Nowadays, Caribbean society has been exposed to various levels of impacts of climate change due to anthropogenic activities. Most of these impacts are related to the carbon emissions from the electricity generation, and many countries of the Caribbean region are still utilizing such fossil fuel sources thus increasing their emissions into the atmosphere. In January 2018, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre’s (CCCCC) application submitted to the Project Preparation Facility (PPF) of the Green Climate Found (GCF) was approved. This application sought financing to enable Belize to develop and implement a biomass energy project using Arundo donax (wild cane) as a renewable energy source for Belize, and possibly other countries in the Caribbean. The project seeks to demonstrate the long-term feasibility of, and the social and environmental implications of a renewable energy programme based on the utilization of the widely available Arundo donax as a potential source of energy generation. Using Belize as a pilot site, a successful outcome could will help to reduce the country’s carbon footprint as a way to create resilience to climate change impacts.

The funding is being used to implement two components of the project. One component consists of financing for a Feasibility Study, an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, a Stakeholder Analysis, and a Gender Study: while the second component enables the conduct of Compatibility Testing of the Arundo donax biomass fuel in the equipment operated by the Belcogener plant in Orange Walk, Belize. Hence, these activities will contribute to developing a project to be implemented for the managed cultivation of the biomass at commercial scale in the future.

The CCCCC is spearheading efforts to analyze and determine different ways to address the environmental impacts in the energy sector in the Caribbean. This project will represent a significant progress in the entire country regarding to energy sustainability, while also benefiting the country through creating new jobs for farmers, reducing imported energy, and avoiding environmental impacts.