A cornerstone of this approach is the U.S.–Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030)—the U.S. government’s flagship partnership with the Caribbean to advance climate adaptation, resilience, and clean energy cooperation. PACC 2030 serves as a critical framework within which USAID climate programming for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean operates, ensuring that regional efforts align with broader climate action goals.

The islands of the Eastern and Southern Caribbean are especially vulnerable to a diverse range of hydro-meteorological hazards including hurricanes, excessive rainfall, droughts, and heatwaves—as well as associated climate-driven hazards such as floods, landslides, coral reef bleaching, and coastal erosion. Climate change is exacerbating many of these hazards and contributing to sea level rise.

As climate variability has increased over the past decade, countries in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean have experienced more intense and frequent storms. These countries are particularly vulnerable because the majority of their populations are concentrated in low-lying coastal areas and many livelihoods are highly dependent on natural resources. Already, climate change impacts—ranging from rising temperatures and extreme rainfall events to more powerful storms —have had devastating impacts since the scope of these disruptions has proven overwhelming relative to the small size of the region’s economy, adversely affecting critical sectors including tourism, health, water, and agriculture.

Regional Climate Priorities

As the number of climate-induced disasters rise, so does the need for greater investment in disaster resilience across the region. These investments focus on targeted capacity building in national and regional institutions; strengthened policy development; more effective data collection, analysis, and use;  increased access to climate finance; and heightened climate resilience in key economic sectors, including energy, agriculture, and water to reduce risk among vulnerable populations.

USAID’S Climate Change Program: Objectives and Results

USAID aims to expand the ability of countries in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related disasters. To that end, USAID’s Eastern and Southern Caribbean Mission (USAID/ESC) is increasing information sharing, developing standard practices and policies, strengthening operational systems, facilitating access to climate finance, and increasing community- and private-sector participation in improving climate resilience. These efforts build upon strong existing partnerships with regional research institutions, governments, and other regional entities.

Climate resilience programming supports key sectors—such as clean energy, agriculture, and water—that are critical to supporting economic stability and growth. USAID also supports the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) development and climate priorities through a series of programs and partnerships related to climate adaptation and renewable energy development.

Adaptation and Resilience

USAID/ESC programs seek to strengthen the ability of Caribbean countries to recover from climate shocks and adapt to climate variability by improving climate data and information sharing, strengthening operational systems, developing standard practices and policies, and increasing community participation in resilience-building activities. USAID/ESC adaptation and resilience programming also helps countries gain increased access to finance from international sources and supports the development of innovative financial tools. Meanwhile, institutional strengthening targets national and regional institutions to ensure appropriate regional training and awareness regarding climate change.

Key Results

USAID has helped:

• Procure operational readiness equipment—including computers and geographic information systems—to strengthen the operational capabilities of national disaster offices in The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Issue drones to disaster management offices in The Bahamas, Grenada, and Barbados 
• Train 24 people on the use of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Logistics System in Dominica, which is used for enhanced post-disaster relief management and tracking as well as improved inter-agency preparedness
• Provide training for national disaster offices in Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on policy and procedure development—particularly as it relates to disaster management—in collaboration with the University of the West Indies
• Conduct bathymetric and topographic studies on coastal and marine areas in Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago to develop risk maps to support climate adaptation measures
• Establish climate data nodes in Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Kitts, with information gained to be used for the Regional Clearing House
• Transfer a coral reef early-warning station to The Bahamas for use off the coast of Eleuthera; the station will monitor the condition of the local coral reef ecosystem and provide early notification of potential coral reef bleaching events
• Review and update the Government of Saint Lucia’s Disaster Management Act 2006 to be better aligned with regional standards for comprehensive disaster management
• Update the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ National Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy and Implementation Plan.
• Provide technical assistance to support the operationalization of the Barbados Blue Green Bank through policy development, providing guidance on its informational technology infrastructure and aligning it with best practices for green banking
• Support the development of the Caribbean Community Resilience Fund on behalf of the  CARICOM Development Fund, providing the region with a vehicle for private investment to help finance disaster recovery efforts and strengthen climate resilience in the region
• Support community resilience planning in three communities across Barbados and Dominica
• Train more than 75 people from Eastern and Southern Caribbean countries in shade house management for agriculture
• Conduct two capacity-building training sessions on the production of shade houses in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute in Guyana and the Guyana Council of Persons with Disabilities
• Install a climate-smart irrigation system on a demonstration farm in Laluni, Guyana
• Implement climate-smart technologies on six demonstration farms in Suriname, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica, promoting improved agricultural management practices and training more than 150 farmers

