US$17.6b in climate investment pipeline

Billions of dollars in projects, financing and entrepreneurial opportunities in the Caribbean have emerged from an inaugural summit that was recently held in Barbados to help remove climate investment barriers.

Less than a month after the Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator (CCSA) held the Climate Smart Summit 2026, it is reporting that US$17.6 billion in national and regional projects were identified during the June 16 and 17 gathering.

This was in addition to US$12.68 billion in development finance, US$37 million in philanthropic funding, and US$11.5 million in entrepreneurial investment opportunities.

The information was shared in the newlyreleased 2026 Climate Smart Summit Report and the organisers noted that “behind every number is a project, a partnership waiting to happen, or an opportunity to help move an idea into action.”

CCSA also said that “over the next 18 months, we’ll be working with Caribbean entrepreneurs, governments, investors, philanthropies and development partners to help turn the connections made at the summit into real progress in our region”.

This would involve “matching projects with investors, philanthropists and partners, tracking outcomes, mobilising capital and supporting the collaborations launched during the summit to accelerate climate action across the Caribbean”.

Reflecting on the recent event, CCSA chief executive officer Racquel Moses said in the Climate Smart Summit Report that the summit “was designed to answer one question: how do we move capital to the solutions that need it most? Over two days, we began turning that question into action”.

“We started with a simple premise. The Caribbean’s greatest opportunities are too comlex to be solved in isolation. They require collaboration, targetted matchmaking and a clear understanding of where capital, innovation and policy intersect,” she explained.

“Rather than simply convene conversations, we curated them. Entrepreneurs pitched investment-ready solutions to a carefully selected audience of investors, development finance institutions and philanthropic partners in the audience, creating opportunities for blended finance and strategic collaboration.

“Day one showecased US$11.5 million in climate-smart investment opportunities. Day two highlighted US$12.685 billion in development finance available for deployment, alongside more than US$17 billion in national and regional projects with the potential to scale,” she highlighted.

Food security

CCSA said the summit in Barbados was designed to acclerate climate-smart investment and implementation across the Caribbean. There were participants representing more than 49 organisations from 13 territories.

“Governments, development finance institutions, investors, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, private sector leaders, academia, civil society and regional organisations engaged directly with one another,” the report stated.

“With more than US$17 billion in projects in the room, ranging from investments to strengthen food security to national investment plans, and over US$12.7 billion in capital available to be mobilised across philanthropy, development finance and commercial finance, the summit prioritised meaningful person-to-person connections capable of unlocking partnerships, mobilising capital and advancing climate smart solutions well beyond the event itself.”

The report also shared that “across two days, participants explored practical approaches to strengthening climate resilience, expanding renewable energy, mobilising climate finance, accelerating innovation, advancing the blue economy, improving food security and supporting sustainable economic growth”.

CCSA said participants were challenged to “define the level of ambition, investment or commitment they were seeking or prepared to make toward advancing climate smart development”.

The organisation said that the investment opportunities identified at the saummit “represent a growing pipeline of climate-smart investment opportunities that will continue to be developed through the strategic partnerships established during the summit”.

“It was important to showcase opportunities of every size because that reflects the reality of the Caribbean investment landscape. Scale is not always measured by the size of a single transaction. More often, it is built one entrepreneur, one project and one partnership at a time,” the report stated.

“Innovation remained central to the programme. The Investor Forum provided six Caribbean entrepreneurs with the opportunity to present investment-ready climate solutions to development finance institutions, impact investors and funding partners.

“Selected from the Innovation Fund Caribbean pipeline, these ventures demonstrated the region’s growing capacity to develop scalable solutions in areas such as food security, climate-smart agriculture, the blue economy and circular economy innovation.

“Complementing the Investor Forum was the Climate Investment Marketplace, where entrepreneurs and project developers showcased national and regional projects seeking investment while advancing discussions on blended finance, project preparation, philanthropy and public-private partnerships,” it added. (SC)

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