Sustainable finance has been identified by Acting Minister of the Environment, Senator Haynesley Benn, as a key opportunity for growth for Barbados and the wider Caribbean, in light of the economic slowdown being faced by some of the region's major trading partners.
Source: Government of Barbados
The government of Barbados has forged a partnership with the local banking community via the establishment of the Barbados Sustainable Finance Group in 2008, in collaboration with The Barbados Bankers' Association (TBBA) and the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative. The partnership seeks to raise the level of awareness and education among stakeholders in the local financial sector as it relates to the challenges and benefits associated with the development and implementation of a sector-wide sustainable finance agenda. To date the partnership has yielded results by way of the conduct of stakeholder training, preliminary research and dialogue fora. Most recently, thirty Constituency Councils were established by Government to enable ordinary Barbadians in communities, to participate in the process of deciding what needs to be done in their constituencies and to link residents in a meaningful way to Parliament and Central Government. This initiative will devolve greater responsibility and authority to local people to decide on programmes and projects that will impact directly on their quality of life.