Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment, Marsha Caddle. (FP)

Private sector investment in the island’s Roofs to Reefs programme is being welcomed by Minister in Economic Affairs and Investment, Marsha Caddle.

Speaking earlier this week at the IDB Invest webinar entitled: Accelerating Blue Bonds Issuances in Latin America and the Caribbean, Minister Caddle stressed that the programme presents an integrated schedule of market-ready projects that not only have resilience value for the people of Barbados, but good returns for investors.

Roofs to Reefs is therefore an integrated public-private investment roadmap for improving the social and environmental circumstances of all Barbadians at the household, community and commercial levels.  

It aims to improve living conditions and terrestrial and marine ecosystems, making us more resilient to the impacts of the worsening climate crisis and related natural disasters, while increasing our ability to recover quickly from disasters.

Noting that the Ministry of Investment has been working on “growth and resilience bonds to be able to attract such private sector investment”, she pointed out that mitigation activities such as renewable energy projects are already attracting considerable private sector investment in Barbados, but adaptation activities, like building stronger, more resilient infrastructure, can also bring returns, both financial and social.

She said: “The fact is, we’re not going to get where we want to go unless we close the financing gap, not just for mitigation, because mitigation tends to attract private investment, but for adaptation. We want to make sure adaptation also attracts private investment.

“What we have started to do with Roofs to Reefs, with the help of our partners, including the IDB, is to essentially rank and rate and value projects and investments to make sure that we’re able to balance the public good nature and content of those projects with the financial return.”

joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb

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