By Caribbean360
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, Monday November 12, 2018 – The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have signed a legal agreement to open doors for more climate finance projects in the Caribbean.

The signing of the Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA) took place last Friday on the margins of the Green Climate Fund’s Caribbean Structured Dialogue meeting in Grenada, which brought together regional stakeholders to plan climate action across the region.

Javier Manzanares, Executive Director ad interim at GCF, welcomed the agreement and stressed its importance for increasing financial flows to climate projects in the region.

“The Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to climate change devastating impacts and significant investments are needed in the region’s infrastructure to strengthen its resilience. The Caribbean Development Bank has a long and successful track record and I’m convinced that our partnership is a huge step towards unlocking new climate finance potential in the region. GCF is looking forward to new climate projects by CDB and to working together to accelerate climate action in the Caribbean,” he said.

Monica La Bennett, Vice-President (Operations), CDB, said the Bank viewed the signing of the AMA as an important milestone in its relationship with GCF.

“This Agreement will catalyse our efforts to mobilise much-needed funding to build climate resilience in the Bank’s Borrowing Member Countries. We are looking forward to a productive partnership with GCF, having taken this very important step towards implementing innovative climate solutions in our region,” she said.

AMAs are the central instrument in the relationship between GCF and an Accredited Entity. They set out the basic terms and conditions as to how the Accredited Entity and GCF can work together for the use of GCF resources. The agreement is a prerequisite for all GCF Accredited Entities to implement GCF-approved projects. Accredited Entities are key to GCF’s climate finance work as they bring forward funding proposals to the Fund and then oversee, supervise, manage and monitor these proposals when approved.

The Caribbean is one of the key priority regions for GCF due to its exposure to climate impacts and its needs of climate finance. To date, GCF Board has approved a number of climate adaptation projects in Barbados, Grenada, Dominica and other Caribbean countries.

During the second Structured Dialogue with the Caribbean in Grenada, senior policymakers and other stakeholders, including representatives from CDB, have been discussing the ways to improve regional cooperation on climate finance issues, to boost their engagement with GCF and to explore new investment opportunities.