We have been appointed by KfW Development Bank, a key shareholder in the Sustainable Ocean Fund (SOF), to help deliver a new SOF initiative that aims to identify investment opportunities to reduce plastic pollution in the wider Caribbean region.

The Caribbean region has some of the highest plastic pollution rates globally, exacerbated by poor waste management and a lack of recycling operations. The issue of plastic waste leakage into the marine environment has also been increasingly recognised as a threat to the environment and local communities within the Caribbean region.

We will be producing an assessment of the current situation in terms of plastic waste management in the region and working to identify specific opportunities to address the plastic waste challenge in the Caribbean at both the national and regional levels.

We will be actively engaging with project developers in the region over the coming months to highlight opportunities with investment requirements of up to US$15 million in size that the SOF and its stakeholders can support over the period 2020-2023.

We have a long history on this issue and an established reputation from previous projects undertaken in researching, analysing and developing models for preventing plastic pollution in rivers and marine ecosystems. Previous clients include: EIB,DG ENV, UNEP, Common Seas and Seafish.

In addition, our New York team has been monitoring the region for several years, developing relationships with local experts, which make it ideally placed to undertake this work.

Ayesha Bapasola, Senior Consultant, said: “Circular economy investment in the Caribbean is going to be crucial to halt the degradation of the region’s natural systems and the societal inequalities this has bred. We are excited to be working with KfW and the Sustainable Ocean Fund to enable new business models that will prevent plastic pollution leakage into the marine environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, whilst also providing opportunities for social and economic growth.”

Image courtesy of Bastian via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0