30 September 2012: The Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) and the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Risoe Centre organized a regional workshop for the Caribbean intended to enhance capacity and examine lessons learned regarding the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Programme of Activities (PoA) and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs).

The workshop was held from 25-27 September 2012, in Kingston, Jamaica, with support from Jamaica’s Environment Ministry and Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining.

The workshop sought to increase capacity in the region regarding PoAs and NAMAs. It discussed, inter alia: the “state of the art” of PoAs and NAMAs; their design and implementation; financial structures and business models/schemes for PoAs; UNEP’s Regional Gateway for Technology Transfer and Climate Change Action in Latin America and the Caribbean (REGATTA) initiative; possible PoAs and NAMAs for the Caribbean region, including ones at the local levels, such as cities; mitigation potential in the Caribbean involving sustainable energy and/or energy efficiency; measuring, reporting and verification (MRV); and the respective roles of governments, public enterprises, the private sector and civil society in shaping PoAs and NAMAs.

The workshop also discussed the regional study planned by the UNEP Risoe Centre, under the aegis of the EU-funded ACP-MEAs Programme, of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential due to power generation in the Caribbean, using grid-connected renewable energy. UNEP Risoe indicates that it is particularly interested in looking at the solar, wind, hydropower, biogas (from both landfills and agricultural wastes), biomass and biofuel sectors. [Workshop Presentations]