Key Activities

Caribbean Climate Resilience Initiative (CCRI)

In partnership with CDEMA, CCRI works to institutionalize Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) as the Caribbean’s platform for achieving risk reduction to improve the capacity of regional and national institutions to respond to natural disasters. It also works to strengthen community systems to manage risks and build resilience to climate-related hazards.

Policy and Regulatory Reform for Resilience (PROSE) Activity

USAID/ESC supports The Cadmus Group to implement the PROSE activity in collaboration with the UWI and Adapt Consulting, working closely with CDEMA. The purpose of PROSE is to support national governments within the ESC to strengthen legal frameworks for regional, national, and sectoral resilience. Additionally, interventions seek to improve implementation of risk reduction and climate resilience measures across critical economic sectors and enhance civic participation in the development and enhancement of CDM policy, regulations, and plans.

Program for Accelerating Climate Change Adaptation (PACCA)

This activity supports the programmatic acceleration of climate action and access to finance by strengthening regional institutional capacity. This will be done through the provision of climate data, data management and modeling tools, and technical assistance to public and private sector organizations involved in the development and execution of climate projects. This activity is expected to directly benefit 500,000 people and indirectly benefit 3 million people regionally through a pipeline of over $3 million in Green Climate Fund projects.

Caribbean Resilient Economies and Sectors (RESET)

The RESET activity seeks to reduce constraints to climate and disaster finance and increase investments in climate and disaster resilience across key economic sectors. The activity’s approach includes building the capacity of national governments for critical investments in key sectors, providing grants that support the uptake of climate smart technologies and approaches by small businesses, and catalyzing partnerships and providing training to youth and vulnerable groups that support inclusive growth.

Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI)

This activity is designed to support countries to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans through technical and analytical support, capacity development, and inclusive and evidence-based policy dialogue. CACCI aims to help achieve a critical mass of countries able to respond to their commitments under the Paris Agreement, thus promoting household and community level resilience, food security, and robust inclusive growth.

Advancing Caribbean Community Climate Resilience Planning (ACCRP)

Implemented by the Global Resilience Institute of Northeastern University, this activity supports community-driven climate and economic resilience planning among three vulnerable communities in Barbados and Dominica. It aims to facilitate bottom-up community engagement efforts that are calibrated to local contexts while addressing systemic inequities, and build the capacity of the Caribbean Islands Higher Education Resilience Consortium so that they can replicate and scale climate resilience interventions throughout the region and globally. By leveraging the depth of knowledge of universities, the program aims to develop and empower local groups to plan against climate risks.

Roadmaps for Urban Adaptation in Latin America and the Caribbean

Implemented under the Program for Local and Urban Sustainability, this pilot activity aims to develop climate resilience and climate finance roadmaps for a city in Trinidad and Tobago. The roadmaps will have a specific focus on meeting the needs of vulnerable populations, who face negative health, social, and economic impacts of climate change in this urban environment. Lessons learned from applying a bespoke city-selection methodology and developing the roadmaps will be applied to other islands within the ESC.

Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program

The F2F Program promotes sustainable economic growth, food security, and agricultural development while addressing negative impacts of climate change, incorporating climate-smart techniques, and helping local hosts adapt to changing climate and weather patterns. A new project began for Guyana in October 2023.

