The Minister of Energy and Mines (MEM), Antonio Almonte, led the workshop “Carbon markets in the framework of the energy transition”, focused on creating an investment plan to access carbon funds to further promote the energy transition in the Dominican Republic and thus contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
This event brought together different key players from the public and private sectors, who addressed the need to attract financing from the securities markets for the installation of sustainable energy projects with low carbon emissions.
Minister Almonte indicated that the Dominican Government has been in charge of creating the right policies to mobilize private capital for strategic development projects for the country and that today’s perspective is to convert these policies into funds that allow financing the expansion and deepening of decarbonization, with the installation of sustainable and environmentally friendly energy projects.
He said that the focus should be on seeing how the Dominican Republic, already on the train of technological changes in the electricity sector, takes advantage of the windows of opportunity that are opening at the international level, for the creation of advanced mechanisms of access to financing directed to the different purposes of the energy transition.
He expressed that as a ministry they have participated in international forums, making strategic alliances to advance in the acceleration of the energy transition, and that from 2020 to date, the current management has doubled the installed capacity of renewable projects, thus becoming a model country in Latin America and the Caribbean for decarbonizing its energy matrix with the significant injection of clean energy.
“The alliance and cooperation between the public institutions most committed to the mitigation of climate evils are an invitation to the private sector to trust and continue participating with us in creating the capacities required to take advantage of the funds that exist in the international carbon markets to continue advancing in the energy transition in the country”, said Almonte, after recognizing the support of the World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the financing of renewable projects in the country.
The workshop, organized by the Ministry of Energy and Mines, with the local support of the National Council for Climate Change and the Ministry of the Environment, as well as the WB and IDB, was held from Tuesday, August 6 to Thursday, August 8, in a hotel in Santo Domingo.
The executive vice-president of the National Council for Climate Change, Max Puig, highlighted that the Dominican Republic is the country in the Central American and Caribbean region that has the most certificates in clean development mechanisms and that this workshop will contribute to design the road map to access investment funds to accelerate the energy transition in the country, thus helping to reduce greenhouse gases.
Alexandria Valerio, World Bank representative in the country, highlighted that this financial organization has supported the country in the diversification of the energy matrix by providing funds and technical advice to renewable developers, thus helping to decarbonize the electricity sector and have a more sustainable future.
The event was also attended by Milagros De Camps, Vice Minister of Climate Change; Rafael Gómez, Vice Minister of Energy; Katharina Falkner-Olmedo, IDB representative; Chadia Abreu, Clean Energy and Climate Solutions advisor of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, who acted as workshop moderator and host, as well as speakers and technicians from the public and private sectors.
What are carbon markets?
Carbon markets are part of the actions to curb climate change. They make it possible to limit and control the amount of carbon dioxide (CO²) and other greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted into the atmosphere.
Source:presidencia.gob.do
