Vicctf Launch Set for June 2026
The Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund (VICCTF) launch has been postponed from COP30 in Brazil to the UN Oceans Conference in Kenya in June 2026, Deputy Premier Hon Julian Fraser announced. Climate Envoy Dr Kedrick D. Pickering said the formalised trust fund positions the VI to access more than $100 billion in international climate finance for adaptation and mitigation.
The Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund (VICCTF) will now be launched at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Kenya in June 2026, Deputy Premier and Minister for Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change Hon Julian Fraser, RA (R3), announced at a press conference on December 12, 2025.
Fraser said the launch had been planned for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Belém, Brazil in November 2025, but was postponed. "I’m intending to do that at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Kenya next June," he told reporters.
The 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11) will be held in Mombasa and Kilifi from June 16 to 18, 2026 under the theme 'Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future'. Pickering highlighted the significance of formalising the trust fund, telling the press that the VI is one of, if not the only, English-speaking Caribbean country and Small Island Developing State with the legal and administrative framework to access major international climate financing. "By establishment of our Climate Change Trust Fund, we now have a mechanism to be able to access the funding that I am told is in excess of 100 billion, to be able to utilise those funding," he said.
Dr Pickering added that the necessary administrative structure will allow the territory to obtain funds "to help us to do the things that are needed for our overall sustainability." VICCTF is designed to mobilise, manage and disburse climate finance for priority adaptation and mitigation initiatives outlined in the Virgin Islands Climate Change Policy, with the aim of building a climate-smart island chain.
The fund was presented at COP30 and attracted regional and international support, officials said. For BVI residents, the trust fund could unlock financing for coastal protection, mangrove and coral restoration, freshwater security, renewable energy projects, climate-resilient infrastructure and disaster risk reduction — all priorities identified in local climate policy.
Government officials say next steps will include finalising the fund’s legal instruments, establishing governance and transparency safeguards, building a project pipeline and engaging stakeholders across the territory. Officials emphasised that establishing the trust fund and its administrative capacity will be critical to turning international pledges into concrete projects that protect communities, livelihoods and the territory’s natural resources as sea-level rise and extreme weather risks grow.
Primary source: VINO