Caribbean Development Bank approved record $226.7M for climate action in 2025

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) approved $226.7 million for climate action initiatives in 2025, marking the strongest annual climate investment performance in the bank’s history.

The total represented about 50% of the bank’s project approvals for the year and more than doubled the $101.5 million committed in 2024.

The increase was largely driven by a $125 million environmental policy-based loan to Guyana, along with similar financing packages totaling $30 million each for Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The loans will support reforms in biodiversity conservation, climate action and water resource management while strengthening the technical and financial capacity of member countries to withstand and recover from climate shocks.

Explaining the bank’s focus, Valerie Isaac, the CDB’s division chief for environmental sustainability, said the region faces urgent risks from climate change.

“The climate crisis is not simply a challenge. It is an existential threat to our development and wellbeing, particularly the most vulnerable people,” Isaac said.

Speaking at the bank’s annual news conference in Bridgetown, Barbados, she added: “Resilience is neither an option nor a luxury. It is a fundamental requirement for regional growth and stability.”

Beyond its own project approvals, the bank also secured $27 million in grant and loan financing in 2025 from the Green Climate Fund to support the Integrated Utility Services Programme. The initiative, which has a total investment volume of more than $68 million, will expand energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy—including rooftop solar—across Barbados, Belize and Jamaica.

An additional $27 million in grant funding from the Green Climate Fund will support the Caribbean Hydrometeorological and Multi-Hazard Early Warning Services Project. The project will upgrade forecasting systems in Belize and Trinidad and Tobago, helping to protect the lives and livelihoods of about 1.8 million people.

Another milestone in 2025 was the operationalization of the CDB’s Climate Change Project Preparation Fund. The initiative is designed to address project pipeline bottlenecks that slow the flow of climate financing and to increase funding for climate action projects across the bank’s borrowing member countries.

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Isaac said the bank plans to build on this momentum in 2026, including finalizing a $200 million regional blue economy programme aimed at protecting ocean resources while creating jobs in the marine sector.

The bank also plans to launch a regional platform designed to generate investment portfolios from national energy and transport priorities, while advancing initiatives focused on water sector resilience and locally led climate adaptation.

“The decisions and actions we take today will dictate the Caribbean’s development trajectory for the next half-century,” Isaac said. “We will continue to innovate and transform, strengthen our own capacity and that of our borrowing member countries, accelerate the development of investment-ready pipelines, mobilise climate and disaster finance at scale, deepen strategic partnerships, and advance coordinated regional climate action.”

The CDB held its annual news conference on March 3 at the Frank Collymore Hall. Presentations were delivered by senior officials including CDB President Daniel M. Best, Director of Projects O’Reilly Lewis and Acting Deputy Director of Economics Jason Cotton.