David Jessop, Contributor

The oversubscribed second Europe Caribbean Business Forum held in Trinidad on June 8, organised jointly by the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce and the Caribbean Britain Business Council, focused on the options that the region's business community has to offset the negative impact of climate change on the Caribbean economy.

Jamaica's Foreign Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade, Anthony Hylton, set the tone.

In a keynote address, Hylton said the region's economy and businesses were threatened by climate change.

The facts were increasingly well known. A positive and creative response from the business community was required.

Capitalistic bias

The heavy capitalistic bias of the last 30 or more years, as he put it, had driven many of the choices that the global community had had to make and there was no reason why this should not be the case in respect of climate change.

Every company with an ethical approach to commerce, he said, now needed to incorporate environmental costs and a response to climate change into their business plans.

Hylton observed that while those present from enterprises from around the region and Britain had recognised the implications of the scientific research, the evidence had yet to be taken fully into the thinking of economic decision makers in the corporate boardrooms of the North.

A wider and more cooperative view of economics and development was required. Projects would in future have to be assessed for more than their economic rates of return. Incentives were required that related to the contribution any new development made to enhancing or reducing its impact on the global environment.

The Caribbean was, he said, ripe for such an approach, whether it involved the emerging carbon market or in other ways.

Placing the issues in a political and governmental context, the minister argued that globally the issue must be addressed comprehensively with the overriding focus being on the two extremes: the major polluters and those who are most at risk.

As the forum proceeded, it became apparent that there was, however, one industry for which there was no option other than to respond negatively.In a sobering presentation, Rory O'Brien, chief executive officer of Trinidad's Guardian Life, noted that the insurance industry in the region and globally, knew that climate change was happening because of the effect it was having on its bottom line.

Weather-related risk was increasing and the trend was to increase premiums or not to insure in much of the Caribbean. Reinsurers expected as much as US$100 billion in claims in the next few years and as a consequence, their terms were becoming tougher and the number of deductibles were increasing. Historically, the insurance industry in the region had been able to offset losses against years in which there had been profits, but this was ceasing to be the case.

Development challenge

The conference recognised that climate change presented a major development challenge for the Caribbean and one that had not been widely understood by either government or the private sector.

There was ample evidence that even if the worst effects of climate change could be mitigated, the Caribbean was still at risk from food insecurity, energy insecurity, a water crisis, the costly replacement of physical and social infrastructure, the appearance of new pathogens, and a decline in the region's rich biodiversity.

At a Caricom level, the region had a policy framework within which government could address the issue, but more needed to be done at a practical level within the region. Positive business-led responses were possible. The Caribbean was richly endowed with renewable energy resources.

There were opportunities for solar power, wind power, ocean power using waves, deep-sea currents and heat exchange.

Some nations had options to develop hydro power and harness their geo-thermal potential. More generally, the opportunity of using biomass and waste to generate power had been little investigated. Trinidad's substantial natural-gas reserves suggested for some that this was a way forward.

A short exchange took place on whether the Caribbean should place greater emphasis and resources on adaptation to climate change or to its mitigation. In the end, the sense emerged that there was a role for both.

The rain forest and the tourism sector offered extensive opportunities for trading in carbon credits if a certification and single trading system could be created that covered the Caribbean Basin.

In short, the Caribbean was a part of the solution if both government and the private sector could be involved in finding creative solutions.

Encourage change

In all of this, there was a central role for the private sector. Business must reduce its carbon footprint. The public sector can offer the private sector incentives that encourage change. Climate change needed to become a part of the regional business vision. In making such changes, the region and its commercial interests, rather than external forces, must be the driver.

Throughout, there was a clear message that not enough was being said globally about the implications for small-island developing states, whether they be in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean or the Pacific. Europe, it was felt, must not neglect them when finding solutions. There was a role for Britain to play in this respect in Europe.

What was heartening was that a number of forward-thinking figures from the region's political and business community took time to attend.

The presence of the heads of more than one regional institution as participants and without ceremony and the willingness of Hylton to speak, despite the growing intensity of Jamaica's pre-election politics, suggests an understanding of the political importance that the issue may soon come to have in every Caribbean constituency and nation.

As with most such opinion-forming events, it was a step along a road. It was agreed that a report on the conference be sent to governments and the private sector, and a paper would be preparation to go forward to the United Kingdom Caribbean Government-to-Government Forum to be held in London in 2008.

The event was information rich and relatively low on creativity, but it did enable a wide range of interested parties to take the small, first step towards creating awareness that they were a part of the solution, and that both mitigation and adaptation should be possible.

David Jessop is director of the Caribbean Council. Email: david.jessop@caribbean-council.org