A virtual Vice-Chancellor’s Forum on The Bridgetown Initiative, held on March 30, 2023, brought expert stakeholder voices and Caribbean citizens to the same table for an important conversation on finance mobilisation for climate change.

According to the 2022 report of an Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, $2 trillion is required annually for developing countries to respond to the effects of climate change.

The impressive team, led by Vice- Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, put out a call for a global coalition to fund climate mitigation and adaptation. The Vice- Chancellor referenced the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, which eventually birthed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. He questioned whether the Bretton Woods institutions are coming to the rescue of vulnerable Caribbean nations, who “through no fault of their own have found themselves at the bottom end of the global recovery process” and called the situation “a moral crisis”.

He promised the support of The UWI in the matter of economic justice for the region as appeals go out for more donor funding to make up for the gaps in public sector funding.

The Bridgetown Initiative, which proposed significant reform of the global finance architecture in favour of climate-vulnerable countries and was devised by a group led by Barbadian Prime Minister The Honourable Mia Mottley, has been dubbed the most significant global policy initiative to originate from the Caribbean in recent times.