
“And it shows us that traditionally our private sector and our governments have not worked sufficiently closely in a strategic way to advance the purposes of national development in areas that can benefit returns on investment.”
