Noting that Trinidad and Tobago has embarked upon ambitious plans to reduce emissions and build climate resilience, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has announced that this includes the establishment of the largest utility- scale solar renewable energy project in the Caribbean.

Dr. Rowley was speaking at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow on Tuesday.

He said the project will have a capacity of 112 megawatts, accounting for 10% of our power needs.

He said the plan is to  increase this complement to 30% by 2030.

As he addressed world leaders, Dr. Rowley also called for smaller countries to be given equitable financing to meet its climate change targets, and to mitigate the effects of climate change. Making his contribution in Glasgow,

He praised the United States for its commitment to double its climate finance support, saying it was this kind of bold action all donor countries need to consider in the weeks ahead.

“Trinidad and Tobago is a small island developing state already experiencing the effects of climate change.  Loss and damage are already clear in the aggressive erosion of our coastline and the bleaching of our coral reefs,” he said.

“Tackling loss and damage must remain a critical and core issue of any global climate action framework. We are increasingly concerned about our ability to address this issue given the well-known difficulty in accessing financing for such projects. We need funds like the Green Climate Fund to establish specific streams for loss and damage finance to ensure that this is prioritized in the same way as mitigation and adaptation.  Further, there must be equitable balance between public finance for mitigation and adaptation,” Dr. Rowley added.