NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 03, 2021)—Hon. Eric Evelyn, Minister of Environment for St. Kitts and Nevis, is presently in Glasgow, Scotland when he launched the Federation’s revised National Climate Plan at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

Representatives of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) met on Tuesday, November 02, 2021 to finalize the position of the group going into negotiations, with particular focus on climate financing, a cap of 1.5 degree Celsius temperature rise, capacity building and phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies.

During the meeting Mr. Evelyn highlighted the importance of climate financing and the creation of mechanisms for small-island developing states to easily access such finance. He encouraged the grouping to be strong in the advocacy of its position and highlighted the need for the developing countries to translate talk into action.

On Tuesday Minster Evelyn launched St. Kitts and Nevis’ revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

“As a small island developing state St. Kitts and Nevis values the importance of developing more ambitious emission targets, because for many of us, limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius is a matter of survival, it is a necessity.

“Through a series of engagements and consultations St. Kitts and Nevis has pledged to raise the bar, we pledge a more significantly ambitious mitigation target of reducing economy-wide carbon dioxide emissions by 61 percent by 2030 compared to the base year 2010,” he said.

Some of the enhanced mitigation actions include switching to 100 percent renewable energy in electricity generation; increasing the share of electric vehicles in the vehicle fleet to at least 2 percent; 35.7 megawatts of utility scale solar photovoltaic in St. Kitts; 6.6 megawatts of wind power capacity to be installed in St. Kitts; 25 megawatts of geothermal power capacity- 10mw in Nevis and 15 mw in St. Kitts; improvement in transmission and distribution infrastructure to reduce losses in both islands; and two solar photovoltaic plants of 0.75 megawatts each to supply a desalination plant located on each island.

The Minister emphasized that in order to achieve these goals, small island states would need adequate access to resources, including climate finance and capacity building support.