Antigua and Barbuda has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening national climate finance access and coordination through an in-country mission of the OECS Climate Finance Action Platform (CFAP). The mission, held on September 17 and 18, provided an opportunity to engage key government institutions on the country’s climate finance priorities, challenges and opportunities, and to identify areas where the CFAP can provide targeted support.
The mission included in-depth discussions with the Department of Environment and Ministry of Finance on the country’s evolving climate finance coordination arrangements, project development processes, institutional capacity, and investment priorities. The CFAP team also paid a courtesy call to the Honourable Michael Joseph, Minister with responsibility for the Environment, to discuss Antigua and Barbuda’s climate finance needs and opportunities to support priority climate and resilience investments towards financing and implementation.
The mission was undertaken by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission with financial support from the European Union through the EUROCLIMA Programme and its Technical Assistance Facility. This support is helping the OECS Commission to establish and operationalise the CFAP and provide technical assistance to strengthen Member States’ capacity to access, mobilise, and deploy climate finance.
A key issue highlighted during the mission was the financing challenge facing Antigua and Barbuda as a high-income Small Island Developing State. Its income classification constrains access to some traditional Official Development Assistance (ODA) and concessional financing, despite the country’s significant vulnerability to climate change and substantial investment needs. This makes the Department of Environment’s accreditation to international climate funds like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Adaptation Fund particularly important, providing the country with direct access to climate finance and greater national ownership of project development and implementation.
Maintaining accreditation, however, requires significant institutional capacity, specialised expertise, robust fiduciary and safeguards systems, and sustained human and financial resources. Ms. Ruleta Camacho-Thomas, Director of the Department of Environment, highlighted this challenge:
“For Antigua and Barbuda, direct access accreditation to the Green Climate Fund is extremely important. Our high-income classification limits access to traditional concessional financing, while our climate vulnerabilities remain significant. Maintaining our accreditation is therefore critical, but it also requires sustained investment in the people, systems, and expertise needed to meet the GCF’s standards.”
Discussions with the Department of Environment therefore explored how CFAP and the OECS Commission could help address specific capacity and technical gaps, including access to specialised expertise needed to maintain and strengthen accreditation and support the development of high-quality climate projects by government ministries and agencies.
Discussions with the Ministry of Finance focused on Antigua and Barbuda’s evolving institutional arrangements for climate finance and the roles of the Ministry’s Debt and Development Finance and Project Implementation Offices. Participants considered the need for clear institutional responsibilities and decision-making processes, stronger systems for tracking climate finance and project performance, improved project implementation, and greater coordination among the Ministry of Finance, Department of Environment, project implementing agencies, and sector ministries.
A major focus of the mission was also reaching a common understanding on the scope of a proposed CFAP-supported consultancy to strengthen the country’s approach to developing and managing its climate investment pipeline. The proposed work would assess institutional coordination, identify and map climate-related investments, establish practical methodologies for project prioritisation and investment-readiness assessment, and strengthen approaches for matching priority investments with appropriate financing. Importantly, the consultancy is intended to leave behind practical tools, methodologies, and systems that government institutions can continue to apply, rather than creating a one-off project pipeline. This will support the development of stronger, well-designed, and investment-ready projects that can be matched with financing from the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, and other climate funds, development partners, and public and private financing sources.
Dr. Sherry Constantine, Climate Finance Senior Expert providing Technical Assistance through EUROCLIMA, emphasised the importance of strengthening the full pathway from national priorities to financing:
“Accessing climate finance is not simply about finding a fund and submitting an application. We have to start with our climate and development priorities, translate those priorities into well-designed investments, understand what is required to make those investments ready for financing, and then identify the financing sources and instruments best suited to them.”
The mission concluded with a capacity-building session for government ministries and agencies focused on climate finance fundamentals, investment readiness, and moving climate priorities, and project ideas towards financeable investments. The session also examined the role of the Department of Environment as an accredited entity to the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund, the Sustainable Island Resource Framework (SIRF) Fund, EU financing instruments, and the support available through the CFAP.
Ms. Shanna Emmanuel of the OECS Commission highlighted the importance of ensuring that the CFAP responds to the institutional context and priorities of each Member State:
“The CFAP is being developed as a Member State-owned platform. These country engagements allow us to understand the systems that already exist, identify where countries require additional support and ensure that the services developed through the Platform respond to real national needs.”
The Antigua and Barbuda mission forms part of the CFAP’s wider engagement with OECS Member States to strengthen national and regional capacity to access, mobilise and deploy climate, nature, and sustainable finance. The findings will help shape the CFAP support for Antigua and Barbuda, particularly in strengthening institutional coordination, developing the climate investment pipeline, improving project preparation and investment readiness, and connecting priority investments with appropriate sources of finance.
Disclaimer: The European Union financially supports this publication through the Euroclima programme, in collaboration with the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), in the framework of the Climate Finance Action Platform (CFAP) and as part of the Global Gateway strategy. The content is the sole responsibility of the authors and should not be considered as reflecting the views of the European Union.
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