Caribbean Agricultural Productivity Improvement Activity (CAPA)

USAID and CARICOM have partnered to address food security in the Caribbean, a pledge reinforced at the Ninth Summit of the Americas and by the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030. This activity, implemented by Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), focuses on improving food security by increasing fruit and vegetable productivity, building the capacity of buyers and input suppliers to strengthen relationships with farmers, and improving farm-level extension systems.

INVEST

Implemented by DAI, this program will help USAID mobilize private capital for development results. INVEST is working with the CARICOM Development Fund to develop the new Caribbean Community Resilience Fund, a new regional funding instrument focused on growth and resilience investing.

Renewable Energy

USAID/ESC works in tandem with other USAID Missions in the Caribbean under the Caribbean Energy Initiative to build clean, secure, and reliable energy systems throughout the region. USAID is strengthening countries’ energy resilience by increasing renewable power generation, increasing utilities’ service efficiency and quality, and enhancing the ability of electricity systems across the Caribbean to withstand climate-related shocks.

Key Results

USAID has helped:

• Implement the Energy Policy Outreach program for Barbados to support a transparent and consistent transition to clean energy
• Launch the Caribbean Climate Investment Program throughout the region, including one-on-one consultations with more than 40 private-sector firms in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, and Suriname; already, three awards have been granted in the region—two in Trinidad and Tobago, and one in Barbados
• Develop an operational framework for the Blue Green Bank
• Implement an interim tariff system integrating charges for fuel and renewable energy for Grenada, reflecting a broader move towards an energy-independent Grenada where renewable energy sources play a pivotal role in the country’s overall energy mix
• Set the stage for a new draft policy and detailed implementation plan—slated for development by October 2024—for the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to boost the country’s energy efficiency, reduce its dependence on imported fuels, and promote the adoption of renewable energy
• Provide draft language inputs to the Cabinet Paper for Electricity on the certification and licensing of electrical contractors, electricians, and engineers in Dominica

Key Activities

Energy Sector Reform (ESR)

This activity provides technical assistance for energy reform to utilities, ministries, and regulators in countries that are developing policies, laws, regulations, tools, and processes to design and operate more resilient and modern energy systems. By supporting the development and promotion of sustainability-minded policies in the energy sector, this activity will not only facilitate the harmonization of Caribbean islands’ energy policies but also create a broader market for the expansion of clean, renewable energy generation. The activity will also pursue key policy reforms to support the removal of barriers that currently stand in the way of more aggressive clean energy development.

Caribbean Climate Investment Program (CCIP)

This activity seeks to provide financial and technical assistance and support to businesses deploying technologies that advance climate mitigation and adaptation goals across the Caribbean region by mobilizing private finance and encouraging private sector–led actions. CCIP will also improve access to a regional-level facility that enables assistance and financing for private sector investments, with a focus on small- and medium-scale enterprises working on renewable energy or addressing energy efficiency issues.

Blue Green Bank (BGB)/Blue Green Investment Corporation (BGIC)

Co-funded by USAID/ESC, the Government of Barbados, and Green Climate Fund, the BGB is a joint public-private sector effort to create a regional financing vehicle to overcome current financing challenges and constraints on climate change adaptation and mitigation activities. The BGB’s overall objective is to contribute to climate resilience, adaptation, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction in Barbados and other countries in the region on the frontlines of climate change.

Strengthening Utilities and Promoting Energy Reform (SUPER)

The SUPER program works in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Caribbean Cyber Security Center (CCSC) to offer a suite of assessments, training, interactive exercises, resources, and planning tools to facilitate energy reform. Program activities include conducting a cybersecurity assessment, developing internal policies on domains such as incident response and business continuity, developing a risk register tool, and other ad-hoc assistance to build the cybersecurity capacity of utilities. The new electric vehicle (EV) activity under SUPER supports utilities by helping them plan for and accelerate EV deployment in an effort to decarbonize the transport sector.