The Cayman Islands is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels for energy needs. Water, electricity and transport are all reliant on imported oil. In 2014, renewable energy accounted for only 0.9% of electricity generation and 95% of diesel was used for utility scale electricity generation. Consequently, there is a great need for Cayman to transition from energy dependency to energy security.
In 2015 a historic agreement was reached in Paris which set global standards for the reduction in greenhouse gases and emissions. Although the Cayman Islands was not part of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, as a British Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom which did sign the Paris accord, the Cayman Islands aspires to meet the agreed upon targets of 4.8 tCO2e per capita by 2030. The most recent estimate in the Cayman Islands is 12.3 tCO2e as of 2014.
The reduction in greenhouse gases and emissions and the use of renewable energy go hand in hand as our current utility scale electricity generation is the biggest emission of greenhouses gases as a result of its reliance on diesel.
The Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency (SCR) is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Cayman Islands National Energy Policy 2017-2037 (NEP) by working closely with other agencies such as the Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg), Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC), the Department of Planning and many other stakeholders who are responsible for implementing specific strategies under their remit. The NEP was first drafted in 2013 and a fresh review was undertaken in 2016, and adopted by Cabinet on February 21st 2017. In 2017 an Energy Policy Council was appointed to monitor the progress of the implementation of the NEP.
“Enhancing and embracing a sustainable lifestyle through responsible and innovative energy supply and consumption”
The NEP has established the following high-level targets:
How will this be achieved?
Energy, Transport and Waste Management are the islands' largest contributors to GHG. The NEP aims to reduce GHG by working with the following seven (7) sectors:
Follow the implementation process under the goal section on the home page of this website.
