ParlAmericas delegation to participate in a dialogue on carbon pricing instruments for the Caribbean region
ParlAmericas has been invited by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5C) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Regional Collaboration Center (RCC) in St George’s, Grenada, to take part in a dialogue on carbon pricing instruments in the Caribbean region. ParlAmericas will be represented by Speaker of the National Assembly Jennifer Simons (Suriname) and President of the Senate Andy Daniel (Saint Lucia), Vice-Presidents of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network on Climate Change (PNCC) for South America and the Caribbean, respectively.
Most countries in the Caribbean indicated an interest in using instruments which give a price signal on carbon emissions as part of their mitigation action in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) adopted under the Paris Agreement. The dialogue, to be held in Grenada on October 2-3, 2017, will offer these countries an opportunity to come together to discuss carbon market and pricing instruments, how they are being used around the world, and the opportunity they present to support the achievement of NDCs.
The dialogue is a first step to develop and deliver a wider program to provide in-country support to those in the Caribbean region interested in adapting carbon pricing instruments. This informal consultation follows a series of discussions held on the margins of the Bonn Climate Change Conference in May 2017 under the leadership of 5C in collaboration with UNFCCC RCC in St. Georges, Grenada.
ParlAmericas is similarly working towards accelerating the implementation of the NDCs across the Americas and the Caribbean. The President of the ParlAmericas PNCC, Member of the National Assembly Javier Ortega (Panama), stated: “This event is in line with the commitments adopted by the Parliamentary Network on Climate Change to fight against climate change with the highest political commitment and to strengthen the efforts by governments to implement the Nationally Determined Contributions, ensuring that, in the process, we work towards a broad distribution of the benefits derived from the transition to a sustainable, zero-emissions economy.”
The ParlAmericas delegation expressed their solidarity with their fellow Caribbean countries in light of recent events in the region, where natural hazards have become disaster events. The parliamentarians emphasized the importance of building-back-better and asserted their commitment to promote sustainable and resilient communities in the Small Island States of the Caribbean. They further highlighted that science has proven the connections between climate change and the extreme weather events impacting the region. Dialogues such as this one are critical to accelerating the implementation of the climate change agenda.
