Antigua and Barbuda will soon receive financial assistance that will help it to meet its environmental commitments.
The assistance will come from NOAH ReGen, an international consortium offering ocean states a comprehensive solution to fast-track their ecological transition, including tools for valuing their natural resources, unlocking new sources of income (such as carbon credits), attracting private funds, and tracing blended finance projects for maximum impact.
It aims to help Antigua and Barbuda unlock new sources of revenue, such as carbon credits and opportunities in the Blue Economy, developing a traceable and circular system of reinvestment into UN SDGs and the ability for the government to negotiate Debt-for-Nature swaps using part of the revenue.
The announcement was made last week in Egypt where the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference is being held.
Speaking following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said, “Whilst Antigua and Barbuda and other SIDS await funding arrangements for addressing loss and damage risks from climate change, it is important for us to understand that the existential threats of more frequent and aggressive hurricanes, droughts, and flooding will need significant funding and it is, therefore, timely for us to identify and design potential lines of revenue that can be derived from carbon mitigation and offset credit measures.
“We expect this collaboration with NOAH ReGen to assist us to address our financial challenges to survive climate change.”
NOAH’s founder and CEO Frédéric Degret said,”Antigua and Barbuda is a perfect pilot country for a global solution.”
Once the NOAH Proof of Concept programme is successfully completed for Antigua and Barbuda, it is believed the model could be easily rolled out to other Small Island Developing States ((SIDS).
The collaboration is now entering phase one. NOAH ReGen will soon conduct a detailed analysis of the nation’s protected areas and then, together with its international carbon verification partners, identify reliable sources of carbon credits that can be put in the global market and traced along their entire lifespan.
The government has already committed to reinvesting the majority of the profits into local sustainability projects, in alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
