Belize Continues its Steady Path Towards Climate Finance

Christopher Coye

Financing for activities aimed at mitigating or adapting to the impact of climate change remains a priority for the Briceño administration.  When it took office in November 2020, it was with the idea that economic resiliency should be aligned with climate resiliency and, as such, efforts are being made by the Government of Belize to secure funds for these initiatives.  Senator Chris Coye explains.

Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Finance

“Shortly after the change of administration we recognized that if we’re going to build economic resiliency, it is critical, it is a necessity that we build climate resiliency.  So very soon after the change of administration, we set up a climate finance unit within the Ministry of Economic Development to look at how we can secure climate finance for climate resiliency building, in particular climate adaptation and climate mitigation measures.  You have some of the larger climate financing agencies such as the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund and, I think, the Conservation Fund, several of them but the largest is the Green Climate Fund, but you have a number of multilateral development banks that also provide some level of climate finance.  So we have been working at each one of these to see how we will be able to access climate finance.”