On Friday, April 8, 2022, Taiwan made a contribution of EC$30,000.00 to the Caribbean Nationally Determined Contribution Finance Initiative (NDCFI).
Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, H.E. Peter Chia-yen Chen, presented firm contribution to Hon. Shawn Edward, Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Science, Technology, Innovation and Vocational Training.
In his remarks, Ambassador Chen said Taiwan was proud to support the second Forum, noting that just last Wednesday (March 30) the Government of Taiwan unveiled its roadmap to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The proposal in that roadmap, Ambassador Chen explained, includes making renewable energy account for 60%-70% of Taiwan’s electricity supply by 2050.
“Taiwan will continue to work with the Government of Saint Lucia and the global community to build a safer and more sustainable future for us all,” Ambassador Chen said. “Today’s ceremony is another testimony that our efforts will not stop here.”
Meanwhile, Hon. Edward said Taiwan’s support for the NDCFI emphasises Taiwan’s seriousness about the effects of climate change, especially on small island developing states (SIDS) like Saint Lucia. He thanked Ambassador Chen for Taiwan’s continued support to Saint Lucia in various areas.
“My role here this morning is a simple one, and that is to express the collective gratitude to you, Ambassador, your staff at the Embassy, and by extension, to the Government and people of Taiwan, for once again collaborating with the Government of Saint Lucia on a project that means so much to us and a project from which we can derive a lot of benefits as it relates to our viability as a country under threat by climate change,” said Hon. Edward.
Hon. Edward stated that while pronouncements about pledges of support for SIDS are made regularly, bureaucratic hurdles often make access to such funding difficult. Therefore, forging alliances with partners become important, he said.
“We cannot wait indefinitely for those resources to trickle down to us,” he said. “So, as an ambitious people, we have to rise up and look to forge bilateral relations with friendly governments to look after our own affairs.”
This is Taiwan’s second contribution to the NDCFI, which is scheduled to reconvene on July 5-7, 2022. The Caribbean NDCFI is a joint initiative of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission and the Government of Saint Lucia. In September 2018, Taiwan assisted the Department of Sustainable Development in hosting the first-ever Regional NDC Investment Forum.
As an open regional platform for climate action, the NDCFI invites active engagement and contributions from interested countries, development partners, development banks and private sector stakeholders for the delivery of:
- Regional cross-sector and multipartite stakeholder consultations, engagement, and exchange processes that support ambitions for climate leadership in the Caribbean and catalyze investments in resilient and low-carbon infrastructure across priority sectors as identified by OECS Member States.
- Learning and support opportunities that address hurdles in the development of investment projects in key sectors.
- Learning and support opportunities that improve access to public and private climate finance.
NDCFI representative Crispin d’Auvergne, who was also present at Friday’s ceremony, said despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing the postponement of the second Forum in 2020, this year’s event is expected to be even more exciting. He thanked the Government of Taiwan for its continued support for the NDCFI and, particularly, the NDC Forums.
“The Forums, past and future, could only be realised with the support of various development partners,” d’Auvergne said. “One of the constants of the 2018 and the intended 2020 Forums was the kind support of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Further, even before we had set a firm date for the rescheduled second Forum, we received word from the Embassy that the 2020 allocation would be rolled over to this year, thus providing us with the first firm contribution for the event.”
Saint Lucia, like many other small island developing states, has a high and increasing vulnerability to climate change, precipitated by increasing global temperature, sea level rise, and extreme weather events.
Taiwan’s commitment to assisting Saint Lucia become more resilient to the effects of climate change remains strong and unwavering.