Barbados’ clean energy drive faces funding risk

The renewable energy industry could take a major hit as key sources of international funding come under threat following Washington’s withdrawal from dozens of multilateral organisations, a leading industry consultant has warned.

Energy consultant and former president of the Barbados Renewable Energy Association (BREA), Aidan Rogers, expressed grave concern that President Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday to pull Washington out of 66 United Nationsrelated and non-UN global organisations could result in fallout for the Barbadian clean tech industry.

“My concern is the pull-out will impact organisations that fund renewable energy programmes. I suspect some of those might be multilateral development institutions where, under previous US administrations, the US would have been a heavy proponent of pushing clean tech energy investments globally,” Rogers, an attorney at law, told Barbados TODAY in an interview.

“These are some of the areas where I see there could be potentially some adverse impact, more so than what is on the headline news with Venezuela.”
Rogers, the strategic adviser to a $700m high-tech renewable energy hybrid power plant expected to begin construction by March, contends that this latest action by Trump is more troubling to him than the Venezuela conflict.

He said: “I think the Venezuela thing might more be a geopolitical pull, where the US is trying to get some leverage against China, given the impact that China has had with respect to rare earth and magnets where they currently control at least 90 per cent of the refining capacity in the world. And I think the oil squeeze is really some leverage to counteract some of that.

“The clean tech will be adversely impacted through the multilateral development institutions, of which the US government may be a member or donor. The US pulling out of 66 international institutions … that could have a more holistic impact on what we do here, in terms of the development institutions.”

Rogers said he had been hearing rumours at the level of the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and its private-sector-focussed arm, the International Finance Corporation, to expect a shrinking of their footprint with the withdrawal of US support and financial input on certain development initiatives.

“That’s really where my concern focuses on in relation to the energy sector,” he added.

The withdrawal could potentially also have a negative effect on the hybrid renewable energy power facility slated for Harrow Plantation in St Philip.

“It could have implications for that and other clean tech projects in terms of their potential funding sources through these institutions,” he cautioned, adding, though, that it’s still a question of waiting to see how it all unfolds.

The organisations affected by the withdrawals include many that work to combat climate change and promote renewable energy.

Chief among the 66 affected bodies is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty that underpins all international efforts to address global warming.

Groups working on development, gender equality and conflict – areas the Trump administration had repeatedly dismissed as advancing “globalist” or “woke” agendas – are also included, the White House said.

The Trump administration said the decision was taken because those entities “no longer serve American interests” and promote “ineffective or hostile agendas”.

The memorandum to pull out was signed on Wednesday following a review, with the White House describing the organisations as “a waste of taxpayer dollars”.

Among the other entities from which the US is cutting ties are the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the world’s leading authority on climate science that compiles the most respected reports on rising global temperatures; the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); the International Solar Alliance; and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Also included are the UN Population Fund; UN Democracy Fund; UN Conference on Trade and Development; UN Human Settlements Programme; UN Oceans; UN Water; and UN University.

The directive orders all executive departments and agencies to take immediate steps to effectuate US withdrawal from the listed organisations “as soon as possible”. For UN-affiliated entities, withdrawal is defined as ceasing participation or funding “to the extent permitted by law”.