UN official lauds Barbados’ sustainable energy efforts

Barbados is being lauded by one of its main development partners for making significant strides towards ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
However, says UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Didier Trebucq, there is still a long way to go in order for the island to fully achieve its UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Despite its challenges, Barbados has made great strides in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal number seven and other sustainable development goals,” said Trebucq while pointing to what he said was the Government’s “swift and decisive action” in the renewable energy sector which reflected “the growing urgency to protect the economy from energy market volatility”.
“In the long run, this will protect the fragile environment and ecosystems which are already highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters. Such commitment is transformative, even evident in the widespread use of solar water heaters islandwide,” he said on Monday as he addressed the opening session of a two-day workshop at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, which is being hosted by the Ministry of Energy.
However, Trebucq warned of a “long road ahead”, noting that Barbados currently relies heavily on fossil fuel imports and that close to 90 per cent of the energy supply was oil-based while renewable energy technologies accounted for just 12 per cent.
“So we see the gap that we have to cover and we see the ambition we have to deploy,” he said.
“The island also has low fossil fuel reserves, which makes it highly exposed to fuel price volatility which affects electricity tariffs, cost recovery and, ultimately, sustainability. So this dependency has far-reaching consequences for achieving all the sustainable development goals and puts at risk, in a way, the achievement of the 2030 agenda on the protection of the most vulnerable that often suffer the consequences.
(MM)