St Kitts and Nevis’ efforts at combatting climate change came into sharp focus during a meeting between the Commonwealth Secretary General the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland and the Federation’s Environment Minister the Hon Eric Evelyn on Thursday November 4, 2021.

During the meeting Minister Evelyn took the opportunity to outline some of the climate related initiatives being undertaken by St Kitts and Nevis including plans to enact new legislation to guide environmental issues. The Minister also focussed on the emphasis being placed on green energy including solar and geothermal power as well as energy saving efforts such as the retrofitting of street lamps with LED lights.

The Secretary General was also updated on St Kitts and Nevis’ recently launched revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) which seeks to reduce economy-wide emissions by 61% by 2030 compared to the base year 2010.

Mention was also made of the efforts being made to ban single use plastics, as well as the Taiwan Government funded Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index (CORVI) and Solid Waste Management Projects.

In her response, the Secretary General indicated how pleased she was with the strides being made in the Federation to move forward the climate change agenda. She also outlined initiatives being pursued by the Commonwealth to mitigate the effects of climate change on lives and livelihoods. She also reiterated the Commonwealth’s commitment to advancing the climate change dialogue and indicated that her organization stands ready to assist St Kitts and Nevis in its climate initiatives.

The meeting was convened on the side-lines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP26 taking place in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 to November 12.